Nothing like using 2 Yuan a minute Internet to put me on a deadline. :)
It’s Sunday, June 26 for us here and we’re about to leave for the Great Wall! I’m so thrilled! Yesterday was insanely busy. From the time we woke up (4:30 AM — none of us could sleep!) until the time we went to bed (we passed out simultaneously at 9:40), we were on our feet.
I hope to upload some pictures and write more about each day tonight, but for now I’m going to back up to go into more about our trip over, so I can get things committed to paper before I forget about them!
My parting view from the United States was an obnoxious woman who blocked the entire escalator instead of standing to one side, talking loudly to all those around her. When a nimble thin guy tried to go past her, she was offended and looked around her to find someone to complain to. None of us made eye contact, and we emerged unscathed. Yech.
Also, a brief public service announcement: Those family bathrooms were especially constructed for you and your 9-year-old boy so you don’t need to come into the women’s room. Nine? That’s a bit old.
Anyway, I already mentioned how fabulous the service was on Korean Air. This despite the fact that I made so many fau pax… At lunch, one woman asked me if I’d ever eated Korean food before, then a man two seats over gave me a step-by-step picture instruction guide when he saw me struggling to open all my little trays. Whoops. That really made me rethink my views on picture menus that some restaurants have in the US.
Then, my in-flight entertainment system had a sweet picture of a teddy bear buckling up, but when I tried to take a picture, my flash went off at about 1 AM local time, when everyone was trying to catch some sleep. Yikes.
And I didn’t realize the bathroom doors pushed in. Eek. So sdon’t make the same mistakes I made. :)
I’m getting all these anecdotes from the notebook I brought along with me on my trip. We talk a lot in class about our writer’s notebook, and I remember one of you told me last year that you didn’t think my writer’s notebook was fair because I’d had it longer and had more story ideas in it. (Due to district Internet policy, I can’t give credit for that thoughtful observation, but I can tell you his class number was 19. :) Well, I started fresh with this notebook, and I hope to practice what I preach and put together some personal narratives for you.
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