Hello from Beijing!

The landing only caused a few people in the plane to vomit, thank goodness it wasn't us. A few of the kids traveling with their parents were sick on other flights. uggh. I was so glad to get off the plane. The internet is spotty at best in Beijing and of course our blog is blocked, but fear not I am getting this to you regardless. Pictures will be the next challenge, but as we are leaving at 6 tomorrow they will come later. We were told the intra-country weight limit is per person, and since Tessa technically isn't with us her bag doesn't count. We were under on our bags, but her bag added about 20 pounds to our overall amount which still pushes us over. I have no idea how this will work itself out - 44 pounds per person, what a joke. Luckily we aren't the only family with this dilemma.

We have met all the families, many who brought children they had adopted previously or their biological children. The rooms at the hotel are small, I can't quite imagine a family of 4+ in a room with two single beds (no I am not kidding) but they are working it out. Our group has 3 different areas of China to go pick up children, so we will split up for 5 days.

Beijing was a whirlwind - we toured all day Saturday and seriously it was way too much. We left at 8:30 and got back at 8:30. We visited Tiananman Square, The Forbidden City and The Great Wall. The line to see Chairman Mao's body was about 2 miles long if not longer. Our guide (Micheal, after Micheal Jordan) said they move you through it so quickly he isn't sure if it is real or not. Apparently you aren't allowed to get very close. The Square and the City were absolutely packed with people. We could barely hear Micheal as he gave history on the places. The locals were taking pictures of us, and they were especially fond of the kids. The blond boys got a lot of attention. The locals were posing their kids with them, literally posing, arms placed around them.

On our way to lunch the bus driver avoided traffic by going down the wrong way on a street. The traffic in general is insane, there is all manner of people going places in all manners of ways. It is a bit disconcerting to see lots of traffic coming directly toward you, even if we are the biggest vehicle.

The Great Wall was absolutely incredible to see and you don't realize how hard this must have been to build until you see it. The section we went to had a climb started straight up, no gradual increase. I was totally sucking wind in spots. Only one family made it to the top of the wall where is leveled out - a father and daughter super duo, they were practically running - sickos. The stairs are all different rises and worn in areas and cracking in areas. Will and I went a little more than half way to the high point before I called it quits. This is steep people, and clearly required some training beforehand.

On to the next city.