Arrival

Well, we made it. We had the slowest check in lady ever (40 minutes to process our bags), got snapped at by TSA for one of their mistakes, couldn’t get wireless on the flight, and got very little sleep…but we are here!

EvaKate did incredible…she’s such a trooper! She slept on me a good chunk of the flight and is going non stop at the moment while I just want a nap.

Our hotel in Beijing is great. Everyone speaks English and is very accommodating, the room is nice and spacious too. It’s very beautiful and ornate.

Beijing is very…communist.  Kind of dingy and very industrial. There are parts that are nice, and some where you can tell capitalism is alive and well by the large impressive skyscrapers. But overall you see the cookie cutter concrete apartment buildings that look like they were built in 1970 and haven’t been painted since then.  I’m having Ukraine flashbacks. There definitely seems to be an upper class and a lower class, but not much in between from the little I’ve seen. And the pollution is intense, everything is hazy even though the sun is out. It gives the city a certain gloominess,

Our guide was completely content to greet us and send us right into a van to not see us again until 7:30am when our Beijing day of fun begins.  I’m thankful for our overseas experiences that have helped us be prepared for the unexpected.

But as much as I’m prepared, it’s a bit more exhausting than it was a lot of years ago. I’m a bit homesick already, and really missing my boys.

I’m hoping meeting up with our friends tomorrow and a good nights sleep will help my resiliency, which is feeling rather lacking right now.

I’m also looking forward to getting to Shanghai. Being in the same city as our girl, and being able to feel a bit more settled.