Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Sunday July 12, 2009

**********Blogger was down in China while we visited. I have filled in the hightlights of our trip for those who attempted to follow while we were gone*******

Sunday was another amazing day being chaffered around the streets of Beijing. We had the opportunity to attend church, a privilege which is not granted to Chinese citizens. Our guide informed us, Christians register with the government, and in her next sentence told us she has snuck into church several times. Church began in a theater which a congregation of expatriates and non Chinese citizens attend on a weekly basis. The pastor was an American. To say this was an emotional experience would be an understatement. I am not sure there was a dry eye amongst any of the families. We were all thinking about the next day, and all the feelings and emotions that go along with traveling to this distant place and an end to a very long journey. The Chinese government required us to show a copy of our passport upon entrance.

After worship, we ate at yet another fabulous restaurant. For all the foods we ate, we never had so much as travelers diarreah. Too much information, but for anyone traveling outside the country, this is a huge deal and can mean the difference between enjoying the trip and spending many miserable hours. This restaurant served what we came to expect at many restaurants. Attached to the restaurant was one of many “Friendship Stores, “ we visited over the weekend in Beijing. This basically means the store is run by the government and has fair prices. This particular store was a mishmash of souvenirs and a place where pottery was fired and painstakingly painted. A man stood in the back, in a room which paralleled as Tom said, “a Turkish sweat bath.” No air conditioning and it was obvious this man stood over the hot oven firing pottery, all day long. It is also obvious there are no safety standards as a little girl played in back next to what must have been her father in the same room. Three other men sat on the floor chiseling down the pottery into perfect pieces.

Afterward we were shuffled through another “Friendship Store.” This simply means the department store is run by the government. This particular store was a jade market. We found ourselves escorted to several “Friendship Stores,” over the course of the first weekend. Jade bracelets are passed between several generations. Typically this is a bracelet, because jade is so hard. Our guide, Sherry, showed us a bracelet on her arm which was passed down through at least three generations in her family.

After accidentally erasing the (photos from our day at the Great Wall (can you believe it??? Think my mind was on the next day???) I have several people from our trip who are forwarding me pictures. Standing on the Great Wall was so surreal. It is so huge! I was trying to imagine the construction of this while trying not to fall.

Steps on the wall are frighteningly uneven. A rail that is thigh high runs on both sides of the stairs however watching a tall person like Tom hunched over was quite hilarious. I made it to the top of the first tower, and in some feat of freaklike strength Tom made his way to the third tower. Coming down was scary to watch. I kept thinking, there is not enough disability insurance in the world to cover a fall on the Great Wall of China and a medivac helicopter out of this place. We were there during the swine flu scare and found out some very scary information about the typical hospital in China! Tom made it down without injury. We took time to wander around below and take in what was certainly one of the most amazing days of our lives!

The entire day was wonderful however it was obvious that most of us were feeling nerves about the following day and one of the most important days of our lives. Our time in Beijing was meant to help us adapt to the time and get over jetlag before meeting our kids.

Later, we passed the Olympic Bird’s Nest. It was pouring down rain and alongside a road, so my accidental erasing of today’s photos did not result in missing much. Our guide informed us, the Bird’s Nest stands empty. Tom and I decided, it is simply so large, there is no possible venue which could possibly need this much space. I pondered several times about what became of the people who were uprooted to construction of these unused buildings?

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