Saturday, March 15, 2008

The Great Wall

Today has been a big day....we started out the day with a trip to Tia Namen Square (sp)....they are having a big convention there so we were unable to actually go in the square....we took pictures though and then went to the Forbidden City. The Fobidden City was very BIG...huge, in fact. Just like everything else here in China, the Forbidden City is under renovations as well....I almost want to come back during the Olympics so I can see the end result of the city....after the Forbidden City we traveled to a cloisenne (sp) factory....it is amazing the amount of work that goes into making those vases, etc....it is quite a detailed process. The factory workers must be very attentive to the details on the piece and you could just see the concentration on their faces as they worked. After the factory, we had our first official Chinese food meal....thankfully the Mohr family is like us, a little hesitant to be adventurous in the food category. So, mostly Pryce had chinese french fries....Colin tried some sort of pork....Ryan tried it all...and me, well, I had pretzels.....then the big attraction came, we visited the Great Wall of China. It was amazing! Incredibly steep, uneven steps....we all made it to the second watch tower and then decided we were done....Ryan and I were holding onto the boys for dear life in fear that they would trip and fall down the rest of the Wall. Tomorrow we have to be in the lobby of our hotel by 5am with our luggage....then we have a 2hr flight to Chongqing....then we have one more day until Family Day....yippee! On a side note, I am only 5'3" tall....I noticed this morning in the elevator that I am actually taller than the men here....very cool....Beijing has been a lot of fun and now we are ready to move on....until later,
Beth


Colin and Pryce have become quite the superstars....Many locals have taken the opportunity to get photographed with them....One man even picked up Pryce to get a good photo.



After a long morning of walking around the HUGE Forbidden City...



LUNCH!!!!



The magnificient and very steep Great Wall of China


Friday, March 14, 2008

Tidbits from Beijing

It has been an interesting three days in Beijing so far to say the least. Here are a few tidbits that I have learned and experienced in the short time we've been here:

  • Beijing is a city of 16 million. I think we've seen about two thirds of them.
  • It is a rule in China that you have to retire at age 50 so the younger generation will have a fair opportunity to find a job.
  • About half of all retired people in Beijing hang out at the Temple of Heaven doing Tai Chi and playing cards, dominoes, and chess. The other half are at home taking care of their grand child.
  • Painted lines in the road and traffic signals are mere suggestions.
  • Taxi drivers don't seem to enjoy hauling foreigners around.
  • There are 15 million cars, taxis, and busses in Beijing. So far we have only seen 2 gas stations.
  • A 12 pack of bottled water, 2 cokes, a sprite, and a snickers bar costs less than $3 at Wu-Mart.
  • A large chocolate milkshate at Baskin Robbins is $7. Beth says that's even more expensive than Brewsters...go figure.

I'm sure I'll have more tidbits as our travels continue...but for now, we're off to see The Great Wall...

The Bewitching Hour

It is inevitable, every night at 3am someone wakes up....the first night it was Pryce...we told him to try to sleep but when he started singing songs we decided to let him watch a movie....this worked well and we thought that everyone would sleep well the next night....night two came and we all went to sleep only to awake at 3am again....this time it was Colin who was having trouble sleeping....he suggested that he watch a movie like Pryce had done...we said no and in a little while, we had him go into the bathroom with a book....this worked for him and he never went back to sleep until we all went to bed on the third night at 7:45...night three we all awoke at 3am....this time the boys were fascinated with the fact that Pryce's pants would light up due to the static...it was actually kind of funny hearing them laugh at something so simple even at 3am...we eventually all fell back asleep....so, basically I write this to tell you that sleeping out of our own element is proving to be a challenge....on another note, we are about to begin our final day in Beijing....we are going on a tour of the Great Wall, Tia Namen Square and the Forbidden City with our entire agency group....there are 5 families from our agency.

Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and Pizza Hut

Last night was kind of rough for sleep....Colin ended up in the bathroom reading a book around 4am because he just could not rest....having said that, we are all amazingly wide awake at 4 in the afternoon. This morning Pryce decided to try some noodles for breakfast....he loved them! That was our first adventure. Then we met our guide Jerry (aka the boys "bodyguard" as they like to call him) for our tour of the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. The Temple of Heaven was amazing. It is basically a huge park where a lot of locals go to do Tai Chi, cards, sing, and basically just hang out. The Summer Palace was great too....the architecture at both places was just amazing. To be honest, it was really cold and incredibly windy. We loved having the opportunity to get out and see some of the history but we also loved having the opportunity to get back in our warm van. We saw the Olympic stadium on the drive back.....really cool. Then we found a Pizza Hut for lunch....just like in the states....again, I am not a huge Pizza Hut fan but it tasted really good. I think the highlight of the day for the boys was their swimming time in the hotel pool. The pool has this whole Greek theme going on....the boys loved it! We just hope that there wasn't a lot of water swallowed by the boys. We have a few more awake hours to get everything together....I think we are going to Baskin Robins for dinner. Tomorrow is our Great Wall tour and then we are up early the next morning to catch our flight to Chongqing....yippee, not much longer now to MK day....Colin was asking today how much longer....they are really ready for their baby sister and we are ready to hold our little girl!

Tai Chi and water painting

The Temple of Heaven

The Sumer Palace

Olympic Stadium - AKA The Birds Nest

The boys swimming....(The caps are mandatory at the hotel, aren't they stylish?)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Accident

The boys love to watch out of our hotel window at the activity on the streets below. They call the window of our room the "beautiful spot". Yesterday Ryan and I were in the hallway outside our room talking to other families who had just arrived. The boys were in the room watching things going on outside....suddenly they came flying out into the hallway screaming "we just saw a car accident and it was awesome!" They can describe to you in great detail how the white car turned and hit the back of a taxi, and then a silver car hit the back of the white car and then the silver car backed up and it kept on going through the traffic....unbelievable, they didn't even stop to acknowledge the bumps. Then they were watching outside again last night and watched a car turn into a bus. So, for those of you who may be wondering what we think of the driving skills in China, they aren't so good. Not only is it a free for all when you choose to drive a car here, the horn is just as important as the steering wheel.

