A Taste of China

Well, we made it safely to Beijing last night. There were seven Children's Hope families on the flight to Beijing, and we all kind of figured out who the otherswere and chatted while we waited for our baggage. We made it though customs and there on the other side was smiling faced Anna, a China native and our Children's Hope contact here, waiting for us with a CHI sign. She rounded us up and led us all to the waiting bus. Our luggage was piled into the front few seats by the driver, who puncuated his heaving of our bags with several refrains of "Chinese Kung Foo!", obviously for our entertainment! Anna explained things on the bus, like what to expect the next day, on the way to the hotel. Once we made it to the Radisson around 7:30 p.m., Scott and I didn't leave our room, we were so tired. We ate a little trail mix for dinner, posted what I had written from the airplane, and then crashed into bed just before 9. I woke up wide awake at 11 p.m.! We both woke several times during the night as our body clocks adjusted to the 14 hour time difference, but we were able to quickly go back to sleep and stayed in bed until just before six. I was so glad that we had basically caught up on the sleep, because we had a full day ahead!

This morning we all congregated in the lobby to head to buses for the day of sightseeing! It was fun to meet people from all over the U.S. who are here with Children's Hope to adopt. Our first stop this morning was the Children's Hope Beijing office where we had a little orientation. It's fun to listen to our Chinese guides speak English... they're pretty good at it, but it's obviously not their native tongue! The orientation lasted only about 20 minutes, and then we were off to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. Amazing to be standing under Mao's huge portrait that you've seen so many times! It was amazing but also absolutely freezing!!! So very cold and windy. One of the buildings on the square has a digital countdown of days until the 2008 Olympics are in Beijing. Our guides were full of historical information, especially as we passed through the Tian'anmen Gate into the Forbidden City... so many times more history here than the short history of the U.S. I'm sorry to say that we didn't linger in the Forbidden City as long as we might have because of the extreme cold. It is truly an amazing complex of buildings, home to many Chinese emperors and their families. We were amazed to find that inside the Forbidden City was a Starbucks! No other food establishments, nothing else like it, only pure history... and then this! Can I tell you how thankful we were to come out of the cold to stand in a line/mob for a cafe mocha! After the the Forbidden City we were all taken to the King Duck, a very fancy restaraunt for a traditional Peking Roast Duck meal. It was so delicious... served family style with lots and lots of different dishes.

We left lunch warm and full to head an hour out of town to a section of the Great Wall. As we drove out of Beijing it was so interesting to see tiny shack- like homes alongside large modern building. Many, many people on bicycles, even with the frigid temperatures. We drove into the mountains and the Wall came into view! We were given an hour to climb and explore. We started at a pretty brisk pace climbing the steep steps... my heart was pounding after just a few minutes. It was really strenuous! We kept thinking we'd stop at the next tower, but then we'd try for just one more... the view got better and better the higher we climbed! At least the exercise kept us warm! We marveled that we were actually climbing the Great Wall of China... we never would have thought a year and a half ago that we'd end up here. What a gift. We kept going up until we realized we'd better turn around if we were going to make it back to the bus in time. Scott and I and our new friends Matt and Carrie got back 10 minutes late... our whole bus was waiting for us. Ooops! It was an awesome experience.


The experiences we've had today have been amazing... but they're not the reason we came to China. Tomorrow we leave Beijing for Chengdu... there, on Monday morning, we'll find the reason we came!

Caleb, Seth and Madelyn... we love you guys so much. We've gotten to tell lots of people about you today!

P.S. We've not been able to view our blog since we've been here, so if you want to contact us please use the yahoo email address we sent! Thanks.