We have been in China for 5 days.
I’m looking out the window of my 14th floor room in Beijing,
and still wondering how more people can fit into this city than are in almost
2/3 of all of Canada.
This place has reminded Dean and I a lot of California – specifically
the way the mountains surround much of the city, so Beijing has been called
“The Basin.” The smog settles in heavy
over the city into this “basin” and you can’t see very far.
But the people have been quite friendly (that might be because our
faces scream tourist! and so they
hope we will spend our money here).
Our narrow goal (and still our main focus) for coming to China was to
pick up Bronwyn. She belongs with us,
and we can’t wait to get her home to meet her sister and brothers. The touring
has been wonderful, but there’s always a slight impatience in the back of my
mind. It’s like seeing this beautiful
country is a great way to put in time while we wait for The Day. But we have been pleasantly surprised at how
much we are enjoying meeting the other adoptive couples that have come on this
trip as well. Maybe there’s something
about the heart of an adopter – maybe we connect quickly because of a
commonality somewhere in us that drove us both to this point. Maybe we just like to be able to speak in
English to each other for a portion of each day;)
It’s been so hot this past week, and it looks like it will continue to
be 28 – 32 degrees for the next week.
It’s not muggy yet though, so it makes it quite bearable.
On Saturday we walked along an outdoor market near the Earth
Temple. There were many older people out
enjoying this park setting – dancing, playing traditional instruments from the
Peking Opera, and singing.
There was a wrestling match in the park, as well as many pieces of exercise equipment.
Dean and I shared lunch at a local KFC
(ordering by ourselves was lots of fun!)
We did a bit of haggling in the market for an additional suitcase, and
then went to be lazy in the hotel. We
walked over to another nearby restaurant to share traditional Chinese food with
some other families.
Sunday was a FABULOUS experience as we chose to explore the Stone Flower Cave on the outskirts of Beijing. We took a taxi for an hour, ending up in the mountains of the rural portion of this area. Here we have finally seen a few single-family homes, rather than the myriad and massive high-rises. Very rustic! We were dropped off a little ways up the mountain, and began to climb along the paved road. Vendors selling knickknacks and local food items lined the sides and greeted us in Mandarin.
We entered this cave, and spent the next 2 hours climbing through
levels and formations like we could never have imagined. The pictures we managed to get are terrible –
especially in light of our memories of an awe-inspiring experience. Over and over the words from Psalms ran
through my mind: “When I consider the works of Your hands…”
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