Day 1

On Friday June 29 we began our trek to Asia. We arrived at DFW airport two hours before our flight and after 45 minutes with one of American Airlines' most surly agents the three of us and our nine pieces of checked luggage were all checked in. I believe one woman referred to us as the Clampetts as a helpful airport service man tried to stear a cart stacked 8 feet high over to the security screening area.

After saying our goodbyes with Jill and H.D. Reed, we boarded the plane for our 18 hour journey. Juliet was great on the plane - even sleeping for 7 or so hours en route. Shanghai was the most humid place on earth when we arrived, but we were able to make it through customs and get to our waiting van to take us home.

Upon arrival to our new home, we were greeted by our landlord and his whole family (of which only the son-in-law speaks English). We were presented with a key book containing 96 keys - every door (inside and out) has a different key and there are 3-5 copies of each (someone needs to pass along the "master key" concept here in China).

After they left two hours later, we began the task of unpacking - which lasted until about 12:00am when we just about passed out from exhaustion. Juliet (who had fallen asleep at 7pm) woke up sometime between 1am and 3am and entertained herself until we got up at 6.