And We're Off!!!

After a 9.5-hour delay, the missing piece to the plane was restored and we were off to Los Angeles!  Mom says it was probably missing the pilot... Somehow I don't doubt it.  However, we did get free vouchers for lunch, dinner, and $200 towards our next flight with that same airline.
I landed in L.A. with only 2 hours to spare, RAN down to the international terminal, and.... got lost.  Apparently the departure floor is above the arrival floor and the elevators decided they didn't want to work.  I ran into another guy going on the same flight I was who helped me tremendously!  Shawn, who just graduated high school in Dallas and wants to go into TCU for International Business because it's his passion even though his dad wants him to become a doctor like he is but doesn't think he can do it because he has a very short attention span even though he gets A's on all his assignments in school without really studying but it's only because he pays attention in class due to the fact that its a topic he really enjoys, got me into the express line where we waited only 20 minutes rather than an hour.  He's pretty much awesome like that.
After the security checkpoint where we followed each other like a line of ants waiting to get our piece of the sugar pile, I ran again down to my terminal with less than a minute to spare before boarding!  5 bottles of water, 6 hours of sleep, 3 bus rides, 2 very emotional planes, an itchy allergic reaction, 2 swollen ankles, and 23 hours later : I am now in Beijing!!!
The bathrooms are something else, though.... that's for sure!  It's more of a hole in the ground with a slight cover on it that you have to step up onto in order to use.  The people have their own rhythm.  I don't know how they do it, but they manage to go around and over each other without offending or bumping into anything (except on the subway), which is really impressive.  Oh, and there's no such thing as personal space.  In a country with 1/5th of the population, you kind of have to expect that.
Unfortunately, due to the allergic reaction I got on my way here, I took some benadryl to get the swelling and red bumps on my arms/legs/neck to go down and passed out so hard I didn't hear the poundings on my door for dinner time and ended up missing the first course to our stay!  So... I can't tell you much about the food yet.  But no worries - that will come later tonight!!!