Mandarin Maeve: We're here!

And so here it is...it's taken us two months to figure out how to get around China's limited internet access but we've finally done it!

The last two months in a nutshell:

* The airplane ride went well. Well I say that but I think Steve will say differently. He was used to his usual business routine that went exactly as such...movie, dinner, wine, movie, Ambien, sleeping mask, 8 hours of sleep, breakfast, and then 1 hour of light reading until landing. Mavis only slept for three hours so needless to say the flight didn't go quite as he was used to but she was well-behaved and I think that's all we could have asked for.

* It took five nights for Mavis to sleep through the night, not bad.

* Things I love...

*Having a baby here is like being a movie star in the U.S. Whereever we go people want to help me with the stroller, play with her while we eat dinner, and will more or less do anything I ask if I have her with me. This can get annoying when we are eating at McDonalds and people are tapping on the glass or bringing their children in to touch her, but the benefits definitely outweigh the negatives.

* Our apartment. No snow-blowing, lawn-mowing, weed-pulling, or wondering why my grass is dying. And I can go visit most of our friends with either a trip in the elevator or a short, not even coat-wearing, trip across the sidewalk to another building. Just like college. Priceless.

* Things I hate...dirty air. That's really it. I would have originally added that I hate that it takes six people to fix what one person should be able to do but I've started to become amused at guessing who will show up to fix things. Will the person who comes to look at my leaking toilet be the same "tech" guy that came to fix my internet yesterday? Probably. Or on a really good day maybe it will be the man that came to "clean" the air conditioner and only brought with him an empty two liter of soda and some masking tape. Did he really think he'd be able to finish the job with those state-of the-art tools?

I could babble forever about my daily life but this is enough for one day. To be continued...

At the Des Moines airport prior to our departure with our seven pieces of luggage, a pack and play, a car seat, and a very not-small stroller. We had to take two cars to get there. Thank you James, Shannon, and Hudson for taking us!

The airport terminal for our Beijing flight. I normally think of these as spaces where everyone is sitting, with ample seats in between. Not so, Steve says it's like this every time. Get ready 'rents, experiencing this will only just be a foreshadowing of what is to come!