Hello from Beijing!

We have connected with my sister Lisa and my nephew Drew and are in our fabulous apartment in Beijing!!!  So, we are now a party of 8 until our friends Melanie and David and their crew arrive shortly, then we will be a tour group of 14 with our very own ‘coaster’ (minibus) and our very nice guide, Doyle, and our driver (whose name I will need to learn tomorrow).  It is pretty cold here, though there is only an occasional patch of leftover snow around, as opposed to the 3 feet or so piled up back home.  I hope everyone is warm and well and that the power (and Internet) are staying on for you!

 

We are celebrating (well, actually everyone but me is sleeping, so we are celebrating very quietly) 24 hours without a major tantrum!  We have changed tactics and are taking a firmer approach with Maya Mei when we see she is winding up.  We also had about 30 minutes with our guide on the way to the airport to have her translate and explain some things to Maya, ask some questions and let her know what some of our expectations for her behavior are.  I think she is feeling more comfortable now that she is getting to better understand the boundaries in our family (after crossing all of them several times).  The flight was pretty good and uneventful except that Maya got sick to her stomach and vomited after landing – I think because of a trip to the restroom during some turbulence on the descent.  Poor dear!  Thankfully everything was contained in the provided bag and she felt better after that.

 

The apartment here is large and will be great for our week long stay here.  Plenty of room to spread out and floor space to play. I think that the location is very good!  We are not near the city center, but we are across from Chaoyang Park and in an area with lot of restaurants and shops to walk to – a place where Beijingers really live and work – not touristy at all.  And if the warm-up of booms and crackles tonight are any indication, we will be in for a huge amount of fireworks Saturday night as we bring in the Year of the Tiger in Beijing! 

 

I am now attempting to place an online grocery order from Jenny Lou’s grocery store so that we will be stocked with provisions over the holiday.  We have a small kitchen with a washer/dryer combo machine that I am going to try to figure out momentarily so that everyone can have clean things to wear tomorrow.

 

I will leave you with one last photo from Guangzhou which I took in the women’s bathroom at the airport.  Sorry, but this translation was too funny not to share!

 

Next photo upload will be of the Great Wall!

 

Laura Beth