Shanghai: Day 1

Well, we’ve officially survived our first day in China. Some of the highlights were taking an hour long bus ride to get to a friend’s house, shopping for necessities at the closest thing to Walmart that they have here, and eating our first Chinese meal. (At the restaurant, poor Dave had to settle for a sandwich. He’s allergic to peanuts, and I accidentally forgot to put Benadryl in my purse.) We also learned a few Chinese words and characters (including China—pictured here—Shanghai, east, and peanut).

We’re still feeling a little jet-lagged (especially Dave—he conked out at about 8 this evening). But tomorrow we’ll see more of the city and hopefully have time to post some great pictures.

Desiree

Off to China, or so we thought

On Thursday morning, bright and early, we lugged our suitcases over to GSP international airport to begin our journey to China. However, because of a delay the previous night, our flight was postponed until later in the afternoon (just late enough to miss our connecting flight in Detroit). All of this moved our flight to the next day, putting us in a hotel (which the airport paid for) and giving us a wonderful day of rest before our trip to China.

We had stayed up late Wednesday evening to try to get ourselves in sinc with Chinese standard time, so when we got to the hotel, we went straight to bed. Since then, we've been resting, reading, and blogging. It truly is a blessing to have a little down time after working so hard this week preparing for the move. Please continue to remember us as we travel tomorrow.

Desiree

Context is everything

Our dear friends the Snyders just sent us a nice Christmas-cum-going-away present: a montage of pictures taken over the entire eight-year course of our friendship. It was a sweet and thoughtful gift, and it contained some real gems, like the ones below. The four of us were at Navy Pier in Chicago and were trying on chapeaus in a funny-hat store. Desiree's picture was my favorite one . . . until she reminded me of what else it looked like.

Dave

Chinese Phrase of the Day

This is my new favorite Mandarin appelative; just call me Hong Hu Zhi. Literally, it means "Red Beard," which seems appropriate and innocent enough. Connotatively, however, "hong hu zhi" suggests a bandit or highwayman: such undesireables in the north of China often sport the namesake facial hair. At least, so I'm told by my friend from Harbin.