Ni Hao Everyone! Our first full day in China was a long day, but full of activities. Honestly I really don't remember much about yesterday's post. I was so tired. Jason and I went immediately to bed. Well, at least I did. Jason was battling with the light in the closet. The light turns on/off automatically and it would turn off, then Jason would move and it would turn on again. I was so tired, but I was trying to tell him to just walk away. We slept from about 9pm until around 1am. It felt a lot later than that. We went right back to sleep and then woke up around 6am. We had a Western Buffet for breakfast. Some of the items were interesting, like french fries, pork and beans, fried rice. It was all very good, just not what I am used to. We left the hotel around 8am. The morning was a little chili and overcast.
Our first stop was the Jade Market. Jade is beautiful and China is well known for it. We were given information on Jade and the different types and qualities. We didn't purchase anything, but some of the pieces were very intricate and beautiful. As we were traveling from there to the Great Wall, we realized that we had brought something with us from Chicago. It was starting to snow. By the time we arrived at the Great Wall, it was a pretty steady snow storm. Ever since we started the adoption process for Arisson, I had dreamed about my trip to the Great Wall. Snow was never part of that dream. The Great Wall is pretty steep in areas, and it was actually quite dangerous climbing it. We saw some people wipe out, but we stood our ground. It was just comical. I told Jason, we are definitely going to have to bring Arisson back someday when we can climb the Wall properly. When we were on the wall, an Asian woman with a camera tapped on my shoulder. I thought she wanted me to take a picture of her and her family. She actually wanted me to stand in the picture with her husband and son, and then she had her husband take a picture with her and I together.
We stopped and had a wonderful lunch. I am pretty brave and will try everything. So far there hasn't been anything I don't like. After lunch we traveled to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace is a place where Empress CiXi spent her summers. She is known as a Dragon Lady. The weather at the Palace was a steady downpour of rain. I would love to go back there also, someday when the weather is better. We were all wet, cold, and just ready to head back home. Our next stop was a Peking Duck dinner. The distance from the Palace to the restaurant was only 12 miles; however, we got in the rush hour traffic on the way to the restaurant. We literally traveled 4 miles an hour. It took us 3 hours to reach our destination. About half way through the trip, Jason had to go to the bathroom, to the point of considering using empty water bottles as a toilet. We made an emergency stop at a restaurant, which we all took advantage of the toilets.
Peking Duck dinner was delicious once again. I tried everything, and again, didn't find anything that wasn't to my liking. There are a few things I have no idea what it was, but still very good. Our day has been very long, and tiring, but it was so interesting and awesome to see China in spite of the bad weather. Tomorrow is our last full day in Beijing. We found out today that we are getting our daughters Monday morning. I can't wait.
Three interesting things I learned today:
1. During the Olympics, cars will only get to drive on odd or even days depending on the last number of their license plate.
2. Driver's license are only for those between the ages of 18 to 60.
3. High School students must take an entrance exam in order to go to college. If they don't pass, they don't get to go. Only about 51% pass.
Three things similar to the USA:
1. Toll booths, but very few traffic lights.
2. Obesity is becoming a problem in children because of McDonald's and other fast food places.
3. Most kids have cell phones, laptops, televisions. |
