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MARCH 31, 2006
We just got back to our room since 7 am this morning,
it is now 7:40. HA! First, I want to
say that you guys are too funny!! I came back to about
20 emails with "remarks" about the
luggage! Suffice to say that we have decided not to unpack for these 4
days and will be living out of our suitcases.
:)
Now, about today. WOW!!! What a day!
I must say that I am in love with the Chinese people. Everyone we
have met has been nothing but kind and warm to us. The weather was in
the high 60's and it was beautiful, although the sun
kept trying (to no avail) to peek through all the smog. After posting
last night, I finally went back to sleep around 4 and
had our wake-up call at 6 am. OH!! For those of you waiting
to travel....both to China or EE. There is a GREAT
program we are using to call the US. It is http://www.skype.com
I was able to call my aunt this morning to check on AJ,
we spoke for about 5 minutes and it cost us 3 CENTS!! So, then of course
I called my Dad, sister, brother....you get the picture.
It's a Cuban thing to let everyone personally know we made it
ok. But I feel so good that I can call and check on my baby, who
hasn't even noticed I'm gone....go figure! :)
Back to China. We went down to breakfast, which
was also very good, then met up with The Smiths, another HFS
family who already have their little princess, Sabrina. We all
toured together today. They were such fun!! They
have 3 beautiful bio kids and Sabrina made 4! She's a living doll....and
soooo quiet! We started off by going to Tianenmen
Square. Lots of Kodak moments! Our guide, Joe, is wonderful
and very accommodating. After leaving Tianenmen Square, we went to
a silk factory. It was neat watching how they made the silk. I
considered purchasing a comforter, but do you think I need any more luggage to
carry? :) Afterwards, we boarded the bus again and
headed to a local's house for lunch and for rickshaw rides! I loved
it! This was my favorite part of the day, and something
I totally recommend to those coming. We boarded our little rickshaws and
headed thru the back streets of Beijing into the Hutongs,
which are very narrow streets or alleys surrounded by small houses that
encircle courtyards. I am so glad that we were
able to see how some of the Chinese really live and I want to treasure every
sight and sound so that someday I may share with Kai the
magic of this ancient land that holds over 5000 years of history. The
family whose home we ate in were so wonderful. The
food was different, yet absolutely delicious! Very abundant! Our
guide there was Wendy, and she was also great! I
truly am very impressed thus far with HFS's arrangements. Among some of
the food we had, and I tried it all except for some
"noodles" that were clear and very elastic looking. Somehow
reminded me of worms, so I passed...but I am sure they
were "noodles"...umm...yeah...uh huh. Scott ate em! One of the
items we ate which was very different was sugar coated
rose petals with apples. Yes, real rose petals. It was
delicious. I must say that I was pretty freaked out when our host walked
out with a hollow gord...from it he pulled out a grasshopper. I was
preparing to turn my head just in case he decided to take a bite off it's head
or something. But, then he explained how he keeps crickets and
grasshoppers at home because they make beautiful music.
:)
Our hostess almost made me cry. At the end of our meal
she came out with 3 beautiful handmade turtle bracelets. She placed one
on Jackie, myself and my Mom. It was her gift to
us for offering a forever family to one of their own. Oh my gosh, I had
to hold back tears, little does she know that my heart is just overflowing
with gratitude for them allowing us to be so blessed by adding another child
to our home from this wonderful country.
After lunch, we hopped back on the rickshaws and went thru
some park-like settings with a beautiful lake as the backdrop. It
was pretty amazing (and scary) how we weaved in and out of traffic on that
little bicycle. It was best not to look if you saw an oncoming
car. We arrived back at our starting place, got back on the bus and
headed to the Forbidden City. Again...another place that left me pretty
speechless. The history behind this huge structure is almost hard to
fathom. All the pictures I have seen do not do it justice. Pretty
impressive to have a "house" with 9,999 rooms. There were
several occasions that I had to go to where Scott was and just say, "I
can't believe we are really in China!" I feel like I'm living a
dream. There is much renovation going on for the 2008 Olympics in
Beijing and it seems to be something that is on everyone's mind here.
