I am in China!

Ni hao, or, hello from China!

After a long day of airports and planes I have arrived in China and have finished day one. On the ride to Chicago I was filled with excitement and anticipation. We were all ready and still in shock over the fact that would soon be half way acoss the planet. In Chicago we met up with the Wiaconsin bunch and a few of the Discovery staff. After a quick run to get our last American Mc Donalds for 2 weeks we boarded the plane and were off to China. With the help of some Tylonol PM I was asleep for almost 10 of the 13 hour flight. Getting off of the plane I experienced the first of many culture shocks. Every single sign and billboard was filled with these crazy Chinese symbols. Tonight we had an introductory session and they explained that Manderan consists of over 4000 characters. Anyways, after passing through customs and getting our luggage we arrived at the hotel. We had a little time to freshen up and then met up with the California kids and the DSA staff for an introduction. This upcoming Chinese adventure will undoubtably be increadible and I am glad that you are there for me to share it with.

Dinner tonight was deffinately an experience. Our group had our own private room and the 12 kids sat together at a table. The lazy susan infront of us was filled at every point durring our feast with almost 20 different dishes. I tried everything. The meal consisted of the normal like soup, rice, noodles, to the extreme. We had shrimp with the eyes still on it, some weird beef dish, squid, lamb, and even asparugus. The Chinese food here is not like home, its a lot spicier and much more exotic but doesn't taste that bad. After dinner we went to head to bed so I am going yo do that. We have a busy day tomorrow with Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, and some Ping Pong. Wan an (Good Night)