Our flight, arrival and first day in Nanqiao

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It was a LONG trip, but we made it! It took 26 hrs from the time we left home until we arrived at our Chinese "home." Our flight in Chicago was delayed because they had to do some repairs, but I won't complain, I'm always thankful that they find these problems and fix them while we are on the ground!
The plane wasn't full, so the seat next to us was empty and we were able to sprawl out and relax a little better than usual. By the way, if anyone is ever flying from US to Asia, check out Airgorilla.com. I booked our flight through them and saved $700 for the exact same flights we had last time.
Leah had gotten a new camera before we left, a Panasonic Lumix ZS3 (it's a fantastic camera!), and took LOTS of cloud pictures from the plane!
It was just Jim waiting to greet us this time, which I was very glad of! We got to go to the apt, eat and go to bed. The next day, we went out to breakfast and to the grocery store, as the cupboards were quite bare since Jim doesn't cook for himself. It was sooooo much easier to go shopping this time knowing what to expect! Leah still had fun taking pictures in the store, but not as many as last time! I don't remember if I mentioned last trip about the interesting potato chip flavors - french chicken, lychee, mango, lime, kiwi??? Leah chose the plain ones!
That evening (Sat), we went to dinner with Jim's boss and his family. We went to a restaurant in "the country" where they supposedly grow all of their own veggies. It had a lake and looked very pretty, but it was dark, so we couldn't really see much (it gets dark about 6PM here). We'll have to go back in the daytime sometime. They had a different way of ordering than I had seen last time, they had plates on display with the pictures of the dishes you could order. They also had the live seafood to select from, including hairy crabs (their claws were hairy, not the whole crab), which I guess are a specialty around here this time of year. There was a beautiful wood carving in the lobby, it probably stood 8 feet high and had running horses. I wish I could have found out what kind of wood it was.
We went to a "foreigner party" at the Yuhua Hotel which Jim learned about from some new friends. It was in their Executive Lounge and they had a full buffet set up and a Philipino man playing American oldies music. We met Jim's friends who are from Massachusetts and had an enjoyable evening.
Other than that, we have been out for dinner at a familiar place, doing school, and trying to get our schedules adjusted! Last night was our 6th night here and I finally got a full night's sleep! Jetlag is NO fun!

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Photos

Clouds
Looks like a distant snow covered mountain range!

Dragon statue
This is in front of GE near our apt and stands about 25-30 feet tall.

"Menu"
Display of dishes available

Comments

[Deb]

The Wood
Most of the wood in the orient is teak - maybe you could ask?

[Kari]

Hi!
So glad to see you arrived safely, Linda! It is easier the 2nd time, when things are more familiar, isn't it? When we went back to Germany, it felt like we had never left (though it's been an even shorter time lapse for you, hasn't it?).

[covemom]

Good to hear from you!
Thanks Kari, yes, we were only back home for a little over 3 months.