We have arrived!

Hello,

Our plane arrived at midnight Saturday night Beijing time.  The flight was 14 hours but didn't seem bad at all. I sat next to a 16 year old girl from Wuhan, China.  Her American name was Jackie.  She has gone to school here in the U.S. for the last two school years and goes home for the summer to be with her mom and dad.  She said she will spend this summer going to school seven days a week to study for the SAT's because she wants to go to college here in the U.S. as well.  We talked about how the schools and students in the U.S. are different than in China.  Jackie thinks in high school the Chinese students are better at math and science but U.S. students are better at language and social skills.   She said the Chinese students will be very nice to me but will not talk much in conversation because they do not know how.  She thinks the kids in the U.S. are way more fun because in China they study all the time and they do not know how to play or hang out.  I asked Jackie if she feels she is behind her Chinese peers when she returns in the summer because in the U.S. she is not going to school nearly as much as she would have here in China, which is seven days a week all school year.  She said she has not felt that way.  She loves the U.S. but will eventually go back to live in China when she finishes all her schooling.  It was a very interesting conversation and she was so sweet!

Sunday we are visiting the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace and will be enjoying a Peking Duck dinner.