My Travel Journal Entry# 1

Date: 4/3/07 Time: 3:38am Place: Hunchun,China

Hello!!
It's 3:38am Tuesday here in China (its 2:38pm Monday back home). I've been a wake for about 1 hour. Just a few minutes ago, Zack walked into a wall!! I heard a thud, & Dad came to my room to see what happened. Just then Zack came down the hall & told us what happened. :-)

We flew into the airport @ Yanji (China) around noon yesterday. Compared to the airports in Chicago & Seoul the airport was tiny. Anyway, after getting through customs & getting our bags, we set off for the farm. It was a 1 1/2 hours "exciting" (or exhilarating) ride. Driving here is ALOT different than back home. There is alot of passing on a two lane road, there are pedestrians, bicyclists, rototillers with carts, & we even saw a horse drawn cart!! Mr Shell told us while in the USA, it's like an exhilarating video game. He loves it!! Gets his adrenaline flowing!!

Anyway, now since I have started from the end, I'll start from the very beginning (Back to US time). Just to Clarify, Seoul is 14 hours ahead of home, & here at the farm it's 13 hours ahead of home.

Dad, Zack & I loaded our luggage into the truck, & got to work around 5:30pm. We were done by 7:30pm, and Mom, Mr Shell, and the girls came to the farm to say goodbye. By 8pm we were on the road, in the Gumnesses van with Mr., Ben & Nate heading for Chicago. By 10pm we were @ O'Hare & we unloaded our baggage onto the carts. FYI, we had 6 - 50lb pieces of luggage, plus 3 packing bags and 3 backpacks with books and stuff. We stood in line for 25 minures to check our luggage in. Every single piece was either right at or 2 ounces over 50lbs (Mr Shell packed them with stuff). After getting our luggage checked onto the plane, we walked to go through security. The Gumnesses said Goodbye 3 times before actually leaving, & stayed with us as long as they could. it was really FUN and a real Blessing all they did for us.

After we got through security, we had to wait for 1 1/2 hours to board. Just as we were walking onto the plane, they stopped us because of the size of our packing bags. They put them in the hold of the plane. Praise the Lord they did, cause there wasn't any room for them in the over head storage compartments. The Plane left 45 minutes late because there was equipment in the path of the plane.

The Flight was just under 14 hours. We arrived in Seoul @ 5:07am their time (3:07pm our time). We were fed 2 meals on the plane. It was pretty good for airplane food. Dad & Zack slept alot, but I was only able to sleep for about 3 hours. I like to read when we are traveling places. Just as we were getting ready to exit the plane, someone behind us said "GO BADGERS"!! I was wearing my badgers hat. He is a Korean man probably in his mid twenties who went to UWMadison a few years ago. He lives in Indianapolis now, and was going to see his parents in S. Korea.

In Seoul we found our 3 packing bags (the others went through to Yanji). We had about a hour lay over, so we bought a calling card and called home. I miss everyone sooooooooo much!! We checked in for our flight to Yanji, and by the time we got to our gate, we only had about 1 hour to wait. Dad called home again.

On the plane I got to sit in the window seat, and the view was incredible!! There were tons of mountains!!

When we got to the farm it was super cool!! Opening the luggage & giving them everything Mr Shell bought, stuff from family & friends, and stuff from our family. They were overjoyed!! It was like Christmas!!

Zack went to bed for a few hours, and Dad & I went for a walk. We walked for about 30 minutes thru the fields and by the dairy barn. The view is AWESOME!! We can see mountains in the distance, & there are trees and fields!! As we were driving here, I could smell coal in the air, and my lips dried out real fast. Everybody there uses coal furnaces & boilers to heat their homes.

I was fine until 6pm, and then jet lag kicked in. Mr Shell's flight got delayed @ Chicago & he will be getting here today.

God Bless!!
Ike

P.S. I'll probably post 1 entry per day.