Nihao!

We have arrived in China.  There have been some technical difficulties in utilizing the blog page here,so I am sorry this is a bit behind. 

Not long before the notorious fall!

Overall, the trip was very well planned.  Flights were on time and all of our bags made it here!  Honestly, with all the luggage between the 5 adults and Jack, we looked like refugees relocating to a new country!  At check in at JFK, we were given the opportunity to have a full row of 8 seats for the 5 of us.  That worked out great, as had a little more room for Jack to play and stretch out in.  Somewhere over the north pole Jack finally settled into a good sleep laying on two seats with Karen and Mike on the ends - also dozing.  Dave was in a chemically induced sleep while Karen's Mom and I were reading.  Suddenly, there was this great "clump" on the floor as Jack rolled over and flipped off the seats.  Of course he woke up so startled that he was really screaming. Mike had grabbed him and I picked him up to sooth him and walk down to the back of the plane - Karen followed from the other side.   When Karen and I met up in the crew / kitchen area she said "oh, the blood!"  By then, Jack and I were pretty covered in blood from a cut on the back of his head.  When he fell, he had hit his head on the steel frame of the seats in front of them - no wonder he was screaming!  At that point, you never saw so many flight attendants in action.  There were medical kits popping out of everywhere and everyone talking at once.  Also, we had gathered a few other on-lookers who wondered why Jack was screaming so much. It was very dramatic looking with all the activity, and that Jack and I looked like we had tangled with a chainsaw!  By the time we were flying over Siberia, everything had settled down again and we made it to Shanghai.  Connections were a bit close as the original gate for our connecting flight was changed - but we arrived at the right spot as they were boarding the plane.  This flight also contained many children and babies, and while on our descent into Fuzhou they all started a crying chorus!  It was hysterical to have them start one by one - even sleeping Jack woke up and joined in. It was a snap picking up bags and Karen's father and uncles were there to greet us with cars to head to the hotel.  That trip took another hour, so we didn't arrive to our hotel until 2:30 a.m. It had been more than 24 hours of travel and we were pooped!!  Well, I'm off to bed now as it is10pm and we have been exploring, eating and trying to get on the right time zone. Tomorrow we have a full day planned,with our translator arriving at 9 am.  He is a professor of Foreign Languages here at the university, and a super nice guy. More tomorrow!
Deb