We're Here!!

It was a LONG flight .... a really long flight, but we finally made it. Poor Sawyer. He sat next to a sweet Asian couple on the flight from Newark to Beijing and the man threw up the entire flight. He started before we even lifted off and continued for the next 13 hours. So, the flight may have seemed really long to me, but I can't imagine how long if must have felt for that poor man. Sawyer collected barf bags for him and the wife, who didn't speak a word of english, gave him all of her husband's meals. The airline meals ... that's another story.

I thought we might not make it to the hotel. I'd heard stories about the driving, but it's absolutely CRAZY to experience it. Bicyclists, cars, pedestrians all fighting for the right of way. Horns are blowing non-stop, but noone seems to be irrate or upset. One car came perpendicular across four lanes of traffic to get to one of the toll booths and we were literally an inch away from the car driving parallel to us. Mike joked that he was going to knock on his window to say hello.

We had dinner this evening at a local restaurant and we were the only non-Asians in the place. Trying to order our meals was an experience in itself and the waiters spoke no english. We selected our entrees from some poor-quality photographs so we had no idea what we were ordering. We sampled all three dishes but still have no idea what we ate. I'm guessing that one was some kind of squid or baby octopus (it was chewy), one had seaweed and some kind of delicacy fungus, and the other had chicken and something slippery in it. Three meals, plus a beer, a softdrink and a bottled water costs us 56 RMB -- that's a whopping $7.57. And the waiter refused to take our tip and actually chased us as we were leaving to return it. Sawyer is LOVING Beijing and everyone has been so friendly.

to Sullivan and Hagan

We miss you both terribly and as soon as we can get our photos to upload, you'll be able to see pictures from China. It's only 8pm and we're all heading to bed because we didn't get much sleep on the plane. Love you guys SOOO much!! I'll write again tomorrow after we tour the Great Wall.

love, Mom