Safe and Sound

Well, that couldn't have been much easier! The most difficult thing probably was trying to get Jameson to wake up and stay awake. He was totally unconscious on this last flight and in a stupor even as we got off the plane. All our flights were on schedule, our seat assignments worked out just fine, we got off the plane in Beijing and all our luggage was there on the carousel, we scooted right through the three normal checkpoints and immediately found, Sherry, our AWAA guide for the next few days. She loaded us in a van and while the driver took us to our hotel, she gave us a quick orientation . . .

> Stay out of dark alleys at night.
> Don't drink the water in the hotel.
> The ice at Pizza Hut and KFC is from America so the soft drinks there should be safe.
> If people approach you to practice their English, be sure to cut them off before they get to the part about needing money.
> There's a WalMart right next door to the hotel.
> We don't want to go to the Blue Zoo aquarium tomorrow since it is at least an hour's taxi ride.
> Rush hour on weekdays lasts from 6 AM to 10 PM. (Based on what we observed tonight, I think this was a slight exaggeration.)

. . . and so on. She was very helpful and speaks excellent English.

Our rooms at the Radisson are adjacent to one another and are pretty nice. Several interesting aspects to them, of course, such as the fact that you have to use your room key to turn on the lights in the room. The beds, as we expected, are small. Each room has two beds that are somewhere between a twin and a double. Tonight, it won't matter at all. We're so tired, our heads are spinning. But it could be worse. At baggage claim we met a family who is also adopting through AWAA and they had left from VIRGINIA on Wednesday morning. They were zombies in the true sense of the word.

Internet access at the hotel is a piece of cake and it looks like I'm able to post photos to the blog. However, I'm not able to actually SEE my own blog so I'll have to take it on faith that the picture I just inserted of Jamey and me is now on there and nothing is formatted too horribly.

So the trip is off to a great start. Thanks for your support and prayers!