Day 0: 7:56am EST. The trip has begun: West Lafayette, IN to China and back. We're sitting on the bouncy shuttle bus bound for O'Hare Int Airport for out 12:30pm flight to Beijing, China. Justin, my 13 year old cousin, and I are sitting behind my cousin, Nathalie, and her husband, Laurent, and their oldest son, 16 year old Connor. Sun is shining and cornfields never looked more relaxing. There are a handful of other students on the shuttle, everyone a little groggy from the 5:30am alarm a couple hours ago.
We have a direct 13-hour flight to Beijing, which we are not excited about. Hopefully they'll have Iron Man 2 and a Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, or Lucy Lu movie to watch.
The trip entails 14 days of meeting with 7/8 companies that do business in China, having lunch with the Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke (I'm gonna ask him if he knows Obama and if Obama has a good jumpshot), and seeing The Great Wall (hopefully reinact TMNT 3), the forbidden city, and then to Shanghai for 2 days to seethe World Expo.
After a long semester/ school year for all of us, we cannot be more excited. We're hoping China is full of transformers, chicken teriaki, and people who love the NBA. Departing words from Justin, "We're leaving the corn for the rice patties."
Yeah, "rice is life," and there is no one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year to make his family rich" like the Chinese family. The rice cultivation is definitely what makes the world turn. I can't wait to hear your reaction to the rice fields along mountain sides and river plains compared to the cornfields in IN. Have a safe trip. Patiently waiting for the next detailed report!
ReplyDeleteWondering how the trip is going. Hopefully you're all having a great time!! Keep us posted.
ReplyDeleteAlex
(currently relaxing near the cornfields)