Happy Anniversary Mom and Pops

Today is my mom and dad’s (who we all call pops) anniversary.  I am 43 years old so I think today is their 45th.  I should know these things I know but I don’t.  The bottom line is that my mom and dad have been married for a long time.

From their marriage I have learned a lot that has helped me in life in general but in my marriage as well. 

I have learned that marriage is a partnership that is better when both partners work together.  For most of my life pops owned his own business. He is a mechanic and owned service stations. He took care of the management of the business but without he and mom working together the business would not have been successful as it was.  I remember riding in the back seat of the car and them discussing the decisions that needed to be made.  Decisions for the business, for the family, and for life in general.  Mom and pops made their marriage work better because they were both active in it.

I learned what it means to work.  My work ethic comes from both of my parents.  Pops worked hard to both manage a business and work on cars.  He loved it I know but I remember him saying that he would feel like he was retired when he only had to work a 40 hour week.  I am grateful that I got to watch it up close and work with him. Mom was involved in the work side of  the business as well – running around getting parts for broken cars from parts houses.  Mom worked hard at home too.  When a hurricane blew down the cedar fence in the back yard she rebuilt it.  Mom had various side jobs too.  She drove a school bus among other things. My parents did the hard work to make our home what a home should be.  Both in providing for us and keeping everything organized.

I learned that marriage is hard.  Mom and dad didn’t hide from my brother Toby and me when they were not getting along.  Sometimes we couldn’t miss it.  But I was under no misconception that marriage was an easy thing.  And I am grateful that mom and dad were real about their struggles and didn’t hide their arguments behind bedroom doors where their kids couldn’t see them.  They always figured out how to work through their issues. 

I’ve learned that marriage is better when God is involved.  I listened to them pray at night.  I sat in the living room floor with them as they prayed for another family.  Decisions were made in prayer.  My parents allowed me to own my own faith and ask questions and go my own way.  But the beginning of my faith was found in my home as a child based on the life my parents lived in front of me.

I learned that a couple could have fun together (and involve their kids).  Mom and pops laughed together.  They would drive around and look at new houses on a Sunday afternoon and dream. We ate freshly popped (from kernels) popcorn together in the living room.  We played in the snow (the couple of times it snowed in south Texas).  We had fun with their parents. We shot fireworks together. We would come home after church on a fall day and make nachos in the oven and eat them on the living room floor while we watched the Dallas Cowboys (mom too). We fished together (all of us) at the lake my grandpa was caretaker of. We swam together – at the reservoir and at Landa Park.  And there is so much more…

Mom and pops have taught me how to be good grandparents.  They love our kids without condition and spoil them without remorse.

Mom and pops have taught me about commitment.  It wasn’t that they never offended each other.  It wasn’t that the world was always perfect.  But they have made it where they are today because they committed to stick this thing out 45 years ago (or so) – and they have.

I love you ma and pops!  Happy Anniversary.
- Tommy

You probably don’t want to know…

…that I’m having so much fun shopping, eating, camping, hanging out with friends and family, shipping a couple of my kids off to church camp for a few days, shopping, eating, hanging out with friends and family, drinking real Diet Coke, oogling at the cheap prices and stacks of cheese and fresh beef at the supermarket, missing my husband like crazy, drinking good coffee, shopping, eating, hanging out with friends and family and not spending a whole lot of time on the computer.

You probably don’t want to know so I won’t tell you.

Despite the fact that living out of a suitcase gets really old fast and my husband and my bed are in Singapore, the kids and I are having a great time in Texas. Texas will always be home and my favorite place in the world.

I’m in love!

I woke up in love today. I’m in love with alot of things and certain people. Head over heals in love!!

I’m in love with Texas. When people in Singapore ask us where we’re from, we always say Texas first. And then if they need clarification we’ll say the U.S. Oddly enough, alot of Singaporeans think we’re from Australia. Not sure why that is. We are SO proud to be Texans. It’s a great country err… I mean state.

