Day 1 - Beijing

Hi again. So, after a few hours of sleep, we woke up to a full schedule of touring and site seeing today. So much for taking a day or two to catch up from jet-lag!! However, it did take away some of the nervousness of knowing that we're so close to getting Hannah!!


We started off walking through Tiananmen Square, the site of many political rallies and protests, including the student/tank scene from 1989. Weird...I remember that like it was yesterday, watching it on TV while I was a senior at Potsdam. Seeing where it actually took place, and hearing about other rallies that took place there was interesting.

So then we started to head to The Forbidden City....for those of you who don't know, this is the area where emperors lived before 1949, and the start of the People's Republic of China. It is quite large, and I think we walked every square inch!! (well, I know we didn't, but if feels like we did!).

Funny story...as we're walking along one of the paths, three Chinese girls stopped Darese to ask to take her picture. She had been warned about this from friends, but it was fun to see. Apparently, there really aren't a lot of tall, blond, blue eyed women in China!! This started another discussion with our tour guide who said "...maybe they think you're famous, or something, because you do look a little like, who were those actresses in Cold Mountain? Nicole Kidman and Renee Zelwegger??" So, as you can imagine, we all had a little fun with that (some of us more than others)....


After the Forbidden City, we went to lunch, which was quite fun (they just kept bringing food out and placing it on the lazy-susan -- so much for losing weight while we're in China!!). After lunch, we toured the Hutong area, which is a large area where we got to see how families live. We then went to the Temple of Heaven, a Pearl shop (where, yes, we bought pearls), had a huge dinner (including Beijing's famous Peking Duck), and went to an acrobat show, which was great, but it was hard for us to keep our eyes open. I'm amazed I'm still awake!! All in all, it was a great day...just exhausting.

Tomorrow, we go to the Great Wall of China, the Summer Palace, and some shops. Our group is wonderful!! There are 8 of us total. Three families, including us, who are all adopting from the same orphanage. So, we'll be together from now until we leave.

Our guide has told us a lot about citizens of China. For example, they are really taking driving incidents more seriously (although, you'd never know it). However, the most serious offense is DWI, which is just about right. However, if you get a ticket for Driving While Intoxicated, everyone in your car gets tickets, too. What a thought, eh? Making others take their share of responsibility!


Also, as you know, Beijing will be hosting the 2008 summer olympics. To prepare for the olympics, the government has asked citizens to do 3 things: First, make the city a beautiful place (sounds fair). Second, everyone should try to learn at least 100 sentences in English (okay, not bad). And third (this is my favorite), make your body more beautiful (umm...say again??). And, running on the 'put-up-or-shut-up' ticket, this government is providing free health club passes to all of the citizens so that they can get in shape for 2008!! Isn't that amazing?? Could you imagine that happening in New York City?? "Okay New Yorkers, you all get free gym passes!! Go!!"

Okay...I'm going to bed now. Renee...uh..I mean Darese is already asleep, and I don't want to wake her up.

Only 2 more days until we get Hannah!!

Joe