The Day Before China

One day before my trip. Just to increase the drama of the day, it is now 2:00, the day before I leave, and I still don't have money on hand to complete the adoption. For those who don't know, adoptive parents must carry about $4500 in CASH to China, in new currency, or at least "crisp, clean bills." Now, before you scream at ME for being a stupid, irresponsible adoptive parent...you should know that I have been working at getting this money for 3.5 weeks now.....Hmmm....the last update I got from the Asst. Manager at my bank is that $5000 in brand new bills would be delivered this morning, just for me. And, in the event that there was a problem, the Asst. Manager had already set aside $4000 in acceptable, clean, but not new bills for me. I inspected the bills earlier in the week, but the promise of having brand new bills was too appealing. So, the deal was, they'd hold these bills for me, pending the delivery of the brand new currency. Oh, and what happened the other two weeks when I was supposed to pick up my money??? Various errors, miscommunications, delays......leaving it to this week, when I was promised that I would be able to get exactly what I needed. So, guess what happened today?? First off, the Asst. Manager is out sick, and no one knows WTF I'm talking about, even though I asked the woman to make arrangements for someone else to give me my money, in case she gets sick, we even joked about it, "you know, in case you get into an accident on your way to work that day." After several phone calls getting no where, I went to the bank in person. I spoke to the head manager. It turns out that there IS $5000 in new currency with my name on it, sitting in a truck somewhere out there....the truck had a flat tire, and didn't make the delivery. (I am NOT making this stuff up) The money is usually delivered by 9am. Ok, I'm trying hard to remember to breath....I have a fever again.....and, still many other things I could be doing with my time. I have to go back to the bank at 4 (they close at 4:30), and the manager says the money SHOULD be deliverd by the end of the day. Oh, and the other $4000 that was set aside for me?? It's gone, the manager doesn't know anything about it, they must have put it into circulation. I'm trying very hard to be civil about this.....I explained to the manager that I have been getting the run around for 3 weeks, and why I desperately need this money, and I even showed her Sophie's picture. I let myself get upset and a little tearful at the bank, instead of angry (Like most women, tears come easily when I'm really angry, so it's hard to tell that I'm just so pissed off I could cry.) It seemed like a better idea to go for sympathy for now, rather than have a big angry scene, we'll see what happens at 4:00. Stay tuned.