I’m in love with my kids. I have not seen my son for almost three weeks now except for the occasional Skype video call. I miss him. I’m sure he misses me too.  Actually, I think he’s rather enjoying his freedom. Unfortunately for him, that ends tomorrow. I love my daughters. They are with me and we just travelled 30 hours to get to the Texas we love. They are great travellers and we enjoy each others company. They are also good shopping buddies. We had so much fun together at Target and Old Navy yesterday! I have great kids!

I’m in love with my husband. I will be away from him for almost 6 weeks. He had to stay and work in Singapore while we gallavant in Texas and eat all of his favorite foods. He’ll be doing some things in Singapore and eating some things we’ll miss too so I guess we’re kinda even.  But not really. It’s going to be a long 6 weeks without him. I wish he was here with me.

I’m in love with Texas on a much shallower level than I am with my kids and husband, of course. And on an even  more shallow level, I’m in love with Target, Old Navy, Chipotle and parking really close to the front door of the place you’re going into to shop or eat.

And on the deepest level possible, I’m in love with my God. The Creator of Texas, my kids, my husband, and the one whom I wholeheartedly believe is responsible for creating Target, Old Navy, and Chipotle . He has given us this incredibly adventurous life we find ourselves living and I am continually in awe of the favor He shows us daily and am eternally grateful.

Basically, I’m just head over heals in love right now and it’s a great feeling! What/who are you in love with today?

Beijing 7

7 is the number of completion. The perfect number right? This post will complete the posts for our Beijing family adventure. 

Getting our visa’s was an adventure in itself. You can read about that  in this post.

If you plan on going to Beijing or anywhere in China, here are a few tips for you that helped us out.

1. Download this ap for iphone or itouch. Do it before you go incase you don’t have wifi. You don’t need wifi to use it just to download it. It came in handy multiple times when we needed to know what a character was. You can draw the character on your iphone or itouch and figure out what it means. Or if you need to write something out to tell a taxi driver where to take you it’s good. Your hotel or tour guide (I have a great recommendation if you need it) should be able to help you with that as well.

2. Take a few snacks and maybe a box of cereal. We were glad we had them when food wasn’t that easily accessible. Especially if you’re taking kids or you’re not to keen on noodles, dumplings or fried rice for breakfast.

3. Stock up on bottled water when you get there. We used it to drink, brush our teeth and make coffee/tea. We did not want to take any chances on getting sick and ruining our vacation.

4. If you go during the summertime, make sure you try out the blueberry popsicles.  You can buy popsicles everywhere and they are dirt cheap!

5. Around all the tourists spots you can buy bottled water. We paid anywhere from 2 Yuan (about .30 USD)  to 10 Yuan (about $1.60 USD) for them. You can even bargain for cheaper water if you like. They won’t go down from 2 Yuan but they might from 10.

6. We did not eat any fruits or vegies that weren’t steamed or cooked. It just wasn’t worth the risk. 

7. Take comfortable shoes and be ready to walk alot! Tennis shoes are best. If open shoes, just be ready for your feet to be filthy.

8. “Bu Yao” sounds like “Boo Yow” and it means, “Don’t want”. Don’t ask, just learn it. You’ll need it.

9. If it shows peppers by the dish on the menu, do not understimate the spice factor. They mean it.

10. Be flexible and ready to smile in the pushy crowds or for the cameras. If you’re light skinned and fair haired, you will get stared at and your photo will be taken.

11. You will probably want to buy one or 10 of these. They can be found all over and should be cheap. Like around 5 Yuan each or even free if you purchase multiple items at one shop. Ask them to throw in a couple. We got ours at the Silk Market and on the shopping street of the Hou Hai (Ho Hi) Hutong area.

http://vimeo.com/13324494

12. Stay at the Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel  if you want to really experience the local culture. We were in a hutong and as soon as we walked out of the hotel premises we were in China. Real China. With the smells, the sounds and all. We felt very safe and the hotel was very clean. They did a great job of mixing local culture with upgrades to keep Westerners comfortable. We loved that we chose that hotel.