Squatty Potty

I just have to make one post on the infamous "squatty potty"....I had my first encounter this evening at the acrobat show. In the US, women wait patiently in a long line for a bathroom. Well, here in China, there is no line for the bathroom....you pretty much choose which one you want to use and push everyone and anyone out of your way to get to it as quickly as possible. As I was standing in the "line" I noticed two things....one, everyone was prepared with their "tissues" and two, inside the stalls were squatty potties. I panicked. I turned to a Chinese girl beside me who was prepared and asked to borrow a tissue....thankfully she spoke English...either that or she saw the terror in my eyes....then I focused on getting in the bathroom. All in all, it was an experience....one that I knew I would have to face but one that no one can truly identify with until they themselves have been forced to use the squatty potty.

Now, with other events....we chose to do the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner tonight. We met the Mohr family in the lobby, we hailed a taxi, drove about 15 minutes, took pictures out front with the Hard Rock sign, went inside to eat and guess what? THEY ARE CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS! Incredible. So, we went back to McDonalds. Those of you who know me well, know that I do not do McDs much, but here it has proven to be gold. After dinner we went to an amazing acrobat show...I wish that we had taken our camera to take pix....the most amazing thing was watching 12 girls all ride one bicycle....the boys liked all of the performers flipping and flying around....they have been practicing their own version of the show on our beds since we got back to our room....I will let you know how that works out for us.


Colin and Zach from Nebraska at the Hard Rock Beijing....Pryce was busy taking in the rest of the city...

Hutong Tour and more

We all rested well and woke up this morning to a beautiful day in Beijing. We went to breakfast and everyone actually found something that they liked to eat....I have replaced my daily Coke with hot tea....very good, even Colin and Pryce liked it. We then went to the Hutong area of Beijing. We rode on rickshaws through the hutongs and stopped in to visit a local family. They served us tea and really seemed to enjoy our company....they thought the boys were cute of course and laughed at the things they had to say....they even offered for the boys to come back and stay with them for the Olympics....now that would be something. After our tour, we visited a porcelian shop where they actually make the porcelian....the porcelian was beautiful. Colin chose to sit at the potter's wheel and make his own porcelian bowl. Pryce said no to that but chose to paint a plate instead. Of course the director wanted us to buy the items but the plate alone would have cost us $65....not exactly the deal we were looking for. Ryan talked him down to $45 but we still left without the plate. We then came back to the hotel and met up with our new friends, the Mohrs. They will be traveling with us the entire trip and are also adopting a baby girl from Chongqing with a cleft lip and palate....the girls are only 2 weeks apart in age. The Mohrs also have a 5 year old son that the boys have really been enjoying spending time with so far. We made our first trip (and I am sure not the last) to McDonalds for lunch....just like in America, McDonalds was located inside the WuMart....so of course we went to WuMart after lunch....COKE finally, they have COKE....and water of course, we needed water....anyway, all is well here so far....the boys are working hard on their schoolwork as I type, then we will rest....tonight we are planning to go to HardRock Cafe for dinner and then onto an acrobat show....take care everyone and thank you for the prayers....





Wednesday, March 12, 2008

We have arrived....

Hello to you all! We arrived safely about an hour ago to our hotel in Beijing. Everyone did great on the flights, including Beth. Of course we all made a bet on whose bag would get searched first going through security...the boys won, it was Beth's both times....and security even chose her to do the full body search.....unbelievable. The boys were most impressed with their visit to the cockpit of our 747. We were most shocked by the fact that in Japan you can actually board the plane with a hand held lighter yet they would not let us take peanut butter on unless it was placed in a plastic bag....who would know. Of course, Pryce and Colin met a Chinese girl on the plane that they were both taken with....she taught them a few new Chinese words and they made her laugh a lot. It did not take our guide anytime to say to me "you have your hands full, one is a lot but two - they are busy" Anyway, thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers....we are so thankful to be here safe and sound.


No wonder we got here so fast......


What do you do after 20 hours of playing Gameboy and Nintendo DS?.....Play more.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

China Bound

In one hour and 9 minutes, we will be leaving (potentially) for the airport....WOW! In six days, we will be holding our little girl and sister for the first time. This process has been so amazing! It is really unbelievable to me that it is finally going to happen. Surreal is the best word to describe it. Please pray for us, our safety and health. Also, please pray a special prayer for Mason-Kate. I can only hope that she will feel our love the minute we hold her and know that she is in a safe, comfortable and loving place!

Until Beijing....

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Mason-Kate

Mason-Kate's name....those of you who know us, know the story but others are wondering how we named our little girl. I love family names. Mason is a family name on my dad's side of the family. I used to work for an attorney whose mother's name was Mason. I can remember the day that I talked to his mother for the first time on the phone and she told me her name....from that point on, I was sold on the name Mason for a baby girl. Fast forward several years (and two little handsome boys later) to April 2006 when we began the "paper chase" for our adoption from China. I was still hooked on having a little girl "Mason". Ryan, on the other hand, decided he liked the name "Kate". Beautiful name, but I wasn't sold on it. So, we would talk about the adoption or paperwork that was involved, etc., etc. and I would always refer to the baby as "Mason" and Ryan would smile and say "Kate". Well, the boys like to please both of us so when they would refer to the baby, they would use both names together and thus we have the name "Mason-Kate".