On the Water at the Summer Palace

I've not yet posted many of the photos I'd hoped to from Shann and Sarah's visit. These pictures are from our late afternoon boat ride around the lake at the Summer Palace. The sun was slowly setting, so the lighting is interesting in this group of pictures... depending on which direction the sun was coming from in each photo. It was was a lovely, relaxing end to our busy day of sightseeing. I've enjoyed reliving this hour on the lake as I've put this post together.

Concubine's Smile

... is the name of this salad that we ate in a Beijing restaurant. Very beautiful, mostly flower petals and cilantro. It had a yummy sweet dressing on it. Not sure about the name... from what we've learned about concubines in China, they didn't have too much to smile about.

Morning Activities

The Temple of Heaven is situated on a very large park area in the city of Beijing. Many locals buy yearly passes so that they can use the park area regularly. With a mandatory early retirement age in China, there are many older people out and about enjoying the morning together as they engage in various activities. We peeked into their world for a bit as we strolled toward the historic buildings in the Temple of Heaven grounds.

Shann tries to get a picture of what's going on it the middle of this circle of folks.

Shann and Sarah joined right in with this group of dancers!

Great Wall

I intended to do a post of the "best of Beijing" pictures, but there are just so many... so this is a Great Wall only post. :-) We went to a section I had not been on before, Mutianyu. It is a bit farther out of the city, but it was so worth the extra drive time because it was not a bit crowded. The day was a bit hazy, but we could still see lots of the wall, extending in both directions. We had a pretty strenuous climb to get to the wall, but once we were on it, we were able to walk on more gently sloping sections and see quite a bit. The Great Wall never fails to impress! See how few people were on the Wall when we were there... what a treat not to be climbing elbow to elbow with a crowd.

Sarah and I wore our coordinating t-shirts this day... we joked that it would help us "blend in." Not sure if this is possible for us in a country of black haired, black eyed people. :-)

We took this slide down to the bottom after our climb... so fun! Each little car could be individually controlled by a lever, to make your speed up or slow down. It was a pretty long ride, six or seven minutes to the bottom.

China Sister!

While I was in Beijing with Shann and Sarah last week, I got to hug sweet Kimberly, one of Gwen's China sisters, and her mom, Carol! Carol was part of our adoption group, and the last time she and I were in this spot in Tian'anmen Square, we hadn't met our girls yet. We shared the amazing experience of meeting these children chosen for us just two days later. How funny that we meet again in Beijing! Carol and Kimberly were back in China for a two week vacation, and it just so happened that our trips overlapped. So great to see you two!Here are what our two little pumpkins looked like in December 2005, the last time I was with Carol and Kimberly. This picture was taken right after the girls had their required medical exam before leaving China.Gwen, on the left, and Kimberly on the right.

Good-bye

As Mr. Wu and I left the airport this afternoon after dropping off Shann and Sarah for their flight back home, he noticed my tears and said, "Your heart, now go to America."

Thanks for making your way to us, you two. I miss you already.

Sarah and I

So very glad my sister is here... have I mentioned this? We are loving being with both Shann and Sarah. Can't believe we have only two days left. I'll be posting pictures from their visit for a while, I think! Right now we're having too much fun to spend much time on the computer. :-)

Wednesday night

Home from Beijing at midnight, Shann, Sarah, Madelyn and I. Sunny skies, ancient architecture, a Great Wall, a wonderful time. Crawling into bed... pictures tomorrow.

First Day with Shann & Sarah

They're here, they're here!

We had a fun, full day with Shann and Sarah... Ji-An Park and Ji-An Buddhist temple, a walk through an old town area with lots of interesting sites and street food, lunch with Scott at City Diner, and a visit to the fabric market to browse around and eventually order a new clown shirt for Shann (I'm not kidding) and a cute green coat for Sarah. We made it home after being out for ten hours, and the two of them promptly each took a couch and were soon snoring. For pictures of our day, hop on over to Sarah's blog. The link, Upturned Faces, is on my sidebar, or you can click here.

Afternoon Chat

One of the things I really miss, living in China, is talking on the phone in the late afternoon. It's a time of day when the kids are usually occupied and I'm often cooking... for a number of years it was the perfect time to give my sister or a friend a call.

Not here. That darned time difference gets me every time I have the urge to pick up the phone in the afternoon. I have friends and family across the US, in different time zones, so surely there should be someone I could call, I think. Then I mentally go through the list... eastern, central, mountain time... none of them would be expecting a call from me at 5 a.m., or 4 a.m. Even my California friends, in the Pacific time zone, are sleeping by the time it's 5 p.m. here in China.

Yes, I do have friends here. I could call one of them. But years of habit run deep, and I guess I'm longing for a deeper connection around 5 p.m. in the afternoon, one that takes longer than the short time we've lived here to forge.

The day after tomorrow I will have an afternoon chat with someone whom I often long to talk to at that time of day. Sarah, my sister, is arriving at 2 p.m.! Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait! I won't even need to pick up the phone. We can sit right in my kitchen and talk, the wonders of Vonage phone service not required.

Oh, my brother-in-law is also coming. Love you too, Shann! :-)