To China

• Driver picked me up in a small car and spoke 0 English. He looked 18 and drove FAST and without a seatbelt while texting (yikes).
• Check-in was of course all the way on the other side of the checkin area, and when I got there a long line had already formed. Took about an hour to get through.
• The check-in lady said my flight was delayed to 6:15 (should have been at 5:50), but they didn't bother to update the departure screens or tell people at the gate until 5:45 (said the aircraft arrived later than expected).
• Checked my bag and went through security. This is the first Airport I've seen since America that has had the full body scanners.
• After security there was a long immigration line. Took about 45 mins to get through.
• Got lost while following signs to D (d is for disappear. Where was I supposed to turn??), but got help from information to find out it was the floor below...
• There was a big line at the gate, which I thought was strange since I was there around 4:50. The staff came to the counter and scanned/ripped our boarding passes to let us into the waiting area for the gate...I've never seen that before
• It did let us all get to the line in the tunnel faster, so I guess that's how it's meant to be helpful?
• The flight was really bumpy!
• They came on the speaker seven times to ask everyone to check their seat belts and secure their children in preparation for "extreme turbulence."
• Food: we were given the options of fish porridge or fish rolls (...?) I went with the rolls, but they just tasted like cheesy dough. This came with some potato bread thing, papaya/pineapple/cantaloupe/grapefruit fruit salad, green beans, carrots, a tomato, and a croissant.
• For the rest of the time, I (and everyone else, it seems) slept between the turbulence fits ("oh, I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner...")
• I've heard about how bad pollution is in Beijing, but wow, I couldn't even tell we had left the clouds until we were about to hit the pavement. Even still everything was kinda hazy. Yuck.
• Immigration line was pretty backed up, but it moved pretty well once many of us had waited in the international transfer line for 15 minutes and realized it wasn't where we meant to be.
• Took train to baggage claim area, got bag, and exited.
• Found my guide along the way out. His name is Sony (pronounced sunny), and he will be my personal guide during my whole time in Beijing. He was born here, and has travelled all around Asia and to Toronto (for training with Goway).
• Sony has a wife and a 2 year old son (named whatever the Chinese word for sunrise is). He's 38 and has been a tour guide for 9 years.
• My driver's name is Jong and he will also be with me until I leave Beijing.
• Drove ~40 mins to hotel and when I got to my room Sony left me for the day and I went to my room.
• I connected to the Internet and messenger worked! For about 2 minutes...then I guess the Chinese government figured out what I was up to and put a stop to my nefarious motive to check in with everyone. 
• Laid on the bed and completely crashed. Set an alarm for 30 mins just in case I snoozed, but I slept right through it and woke up 2 hours later at 4:45.
• When I woke back up, the room was HOT. Apparently even when you tell the Chinese thermostat you want it to "cool" to 20°C, it recognizes "on" as "heat," no matter what.
• Left the room because I couldn't stand to be in there anymore and I figured I should eat something. When Sony dropped me off, he told me to go a couple blocks over for dinner so that's what I did.
• aWent into a Schezuan style restaurant and got beef chow mein, which car with a ginger soup. Both were pretty good (noodles were a bit salty, but I like that). It was a big serving for 18 yuan!
• Came back to hotel and the temp had dropped from 30° to 28°. Still warm...I tried opening and closing the door for some ventilation, but eventually gave up and spread-eagled on the bed with washcloths until I went to sleep.