Welcome to China

Well, we made it. Our route: 1.45 hr. car ride from parents' house to East coast airport. 6 hr. plane ride from east coast to west coast. 10 hr. lay-over in West Coast Airport. 12.5 hr. plane ride from West coast to Seoul. 4 hr. layover in Seoul. 2.25 hr. plane ride from Seoul to Guangzhou. 2 hr. van ride from airport to seaside city.

Did I mention that we brought our cat along for this journey? And that we had enough luggage for 4 people?

Holy crap. We are t-i-r-e-d.

But, we made it. And it's really cool -- and more than a little surreal -- to be in China. For so long now, we've been looking forward to this, and now we are here. In the short time that we've been here, we've already experienced some of the funny-odd things that we've read about: Chinese yelling "hello, hello" at us (maybe the only English words they know?); terror-inspiring cab rides (our last cabbie seemed to be practicing his formula one racing skills); 'different' food experiences (D's dad digging into a seemingly 'normal' bowl of soup only to find a chicken foot).

The biggest difference, of course, is the communication issue. In some ways it is very liberating not to be able to speak or read the language. Someone talking about me? Who cares! I can't tell. Annoying tee vee commercial? Who cares! It's all funny to me when I can't figure out what's being said. Too many options on a restaurant menu? No problem -- just point to one -- don't know what's what anyway (and isn't the surprise part of the fun?!). Being me, I did have D's dad write out in Chinese the characters for "Caution" and "Warning" -- I might not know what the danger in any situation is, but at least I'll know to pay attention. You do what you can.

Tomorrow I meet one of my new colleagues. I am very excited, as she seems really nice. She's from New Zealand, and I could listen to her talk all day -- great accent!

Tomorrow's challenge: get a mobile phone. And not freak out when I see someone on a bicycle with 30 or so live chickens strapped to it.