In Beijing...should be sleeping

We made it to Beijing! The flight was LONG, but not bad. When we
checked into the Chicago flight, we asked if we could have bulkhead
seating or if there was an extra seat that we could use to accommodate
Seth, and they put the three of us in a row of five seats to
ourselves! It was wondreful. Seth required MUCH entertainment, and he
only slept about 4 hours on the plane. It never got dark outside as we
crossed the International Date line and found ourselves propelled into
the next morning without having had night. That really messes with
your body, let me tell you! Seth is actually the reason why I'm up
now. It's 11 p.m. here, and I'm exhausted and would happily go back to
sleep if he weren't so lout and happy to be awake. We knew jet jet lag
would be a challenge with him!

We haven't seen much of Beijing yet, just the ride from the airport to
the hotel, which is really nice. It's the Temple of Heaven Holiday
Inn, and it's only 2 years old. Down pillows and comforters,
everything's clean, lovely staff.

Our friend Brad met us at the airport along with AHH staff person
Jasmine. Brad has been living in BJ for 10 years, and is fluent in
Mandarin. Last night our group was on its own for the evening, and
Brad took us to a local restaurant for really good food and a nice walk
by a fruit market (I can still smell the strawberries!) and other
vendors. We turned a lot of heads, especially Seth. He is a celebrity
here, and everyone tries to get his attention and coax a smile out of
him. He's almost always happy to accommodate!

Tomorrow we will visit the Great Wall, a jade place, and the Summer
Palace. Brad's apartment is only 15 minutes from the Summer palace, so
we will break off from the group and spend some time in his home and
maybe meet some of his friends. Then we'll take a taxi back to the hotel.

China is a wonderful, mysterious country, and my heart is very soft
toward her people. They are lovely.

Love,
Jody
only 2 more days until we meet Lily!!! (It's now after midnight...)

P.S. I kept seeing "Lily" signs on the way here, one of them literally
a street sign on the way to the airport that read "Lily Rd", and one
of the characters in our in-flight movie was name Lily. Crazy, huh? jf