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Published: August 22nd 2005
Great Wall
You can't see the Great Wall in the background, but trust us, we're on it!!Greetings!
Fei chang dwo sye (“extreme many thanks”) for your love, generosity and pr--ers for us over the past year…y’all are such bl—sings! On the flight, we were again bl—sed by conversations with other passengers who had either adopted, were adopting, or were interested in adoption! How cool is that!? Apparently they noticed our group t-shirts. Remember that the next time you’re thinking in the morning about what shirt to wear!
There are a total of 34 families in our group, and most of them are from east of the Rockies. There are only four other families besides ourselves from California. So, it’s not only been a trip learning more about China, but also about Alabama, North Carolina, Kansas, Texas, etc.
In our last post, we mentioned how much English is available in Beijing. Nevertheless, English is still not widely spoken so we’d be totally lost without our local guides. Our primary guide has been a gal named Sherry, and she’s quite an informative and charming host…not to mention she keeps us moving. We’ll have a new guide named Linneker starting tomorrow in Changsha, where we’ll meet baby Sarah. Godfrey’s been feeling totally lame here! Learning Chinese from tapes
Beijing Duck
We've had better, but it wasn't bad! and actually speaking it in China are two different things! I think I’d rather be in Greece…at least I know the alphabet!
Attending Beijing Int’l Chrstn Flwhip was a real neat time of gathering in the Body with brothers and sisters from around the world. Two African members greeted us at the door, and there were pr—ers spoken during the service in several languages, including Japanese, Indonesian and Tagalog. The only drawback was that our guides couldn’t join us, since BICF is limited to foreigners only. Both of us were pretty teary-eyed as we sang and pr—ed for the nations, and China in particular.
Even though we’ve been here only about two days, it feels like a week already. Our guides have packed our schedule to see just about every tourist attraction Beijing has to offer, including tours of government-sponsored, authenticity-guaranteed pearl, silk and jade factories. Our guide assured us that we’re getting the best price, and that anything we buy will be appraised much higher when we get back to the U.S. Even still, we haven’t really bought much…we’re waiting for the bargain shopping towards the end of our trip!
We hiked/climbed a section of the Great Wall today, and we can definitely say that it’s worthy of being one of the wonders of the ancient world. To think that ordinary laborers built it by hand…it’s pretty awesome. Some sections are greatly steep…over 45 degrees! The legs are still sore and weak. You’ll be happy to know that Stacey nearly made it to the top, and would’ve but for our time constraints!
Food today was better…actually lunch was really good! Worthy of Harbor Palace or Regal Palace! Yummy! But, you know…too much of the same thing can be tiring, so we’re actually looking forward to a simple bowl of ramen or won ton soup!
OK, we’re getting really really sleepy…so we’ll sign off for now. Dzai jyan (good bye)!
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erin
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you're a family!!!
As I'm writing this in the middle of the night in CA, my heart and mind has been toward the 3 of you. As I'm writing this you've probably already met or are just meeting...Wow...You're now physically a family although Dad brought you together long before. Dad, you are so good...Welcome baby Sarah! Can't wait to see you soon!