Less than a week to go!!! Edited to add hotel in Guangzhou

We received our itinerary last night through email. Here's the run-down of our days in China.

Next Thursday, August 31, after we get up at the ungodly hour of around 3:30, our flight leaves for Newark at 7:15 or something. I can't find our flight information at the moment. Then we have a layover in Newark and leave for Beijing at 12:30, I think. We land in Beijing on Friday at 1:45 in the afternoon. We will be staying at the Radisson hotel in Beijing.
beijing.radissonsas.com if you want to check it out. I guess we will mess around that afternoon, go out for dinner, settle in and try to STAY AWAKE as long as possible!!!

Saturday, September 2-- Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Summer Palace--woo hoo! Lunch and dinner are included that day.
Sunday, September 3--Church service and the Great Wall!! (major woo hoo!!! I cannot wait for this) Lunch and Beijing Duck dinner are included that day. I don't know if I've ever had duck so I'm looking forward to that.
Monday, September 4--Fly to Guangzhou that morning. MEET MAGGIE that afternoon!!!!! (super major woo hoo!!!) We're staying at the China Hotel. China Hotel
Tuesday, September 5--Civil Affairs Appointment. This is the day we adopt Maggie in China.
Wednesday, September 6-Saturday, September 9--paperwork and sightseeing.
Sunday, September 10--fill out Consulate forms
Monday, September 11--Maggie's medical exam
Tuesday, September 12-Wednesday, September 13--sightseeing and shopping. Guess we're going to be REALLY familiar with Guangzhou at this point!
Thursday, September 14--Consulate Appointment 9am. This is when Maggie will be sworn in as an American citizen and will be one when we touch down on US soil.
Friday, September 15--Pick up Maggie's visa at 4:00 pm
Saturday, September 16--Flight to Hong Kong. We will be spending the night in Hong Kong, partly because I am not a fan of rushing around and we would majorly be rushing to meet the flight to the US. Also, we wanted to do a little more sightseeing because we think we are super-travelers and it will be no big deal with an almost 1 year old. heh.
Sunday, September 17--Flight out of HK at 10:25 am
Arrive in Newark at 2:05 pm
Leave Newark at 6:10 pm
Arrive in Charlotte at 8:13 pm (I found our flight information)
8:14--Collapse

We both started school today. It wasn't too bad. I had a pretty fun day but my feet were missing my flip flops by about 8:05. Also, a new law has been passed requiring 30 minutes of physical activity per day for public school students. That will start the 2nd full week of school since schedules are still kind of wonky. So today we did this exercise video and let me tell you, it about killed me. We had to do 2 minutes of jumping jacks--real easy in wedge heels. I did them barefoot so that was really setting a professional example for my students. I was sweating by the time we got done. That is pitiful. My big toe has a blister too. One of the kids said that it was embarrassing but please. We were all "exercising." I also have car duty in the afternoon and I'm bringing flip flops to stand out there and direct traffic. It felt so weird to tell the kids that I have an 11 month old daughter today when I was introducing myself. They don't know I'm leaving next week yet. I'm not supposed to tell them until Monday.

David has abandoned me on our last weekend at home alone for a cross country meet. So I'm sitting here on the couch, listening to the Backstreet Boys (COOL!), and typing on this. "Millennium" is a mighty fine CD. I downloaded Justin Timberlake's new song as my ringtone this afternoon. I am a child. My plans also include some episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and doing some cleaning--blech.

I guess that's all the news for now. I will put a more generic version of this on the other blog. Maybe I shall include some info about China as well. Oh! My cousin Karen sent Maggie a book about the colors of China today--how cool is that! Until next time..