|
Friday, March 3, 2006
Today we managed to sleep until 4am! Hopefully tomorrow we
will make it to the alarm. We spent the morning today at
Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We tried to capture
the immensity of the square in a picture, but ended up giving
up. We were told that it can easily hold a million people. The
Forbidden City was in various stages of renovation. It seems
like everything here in Beijing is in some stage of renovation
in preparation for the Olympics. The newly painted buildings
and entranceways were really beautiful. It seemed a little
strange to find a Starbucks inside the Forbidden City, but it
was so welcome to warm up with a latte, as it was very cold
this morning.
We spent the afternoon on a Hutong tour, where we took a
rickshaw ride to visit a traditional home and a local
elementary school. We were welcomed into the home of a woman
who lived in the Hutong area. She sat with us and told us
about her family and answered our numerous questions. She and
her husband share 9 rooms with their two sons, their wives and
a granddaughter. Each family has three rooms in the quadrangle
and they share outdoor bathroom and shower facilities. One of
the questions we asked her was what was most important to her
of Chinese traditions to hand down to her granddaughter. She
answered honesty and respect for your elders. At the
elementary school we were able to speak with several students
who were finishing up math homework and then watch them
prepare to do afternoon exercises. One little boy was happy to
finish his homework before the weekend so that he could play
computer games all weekend. Our guide rolled her eyes and
said, “International problem”. We ended the evening with a
Peking Duck dinner which was very good.
We have one more day left in Beijing, which we will spend
volunteering in an orphanage for children preparing for and
recovering from surgeries and tour the Temple of Heaven and
the Lama Temple. It has been wonderful to spend a few days in
Beijing, as we have been struggling a bit with jet lag, but we
are very ready to jump on that plane to Nanchang the day after
tomorrow. Thank you to all of you who have emailed us with
good wishes. It is really nice to be touched by a bit of home
here in our hotel room.
Please enjoy some of our many pictures. The first is Tiananmen
Square and it truly was hard to capture the size of the
square. The second is the Emperor’s court inside The Forbidden
City; if you look closely near the top center you will see the
Emperor. The next is a side building in The Forbidden City
showing the vibrant colors used on the buildings. Mrs. Wu
welcomed us into her home during the Hutong Tour. The first
picture at the grammar school shows that girls are girls no
matter from what country. The next is one of the two exercise
periods for the children.
|
|
