Thoughts in the Beijing Airport

Here's something that Ben wrote in the Beijing Airport after we arrived--



This might not get posted until a few days later when we get internet, but Mallory and I are resting in the Beijing airport before our next flight. It's currently 3:48 AM. We arrived around 11 PM and have to wait until 6:45 to board our flight to Zhengzhou. Throughout this journey (which I calculated has been roughly 9000 miles so far), nothing has been so impacting to me as staying in this foreign airport for the night.

To give you a little background, I had to get my first passport this summer. I've never left America before right now, though I've always wanted to. When we arrived, English almost entirely ended. Though there are English translations of major checkpoints, all the little things are in Chinese. For those of you who've traveled out of the country before, this might not sound like a big deal, but it's been a bit disorienting for me. To think I am now in a world where a five year old has a wider array of words to choose from in everyday speech.

When we arrived, we had a luggage question, and spent about fifteen minutes trying to tackle the language barrier with three young men who only remembered a few words of English from school. The most interesting part about the entire conversation was when I recognized my frustration at them not knowing English and thought that perhaps they have the same frustration at my puny Chinese.

Mallory was able to sleep here and there on flights and in between, but I've had a difficult time forcing myself to do the same. As it stands, I've probably had an hour and a half total sleep in the past 32 hours. Not to mention the aches and pains of sitting on a plane for 14 hours and the pang of having irregularly timed meals.

But we're happy. Just after we arrived, we were pushing our eight pieces of luggage around (on carts, luckily) looking for a restroom, while I said every two minutes, "Xie xie, bu yao." [No, thank you] to people who offered us hotel rooms a few minutes from the airport. Through all of this busyness, all I could think was that I was overjoyed to have a partner to share this adventure with.

Go with God, friends. He's going with us.

5 Hours to Take Off

As Ben and I sit in our friend's living room watching the news of Hurricane Irene, we are realizing how many pissed off people we are going to have to deal with at the airport. Luckily we are flying west to Tokyo, so we don't have to really worry about the weather, unlike the people with tickets for the 6,000 cancelled flights out of Atlanta.

I really can't believe we will be leaving the US for so long. I've been making sure that, these last few days, I've eaten as many of the foods that we won't have in China as possible. Oh pizza, I shall yearn for thee. The last installment will be a Starbucks chai tea latte before we get on the plane.

Hopefully we can let you know when we get to Tokyo, and I'm hoping to find that they really do serve lobster in the Japan McDonalds....

Location:atlanta

Packing Up

The big day (after the previous Big Day, of course!) is approaching steadily. Mal and I have everything laid out in the living room, and we're stuffing everything into space bags and hoping we don't forget anything. We have our travel visas now, so all we have left is to get on the plane and fly off. We're still figuring out what our internet situation will be over there, but we should get everything worked out in the first week. Then we'll be updating the blog at least once a week with pictures. Also, we'll be sending out an email to those who want it just talking about our experiences in Kaifeng.

I've included some pictures of us packing to give you an idea of how much fun we're having!

The Final Countdown

We are officially under three weeks until the big day.  Now is the time for the last-minute details, like printing the programs (dealing with technology is always an *interesting* experience in my parents' house) and getting groomsmen measurements.  Meanwhile, Ben and I finalized our travel plans for getting our happy little married selves to China.  We will fly out of Atlanta at 1:45 on Saturday, August 27, and from there we go through Tokyo (Ben is thrilled!), Beijing (spending the night :/), and Zhengzhou.  Praise truffles, we got economy comfort seats for the 14-hour stretch, so Ben won't be smelling his knee caps all the way to Japan.  I have to admit, it was a little terrifying to commit to the "purchase" button.  But we've done it, and we are so excited!  We've been studying Chinese phrases in the car, repeating them to each other until they embed themselves into memory.  I think our favorite right now is Qing gahn kwigh, which means, Please hurry!  That's Ben's sentiments when it comes to the wedding day... Please hurry!  His feet are warm and ready to be married.  (Personally I think he's just itching to go to Disney World and walk around with Mickey ears on his head :p)