13. If you go with small children I highly recommend prioritizing what you want to see and only plan one thing or maybe two depending on what they are per day. And eat lots of popsicles! We crammed alot into our days and we were absolutely exhausted. Young children would have been miserable, thus making mommy and daddy miserable.

We were happy to find the subway so easy to navigate and taxi’s so cheap. You can get through the subway with English but don’t expect the taxi drivers to speak English. The subway was only 2 Yuan per ticket and took you through to your destination. If you go out, you’ll need to buy another ticket. Don’t expect the subway staff to speak English either. Or the police. Or the person working at McDonalds. Or really anyone.

The bus system was challenging since all the signs are in Chinese. I guess they figure foreigners aren’t going to take the bus. You can get around on the bus for cheap, though, and without a bus card. You just pay the attendant 1 Yuan and she’ll ask you how many stops you are going. There might be some communication barriers so just be prepared to be patient and flexible.

Although we did have challenges and found a few things frustrating, the things we saw and experienced were incredible. We will never forget this trip and the only thing that kept it from being perfect was that our son wasn’t with us.

Here are the previous posts if you care to read them and see more photos.

Beijing 1

Beijing 2

Beijing 3

Beijing 4

Beijing 5

Beijing 6

Beijing 6

Saturday morning we packed pretty much in slow motion. We are all exhausted and just absolutely worn out. It was such a great week but we were ready to get home. We said our goodbyes to the Happy Family Room at the Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel and loaded up in the taxi.

Tommy was sure we could fit all of our luggage and our bodies into one taxi but the taxi driver openly thought we were crazy. BUT we did it. See…

We also said goodbye to the pollution. We were so blessed to have mostly great weather and blue skies but this day was just awful looking. It made smoking all those second hand cigarettes seem like nothing. 

Our flight was delayed for about an hour so we played “Where’s Waldo”  in the airport. You wouldn’t believe how many people had on red and white striped shirts. But this guy definitely won. Can you find him???

After fighting our way onto the plane as if we were swimming upstream like salmon, we were finally headed to Singapore. To our beds. To brushing our teeth with tap water again. To perforated toilet paper. To a whole house instead of the small space we shared for 7 days. And to mounds of stinky, sweaty  laundry.

We arrived back in Singapore even more exhausted but refreshed to hear the English language being spoken and all things organized. Something happens in the air between China and Singapore. Our time in Beijing sure put some perspective on a few of our previous challenges and frustrations.

It was such a great trip! Jam packed full of history, adventure, shopping, new friends, lots of walking, lots of sweating, Chinese culture and great food. If you haven’t already, you should go someday.

Beijing 5

Just a few more Beijing posts left. Our trip is almost over. Sad for us, probably good for you so I’ll move on to something else. Don’t worry, Texas is next.

Friday morning we wanted to get back over to Tiananmen to try to see Mao one more time. If it didn’t work this time we were giving up and he’d have to just lie there without our company. We made it though. But we had a pretty adventurous subway ride on the way during rush hour. Oh my!! We waited for three very full trains before we decided we were just going to have to get on the next one. The guards at the station are not there to protect you from getting squished. They are there to PUSH you in!

We didn’t really have anything to hold on to but we didn’t really need it. I was SO grateful my head was in Tommy’s armpit and not someone elses. It was literally like a can of sardines. Getting off the train was just as challenging.

