Beijing - Day 1

We woke up somewhere between 1-2 am - jet lag is a beast.  

We ate at a wonderful, diverse breakfast buffet in our hotel.

We joined our group on a tour of a hutong (a traditional quadrangle home in Beijing) and rode in rickshaws.  

 We were able to visit a family and view their home, which was 160 years old. 

It was interesting to walk through their streets and learn more about their culture.  

 What impressed me most about this part of the tour is how much significance/meaning the Chinese place on things we wouldn't think about. 

  

 For instance, how many beams are above the doorway and how many steps are leading up to that doorway.  

These numbers would tell you about status of the family living inside.

  

 Also it would be bad luck for both of these numbers to be even or odd, there must be one of each.  

The kids are so confused as to what time it is; actually, we all are!

The man who owned this home trains and races pigeons.

He is also an artist.

An interesting car - handlebars instead of a steering wheel.

 From there, we went to learn about how silk is made.  

It was interesting to see and feel the silk in different stages.

The kids were excited to pick out some Chinese clothing.  

The girls chose dresses and Andrew chose a two-piece outfit.  

When I started to pick one for Elijah, he was quick to ask me to get the same one so that they can match. =)

After our tour, we went out for lunch.  Now we can really say we've had Chinese food.  

It was delicious, but certainly very different than what we've had in the US.

Some favorites were the egg drop soup, spicy green beans and a few things that I have no idea on their names - haha.

  From lunch we walked to Tian'an Men Square & the Forbidden City.

  Right about this time a couple of things happened: first, I realized what it must feel like to have paparazzi follow you around and second, it began to hit me that we are really, truly in China - seriously crazy.  

And apparently the Chinese people think it's crazy as well, at least based on the number of people taking our pictures. 

We were told that we would draw attention and that people would want to take our picture; however, even our guide was caught off guard by the amount of attention we received. 

 I'm guessing that the combination of blond hair, number of children and our double stroller (I don't think there are many of those here) formed the response we received today.  

People stopped us, followed us, and took our pictures so much that at one point someone in our group took a picture of all of the people taking pictures of our family. 

It was really something else.  

To stand in these historical places that I'd seen pictures of as a child was amazing. 

The beauty and magnitude of the Forbidden City is unparalleled. 

 It seemed to just keep going and going. 

There are so many rooms in the emperor's palace that if you stayed in a different room every night from the night you were born, you'd be 27 years old before you'd stayed in every room.  

Um, yeah, that's pretty huge.

Seeing this place, standing in it, I just kept thinking, "This cannot be real." 

It is also so fun to experience this with other families waiting to bring precious children home.

What a blessing it is to be here and experience this beautiful country and culture.

So here we are back in our room.  I'm not so sure anything I've written has made much sense.  I'm tired, more tired than I've ever been in my life.  My poor kiddos are super tired as well.  They're falling asleep at strange times & I'm hoping that they will adjust quickly.  But we are really so glad to be here.  It's been an amazing day, but tomorrow.....tomorrow, I get to see him.  It's not Gotcha Day, but we will get to visit his foster home and meet him.  This is a special gift & privilege.  We are so excited for the opportunity.