Hi all we made it safely to China. The flight to China was uneventful and my daughter Emily age 7 did marvelously on the plane! I was worried because when I tried to wake her up Tuesday morning at 5:45am she didn't want to get out of bed and was opting to go get Abigail tomorrow instead. I was the one who kept watching the monitor of the plane and how much longer it would be! There is no way to describe the feeling of sitting in a plane seat knowing you are going to be here for 14 hours. We flew Continental and they were wonderful! In keeping true to our previous experiences with the Newark airport we got off the plane from Cleveland walked all the way to our new gate, only to find that we had a gate change and had to go back to where we started and then some! Kathy, Bernie, and Jenna will understand that as we had the same adventure last year! There was a very nice business man from China that sat with us on the flight and we chatted with him quite a bit! He told us all sorts of information about China and that helped pass the time! Our flight flew north from Newark, and just kept going north over Canada! I was getting frustrated at how long it was until we even turned towards China! We flew over Alaska and then came down through Siberia. It was nice too that most of our group sat together on the plane. Rudy and Diane brought their little girl Zoe, age 3 so her and Emily played quite a bit! Both kids were fantastic on the flight! When we got through the airport in Beijing we had to cross the street to get to the parking lot! That was an adventure in itself, but we made it safely across to be greeted by several Chinese people who wanted to carry our bags for us! I was able to fend most of them off, as I really was managing the luggage quite well on my own. I was walking between two moms from New Jersey and New York, and let me tell you these gals are tough! However, just about 100 feet from the bus, this Chinese man insisted he help me! I told him "NO" but he wasn't letting go and neither was I! So we walked together hand in hand! He put my luggage on the bus and I gave him a dollar! He opened it and said "Two dollars!" I said, "NO! I told you I didn't need help! Then I had to stand guard and make sure he didn't take our luggage off the bus! Nobody bothered Emily, thank goodness as that would really freak her out!
Our FTIA guide, Tracey is really sweet and very helpful! I feel so fortunate to be traveling with this group of people! Everyone is so kind and we are all helping each other quite a bit! I can't wait to go shopping and bargaining with the Jersey girls. Emily has hooked up with one of the other moms, Temple who is a professional shopper and retailer and they both making big plans for purse shopping!
Emily and I went to bed around 6:30 PM last night as we were just exhausted! I didn't sleep at all Monday night, we lost Tuesday night completely and by Wednesday evening I was whipped! I fell asleep watching CNN instantly! I am really glad that I bought 2 DVD players as most of the TV here in Beijing is in Chinese. Emily and I had breakfast at 6:30am and walked around our hotel! This is the first time in our lives that we are morning people! We found McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, Subway, and the shopping market! They say it is very safe here and we are free to roam around! There are lots of police and guards standing on street-corners. We are fascinated watching how many workers in China march together in and out of the different buildings in formation! It is a bit intimidating but we are getting use to it already! We get a lot of 2nd looks and I am sure they are trying to figure out if Emily is Chinese or not, which she isn't she is Vietnamese and then what is she doing with me. Interestingly enough we have seen very few children in Beijing so far! Today we are touring the Temple of Heaven and some local attractions. The kids are all swimming this afternoon and our group will get pizza tonight for dinner!
We are doing great and thanks for all the prayers, support, and encouragement! Thanks for the letters Cricket! We read them over Siberia. Only 3 more days until we meet Abigail!
