Great Wall, Jade and our first day in China

WE WENT TO THE GREAT WALL!  

It was a beautiful first day in China.  Our guide picked us up with Mr. Wang, the van driver, and we went to the Juyongguan Fortress section of the wall.   This area waas built to guard the 13-mile long valley, and Beijing, against invading Mongol armies from the north.  It is a steeper section of the wall...and we could tell as we climbed!  Or I should say, I could tell.  Cooper and Jeb were literally RUNNING up the wall.  It was so fun.  

Here they are way up above me. I had to zoom my camera as much as I could to get them in the shot!  

Breathtaking.  It was so lovely.  There was a huge group of South Korean school children on tour.  Jim and the boys put on their Twins baseball caps and had a grand time comparing sports notes with the schoolboys, who were Yankees fans (Luke, you would have been happy, you turncoat!).

Here they are in all their manly splendor at a cannon used to defend the territory...which was now pointed in the wrong direction.  That could be a problem.

Here I am getting a jade bracelet put on my wrist.  We didn't buy any, although they were truly beautiful.  This woman wanted to know how I managed to stay looking so young and beautiful.  I'm sure it was part of her sales pitch, but it was fun.  She looked incredulous when I said I didn't get massages and facials.  Um, no, I don't. And Kiki, you would have laughed when I told her my secret "weapon" is cream from Target...albeit organic and from Germany.  She didn't believe me that it wasn't some special super-deluxe cream.  I'm sure it was all a sales ruse, but we both had fun bantering with each other.  She has a 2-year old son, and I honestly thought she might pass out when I said we have five children.  It makes me keenly aware of how blessed we are to live in a country where that is even an option.  

Our guide shared that they really wanted 2 children, but the fine it too steep for them to pay, and it is very, very expensive after that to pay for the second child.  School and things are not "free" like in the United States, I take it.  It was also interesting because Christina was talking about how her mother was born in Beijing, so now that she is elderly she can take the subway and buses for free.  Her mother-in-law, however, is from Wuhan in Hubei province.  ALthough her mother-in-law lives with them, she cannot take the subway and bus for free in Beijing; only in Wuhan.  

It is the same with cars.  You can only buy a car in Beijing if you are from Beijing.  So if you live there, you can't own a car if you are from a different province originally.  You can't even buy a car in your home province and then bring it to another province.  It was so interesting to hear her speak about this.  

Christina met her husband through her father.  They are in a similar type of business.  She said that this is not a very romantic way to meet a husband, and I said that I thought it was a very good way, and perhaps more romantic than people might think.  We had an interesting talk about courtship and dating and marriage.  The boys were so embarrassed.  I actually don't know if I've ever seen Cooper blush as much as he has today.

Back to the jade factory.  They wanted to know what years we were born in so they could tell us our zodiac symbols (whatever!).  Jeb is in the year of the tiger...which was auspicious.  Luke, the most desirable year of the dragon!  Cooper....the guide started shaking her head and laughing.  Year of the rat.  Apparently, just as in the USA, there isn't really anything desirable about a rat.  We came up with qualities like dependable (becuase you always know what they are going to do), and then proceeded to mercilessly tease him for the rest of the day.  There were these enormous jade carvings all tigers all over the jade factory.  Very impressive.  Not a single rat carving in sight.  We had so many fun laughs with our guide and the boys about that.  We were hilarious...just ask us. :)

After the Great Wall, it was time for lunch and the Bird's Nest...and that is when I got really sick.  I never actually GOT sick, but I was feeling so ill.  So we went and had a really neat Chinese-style lunch, where everything was "yummy" (we taught Christina that word!) and not a thing was "yucky"...and I sipped only the yummy jasmine tea while everyone else indulged in a wonderful lunch.  We had our driver join us, and Christina said he was nervous to eat with us.  I'm so glad he came, though.  We were able to ask him questions about his life, and he asked us questions, mainly about the boys.  We showed them pictures of Luke and Anna and Emma.  He got a bit teary and he told Christina to tell us that adopting Emma is a very good thing, and thank you.  It was a very tender moment, and a bit awkward because we wanted to be so respectful and gracious in our response.  I think for many Chinese, there are not options like we have, and it is impossible to project our context onto theirs.  Our theirs onto ours.  

We skipped the Bird's Nest in lieu of returning to the hotel.  It was now 5pm, and we were all beat.  Jeb felt a bit carsick still, and I think jetlag was catching up.  Despite recovering from traveling, it was such a wonderful and lovely day!  I made it to the room where I took one sip of Coke, a few sips of tea and promptly fell asleep for the rest of the night.  5pm to 3am!  10 hours, baby!  The boys all said they went swimming in the very luxurious pool and spa on the 5th floor, and were in bed by 9.  

Today will be a neat day.  We are off to Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City and a Hutong tour.  I'll share that tomorrow.

I am posting these from email, as blogger is blocked.  I can't see if any of the photos are loading, so would someone please let me know if you can see the photos and if they are big enough to see?  I have to resize them to fit on email...and am doing so a bit randomly!  

Also, THANK YOU for your comments.  They are so wonderful to read, and we are ALL reading them over and over again.  It means a lot! 

Luke and Anna, we will try to Skype you before we head out for the morning (your evening).  It was so fun to see you yesterday before you went to bed.  We love you so much, and miss you lots! 

THREE SLEEPS TO EMMA!

Love from Beijing,

The Monkey, The Rooster, The Tiger and The Rat

Jim, Sara, Jeb and Cooper