What China is like

It was a long trip! My baby sister, brother, mom, and I got up at 6 o’clock and flew to Seattle, then waited for almost four hours to board the flight to Beijing.  It was a 11 hour flight. After arriving at the Beijing airport, we spent 2 hours checking out luggage and looking for a place to rest, then slept for about 3 more hours in a transfer center. Finally, we boarded our last flight and slept all the way from Beijing to Xian. We took another hour in a car to arrive at our grandma’s apartment in Weinan. By then, it was 2 o’clock in the morning in China, and 10 o’clock in the morning in America. The whole trip was more than 24 hours!

After 3 days living in my grandma’s place, I was really amazed at the difference between America and China. One difference is that China has lots of people. I’ve been at China five times and it was always really weird when there was suddenly a lot of people.  Another reason is how you sit in the car. My aunt, cousin, and a friend picked us up from the airport in Xian in a five-seat car. There were seven people in all, so my brother sat on my lap, and my sister sat on my aunt’s lap. My aunt said it was okay, and we didn’t need to wear the seatbelts! My mom also said that they don’t recycle. The air was so polluted that some people wear masks to cover their mouths. I could barely see any trees and it looked like the whole place was painted orange and brown. Their roads and sidewalks are uneven and dusty. The overall environment is  definitely not as good as that in Oregon, but I didn’t care because I have a lot of relatives to keep me company, and I feel safe and spoiled!