From Above Russia

This is a VERY long plane ride, so in addition to the email I sent out, I'll also compose a blog entry! Note that some details may change between when I'm actually writing this, and when it is actually posted.

Currently, I am miles above Russia, but you wouldn't know it form the view. Everything is as white as Trump's ideal America. That's not too much of a bummer though; a mother that wanted to sit with her children displaced me, and I sacrificed the window seat for some epic footroom. Given the 1 Shade of Grey weather, it was not a loss.

And the window isn't the only form of entertainment on this plane anyway, even in Economy. Every seat has a little TV in it, and every TV has access to an surprisingly good selection of movies. An hour into the flight, I settled in watching The Martian with Chinese subtitles on. Then the drink trolley came through and gave me a Sprite and I got to thinking, "If this is what it's like in Economy, how ritzy is it up front?" But, I imagine the First class crowd doesn't take kindly to the gypsies from economy checking out their digs, so I'll just have to look it up when I have internet.

The accommodations are not the only interesting thing, my fellow passengers are pretty cool too; as you would expect, the clear majority of passengers are Chinese, at least 80%. I've not flown very much, but I think Chinese are great people to fly with. There's only been one crying kid (The one I switched with) but he wasn't that bad despite being the row next to me, and his mother hushed him within a few minutes. Also, boarding was a breeze; there was no drama that I detected  and everyone moved efficiently to their seat. And, except for the baby, the flight has been almost silent. 

So, I mentioned that I watched The Martian. It's an amazing movie and nearly brought me to tears. If you liked Gravity, or if you liked ANY Matt Damon movie where he's rescued, you will love The Martian (Oh, look at that, they also have Saving Private Ryan. United Airlines must love Matt Rescue Movies.) The native Chinese man sitting next to me is also watching an intersting movie: 90 Minutes in Heaven. I know China has really lossened up on their religious controls, especially in recent years, and I'm glad even older, first generation Chinese are embracing Christianity. And I want to add some more details for context; the man didn't watch the movie "on accident." While I was talking to him, his English is very good, he revealed he is a Christian, and I saw he's carrying a prayer guide. (Later in the flight, this man, Jay, and I exchanged contact details. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with his number, since I don't plan on going to the city where he's staying, but I guess it can't hurt to have contacts in China.)

I'm glad that I sat next to this man, not only becasue I learned some stuff about China and had a good conversation with him, but also because he unconciously showed me that being a Chrsitian isn't a problem in China. Not that it should ever be.

Now, I should probably try to get some sleep before I land; if I don't, I'll end up staying awake for about 24 consecutive hours, after 4 hours of nervous sleep the night before. That certainly would be 100% interesting.

(After writing this, I got up and looked out one of the widows and discovered that the view had cleared up a lot, and was pretty cool. )