We began our day at the hotel restaurant. Our breakfast is included in all 4 of our hotel stays. It was interesting to say the least. David tried cereal and the milk was room temperature. Alana tried duck and loved it and also tried the hot chocolate which was just warmed up chocolate milk. I tried the coffee and it was so bitter! Thankfully there is a Starbucks beside our hotel that I will be visiting in the morning. They had corn on the cob on the buffet and steamed vegetables. A little bit of everything. The french toast was good so I will probably stick with that again tomorrow. The watermelon and pineapple were delicious!
We met Tom, our guide, and the rest of our group in the lobby at 8 AM. It took us about 2 hours to get to our first stop, the Cloisonne Factory. Tom gave us some great information about China's history on the way. I perked up when he started talking about education here. There are no daycare centers for children under 3 years old. Grandparens often take care of the children so the mothers can go back to work after having a child. Children are required to go to elementary school for 6 years and middle school 3 years. After that, high school/vocational school is optional and costs money. The average college tuition here is $1500 a year! Most people must go to college and post grad school if they want to have a chance at receiving a job here.
We talked about why parents give their children up for adoption. If a parent has a child born with special needs such as our Aiden, insurance will not cover any of their medications or surgeries and the parents have to pay for their education. Most families here cannot afford this. I can't imagine being in the position to have to make this decision. I immediately began to pray for Aiden's birth family. They did what they thought was best for him to receive the care he needs. They abandoned him at a hospital. They could have left him anywhere, but they knew he needed immediate care that they couldn't give him.
The Cloisonne Factory was our first stop of the day. It was fascinating to see the amount of patience you have to have to make these beautiful pieces. The first step in the process is to twist copper wire into tiny shapes and designs and glue to a piece such as a vase. Then there are several layers of paint applied to the piece, then the piece if polished. We did not purchase anything as the pieces were very expensive. Alana did find the fan she had been looking for at a vendor outside of the factory. It was her first purchase and she hasn't put the fan down. She is hilarious with it and has learned how to unfold it with one hand.
Next up was the Great Wall of China. I want to start by giving adoptive parents that will be coming here soon some advice...put down the candy bar and start training now! The climb up these stairs was no joke. It was especially fun to see people twice my age passing me as I was pausing to catch my breath and make sure I wasn't dying. Once we got to the top, we had gorgeous views and a wonderful breeze. We feel so grateful to be experiencing things from Aiden's culture. China truly is a beautiful place!
While we were waiting on our group, there was a mother and son sitting beside us. Again we were stalkers and just kept staring at this beautiful boy. We watched the mother take the boys pants off and have him potty over by a fence. Seriously, the bathroom was just around the corner but this is pretty common. This is also why I am constantly grabbing Alana and pulling her away from stepping in anything wet in the road. You just never know here what it could be!
Alana found a cloisonne teapot in the souvenir shop at the Great Wall that was half the price it was in the Cloisonne factory so she bought it. I bought an "I climbed the Great Wall" t shirt. Yes, I will be that person proclaiming that to the world because it was nothing short of a miracle. I may not have a 13.1 sticker on my car, but I have this shirt.
We went to the jade factory next. We took a short tour with a guide, and she showed us how many of the pieces were made. My favorite piece was the Family Happy Ball. It is a beautiful piece of jade that has been carved into three balls, each one smaller than the next. It represents how a family unit may never be broken. I thought this would be a beautiful piece of Aiden's culture to have in our house so we purchased a small version of it.
After the jade tour, we were taken to lunch. Lunch was served family style and was delicious! We had rice (of course), tomato and beef soup, beef and onions, veggie dumplings, steamed veggies, broccoli that looked like it was in slime, kung pao chicken, and watermelon. So good! After lunch, Alana and I were talking with another lady in our group that is here for their second adoption. Alana showed her Aiden's picture and she immediately said, "He looks very familiar!" Alana pulled up his original picture that Alana and I saw the day we found him on our portal. She asked if his portal name had been "Maddox" and we said yes. She had also seen this adorable face and inquired about him and his special need! When she went back to check on him, his picture had been removed from the portal which meant he was no longer available. She was so excited to see he had been chosen and that she would get to see him when we meet again in Guangzhou! This little boy is loved by so many and he doesn't even know it yet!
Next up, we visited Olympic Park. We were able to see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube where Michael Phelps made history. We somehow lost one of the couples in our group so ended up standing around a lot here. That is my fear...that I will get lost in China! Agh! We have an incredible tour guide that wouldn't let that happen though.
When we arrived back at the hotel, we took a nap...at 6 in the evening. It had to be done though because we had shut down. I had to drag Alana out of bed at 7:30 so we could go get some supper. She wasn't happy about that.
We ventured out tonight and found a Chinese restaurant that looked really nice so decided to try it out. We almost left because the menu looked so strange but found two things we thought we could eat and ordered them. We were really nervous that we had just ordered $60 worth of food, and we really have a tight food budget here. The food came and we loved most of it! We think the Kung Pao Chicken may not have been chicken, but the other chicken dish we ordered was delicious. We also had rice and noodles. The time came for us to pay...68 yuan which is $11 USD! We quickly paid and left before they changed their minds. We couldn't even finish all the food we were given and could not believe we had only paid $11.
