Hey Ya'll

Hey Ya'll,

Our first day in Beijing was surprisingly fun. I still can't believe we are actually here and I have to keep reminding myself of what we are doing! We don't really know what to expect, so we are just going with the flow (ok, trying) and we have been surprised. After 8 hours of deep sleep on a piece of plywood (I guess they like hard beds, kind of nice) we headed down to the breakfast buffet. It was great with lots of western and eastern choices. Spring rolls for breakfast. Mmm. And great coffee! I lugged a bunch of Starbucks over here just in case and have not had to pull it out...yet!

We met the other families in the lobby to go on a tour of the Great Wall, lunch, and visit Hutong Lane. It was so nice to meet the other families and know that they are in the same boat as us. You know, nervous and excited all at the same time. Such nice families from Georgia, D.C, and Oregon. So, we boarded a bus for the wall and rode for about 1.5 hours while the guide gave us history and cultural info. Very interesting. It was freezing at the wall, but beautiful. We headed up the steep side to see how far we could get. I must admit, I thought I was in pretty good shape but I don't think I remember my heart ever pumping that hard! The air was very clear today due to the wind so we could get good views all around. We visited the "trinket" shop there to see what we could find. I spotted some painted scrolls that I thought would look nice in the house. Micah was all over the negotiating. We got two of them for less than they wanted for one. I think Micah was happy with himself judging by how many times he winked at me and started to walk away from the persistent sales people that continued to offer us the "best price".

Next we headed out for lunch where we sat at huge tables with lazy susans and shared lots of yummy dishes with a family from Atlanta. It was a nice meal and fun to try several different things. I should have taken a picture. Included in the lunch was a chance to shop at a huge store attached to the restaurant. They take tour buses there and hope that they will eat and shop but the prices are high. I had my eye on a jade bracelet that turned out to be $300! Whoa. I didn't know one would set me back that much! I think I'll wait till we get to Guangzhou. Back on the bus for a tour of the hutong. It is a neighborhood in the old part of Beijing and we got to ride in a rickshaw through the neighborhood and even visit a family in their home and ask questions about their life there. It was really cool. Micah could not stop laughing when we got into the rickshaw (we did not know that this was a feature of the tour until we got off of the bus and into the rickshaw) about Kramer's rickshaw scheme on Seinfeld.

Back at the hotel we had to do some paperwork preparation and Micah went on a run. I am about to pass out from lack of sleep and I can't wait to eat and go to bed. Tomorrow is orientation, lunch, and another tour. I can't believe that we meet Levi soon! I don't know what to think about that other than "OK God, here we go!"