Beijing Day 9!

The Great Wall of China!
Need I say more? Check out the pictures - it was cloudy and chilly a perfect day to take the climb! This is an experience I will never forget!

Beijing Day 8!

Went to a village on the outskirts of Beijing - village was built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The village is located in the mountains - it was a beautiful ride and a great climb!

In the evening we attended and acrobatic show - it was great! I bought the video to show to all of you when I get back... I think I might like to work on balancing all my friends on a bike!


Sorry for being so short... We are on the run all the time! Talk with you soon!

A True American 4th of July!

The bus drops us off about 930 at night at the Hard Rock Cafe so we can get some French fries and nachos… just a few tastes from home! We get up and dance there are a lot of Americans there celebrating the 4th of July! Our evening turns into a late night! We had a great time!

Beijing Day 6!

Happy 4th of July!

Today we are up and on the bus to the Chinese Academy for Social Science. Today’s conversation is lead by 2 women scholars. It was a very candid and wonderful discussion. We talked about family and social issues. I learned today that if a family only has a girl, the parents are given a stipend of about 70$ a month to support them. The problem with having a girl is that when she marries she goes to live with her husband’s family and there is no one left to care for her parents. There is new legislation being introduced to give these families some support. It is the responsibility of the son to take care of his parents. With more and more people aging this going to become a major social problem. I am amazed at the amount of older people who are working out in the park in the morning… these people have so much energy.






Off to lunch and then the Forbidden City! The heat is overwhelming! We climb the tower that Chairman Mao would use to address the people in Tianmen Square. We begin to walk into the Forbidden City; we are climbing up and down through gates. Many of the buildings are under construction for the Olympics. As we walk through, we are looking for the Starbucks! Yes, and we found it! I get my iced latte – very yummy – I don’t care if I get sick from the ice, it will be worth it!


When you come to end of the Forbidden City we enter into the Imperial garden. In the Forbidden City there are no trees because the emperor was afraid that someone would hide behind a tree and attempt to assassinate him. The imperial garden is beautiful – the trees are ancient and amazing! There are dahlias and onion flowers.









As we leave the city we are swamped by beggars who are handicapped, missing limbs etc. It is extremely uncomfortable and they touch you looking for money… this is not a country to have disabilities – I have not idea how they would be able to use a squat toilet, most times in the bathroom you need to step up into the stall… Life is very hard for the Chinese!

Photo's from Day 5

This is the map at the entrance of Beihai Park. This is Rachel, Sarah and I in the park.








Here is a picture from the Lao She Tea House.
This is a statue of George Bush Sr. On his visit to China.







Here is Mao's tower illuminated at night. It is very rare for it to be lit up, but July 1st was the birthday of the Peoples Republic.

Beijing Day 5!

Meeting with the International Confucianism Association ...Wow today was an eye opener. As we entered into the conference room I immediately notice that there are not enough places to sit at the table. I find my name card on a chair against the wall. The only people sitting at the table were the "older" people. I am becoming more and more aware of the age and gender discrimination. As a young woman I am having some real issues with this.
We go down stairs to have another fancy lunch. Today we had eel (I did try it wasn't bad!) and oxen stomach (I skipped that!). Annie was not with us today she was giving an exam to her students today, so we had another interpreter. He was a theater student who has lived in the United States for about 10 years. He studied at the New England Conservatory; he lived in Boston for 5 years. We had a great conversation about theater.

We went back upstairs to change and then we were off to Yonghegong a Buddhist Temple. This is a very sacred place. There were numerous Buddha's which were all different. The smell of incenses is every where. We buy some incense and make a wish to Buddha. The largest Buddha was 18 meters above ground and 8 meters below ground, this thing was huge!

The public phones are so cool! Check out the photo.

After the Temple we went to Beihai Park, where we are told young couples go to "talk love." It is a beautiful park. After the park we had an Imperial dinner with Imperial cuisine and then off to see a show at the famous Lao She Tea House! Photos shown in blog above!

Summer Palace July 1st

The Summer Palace is a beautiful place; it overlooks a man made lake. It is really like a park. We walked around the lake looking at all of the numerous buildings on the property. Rachel, Sarah and I were looking in one of the windows of one of the numerous homes; we turned around to see that everyone was gone! We decided to look for the group; we had a pre determined location to meet. We decided to just explore on our own. We found a great shop and picked up some great gifts!
The Marble boat was amazing – it actually isn’t floating it is anchored to the ground. We cross the lake by boat to get to the front gate. The lake is filled with paddle boats – it is a great place to go on a hot day.

Beijing Day 4!

Today was a Big day - we were off to Tiananmien Square! Our 1st stop Chairman Mao's Mausoleum. We begin by leaving our bags, water and cameras with our tour guide; these items are not allowed in the Mausoleum. I am shocked at the thousands of people waiting in line in the hot sun. The line moves very quickly as we get closer to the building people begin to step out of line to get roses to lay at the foot of the Chairman's statue. (It is of Mao sitting, very much like the Lincoln Memorial) While waiting in line you are constantly being checked to make sure you are not carrying anything. It takes about 2 minutes to silently shuffle past the air conditioned glass coffin of Mao - for a man who has been dead for so long, he looks pretty good! There are only 2 viewing sessions, so that the body can be put back into refrigeration. We head back there today July 4th- So I will have more pictures to share.

We then tour the Great Hall of the People, where many important political decisions are made. It is a very grand room, the ballroom can accommodate 5,000 people. Each room is named after a Provence in China. See pictures.

Our translator wondered if it was like the White House, we told her it was more like Congress. It was very fancy!

Next we were off to the official place where Peking Duck was first started/served. Yes we have been to the restaurant where Bush Sr. And Castro have eaten. I feel for these little ducks... However, it was wonderful! (Sorry Uncle Chet, your Peking Duck comes in a close 2nd)

After lunch we are off to the temple of Heaven.

In this picture it is difficult to see the beautiful colors, they are vibrant blue, red, green and gold.

Off to breakfast lots of things to do today! Will continued to up date as time permits.

Miss you all!

Beijing Day 3!

Today we began with a trip to the Beijing Sihai Children's Center. This center's purpose is to promote the learning of the Chinese classics, they want to stop the loss of the traditional Chinese cultures. They have been popularizing the Chinese culture for the past 10 years, they train children from 0 - 13 years of age, this introduction of the values of the Chinese culture comes from the reciting of Chinese classics and Western classics. They like to call this program the Olympics of Chinese Culture! The center is actually located at a vegetarian restaurant - the person who runs the program also owns and operates the restaurant. This would be like CCD or Hebrew school for kids in the USA.

This picture is of the classroom in the center. This other picture is of the teachers desk. I DON'T THINK THIS WOULD WORK FOR MY CLASSROOM! TOO SMALL!

These are some of the children at the center reciting for us!

We were then treated to the most incredible vegetarian lunch! I have never eaten so well!
Shark fin soup, with out the Shark!

Wow didn't now vegetables could taste so good!