Welcome to China!

---

Hello!
In case you're wondering what's up and why we haven't posted anything since we got here...well, the answer is: we did, but for some reason it failed to post on the website, and we only now just discovered it. So...yeah, we lost our first day's journal! Aaargh! Not good.

OK, well, we have to get going soon so this will be quick: We've never gone overseas for vacation before, so this is pretty exciting. Flying over and landing in a foreign country, especially one like China, is a pretty big adventure for us! Our flight to Beijing on Thursday was pretty uneventful, but flying 13 hours to start off a trip is not fun! We've never really been trained to sleep sitting upright, and that is a very useful skill to have when flying internationally in coach! But, praise G for a good first night's rest.

Beijing is definitely an international city...there's English everywhere: on billboards, store signs, t-shirts, menus, etc. Feels almost like we're in Monterey Park or Chinatown. Some of the English is pretty hilarious and at least, strange! In a silk factory yesterday, we felt like telling the manager..."You know, on that sign, I think you mean 'nature', not 'hature'..."

Food has been less than remarkable. Maybe we were just expecting so much more! "What better place to have Chinese food than in China??" you would think. Well...it's been average at best, and some of it has not really measured up to Torrance standards! We ought to be grateful for what we have back home...it's actually quite good! We do have a "Beijing duck dinner" tonight (which we keep hearing about over and over again) so maybe it will be something to write home about! Nevertheless, we're very grateful that our meals are taken care of here in Beijing, so we don't have to think about where to go (starting Monday, however, we will).

One pretty funny (but a little disgusting) story: at dinner last night, some local "gentleman" went into the restroom, and because the door was opened, we could hear him hacking up something. Sounded like he had something stuck in his throat. The really funny/disgusting thing was that he was really LOUD and he kept doing it (like 10 times!), and after the 2nd time, the entire room fell silent. We were stunned as we all listened, and then...slowly, everyone began to put down their forks and chopsticks, with that look on their faces of "OK, that's it, I'm done! Let's go!" :-( Not a good way to end the night. I (Godfrey) was still hungry so as everyone got up to leave, I finished my last bowl of spicy beef over rice. I wasn't going to waste it!!

Off to buffet breakfast now, and chrch service at the Beijing International Chrstn Flwship, and then the Great Wall! Will post more tomorrow!

G&S

---

Photos

SFO
Meeting up with some of the families in our travel group (most from the West Coast)

Comments

[emily]

stacey looks so small and cute in the grp pictures!! hope the duck dinner goes well :)

[Ashley F.]

YEA for SARAH!!!
Sunday was really empty without you! Just to let you know that you are in our prayers and we wish you a safe journey home. I can't believe you already have Sarah! (Time zone sure makes this confusing sometimes.) Time flies very quickly! Can't wait to read about your first days with Sarah and I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE SARAH!!!

[Karri and Aminah]

Too Funny
I totally forgot about the guy at dinner. I remember almost losing my own meal, I can't believe you finished up as others were leaving. I'm just going through and reliving China. Thanks for the memory. Karri F.