hello from the future

Well, after 31 hours of travel we finally made it to Beijing. We were greeted by our guide, Rosa, who’s a doll, and Sherry, the guide for the other half of our group. We arrived at our hotel, which is sort of like a middle-of-the-road Marriott, at about 11pm. Rosa checked us in, we changed some money at the front desk to buy bottled water, and went to bed. The sleep last night was sort of like it was on the plane - a series of naps. Every time I woke up I prayed it was morning already, and this last time I figured it was close enough and got up to write this in the bathroom since Kyle is still sleeping. It’s about 6am, and we meet the group in the lobby at 9 to tour Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and Hutong.

Yesterday - or should I say the last two days - wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. After sleeping only 4 hours the night before we left, we were all very tired even getting on our first of 4 planes, but we didn’t sleep until the flight to SFO. By the time we got on the plane for Tokyo, we were all ready for another nap. I think I slept about 4 hours on that flight and felt pretty human when we got to Tokyo. I kept singing “Old Tokyo” in my head, a song my brother Kevin made up when he was about 5. There’s only 2 lines, so I started driving myself crazy after a while, but it was fun to remember. Have him sing it for you next time you see him.

One of the most fun things about being in a foreign country to me is seeing how they translate English on signs and things. Kyle and I were kind of hungry for a snack when we got off the plane so we went to the little food court/cafeteria that was near our gate. We ordered fried squid which was just the heads, and it was yummy. Instead of a mayonnaise-based sauce, they served it with lemon. Do you think that’s why we are fat and they aren’t? Anyway, it was good, and Kyle managed to fit in a chopsticks lesson with Phyllis while we sat there. So the sign-- there was a No Smoking sign in the seating area, and at the bottom it said “There is a place for smokers in the depths.” While I hate cigarette smoke as much as the next Californian, I am glad to know they meant the back of the restaurant.

I’ll keep up the food theme and tell you about the other meals we had-- which was every 3-4 hours for 30 hours, btw. The food on the plane started out pretty good but then got not so much. They gave Kyle and I the choice of Western or Japanese, and we chose Japanese. The first meal had all sorts of little servings of sushi, Japanese pickles and other fun little appetizery things to start with. The main dish was sea bass cooked in egg whites (?) and was also delicious. Back in the cheap seats, Phyllis had teriyaki chicken and learned a valuable lesson: when there’s a clump of green stuff on your lunch in San Antonio, it’s guacamole. On a Japanese airline, it’s wasabi. She recovered and will never make that mistake again :)

One of the cool things JAL does is show you the camera view from the front of the plane during take off and landing. It’s pretty cool to watch, especially when you can see things like the Golden Gate bridge. When we were approaching Beijing last night, they turned it on again. It was dark so you could see the city below but couldn’t yet see the airport. The pilot made a sweeping turn and as he straightened out the plane, the amazingly bright lights of the Beijing airport came into view. I’m sure it was the sleep deprivation and weird fish eggs I’d just eaten, but I got all choked up thinking that this was the proverbial Light at the End of the Tunnel for us. Normally communist China is not a beacon of hope and promise, but landing here for us last night was.

Thank you Jesus for your amazing sovereignty and grace, and for getting us here safely. Watch over us as we tour Beijing, give us supernatural energy as we fight through the jet lag and let us bond with our travel group. Most of all Lord, continue to prepare Lily for the change that’s about to happen for her. Thank you for your perfect provision and many blessings, and allow us to reflect You on this trip. Amen.