After lunch in a nearby restaurant and more shopping in a government store, we took the bus to the site of the 13 Ming Tombs. You may know that China was under imperial rule for many centuries. Each dynasty usually lasted 300-400 years and ended with an uprising of the peasants. The last 2 dynasties were the Ming and Qing, respectively. During the Ming Dynasty, which lasted during the 1400s 14 emperors were in power. The Ming Tombs is the site of 13 of the emperors. The tomb we visited was that of Emperor Yongle (pronounced yong-lee). He was very powerful, [View Full Entry]

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Today was 4th of July and of course being in China it didn't seem much like a holiday. But, it was a pretty awesome alternative to be able to journey to see the Great Wall of China. We took a bus from the city to the Badaling Gate of the Great Wall of China about 90 minutes outside the city. On the way to the Great Wall we stopped at the Jade Factory to take a tour and to have a shopping opportunity. It really seems like the prices listed are just for fun because if you work with the sales [View Full Entry]

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Morning we departed for a trip to Bejing Normal University, also called BNU. We learned that "normal" means teacher preparation college. We heard from several guest speakers including a professor from the Education Faculty and her graduate students. It was most impressive to hear their presentations, in English, with power point and an amazing control of the language. It was 98 today and their version of AC is like non-existent. We were dripping by the end, but it didn't matter..they were such gracious hosts. They were so appreciative of the gifts we brough you would be amazed how thankful [View Full Entry]

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Lunch - more Chinese food, with white rice this time. Still no watermelon, thankfully. Be we have had room temperature water, beer and coke at every meal. Matthew had some beer.... lol...just kidding. We did have a cabbage dish with hot peppers. I told Matthew to avoid the hot peppers because they were really hot. Of course, that meant that he had to try them and found out that they were EXTREMELY hot....pretty funny watching him squirm. Cheryl (Pasteur - Old Cour days) got such a laugh out of it. 1 p.m. - After lunch Latest saga....so the "scanner" in the [View Full Entry]

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Our bus tour of the city took us to the Cultural District, famous for paper goods, art supplies and materials used for calligraphy. We had time to visit several stores to shop and also see the cost of the art supplies. Calligraphy is an ancient Chinese art and many of the supplies are quite costly. Matt and Lucy had to use the restroom while in the Art supply store, so they had their FIRST experience with the "hole." Clean, but definitely different, you can see that they do not use the western toilet that we are accustomed to having at home. [View Full Entry]

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Here are some arrival photos - Beijing Capital Airport, July 1 - arrival [View Full Entry]

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Day 1 - June 30, 2009 Dulles - Beijing, China via United Airlines After a 13 hour fligh, direct to China we arrived safely. Amazing we left at 12:45 p.m on Tuesday and then lost a whole day as we arrived on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m..almost the same time but one day later. Chinese Health Department came on the plane to check the body temperature of every person on board, before we were allowed to deplane. They wore large gogles, masks, gloves and used a hand held device to check the temps. [View Full Entry]

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Itinerary: Morning - Guest Speakers 8:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. Ministry of Women's Education and representative from Chinese Psychological Association. Lunch 12 - 2 p.m. Afternoon - Tour of city of Beijing. July 1 - evening - Went walking around the city and visited the mall in the area. We found the Night Market, with all the "specialties" on a stick: snake, eel, squid, cicadas, "balls," cricket, grasshopers, scorpions and centipedes. Photos will be forthcoming...and Matthew and I plan to try something...just like Amazing Race!! [View Full Entry]

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