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| CHINA OR BUST!! 11/4: We received our Travel Approval . . . finally! It feels like a month -- oh wait, it WAS a month! 11/7: We received our consulate appointment - December 6 at 11:00 am! Now we can book our trip! 11/23: We leave Chicago at 12:05 pm 11/24: We arrive in Beijing at 3:40 pm (that is 2:40 am on Nov. 24th for the rest of you)! Head to the TianHong Plaza Hotel. Happy Thanksgiving! 11/25: Visit the Temple of Heaven, a silk factory and the Summer Palace 11/26: Visit the Great Wall 11/27: Visit Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and fly to Changsha, Hunan. Check into the Gold Source Hotel -- not that we will get any sleep! 11/28: E-DAY! Meet Eleanor at the civil affairs office! 11/29: Paperwork day -- registration and notary 11/30: Day of rest or perhpas we can visit the disco, karoke facilities or the bowling alley in the hotel 12/1: Visit Xiang Embroidery Research Institute 12/2: Pick-up Eleanor's Chinese passport. Visit Hunan University (good imprinting for Harvard) 12/3: Visit Shaoyang Social Welfare Insitute in Shaoyang - the orphanage where Eleanor lived 12/4: Leave Changsha and fly to Guangzhou and the famed White Swan Hotel 12/5: U.S. Consulate paperwork - take Eleanor's visa pictures, complete her physical and visa paperwork 12/6: Send visa papers to the U.S. Consulate and tour Shamian Island for shopping 12/7: Swearing in ceremony at U.S. Consulate and pick up Eleanor's visa 12/8: Homeward bound -- arrive at O'Hare at 11:35 am |
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