We did make it to Tainanmen in time. We checked our bags, left our camera’s (no photos), took my umbrella for shade and bottles of water and headed across the street to join a couple thousand of our closest Chinese friends who were also going to pay a visit to Mao. Yes, thousands. It is amazing to us that 30 years after his death his body still exists and that thousands of people come to see him everyday. We scratched our heads more than once trying to figure this one out and it remains a mystery. We stood in the slow but steadily moving line, trying our hardest to keep people from cutting and not get ugly, for about an hour. We went through two or three security checks to finally arrive into this HUGE and I mean HUUUGE building that exists soley to display his glowing body (the light they use is kinda orange and supposedly keeps the temperature right so it looks like he’s glowing). His casket was specially made of crystal. They move him to a vault somewhere every day. And somehow, they’ve kept him from decomposing for over 30 years. Continuing on… We walked into a/c, ahhhh….., and the daily display of fresh flowers. We were greeted with guards motioning for everyone to be quiet and continue moving. We came. We saw. We left. That was that. It was just kinda weird any way we looked at it. Is there any U.S. leader that people would still be going to see 30 years later? I can’t think of one.  It just all seemed really self-indulgent to us. And weird. But I said that already.

This building is where Mao is kept. It’s for him and him alone.

We had a more leisurely subway ride back to the Silk Market for some last minute purchases and then on to our hotel to rest up for the acrobat show that our tour guide, Lily, arranged for us that night. We went to get a taxi and it was pouring down rain. We had umbrellas but that didn’t seem to help much. We got in the only taxi in Beijing who actually used his aircon, soaking wet, and now freezing cold only to get to the theater and have to wait outside cause our tour guide was stuck in traffic. She had our tickets. We did get to smoke a few other peoples cigarettes outside while we waited, though. It was no surprise when Anna and I got sick. We were grateful it was at the end of our trip. It didn’t rain on us at all previously. It also rained on us for about an hour after the show while we waited to catch a taxi. Even Tori’s charm was not helping us much. It was dark so maybe they just couldn’t see her. We finally got one to stop and a man who had a jump on Tommy beat us to it. OH! I was fuming. So we waited a little longer. Taxi’s aren’t as easy to catch as they are in Singapore. They don’t use their “busy/hired/on call” lights and you watch so many empty ones passing you by. The show was great though and totally worth it.

This was my favorite photo of the day. Maybe the whole week. This cute little girl was with her mom working at their shop in the alley of our hutong where we were staying. I asked the mom, without words, if I could take a photo. She immediately said something to the girl and she struck the Asian photo pose. She hasn’t quite mastered it yet.

Beijing 4

Thursday in Beijing was more of an “interesting sightings” sort of day. We were a little more random and unplanned in our adventures. Mainly because we were exhausted already and needed to take it slow but our list of sights to see was narrowing down.

Our day started off with the Temple of Heaven. This was a large temple area set aside for the Emperor to offer sacrifices, shaved and bathed cows, and worship heaven and good harvest. He was the only one who worshipped there and the other people allowed in, servants or temple “employees”, would praise him for worshipping when he was finished. Weird, huh?  Tommy jokingly said that next time we went to church on Sunday we should all praise him for his “job well done”.  Although it has been rebuilt, it is very surprising that this structure withstood Mao’s takeover and destruction of  religious structures and artifacts. I guess since it wasn’t really worshipping any one god, it was ok. We did not see see any worship alters in Beijing like we do all over the place in Singapore.  We were actually surprised to see the Lama Temple which was near our hotel and also the god (goddess? I’m a little rusty on my knowledge of Eastern religions) with a thousand hands in the temple on Longevity Hill at the Summer Palace. For us, again, the structures all began to look the same so it became the history and the interesting things and people around us that kept us entertained. There is no shortage of people watching opportunities at the Temple of Heaven. Many older people come there early in the day for their exercises, playing dominos or mah jong, or dancing. If you get to go there, go early. We were a little later in the morning and it was getting too hot so most of the exercisers, dancers and sword fighters had left already.

This spot in the center of this marble structure was definitely a draw for some. There was a long line formed to stand on the marble dot and people taking picture after picture of the one that was standing on it. We read that if you stood on that spot then your voice will be heard. By the gods, I guess. We didn’t hear anyone yelling or anything, though. Lost opportunity as far as I’m concerned.

We left there for Tiananmen Square to try to see Mao. His body has been laying in state for over 30 years now. Kinda freaky. We ARE NOT Mao fans but we felt like we should go see what all the hype was about. We didn’t know it but Mao is off duty after 12pm so we didn’t get in. We would try again on Friday.