We then headed over to McDonalds just to check it out and ended up ordering a cheeseburger meal there too. I forgot to pack anything salty and have been craving kettle chips so the fries would have to do. Turns out, McDonalds is just as disgusting in China as it is in the states! But the meal was $2.43 USD.
After returning to the hotel, we got our showers, played a round of Dutch Blitz, then went to bed.
Another great day in Beijing!
We met Tom, our guide, and the rest of our group in the lobby at 8 AM. It took us about 2 hours to get to our first stop, the Cloisonne Factory. Tom gave us some great information about China's history on the way. I perked up when he started talking about education here. There are no daycare centers for children under 3 years old. Grandparens often take care of the children so the mothers can go back to work after having a child. Children are required to go to elementary school for 6 years and middle school 3 years. After that, high school/vocational school is optional and costs money. The average college tuition here is $1500 a year! Most people must go to college and post grad school if they want to have a chance at receiving a job here.
We talked about why parents give their children up for adoption. If a parent has a child born with special needs such as our Aiden, insurance will not cover any of their medications or surgeries and the parents have to pay for their education. Most families here cannot afford this. I can't imagine being in the position to have to make this decision. I immediately began to pray for Aiden's birth family. They did what they thought was best for him to receive the care he needs. They abandoned him at a hospital. They could have left him anywhere, but they knew he needed immediate care that they couldn't give him.
The Cloisonne Factory was our first stop of the day. It was fascinating to see the amount of patience you have to have to make these beautiful pieces. The first step in the process is to twist copper wire into tiny shapes and designs and glue to a piece such as a vase. Then there are several layers of paint applied to the piece, then the piece if polished. We did not purchase anything as the pieces were very expensive. Alana did find the fan she had been looking for at a vendor outside of the factory. It was her first purchase and she hasn't put the fan down. She is hilarious with it and has learned how to unfold it with one hand.
Next up was the Great Wall of China. I want to start by giving adoptive parents that will be coming here soon some advice...put down the candy bar and start training now! The climb up these stairs was no joke. It was especially fun to see people twice my age passing me as I was pausing to catch my breath and make sure I wasn't dying. Once we got to the top, we had gorgeous views and a wonderful breeze. We feel so grateful to be experiencing things from Aiden's culture. China truly is a beautiful place!
While we were waiting on our group, there was a mother and son sitting beside us. Again we were stalkers and just kept staring at this beautiful boy. We watched the mother take the boys pants off and have him potty over by a fence. Seriously, the bathroom was just around the corner but this is pretty common. This is also why I am constantly grabbing Alana and pulling her away from stepping in anything wet in the road. You just never know here what it could be!
Alana found a cloisonne teapot in the souvenir shop at the Great Wall that was half the price it was in the Cloisonne factory so she bought it. I bought an "I climbed the Great Wall" t shirt. Yes, I will be that person proclaiming that to the world because it was nothing short of a miracle. I may not have a 13.1 sticker on my car, but I have this shirt.
We went to the jade factory next. We took a short tour with a guide, and she showed us how many of the pieces were made. My favorite piece was the Family Happy Ball. It is a beautiful piece of jade that has been carved into three balls, each one smaller than the next. It represents how a family unit may never be broken. I thought this would be a beautiful piece of Aiden's culture to have in our house so we purchased a small version of it.
After the jade tour, we were taken to lunch. Lunch was served family style and was delicious! We had rice (of course), tomato and beef soup, beef and onions, veggie dumplings, steamed veggies, broccoli that looked like it was in slime, kung pao chicken, and watermelon. So good! After lunch, Alana and I were talking with another lady in our group that is here for their second adoption. Alana showed her Aiden's picture and she immediately said, "He looks very familiar!" Alana pulled up his original picture that Alana and I saw the day we found him on our portal. She asked if his portal name had been "Maddox" and we said yes. She had also seen this adorable face and inquired about him and his special need! When she went back to check on him, his picture had been removed from the portal which meant he was no longer available. She was so excited to see he had been chosen and that she would get to see him when we meet again in Guangzhou! This little boy is loved by so many and he doesn't even know it yet!
Next up, we visited Olympic Park. We were able to see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube where Michael Phelps made history. We somehow lost one of the couples in our group so ended up standing around a lot here. That is my fear...that I will get lost in China! Agh! We have an incredible tour guide that wouldn't let that happen though.
When we arrived back at the hotel, we took a nap...at 6 in the evening. It had to be done though because we had shut down. I had to drag Alana out of bed at 7:30 so we could go get some supper. She wasn't happy about that.
We ventured out tonight and found a Chinese restaurant that looked really nice so decided to try it out. We almost left because the menu looked so strange but found two things we thought we could eat and ordered them. We were really nervous that we had just ordered $60 worth of food, and we really have a tight food budget here. The food came and we loved most of it! We think the Kung Pao Chicken may not have been chicken, but the other chicken dish we ordered was delicious. We also had rice and noodles. The time came for us to pay...68 yuan which is $11 USD! We quickly paid and left before they changed their minds. We couldn't even finish all the food we were given and could not believe we had only paid $11.
We then headed over to McDonalds just to check it out and ended up ordering a cheeseburger meal there too. I forgot to pack anything salty and have been craving kettle chips so the fries would have to do. Turns out, McDonalds is just as disgusting in China as it is in the states! But the meal was $2.43 USD.
After returning to the hotel, we got our showers, played a round of Dutch Blitz, then went to bed.
Another great day in Beijing!