We Made It!

So we survived the flight to Beijing fairly well, thankfully!  Several kids/babies were on the plane, and every time one would cry out Mom and I would say - "that's going to be us soon" - ha!
Our sweet guide, Cissy, met us at 12:45AM at the airport with flowers.  On the ride over to the hotel, we talked about the size of Beijing (20 million registered inhabitants, but it's hard to get registered, so many more than that) and the size of cities in the USA. 

Cissy told us that she had once read that in America it was rare for people to see other people when they were out "walking on the road" - so that when they saw someone they would be very friendly and wave to the other person.  She also explained that in Beijing people are used to being crowded and they don't really greet each other like that.  Mom and I laughed and said that people are generally friendly, especially in smaller towns, but that in the bigger American cities it can be pretty busy/unfriendly too.  When I told her that I had grown up in a town of 20,000, she seemed pretty amazed.

After we got to the hotel, she told us to please be ready to go tomorrow at 8:30 for our full day of sightseeing!  Mom had just finished telling me that she hoped the guide would give us a break since we were getting in so late...but no breaks in China!  We must press on!!!


Here is mom at the Beijing Airport!















Skyping with David!