So while Mao was taking his lunch break, we went to find some of our own. We found a place just across from Tiananmen Square and the menu pictures looked ok so we gave it a go. WE were the local attraction on this occasion. We were the only Westerners in the place and we were the free sideshow and the lunch entertainment for all others who ate there. It still catches us off-guard to be the minority sometimes. It’s a good experience, though. Humbling.

After a quick clean up at the hotel, we were off to finally meet a cyber friend of mine in person. Fiona is from Singapore and now lives in Beijing. She graciously took us to a really cool shopping area, Qianmen, that we hadn’t been to. Traditional but updated and a little cleaner than the other places we had been to so far. It didn’t smell like pee which was quite refreshing. I wished we would have found this place earlier in the week. I would have liked to have spent more time there. Fiona had also arranged for us to have Peking Duck, which is a must have dish in Beijing. We met her husband at Made in China at the Hyatt hotel and had a really yummy dinner with two new friends. (Thanks, Esther for the introduction!)

Peking Duck  – The guy in the white hat meticulously slices it and serves it up. The roasted and crispy skin is the the delicacy. You wrap up your sliced duck into a thin pancake with a special sauce, garlic with sliced spring onions and cucumbers. It’s basically a Chinese fajita. 

Beggar’s Chicken (Chicken stuffed with chestnuts, onion, mushrooms, etc. and wrapped in Lotus leaves. A clay covering is made for it and it’s baked for 4 hours. They bring you the clay covered chicken and someone gets the honor of bashing it open with a hammer. Tori was the honorable basher for the evening. She got it in one whack!  Then we all get the honor of eating it. It was delicious!

Thanks Fiona and Gary for spending the evening with us. It was an honor to meet you and I hope our paths cross again someday.

Tori was taking the photo and Anna was sick to death of being in them.

A few random shots of the day:

Yes, we totally used our daughter’s good looks to catch taxi’s. We felt it would be unwise to not use our God-given resources.




This bicycle cart passed us carrying full fish aquariums, bunnies, chics, turtles, etc. Anna spontaneously said, “Look! Meals on wheels!”

Beijing 3

Wednesday in Beijing was a VERY full and long day. Here’s the rundown of our day.

Breakfast with Tori near her University
Moved Tori out of her dorm and into our hotel
Lunch and shopping at Hou Hai
The Summer Palace
Walking FOREVER trying to find the subway
Back to Hou Hai for dinner
Walking FOREVER trying to find Hutong Pizza
Never being more thankful for chairs in our lives
Dancing in the streets of Hou Hai
Seeing some crazy things along the way

This day included several subway rides and taxi rides and tons and tons of walking! And after climbing the Great Wall the day before, we were beyond exhausted.

Wednesday started out with breakfast again at Stairway to Love (love that name!), and waiting around for the University staff to check her out. Nothing happens fast in China. Nothing. And you really don’t know why. You just wait and don’t ask. Not that we could anyway since we don’t speak Chinese. We also got to meet a few of her classmates. They will miss her. She will miss them. Tori started out not being too hip on the idea of living in China for 5 weeks but she came to love it. You can read more about that on her blog.

