I'm back!

Oh yeah. In case anyone was wondering why I wasn't posting for a while, I had a good reason. I haven't been home. And actually, since the 13th, I've been in China.
CHINA! OH MY GOSH!
I've actually been there. After a year and a half of waiting, I finally went!
I guess today I'll write about the first day there, since writing about it all right now would give everyone a mental overload.
So. Here we go.

DAY ONE:

So, the night before I left I was an emotional basketcase. I was 100% sure that somehow or another I would mess everything up. Either that or miss the flight which would have been more merciful to me than the wrath of the Choir Managers. I ran around like crazy trying to get everything together, cleaning my room, and worrying that I'd miss my flight. I finally got to bed (at 2:00 AM) only to be awoken by Edison wandering around my room "looking for something" at 3:00. I then had to wake up at 4:30. I was really tired, but I didn't sleep in the car. I read All American Girl by Meg Cabot.
When we arrived at the airport I saw Ash. I was flipping out. Surprisingly, I didn't cry as I left. I was just really nervous.

The first flight (from Cleveland to Chicago) wasn't so bad. Then from Chicago to San Francisco wasn't bad. The only thing that sucked was San Francisco to Beijing. We're all sitting there (after we'd all gotten our seats situated) admiring all the hot guys (Seriously, there was an uncommon amount of hot guys. They were all together, but unfortunately they weren't in the choir that was with us on the plane.) when we hear over the PA "There is a slight problem, we'll be taxiing back to the gate and have it fixed in 10 minutes." 20 minutes later "Our technicians are working on the problem; they'll be done in 45 minutes." No air conditioning. 2 hours later. "We need to get the flight attendants back on the the plane. They'll be here in 10 minutes." We didn't leave for 5 hours, total. Pretty much the only good thing was the hot guys. We didn't even eat until 11:00 PM Ohio time. I skipped breakfast, too.

I slept for a while, also I talked to Ash. They showed some movies, and I watched the TV show Monk, which was pretty good. There was a cute little kid.
The food was the best I'd ever eaten, but only because I was so hungry I was going to barf. I didn't get airsick on the way there, but my ears didn't unpop until the next morning. Well, one wouldn't, anyway.

We ended up not flying over the North Pole, which we originally planned to do, and that was a bummer. I did see the Golden Gate bridge, though. I saw a lot of things from the plane, but I had no idea what they were. The Almighty Pilot didn't say, so I didn't know.

Either Will or TU kept spraying cologne. I told them that I had a lot of pent up aggression on account of being on a plane for so long, and I was going to take my aggression out on their collective faces. They kind of laughed. They also looked a little creeped out, but then again 8 hours on a plane doesn't do much for one's looks. I'm talking about me, of course. TU and Will didn't even look bad. Then again, they're boys. They always manage to look okay. A little wrinkled and junk, but still basically okay.

We got into China 5 hours later than planned (grrr) but I wasn't mad at the flight people, I was mad at the plane. It also kind of creeped me out that the flight attendant said, "We'll be landing in Beijing shortly, and remember, if we're forced to make a crash landing, leave everything behind." Considering I'd been staring out the window the entire time picturing the engine falling off of the wing, this was a bit disgruntling. Not only that, our plane was delayed because, oh yeah, the wing was leaking fuel. We didn't know this, of course, until we saw fire engines speeding down the runway.

About the time I saw the engines, I saw one of the baggage handlers punch the other one in the car, then the one in the car started charging Punch with his car. Will and I were pretty sure Car was going to hit Punch and there'd be blood all over the place and we'd have to testify in court against Car, but he stopped at the last second.

When we arrived in the airport it was so weird. China (or at least what I saw of it) is just enough like America to be eerie. Everything was in both Chinese characters and English (and I mean everything). Even small restaurants and signs. Some of the signs were pretty funny. There was one on the ground (I think it was supposed to be on the cliff nearby) that said "Do Not Fall." The elevator was "Under Adjusting," and "This Slope is Slippery. Walking on it is Forbidden." Somewhere there was a sign that said "Mind Your Head." This caused my and my sleep-deprivated mind to laugh inordinately and mutter "Head Your Mind!" Also, some of the places we went had funny names. There was one about faraway hills seen by the disciplined mind, or something. It was a restaurant.

When we were still in the airplane (about the second hour of our 5 hour wait) Midge, Suze and I were doing some serious jamming to a Chinese radio station on the plane. Air guitars, drums, singing, piano, dancing, you name it. It was awesome. We were cracking up. Unfortunately we were the only ones listening to the station, so everyone else thought we were insane.

Our busses were a mixed blessing. Ash was towards the front of our group, so she went in bus one. Ann and I were near the back, so we had to get in bus two, but then they wouldn't let us switch busses. I hardly saw Ash at all in Beijing. The good part was our guide, Adam. He was so cool. He called us angels because we had such beautiful voices. "Adam Weaver's angels are the best!" he'd say proudly after a concert or practice. He told us a lot of interesting information about the divorce rate, but on the first day that hadn't happened yet, and I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

The first hotel was really nice. I roomed with Ann. Pretty much on the first night we just went to bed. We were pretty tired. I was actually too tired to write in my journal. I think we may have watched some Chinese sitcoms, and I'm sure we showered.

Check back again later for DAY TWO.