Friday, July 31, 2009

We're here

I just typed this, clicked a link and lost it all...aaaauuuugggghhh

Ok, here it goes again...

We are here. It is truly amazing to finally, actually be IN China. I haven't been able to post until now because there are restrictions on what sites you can access in China. We thought we had a site that can be used to avoid the restrictions but it didn't work. Gerry chatted with his brother who found a new site for us. Thank you Uncle Jim!!!!

3 of my previous coworkers were on our flight from Omaha. I heard someone calling my name at the airport gate in Omaha. It was Jane Johnson! She, Tad, Stephanie, and a new guy named Eric were headed to Summer AAD in Boston. They were even seated behind us on the plane.

The flight was long and we were both too excited to really sleep so we were exhausted when we got here. We arrived in Bejing, found our guide, got to the hotel, met Tom & Rebecca in the lobby, came up to the room about 4:30 pm (3:30 am at home) and took a 4 hour nap. We woke up, had room service, called home, and went back to bed. The only problem with that was we were wide awake at 4:00 am.

Yesterday was a full day of sight-seeing in Beijing. There are only 2 couples that came early so we had an enjoyable day with the Lazars. They are adopting an 8 year-old from Anhui province.

Our fist destination was the Temple of Heaven. This park was built by the Ming emperor 500 years ago. It has 2 main areas for worshipping the gods of heaven and the gods of harbest. The intricate, delicate, architecture is preserved as it was when built. The area for worshipping the gods of heaven burned in the 80's but has been rebuilt exactly as it originally was. There are Juniper trees in the park over 500 years old planted at the time it was built. It is now a gathering place for the residents of Beijing. We saw them playing many games, dancing, ethnic dancing, and greatly enjoying themselves.

We had lunch at a restaurant with ethnic performers. We enjoyed dancing and musical instruments while dining on traditional Chinese foods. It reminded me a little of Tazo in Kansas City for those of you who have been there.

Our next stop was the traditional hutong neighborhood of Beijing. These areas have been mostly destroyed to accommodate the growth of Bejing. They have been replaced by office buildings and high-rise apartment buildings. The remaining hutongs are now privately owned but preserved as a historical area. They are small residences in sets of 4 surrounding a central courtyard. We were allowed to tour a home to see how the residents of this area live. We took a rickshaw ride around the hutongs because the streets are too narrow for cars. The narrow, winding streets are as they were when built during the Ming era. The hutongs were residences of the government officials of the time. The home we visited has been in this man's family for 4 generations (anyone see why I liked this area yet). The biggest problem for the residents now is public toilets. There is no sewer system so no private flush toilets.

There is a drum tower and bell tower in the hutong that orginally told the residents the time. The bell tower has 62 steps straight up at about an 80 degree angle. The guides told us it was practice for Great Wall climbing today. We all made it but it was hot and stuffy in there. The view and breeze from the top along with the drum performance was well worth it. We also visited an area nearby that is preserved as it was during empirical times. It is now filled with tiny shops selling souvenirs, and lots of bars.

The final destination of the day was the chinese acrobat show. The performers' skill, strength, and flexibility were awe-inspiring. It was a first of many incredible days in beautiful China.

Gerry took over 100 pictures so I selected a few of the best for the slide show. (It's not working, I don't know why, giving up for now.)

TTYS,
Chrissy
(Stacey, email me, I don't have your address along. OMG OMG OMG, I'm gonna get her in a couple days, yep, you KNOW I'm crying again)

OK FINALLY I THINK THE SLIDE SHOW WILL WORK!!!!

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: 1st Day in  Beijing
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Sunday, July 5, 2009

Packing


I have one suitcase officially packed, zipped shut, and ready to go. The wonderful ladies from our church quilting group donated their latest batch of quilts to us to take to China. The Holmes girls, Mikayla and Melissa, were adopted from China. They and their parents are in China on a homeland tour. We hope to return some day with Lila too and Grace so they can see where Lila is from. Ok, I know I'm rambling again...So Kayla got 1/3 of the quilts, Meliss got 1/3, and Lila got 1/3 to take along as donations. We will give ours to our Children's Hope International coordinator in China. Children's Hope has a foster home where children with special needs can stay after surgery. It's important to us to help the other special needs children because our Lila was one of them. Thanks to our sweet church ladies we can do a little something to make them feel safe & warm. The quilts and Lila's clothes and couple of the gifts we are taking along are packed in our smaller suitcase. It's even under the 44 pound weight limit! YEAH!