The adventure begins. . .

We've arrived in Shenyang!  Our flights went pretty smoothly - no major delays.  I definitely underestimated the difficulty of getting a decent night's sleep on the plane and only managed to sleep about 3 hours total, but Ed fared better and got at least 5 hours.  We watched movies and kept ourselves busy for the most part. 

But. . .our luggage didn't make it.  We checked 3 bags at LAX and haven't seen them since.  We were told when we checked in at LAX that we would need to pick up our luggage at the baggage claim in Beijing and then re-check it for the connecting flight, but the bags never got to Beijing.  So we went ahead and caught our connecting flight to Shenyang and filed the paperwork for the missing luggage here.  So much for the idea of putting some of each of our clothes into each others' bags in case we lost one!  It's not the worst thing that could happen, but it is a bit disconcerting.  I spent so much time analyzing what to bring and how to pack it all into 3 suitcases, and now we don't know if we'll ever see any of that stuff again!  But it's all just stuff.  I guess the Lord really wants us to just trust Him and not to trust in all our careful preparations.  But if you remember, please pray for our luggage to turn up soon! 

Shenyang is quite a large city!  Lots of construction going on all over the city.  Our guide told us that there are over 8.1 million people living in Shenyang - that's more than double the population of LA!  We arrived at our hotel at around noon, and we were able to Skype with the kids before they went to bed.  It sounds like they have a fun weekend planned!  Thank you, Halls, for taking them under your wings!  We had lunch, caught a nap, and then went out in search of some essentials to at least get us through the next couple of days if our luggage doesn't turn up.  Thankfully, there's a Walmart within walking distance of our hotel.  We walked down and found most of the things we needed - basic toiletries, underwear, a pair of pants and a couple of t-shirts for Ed.  We even found deodorant, which I had heard was not easy to find in China.  But I couldn't find any clothes for myself.  Unfortunately, the fall clothes are in and there are very few short sleeved items available.  I almost had to get a bright pink t-shirt with "Tell me your secrets" written across the front, but my vanity wouldn't allow me to pull the trigger.  I didn't want to have to go all over town looking for clothes, but as we walked out of Walmart we saw a Uniqlo across the street and I found some clothes there.  I was very happy to have something else to change into - after so many hours in the clothes I wore on the plane I was not a very sweet-smelling girl!  (Sorry if that's too much information. . .)

Well I've really gone on and on. . .just a couple of random observations in closing:

1.  Crossing the street here is quite treacherous.  We were warned about this, but it's a whole new ball game when you experience it.  The cars really have no intention whatsoever of letting you cross and they will run you down if you get in their way!

2.  If you ever stay at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Shenyang and have a desire to turn on the bathroom lights, you will need to know that the light switch requires a room key.  In fact, you have to keep a room key in the light switch slot at all times if you want to use the lights in the room.

Below are some pictures from our day.  Sorry I can't write captions under each one - Blogger is blocked in China, so I have to upload posts via email and I don't have much control over the format of the post.   

1 & 2 - views from our hotel window

3 - the entrance to the Walmart

4 - a few items that we found at Walmart - I don't think our Torrance store stocks these!

5 - the view walking back to the hotel from shopping - the whole street is blocked off because they are tearing it up to build an underground mall. . .this shot was taken at about 6:30 pm tonight - I guess when there's only one time zone for a huge country the east side of the country gets dark pretty early!

(Sorry, the pictures are pretty pitiful, I'm just taking shots from my iPhone - haven't broken out the nice camera yet - not that my photography skills will improve much!)