We were sans tour guide now but we had Tori! We got her stuff in a taxi, showed the driver our hotel address card, waited for him to call them and figure out where to take us and we were off. We went over to our hotel and then back out again to the Summer Palace. WOW! This place was a gift to someone in the dynastic family. Maybe for the Emperors mom as we heard somewhere but we also heard it was a gift for the Emperor’s son. I think it might have began for the son and then Emperors down the line added to it along the way. The original was mostly destroyed but the current gov’t has taken it over and rebuilt for the public to enjoy. It’s really sad though that the most beautiful places in Beijing for hundreds or thousands of years were only for one family or one man, the Emperor. The Forbidden City, Emperor and his family ONLY, thus the name Forbidden. Commoners would be killed if they tried to enter. The Summer Palace, the Empress and family and those she invited. The Temple of Heaven, the Emperor ONLY. He would go there to worship heaven and the harvest and then he would be praised for worshipping. It’s kinda crazy. Can you imagine praising someone for worshipping? Anyway, these gorgeous creations were reserved for the royal few and now they are open to the public but they are money making ventures filled with ice cream and popcorn vendors and people selling all sorts of cheap trinkets. Not at all the peaceful places they once were but still definitely worth seeing. We ran across a sign that said that yesterday’s tourist count was 31,000 and a projected 34,000 for the day we were there. Money making venture? You bet! We found that the architecture all began to look the same and most of it is not original so the interest came more from the history than the structures themselves.

Also included as a part of the Summer Palace was the 17 Arch Bridge. We didn’t quite figure out what the history is with it but that gives us something to do now that we’re home. It led to another structure on the opposite side of the man made lake that looked like it might have been the sleeping quarters for the Emporer but don’t quote me on that. The door was really cool!

By this time Anna was sick of us taking her picture. This is her forced smile. We told her to suck it up cause she’d thank us one day.

Before we left for dinner we walked back over the bridge. We were all a sideshow in Beijing but Tori was especially favored. After 5 weeks of being there, she got used to walking around in Asian picture pose mode. We found it so funny! If we didn’t laugh and go with it we would have been miserable. We just cracked it up to them being as curious about us and we are about them. Some people tried to hide it but most of them were obviously in awe at her height, long light colored wavey hair and beauty. It was completely obvious that she was not a familiar sight for them. One kid even passed us once jumping, pointing and yelling to his family, ”foreigners! foreigners!” in Chinese. Tori knew what that word meant.

 
We ate lunch and dinner at Hou Hai. Some really great Chinese Muslim food for lunch and pizza for dinner. Then as we walked to catch a taxi, we saw and heard a variety of sights and sounds. Tommy and I briefly did the two-step to a Chinese girl singing “Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and file’ gumbo”. And then we walked down further to the commons area and there were people ballroom dancing inside of a  crowd of people. Some were dancing just for fun but a few were pretty serious about it. 

It was a fun, interesting, educational, crazy, long and worthwhile day in Beijing, China. We lived this day to its fullest and finished on empty and wouldn’t have done it any other way.

Just for fun. This is classic Beijing. It’s hot in Beijing and apparently raising your shirt a few inches and tucking it in your armptits helps cause most of the men walk around that way. Tommy didn’t just in case you were wondering.

Beijing 2

Hello, my name is Andrea and it’s been 4 days since my last post.

We are packed up and ready to leave. Well, ready in the sense that we’re packed up and everything fits. I think we could live here and never fully explore this place. There really is so much to do and see and experience in Beijing. We are ready for what we call normal and we have to get back to pack up again to leave for Texas in just a few days. On top of everything else, it started to rain last night and really hasn’t stopped. It hasn’t rained all week and we are grateful for that. So it’s raining, we’re packed up to our weight limit and it’s time to go home.

We’ve been incredibly busy exploring Beijing and nothing has disappointed us. The last post covered Saturday through Monday of our trip. On Tuesday we went to The Jade Factory on our way to the Great Wall.

The Jade Factory was awesome. (At some point I will run out of adjectives to describe our adventures.) Huge hunks of Jade in the shape of vases, ships, lions, terracotta warriors, you name it. Beijing is known for it’s Jade deposits and it is plentiful and has been for thousands of years. We saw alot of original Jade figurines and statues in the Forbidden City and other Temples we went to. I was able to get a Jadeite bracelet, the hard form of Jade and the most expensive. There is a soft jade which is much less expensive but it’s also more fragile. Just as pretty though. I’ve wanted something made from Jade for a while but I didn’t know what was real and what was glass. Our tour guide was knowledgeable so I asked her to help me pick one. It’s quite a process. They measure your knuckles to see what size is right for you. The bracelet should be 3.5 knuckles around. Then you choose the color, white, purple, green, multi  that you want. The lighter colors are for younger girls as the color is supposed to darken over time and then you hand it down to your child. Lily, our tour guide told me I shouldn’t get a light one.  Mine is a darker colored green with alot of variations of green throughout. They put a plastic bag over your hand and slip it on your wrist. You pay. You go to the washroom and wash it to make it yours. This was not an option. You wear it forever. The hard Jade will not break or scratch. There’s your Jade lesson for the day.

