China Days One Two

Day One
Most of yesterday is a blur. We were so tired from not sleeping the night before and then not being able to sleep on the plane. Both flights were really good. We lucked out on our long flight with having a vacant seat in our row. We watched a lot of movies and read a little but mostly just stared at the little plane with the dotted line showing our flight pattern and length of trip left to go. I did really well until about five hours out. I finally turned on a really boring movie and curled up on my seat and the empty one beside us a slept about two ours.
I want to thank each of you who were covering us in prayers all day. I was really apprehensive about the travel part. I know many prayers were sent up because other than our initial departure from the kids I was at total peace all day....not one little bit of anxiety or apprehension. I know it came from God alone.
When arrived in Beijing we had no trouble receiving our baggage and found customs to be a breeze. We lucked up and had a flight with a couple from Nashville who are also part of our group. After claiming our baggage we had to enter the main part of the airport and find our guide. You can't even imagine how large the airport is. Our guide said it is the second largest in the world with Atlanta being the first. There were thousands of people and hundreds trying to get their attention. Our guide had a sign and we were able to locate her right away. Once we met up with the three other families who arrived at about the same times as us we headed to the hotel. Normally the hotel is twenty minutes away , but because of rush hour it took about two hours! We ended the long day by going next door to a noodle restaurant. Luckily the menu had pictures and all we had to do was point. I am not the greatest fan of chinese food so imagine how much trouble I had using chopsticks. Just when I was about to give up an older gentlemen walked over with a big grin on his face and handed me a fork! Craig thought that was so funny.

Day Two
Our morning started at around 3:30. We had slept about seven hours and were ready to get up. We got ready and waited for the breakfast buffet to open at 6:30. We enjoyed breakfast with a couple from our group. Around 9:00 we departed for a tour of Tian'am Square and the Forbidden City. Both were interesting. We were amazed at the shear volume of people who were there. We compared it to how Americans would tour D.C. Only there were soooo many more. The weather was nice- around 80 degrees with a nice breeze.

The highlight of our day was the Hutong rickshaw tour and lunch at the home of a local family. I wish I could describe this in detail but words just wouldn't do it justice. We wound through small alleys until we got to the home. We were then invited in two a small room with two tables. The son who appeared to be in his early twenties just kept bringing out plates of good family style. It was all delicious. I told Craig that I imagined it to be our equivalent of comfort food-  beans, cornbread, mashed potatoes, etc. Fun fact: the family raised and raced pigeons! Our guide told us there were over one hundred in this large cage type thing on the roof. After that tour we headed back to the hotel which is where we are now. It is 3:19 in the evening. I am not sure what we will do for the rest of the evening.