Sunday, January 17, 2010

Hi Everyone,

We had another busy day of touring Beijing . After breakfast at our hotel we boarded the bus and headed out to Tiananmen Square . This is the place that is famous from the 1980’s when China ’s people were rioting against the government. The entire square was ice-covered. The place has a kind of eerie feeling. We saw lots of big buildings and soldiers marching around. The original city gate of Beijing is located in front of Tiananmen Square .

From Tiananmen Square we walked to the Forbidden City . The Forbidden City was built for the Emperor. It consists of 9,999 rooms. Nine is a lucky number for the Chinese. The Forbidden City is one mile from gate to gate. We saw the building where the Emperor had his bedrooms. We viewed the garden and at the South gate we saw a part of the original moat that surrounded the city.

You will notice that many of our pictures have a gray sky. The sun was shining today but the smog makes the sky very gray. We really appreciate our Lancaster County fresh air (even if the farmers are spreading fertilizer).

The Chinese teenagers love to see American children with light hair. Kassidy was the center of attention today and was asked many times to have her picture taken with the local people. They were really taken with her eyes and said they have never seen eyes like hers.

We continued our day with a tour of the Hutong Area. The Hutong is an old part of Beijing . Many Chinese families still live there. These are very primitive homes with little heat and no inside bathrooms. They have public bathrooms that they share with other families that live close by. We took a rickshaw ride through Hutong. A rickshaw is a bike with an attached carriage. We visited a local Hutong home and the owner shared Jasmine Tea with us. Kassidy found this to be very interesting and commented that we are very spoiled back home.

It was quite cold today but we held up fine. We are accustomed to wearing multiple layers, hats and gloves.

Tomorrow morning we fly out at 7:55 AM to Changsha . It will be a big day as we are flying in the morning and meeting Tia in the afternoon. We will try to post pictures as soon as we are able. Please pray that Tia’s transition will go smoothly and she will feel comfortable with us soon.

Good night from this family of three, soon to be a family of four.