There’s a bracelet missing in the top center row in this photo. It’s the one that’s on my wrist.

After the Jade Factory we drove for about an hour and a half out to Mutianyu area of the Great Wall. They call this section the “foreigners wall” because it’s a little further out of town and most locals don’t go there. The drive was great and helped us get rested up for the climb. We kinda cheated though by riding the cable car up to the wall. It would have taken about an hour to climb up to it by foot. We sat down on the cable car and my words were, “I sure hope this is made well.” We went pretty high up and I told Tommy he was not allowed to wiggle. We made it safely up and took in the breathtaking view. It was just amazing that we were standing on the Great Wall of China. From thousands of years ago through a few dynasties and here still for the Stunz family to walk on. Just amazing! The part we climbed was the highest spot that tourists are allowed to climb to. But Tommy being the rebel he is went a little further and climbed up through the woods to get to the next station which is original and has not been redone. Way cool! We are getting a real life history lesson here. The books can’t compare.

We rode the tobaggon down which was fun. Met our driver and plopped down and dozed on the way back to the city. He dumped us out for a quick view of the Birds Nest (Olympic Stadium). We took a quick photo and ran back to meet him and went back to the hotel, showered, ate McDonalds because it was close and easy and crashed to rest up for another long and full day ahead.

Beijing 1

We’ve got a few minutes before we meet our tour guide at 9am so I thought I’d type up a quick post.

We are really enjoying our time in Beijing. The culture and history are so rich and we are incredibly grateful for the experience we are having.

We arrived on Saturday and pretty much everything went just as it should. Plane was on schedule, annoying family sitting in front of us (Western), slirpy food eating guy next to us (Asian) and a Chinese chic flick on the movie screen with subtitles. Our pre arranged taxi met us at the airport. I’m not sure that there’s a better feeling than seeing your name on a sign at the airport in a foreign country. Our hotel is incredible. Very traditional Chinese culture and right in the center of a hutong but they’ve done a fabulous job of making it comfortable for Westerners.

On Sunday, we subway’d over to Tori for breakfast and did some shopping with her at the Silk Market. That was a hoot!! We got some great bargains. It was great fun to watch/hear Tori use her Chinese skills! Just pray for that poor girl who said she wouldn’t get to eat because we bargained her down on a belt for Anna. Just kidding, she looked well fed so I’m sure she’s fine. We don’t think we ripped anyone off. I’m pretty sure they won’t lose money. And even if they did on us, they make it up on other unsuspecting customers who don’t know how to play the game.

 

On Monday, we met our tour guide, Lily, for a visit to The Forbidden City and Tian’an Men Square and then went to another upgraded hutong called Hou Hai for lunch and shopping. It was mind boggling to think we were walking where Emperor’s walked 600 years ago. Lily did a great job of telling us stories of how life was back then and how the changes have happened. We were pretty exhausted after being outside in the seriously hot heat for hours so shopping wasn’t much fun. We ended up going back to our hotel a little earlier than planned to rest and then we went out to hunt for dinner. After a long and unsuccessful walk, we ended up catching a taxi back to Hou Hai. Thankfully we had Lily write out on my notepad in Chinese, “Please can you take us to Hou Hai? Thank you.” There’s no communicating here in English. That’s probably the hardest part of being here.

Today we are headed to meet Lily again and drive out to the Jade Factory and then to the Great Wall. Way cool! Anna and I recently went to see Karate Kid. Being here is really just like what you see in the movie. Only better!!!