Day 1 - Jim

Day  1

Just to clarify, Renee is posting things from her perspective each day and I am posting from mine.  If things are a little opposite from each other that is because we do not think quite the same.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but whenever there is a difference of opinion Renee knows better to agree with me and all is well. :}

Woke up at 3 am Friday November 18^th, 2011 and headed out to the airport at 9am.  The week leading up to this trip has been a blur.  Knowing that you have to live your life in the present, but then you are going to literally be on the other side of the planet in the near future, leaving 12 kids behind is surreal.  The kids were very sad to see Renee go, but they did not seem to care too much that I was going too…hmmm.  Connected thru Detroit with a 5 hour layover.  We walked back and forth along the terminal a number of times hoping that the exercise will make up the difference of not moving for 15 hours straight.  We departed for China at 8 pm and arrived at 11 am est in Beijing.  If I slept for more than 3 hours total throughout the 27 hour travel, that would be a kind estimate.  Nothing like not being able to stretch out your legs for hours at a time (I guess that is why they invented first class).  The great thing is since there is a 12 hour time difference in China compared to us on the east coast I am now waking up at 5 pm est already.   Beijing was uneventful arriving, and we were blessed to find the shuttle bus to the hotel within minutes.  The Beijing Hilton is very nice, and since I slept for about 3 hours at the hotel, we figured it cost us about $75 per hour to stay.  The first eating experience at the hotel was very good, however, we could not eat most anything since there was a lot of fresh fruit and veggies and those are known to get you nice and sick at times while traveling.  It’s like the kid looking thru the glass at the candy store.   It seems that most everything was fried too.  Even the bread was fried.   I have notice a lot of KFC’s here, so fried food must be very popular.  Yes, that was  Kentucky Fried Chicken {but I think here it is Kentucky Fried Cat}  In fact I asked  one of the cooks to heat up potatoes for Renee so I am thinking microwave or put them on the stove and just heat them up.  What did he do?  Yep, fried them.  Renee did like them though. Anyway, since we are just getting started on this trip, that is most all of what has happened so far.  The plan for Day 2 is that we fly to a city called Jinan and stay at a hotel there for the week.  We will either meet Samuel today or tomorrow.  Renee is getting excited, I am focused on getting us to the next place…..