First Day

Well, we made it here. The flight took an extra 1.5 hours due to headwinds and turbulence. The bonus was that no one got sick. The great thing was that our driver and the relocation people were still waiting for us (one family who was late arrived and their driver had left). In the under 24 hours we have been here, we have accomplished the following:

• Cleared customs with no problems
• Retrieved all 17 pieces of luggage from the carousel (with help from a nice, large man who couldn't be beaten out of his place by the mob!) (yes, all of our luggage arrived safely; Elise's makeup base was the only thing broken)
• Watched 3 people cram all of our stuff and themselves into a standard Buick minivan
• Gave the driver directions to get to the Ramada. Even with him taking a different route we still arrived. He is a great driver and speaks some English. Communication will get easier as time passes (I hope!)
• We have a 2 bedroom serviced apartment. It has a full kitchen and 1 - 1/2 baths. It works for now...
• Ate our first continental breakfast. The kids tried some things and wouldn't try others (maybe tomorrow...)
• Went to the apartment. My key chain now consists of 33 keys. Each door is keyed differently, and every door in the house locks. We now can live there, but will have to wait for stuff.
• Went to Carrefour and purchased 5 cellphones, 2 fans, 2 power strips, 1 transformer, 1 hair dryer, 1 hair straightener, a case of water, and a case of pop.
• Went to IKEA to tour the store and look for stuff. Managed to lose 1 of the 5 cellphones purchased in under 1 hour. The good news is that the child who lost it took a picture of Natalie and set it as his wallpaper. IKEA security found the phone, saw the picture, and tracked us down in the store. We again have all 5 phones and have learned the lesson to keep them in our pockets when we don't need them. We did manage to buy 5 clothes hampers, but do not have a hammer to put them together. So, I used the heel of one of Natalie's shoes. I managed to get 1 assembled and then gave up.
• Went to the Blue Frog for lunch. It serves American style food, so it was safe for the kids. We will probably take them for some local cuisine tomorrow.
• Swam in the hotel pool. Found out that the women's spa attendant does not speak English and Elise and Natalie do not speak Mandarin. Also found out that if you don't follow the rules or understand, voices are raised adding even more confusion. Lesson learned: don't go swimming!
• We are ordering Papa John's for dinner and will probably be asleep by 9.

More to follow at the end of the week, Mark