Our trip

We are having internet problems!  Our hotel has free internet, but we couldn't get it to communicate with our computer.  Then we took the computer over to the Wrights' apartment (our next-door neighbors last year) and had the same problem.  So we probably won't be able to connect with our own computer anywhere in China.  Right now I'm in my friend Poppy's dorm room using hers.  Tim's best guess is that when he set up our Verizon DSL account on our computer, it somehow reconfigured the internet settings.  Sigh.  So there is a good chance this blog will remain pictureless until we get back to the U.S.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, does the following description of our trip qualify as a picture?

 

Travel:

 

The 13 1/2 hour flight from Washington Dulles airport to Beijing was, well, 13 1/2 hours of sitting in cramped quarters trying to sleep at times our biological clocks said we should be awake.  The most memorable part of the trip was looking down from the window at the back of the plane and seeing the sea ice covering the Arctic ocean!  Another interesting tidbit is that we were in the very last row of seats on the plane.  The disadvantage was that people tend to congregate right behind that area, and one very chatty lady did so, talking animatedly with a new friend for three or four hours.  The advantage was that we could recline our seats all the way back without worrying about the people behind us.  So the flight wasn't too uncomfortable.

 

We arrived into Beijing's gigantic new terminal.  The red pillars outside the expansive glass walls are a nice touch, and we were generally impressed with the signage and with the airport train that whirred us off from our terminal of arrival to the place where we picked up our luggage.  The new terminal is further from the old one than I had expected, though; we drove through suburbia on a shuttle bus to get to the old terminal where our connecting flight to Jinan was to depart.  NOTE TO PROSPECTIVE ADOPTION TRAVELLERS IN CHINA: China has banned all liquids on domestic flights.  That includes water-filled pacifiers.  Naturally, we realized this AFTER checking in our checked bags, where we had carefully stowed all the small liquids and lotions that we had carried with us on the international flight.  Fortunately, they allowed us to check one of our carry-ons with the offending pacifiers inside, and the only cost was a little wasted time.

 

After a not-too-tedious layever, we boarded our plane for the one-hour hop to Jinan.  Beijing's smog, which had been noteworthy even upon our arrival, had gotten steadily worse throughout our layover.  I wouldn't quite call it pea soup, but it was definitely low visibility.  Apparently, because of this, the airport was clearing planes for takeoff at longer intervals than usual.  So after boarding with plenty of time to spare and buckling ourselves into our seats--which were obediently locked into a very uncomfortable upright position--we proceeded to spend the next hour sitting in line on the runway.  We finally took off at the time we were supposed to land, and made it to Jinan without further incident.  The taxi driver we ended up with on our way into Jinan was a very friendly fellow who could have a second career as a Chinese language teacher.  He was interested in talking to us, spoke slowly, and was able to rephrase his sentences if I didn't understand them the first time around.  So we had a nice conversation, and I was pleased to find that my Chinese isn't about the same level as it was before I left.  (I have been getting lessons from my friend Grace in Maryland.)  Poor Poppy had been waiting for us at the hotel for an hour, having shown up at the time we were supposed to arrive.  She thoughtfully brought us two bags of rolls, a whole peeled pineapple, and a hand of bananas, which came in handy when we woke up early and ravenous the next morning!