Day 1 - The Longest Day

Mom and I left LAX at midnight on Friday and arrived in Guangzhou at 6:20 AM on Sunday. Thank goodness we bought business class seats. Not because business class was so fantastic, but because steerage was brutal. People were packed into tiny seats like rush hour commuters on a Tokyo commuter train. At least we had some room to stretch and decent food.

I'd like to say the flight was great but that would be a lie. 16 hours on a plane is a long, long time. We both felt like we had been hit by trucks about 10 hours in. More specifically, I felt like someone had rammed a puffer fish up my nose and then scared him into full puff mode. Thankfully, as soon as we landed our heads began to feel a bit more normal.

We saw a beautiful sunrise as we landed that seemed a harbinger of both better things to come and incredibly dense pollution. A haze hangs over the city so thick and persistent you begin to wonder if everything around you could breakfree of the earth and float gently across the Pacific.

Our bags arrived safely and we breezed through customs. The US Asian Affairs (USAA) China team was waiting for us with a bus. We began to believe everything we had heard about how great the China team is as they efficiently rounded us up and guided us aboard. On the bus Norman (the head of USAA) regaled us with info about the week ahead and about past groups. He also told us that only 7 families from 117 made this trip b/c many were missing key paperwork. The rest wont get to go until May. Thank goodness Steph is organized...

The Baiyun hotel has been a nice surprise. Our room is small but nice and we are all together on the newly remodeled 19th floor. After showering and changing we all met at 10:30 for Dim Sum. The resataurant was great but quite honestly the best places in LA are as good if not better!

The rest of the day was spent shopping while half asleep and snacking. We are supposed to try and stay awake until 9 or 10 to adjust to our new schedules. The BIG news of the day is that we will get Naomi TOMORROW!!!!

We can't believe it and still don't feel totally prepared but it will be a wonderful day. I just wish Steph, Ethan, Carol, Dad and Andrew could be here with us. We miss you all already.... Love Grant