Where is Mia?

Since most of us didn't study much about Chinese geography in high school I thought I'd explain a little about where Mia is right now. She's in Jiangxi Province (pronounced Jiang-shee) located in southeastern China. It's the hot pink province in the lower right corner.

Here's a closer look. The provincial capital of Jiangxi is Nanchang. That's where I'll meet Mia for the first time. We'll be there for about a week before traveling to Guangzhou in Guangdong Province. That's where the US consulate is. We have to stay there for another week while we wait for Mia's travel visa. You'll also see Beijing further north. I'm hoping I'll have enough notice to travel there for a few days before heading to Nanchang.

Mia lives in Tonggu County. (Pronounced Tawn-goo). It's a very rural area about a 4 hour drive southwest of Nanchang. Mountainous, lush and green from the photos I've seen. It's so small I'm not able to find a lot of info about it. But I've read in a few places that the population is somewhere between 130,000-140,000 people.

Which is really small for China standards. Considering Tonggy County covers 1548 square km. That's 597 square miles. To put that in perspective...it's about the same size as Houston, Texas. And Houston has a population of 2.1 million people. See what I mean?

This is the Tonggu Social Welfare Institute. It houses both children and the elderly. And it has a purple roof and hot pink pillars which I just think... is kinda cool.

Although I'll make sure she never forgets where she started ..... soon this will be her home. And I can't wait to get her here!