Travel Journal - Day 2

Hello from Beijing!

We had an amazing day today, and are all feeling much better after getting some sleep! After doing some paperwork to get ready for the adoption this morning, we had breakfast (which was delicious!) and headed off for today's touring. Guilan, our facilitator, is just amazing. She is this little tiny lady, but has so much energy. She coordinates everything - she orders our food, handles all the money, etc. We are all crazy about her. On the bus, she sang all different songs to us - "The Star Spangled Banner", "God Bless America" and some songs from Jiangxi, our babies' province. It's pretty hysterical to see this little Chinese lady standing in the front of the bus singing American songs, but she's actually a good singer!

Our first stop was a jade factory, which is government-run. Our guide Guilan explained to us that this is the best way to buy jade, as it is guaranteed to be of high quality. It was amazing to see how they carve the different pieces. I bought Abby a pretty bracelet. They explained to us that it is customary for a mother to have a jade bracelet, which she wears on her left wrist (as it is closest to the heart). When her daughter gets married, she passes it on to her daughter. I bought a type of jade which is considered to bring "double happiness". I also bought her a beautiful small pendant that has the Chinese symbol for Happiness. It will be a present to her when she's older - maybe when she graduates high-school, or another big event. After that we were on our way to the Great Wall!!!! The bus ride took about 45 minutes, maybe a bit longer since we hit quite a bit of traffic. We all had a great laugh when a young guy in a truck blew a kiss at me! Apparently, they love blondes! (Fake or not) LOL One of our travel mates said that it gave true meaning to "KFC" - he said it now means "Kristen's Fan Club" Hey, I turned 36 today, so it gave me a lift! LOL

It was truly unbelievable as we drove up to the Great Wall. I have taken a roll of film, and it will never do it justice! After we took about 5 steps up, we realized just how hard it was going to be to climb! The steps are very uneven and worn in places. Kim and I were totally out of breath, but my mother was unbelievable! LOL She was way ahead of us the whole time! I was joking that I needed a "My mother kicked my ass on the Great Wall" t-shirt! LOL The scenary was just incredible...you just cannot believe you are standing on one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

After our workout at the Great Wall, we went to a Friendship store (which is sort of a Chinese department store) and had lunch. We are really surprised at how good the food is. Some of it we don't even try, but we are trying to be more adventurous!

We have such a great group traveling with us. We have lots of laughs, and everybody helps each other, etc. We are all so excited to be getting closer and closer to getting our daughters. We have only been in China for a couple of days, but you see how warm the Chinese are - they are very friendly to us.

We are all thinking of you. We are having a great time, but miss home very much. It is weird not experiencing all these things without you Scott - it just isn't the same. Someday we'll do it all together as a family though...I love you, I love you, I love you - please hug and kiss Evan for me, and tell him that Mommy misses him and loves him, and that I'll be home soon.

Less than 48 hours to Abby! :)

Love, Kristen