Day 11

We started the day in Nanjing, and ended in Zhengzhou. What a long day.

Our morning was pretty slow, which is good and bad. We were ready to move on, ready to meet Seth, and ready to get out of our hotel room. At the same time, we're really enjoying being with Ruthie. 

We started the day with some reading and prayer together, which was nice. We were able to successfully pack all the souvenirs we bought, which is good. We packed light for our trip; a carry on bag for each of us, and then two smallish suitcases. Our bigger suitcase had a tire blowout, so we'll probably buy another one before we leave. 

In lieu of actual news, here's some random observations about China:

-a lot of people here smoke. I mean, a lot. Mostly older people, it seems, but they have no problems with smoking in public. Airports, train stations, hotel lobbies, we even got on an elevator with two people smoking. That's a big difference from what we are used to. The kids especially have hated being around it.

-we're surprised how much English is everywhere. In fact, here's a business tip for you. If you want to make a lot of money, print t-shirts with English words--any English words--and sell them in China. People will buy and wear a t-shirt that says anything in English, even if it doesn't make grammatical sense. We've been surprised by the fascination with English, but there's a lack of fascination with grammar. This is odd, because there are a lot of people who speak English here. After all this time, Anne and I theorize that the English they are using in stores, etc. must be more in line with Chinese grammar. So, maybe it makes sense to them, but it has provided some much needed laughs for us. 

-I think we've mentioned this before, but the traffic here is crazy. The lines on the road appear to be suggestions more than anything. What is especially surprising is the people on bikes and scooters. They zip in and out of cars, they ride on the sidewalk, and they don't obey any traffic laws. I can't imagine living here and owning a moped. I'd be dead within a week if I drove like they do.

In the afternoon, we flew to Zhengzhou, which was an experience. The airport was crowded, and right at the last minute, our gate changed. Everyone in line in front of us could understand the instructions, but we couldn't. So, we grabbed our stuff quickly and followed the crowd. As it turned out, we made it OK. We had to get on a bus to drive out to the tarmac and get on the plane. Let's just say our personal bubble is a lot bigger than the amount of space they allowed for us on the bus. But, we made it, and got on the plane. As we walked up the stairs onto the plane, I (Kris) was in the rear of our caravan. Some guy next to me kept pushing his way up to get in front of me, between me and the rest of the kids. It's pretty obvious that we were together, being the only Caucasians around, but still this guy kept jockeying for position on the stairs. I was like, "Really, dude? You want to get closer to the crazy train? Be my guest." Not sure where he thought he was going to go, but whatever. That's one thing we've noticed here. People will push you out of the way to get where they are going. There seems to be no unspoken etiquette about getting on and off elevators, subway cars, etc. When the doors open, people just go for it, not waiting to let people get off first. Seems counterproductive.

We weren't sure how Ruthie would do flying, but she loved it. She was totally hyped up, and kept pointing things out to Calla sitting next to her. She continues to amuse us. 

We got to ZZ without much incident, until we got to our hotel. We were tired, it was late, so you know something bad is going to happen. We were supposed to have one room with a King sized bed and one adjoining room with two doubles. Our adjoining room only had one double bed. Our guide thankfully was with us to help. They showed us to some other rooms, but they were going to try to put is in two rooms that were across the hall from each other. The rooms were bigger than the adjoining rooms, which was appealing, but we knew that trying to do naps in one room and work across the hall wouldn't work. So we went back to the adjoining rooms. Finally they brought an extra twin bed in, so we got everything settled. By this time, we were all tired. We ordered some food from the hotel restaurant, but Anne, Calla, and Ruthie fell asleep before it came.

One other weird feature of our room: Apparently a Japanese man lived here for a long time, and so they converted one of the bathrooms. We have one normal bath and one that has a sink and a washing machine in it. We thought this would be great to have, since we only packed clothes for a week, but the machine's instructions are all in japanese, so none of the staff knows how to use it. So, we're basically out a bathroom with 7 people. Good times.

As we drove into town from the airport, we passed by a giant ferris wheel. It's a good reminder that starting tomorrow, our lives are going to be even more like a circus than they are now...