Breakfast in China - Day 1

I can't begin to count the number of times we tell stories to Zac about our trip to Russia followed by watching a video clip from our blog.  He so enjoys hearing the stories.  I wish I had more stories to tell...

Therefore, you can bet that I'm going to try my hardest to document every possible moment of this trip for the sake of Melia as well as ourselves.  Afterall, if a tree falls in the forest.... and it's not documented on the Internet.... does it make any noise?

We all slept surprisingly well last night.  Most everybody was out by 11:30pm and didn't wake up until 5:30am.  That sounds like a short night, but considering it was our first night in this 180 degree turn time zone that we're in, I think we did OK.

Breakfast was indeed a magnificent spread.  There was a 50/50 representation of Eastern and Western cuisine.  Dozens of choices surrounded the entire room and the children were well stuffed by the end of the meal.  (Katie and I have worried a bit that our kids may starve on this trip.... so far, not the case)

In fact, I announced to the children that they are "required" to try at least one (preferably outrageous) Chinese dish during each meal.  It's all part of the experience that we're hoping to give them.

(See video for details)

Katie and I have tried as best we can to speak polite Chinese to the hotel employees and guests.  We have concluded that our Chinese must be completely and utterly horrible as we get the same reaction each time:

The first time we say something, it gets completely ignored.  Then when we repeat it, we usually get laughed at.

I swear I thought I said "thank you" to the waitress this morning for helping me with the coffee maker.  But her reply caught me off guard when she looked at me, giggled a bit and then pulled at her name tag.  "Yikes" I thought to myself.  "I hope I didn't just make an inappropriate remark about her name.... or her name tag...... or her chest."

It is also pretty interesting, as well as funny to be the 100% foreigners from a foreign country.  We stick out for a handful of reasons:

1.  We're loud.  That can sometimes be the case even in Omaha.
2.  We're white.
3.  We have 3 children.  Most everybody here only has 1.  (It's the law, afterall)

This picture from the zoo this morning says it all.  Notice how everyone is watching and photographing the monkey's?  Except for this little boy who absolutely could not take his eyes off of Hallie and Jake.  It was quite hilarious.

We all agree that the people are SUPER friendly here.  Smiles seem to follow us everywhere we go regardless of how obnoxious and clueless we may be.  Having a ton of fun.

Side note:  We won't get Melia until January 12th, so until then we will continue to enjoy and document our tourism adventures within this great country.  Tonight is a Chinese Acrobatic Show!