Our guide was even telling us that they are working on clearing the smog by
then. Too funny! They do it for the Olympics but hadn't considered
it for the 4 million people living in Beijing. Jackie Smith
cracked me up because she quickly noticed I am a picture nut. Poor
Kai...his video is gonna be so long I may use it as a sleep aid at
night! During my picture taking sessions, I got pretty melancholy seeing
all those beautiful Chinese babies....soooooo many boys, too! Oh my
gosh, one was cuter than the next. Jackie's little girl is very blonde
with blue eyes, so we kept getting stopped by Chinese families wanting to take
pictures with her. Poor thing! At one point, I turn around and she
is being held up by a Chinese woman with probably 20 people surrounding
her. Amanda finally took her and then they all took turns, one by one,
standing next to her to take pictures. Our guide explained that many
Chinese people visiting here are from more rural areas and may never have seen
a Caucasian person. Quite interesting. Also...as my QT2 friends
have mentioned, the Chinese have several habits that we as Americans would
consider ummm...rude? i.e. clearing their throat loudly and then
spitting out whatever they coughed up. This is NOT done discretely nor
is it spit somewhere that people are not standing. My Mom almost fell
over when she saw this happen the first time. Also, there is no waiting
till people get out of the elevator before walking in. Once those doors
open, it's a free-for-all. Funny to watch, if you're not the one trying
to get on or out of the elevator.
By the time we finished the touring of the Forbidden City, I
was truly exhausted. It was about 4 pm, which was 3 am EST.... my body
just has not adjusted. We headed back to the hotel to pick up
another family and then we all headed to watch an Acrobatics Show and a Peking
duck roast dinner afterwards. We sat in horrendous traffic going there
and I was getting pretty motion sick. I popped a pill and decided to
sleep on the way. Once there, although the acrobatics show was good, I
sat and fought my head from bobbing through most of it. I glanced over
to Amanda who was out like a light. About 1/2 way through, I went to the
bathroom....(oh! the bathroom! what an experience) and washed my
face. That woke me up for the rest of the show and we then met up
with the Hansen family and we all went to dinner. The food at the
restaurant was "ok". Nothing to write home about, but it could
also be that we are so tired. I don't know how families do it that fly into
the province and get their children right away. After dinner, we all
boarded the bus and came back to the hotel. Tomorrow we meet at 8:30 am
again to visit the Great Wall, the Summer Palace and a few other places.
Before I finish signing off....let me just share (those with
a weak stomach - don't read!) Right before we entered the Forbidden City, our
guide asked if anyone had to use the bathroom. We figured we might
as well. Thank goodness I remembered to pack our own toilet paper for
one.....(see? It's good to be prepared...and NO! Toilet paper is
not what made our bags so heavy). We paid to get in to the toilets,
yes! We paid 1 yuan, which is equivalent to about 8 cents. When I
opened the door to this "bathroom" which I can only compare to those
Port-A-Potties that you see at outdoor concerts or the fair, the stench of
urine almost knocked me over. There was a good 1/2 of urine on the
floor. Keep in mind this is a "squat potty". I didn't
know whether to squat facing forward or backward, all I know is that I had to
get out of there quick before I threw up from the smell. I was even
afraid to walk in because I didn't want the bottom of my pants to sweep up the
stagnant urine. UGH! The thought still makes me nauseous. I
decided I'd roll up my pant legs BEFORE going in....so I proceeded to do this
while the Chinese people around me stared in confusion. I completed my
task (thank God again for the luxury of toilet paper, since it is not
something that is commonly used here) and walked out of the bathroom, finally
having the beet-red color drain from my face from holding my breath, I was
able to inhale again. Definitely an experience. But again, I want
to share with Kai all the good AND bad about his birth country. I posted
a picture of a CLEAN squat potty since I did not have to hold my breath there.
Click on the pictures link in the above left corner for
pictures of our day, and under the VIDEOS section I have posted a couple of
mpgs we took. You'll notice a couple of baby boys in the
pictures.....those were part of my obsessions. They were so darn cute, I
could not restrain myself from approaching them. The one little boy that
Amanda is holding was a negotiation. They wanted a picture of Amanda
because of the hazel eyes and I wanted a picture of their adorable baby
boy. Done deal!
We are 2 days away from meeting our own little Emperor and I
am now getting humongous butterflies at the thought of actually holding him.
Loving China....
Scott, Ohilda, Amanda and Abuela Titi
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