Our first day in Beijing

Today has been a very relaxing day.   We are still trying to get our bodies caught up on sleep. 

 

Our Hotel is very nice! We are staying at Beijing Novotel Peace Hotel.  All the Holt families are staying here too! Shawn is impressed with all of its energy saving techniques. Actually he is impressed with China's construction and lot of their advances! There is a hotel being built right outside our window and he is taking it all IN!!  In order for our room to have power, once inside the room...the room key must be inserted into a power slot! The drawback is that when I could inside I want the room to be cooler than it is!  Its a little muggy!!  I am just trying to not produce a lot of energy myself, and I cool down pretty quickly!   Here is a picture of our hotel.

This morning we ate at the breakfast buffet and as we were eating there were 3 other families that had recently received their children.  Watching them feed their children and help one another out makes me so ready and anxious to meet Riley. We found out that we were the first in our Holt group to arrive. Everyone else arrives today! We look forward to meeting the other families in our group as we will become one large extended family. Being in a county where your language is not used or used very little has its challenges.  We are much less talkative that's for sure!!  We went to the supermarket and loaded up on bottled water.  When Shawn was in line, people just started going around him and literally standing on top of the person who was paying.  This was different for us.  I think we will have to learn to be a little more aggressive but when you do not speak the same language we are holding back waiting for clues on what to do next!!   The pollution here is pretty bad.  In the mornings it seems worse.  With Shawn having asthma, he is definitely noticing the poor air quality.     He did not wear the mask this morning but this afternoon when we got out he didn't hesitate. :) 

Rheagan had her first meal in China at her favorite spot!!  McDonalds!!  Everything we had seem to taste about the same!!  Coke is the only choice of drink, so really there is no choice.  The lady working there was ready for us.  As soon as we walked to the counter she had the picture menu out and ready!!  As we were eating, a young gentleman was sitting at the end of our the table and he popped out his I-phone and started snapping pictures of Rheagan!

Rheagan is the definitely the center of attention everywhere we go.  I told her it was like she was famous.  She just smiled.  I do not see her being on stage or doing anything that draws a lot of attention to herself because she is feeling a little uncomfortable.  I am sure by the time we are ready to go she will be a pro at just smiling and going with the flow!!  We told her that pretty blonde hair little girls with bows in their hair are not commonly seen over here!!  :)

We have spent A LOT of time in our little room and if you know ME- its driving me crazy to just lay around and not have things to do, places to go or people to see!!   Rheagan and I have played several games that we brought from home.  She went swimming for a FULL 5 minutes.  Shawn joined her for about 2 minutes!! The pool is indoors but still pretty chilly.  Tonight we are going to order room service and hang our some more in our room!!  :)

We are set to head to the Great Wall with other Holt families tomorrow! We are all looking forward to this!  Rheagan is REALLY looking forward to walking on the Great Wall.  I  am just hoping it meets and exceeds her expectations because they are set pretty HIGH!!  Peace from CHINA!!!