We made it!

We are finally in Beijing! We are staying in an amazing hotel. It is absolutely beautiful! We ventured out tonight, just the two of us, and found a Chinese restraurant. We ordered some chicken and bowls of white rice. Well - we only ate the rice! The chicken was cut into cubes, but it still had the skin and bones! I did try one bite, but couldn't do anymore - I had to spit it out...sorry mom I know you hate that, but I couldn't help it! Jerry wrote some on the plane that I'll share with you and then more from me!
The plane ride is interesting. About 2/3 of the people are Chinese, so we already feel like the minority. The food offered is both western (American) and Chinese. I chose roast beef and mashed potatoes. Jennifer went with the chicken stir fry (poor choice).
We are flying over the arctic ocean. We passed really close to the north pole (I took pictures!). The temperature is minus 50 degrees! We are flying 540 miles per hour. When you lift the window shade, you can see how frosted the plane and windows are. One doesn't realize just how much of the earth is covered by ice until you see if first hand. We're flying over ice as far as the eye can see.
We've met Karen and Eric, they are also adopting from Shenyang. Go figure, they are naming their daughter Hannah Shen! The couple sitting across from us is adopting one year old twins from Nanjing.
We are anxious to get Hanna, but scared of her reaction to us. I think she will be very scared. We're currently half way and it seems like we've been flying forever. We have great seats. We're behind the bathroom wall, so we have way more leg room than most. Plus we can stand comfortably whenever we want. (We also got to sit together and our new friends didn't). Six more hours and we will be there. It's taking about fourteen hours. We're coming to get you Hanna Jo!
Being around all of the Chinese people makes me feel big. They are so small and thin. We just ate a snack of noodles. We both ate with chopsticks (dinner tonight too!).
Another neat thing about this plane ride is that it never got dark today. We left at 12:50pm Chicago time and it's now 10:50, and it's still bright outside. The outside temp right now is minus 75 degrees - we're passing over the mountains of Siberia and we're travelling 556 mph.
OK - back to me! The flight was pretty good. We successfully watched one movie, but I don't remember the name. Something about a little girl who went missing in the park. We ate 2 full meals, lots of drinks, and 2 snacks. They treated us very well. We're going on not much sleep. I didn't sleep well at home and then not well on the plane either. I'm really hoping to get good sleep tonight. Tomorrow we only have an orientation meeting and an acrobatic show in the evening. I'm sure we'll venture out more. Jerry isn't one for sitting around.
We have encountered several people away from our hotel that do not speak English. It is a bit un-nerving not being able to communicate, but pointing, smiling, and head bows are working fine.
Boys - We miss you very much! We saw a giant model of an allosaurus at the Chicago airport and took pictures for you. We thought you'd really like it. Brooks, can you believe we only ate plain, white rice for dinner??! You'd have loved it. We hope you are behaving for Mamaw Albaugh and having a wonderful time. We can't wait to see you. Make sure Mamaw Albaugh takes you by the house...there are a couple of surprises on the counter! I love you more than Chocolate and Strawberries! Mom and Dad!
A note for my fifth hour class. I am as far away from Tabi's political campaigning as I can get. That feels great!