Welcome home

Ni hao! I am so sorry it has taken us so long to update you on our arrival! I'll blame jet lag! Honestly by the time we get to our room at night, we are wiped and have been putting it off. I am so sorry! We arrived with little travel problems last Thursday afternoon, China time (we are 12 hours ahead of you, East Coast!). We were rerouted to fly out of San Francisco instead of Chicago but we were fine with that since it was an hour or so quicker. Upon landing we looked at each other and said, "Welcome home." We cannot believe our time has finally come to get to be here, in the country we have loved for so long and have hoped to be in for some time now.

Last class in Colorado! We were so pumped for China!

Send off ceremony with friends - we have been so blessed by the friendships we have already made here!

Landing in China...we were excited, I promise! :)

Since arriving we have been taking another class to finish up our training and have been doing some touristy things as a part of that class. We went to the Great Wall on Saturday, which is always a neat experience. To see history that dates back to 200 B.C. and further has always just been mind blowing to me. The Great Wall is truly amazing. What ancient China was able to accomplish at that point in history has always fascinated us both.

In Houhai- one of our favorite districts in Beijing.

Poor D...a bright sun is hard on those blue eyes.

The Great Wall

With some friends on a packed Beijing subway train- the picture does not give an accurate idea of how packed it was!

Beautiful Old Beijing

At the Summer Palace

A favorite that a friend of ours took on the Wall. Happy to be walking this journey together.

As much as it has been fun to be back in Beijing (Anna's second time, David's fourth time) and a first time as a married couple, we are so ready to be in our city. We have been living out of a suitcase and in transition mode for almost a month now and are so excited to get set up our apartment and explore our new home. Classes begin a week from Monday (WHOA!!!!!) and we absolutely cannot wait to meet our students and make friends!! Thank you to everyone who have sent encouragement and those of you who have been remembering us in this time. Please remember us as we head to our city this weekend! We will let you know once there. Can't wait to report back and finally be able to say that we are in fact into our China HOME!