First Post From China

Max has hit that phase where he sometimes can't find his real smile!

 Our first day in Beijing has been good.  Since we actually made our flights and got here a day early we had some extra time so we added a couple things to the schedule.  This morning we went to the Temple of Heaven and then to the Summer Palace. 

Veldon met his Chinese doppelganger today!

This is the park where the old people gather and exercise, these are all old people, they put us to shame. We hurried through is part. :)

This tree is over 400 yrs old...so they told us...how could we really verify that?

This is where the lazy old people sit and drink tea and play cards...our guide called them lazy not me!

This structure is from the 1400s.

Max is still trying to find that smile!

This is actually just a trash can, but of course Katie had to grab a picture of it when I mentioned she should get the gold barrel in her picture, everyone laughed...they were everywhere...anyone could have made that mistake!

This is a throne the emperor would sit on, behind the throne is the word "longevity" written in lots of different ways.

 

Our guide is loaded up with interesting facts and knows amazing details about the history of China.  I just taught my 8^th graders a little bit about China and the how Europeans tried to colonize and divide China into 7 zones for trade control, (and power). It was interesting for our guide to show us something at the temple or palace and explain that it had been damaged by the Anglo-French, or stolen by the Anglo-French, during the invasion. 

Sight seeing is nice and we enjoyed, mostly, a very traditional Beijing lunch, but the whole point of being here is to get our son and I have to say if we could skip to Sunday and travel South I would do it in a minute.  We will see Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City tomorrow and our last day in Beijing will be going to the Great Wall.  All of that will be fun and help to pass the time more quickly. I love history and of course China is full of amazing history...20 dynasties before the country had a short period of a little bit of freedom and then...now.  But the last days before you meet your child are so long, it was the same with Max, even the drive to the orphanage seemed like days! I'm ready!

One thing about the Tims hitting China is that we create quite a spectacle walking the streets of Beijing.  Between our Thai son and very tall, very pretty daughter there has been a lot of staring and head turning.  One man pulled his bike right up to the door of the car we were getting into and stopped and stared, right up, he could have touched us and just stood there. I stared back but that didn’t seem to discourage him at all.  Other people stop walking to watch us go by and some have even smiled, but not many.

My first impressions of China are not as great as my first of Thailand.  Thailand is known as the land of smiles for a reason.  Everyone in Thailand is friendly.  If we attempted to speak Thai they always smiled and responded.  Today I attempted several times to speak and was generally ignored or stared at. So after saying “hello” twice to our waitress and then “thank you” I gave up. I think the far-reaching hand of government oppression is everywhere. I think the people generally are not happy.  The buildings are bleak and serviceable, but the atmosphere is heavy.  In the park the old people were singing a national anthem,  it just seems that every part of life is connected to nationalism and the government.  Our guide mentioned that some “presidents” are good some are bad. I asked if "you get to vote for the president". She said “yes” then laughed and said “Well, no not really. They say we get to vote, but actually the party votes, but it doesn’t mean anything. The current president will pick the next one.” She’s also very quick to say “It’s very good.” after any mention of the government.  Cars are only allowed to drive every other day depending on whether they have even or odd numbers on their plates, and it is very good at controlling the smog...I'm not really seeing that!  Anything owned by the government is good; any decision made the government is good.  I do have one suggestion for the good government; educate the people on the harmful effects of smoking.  I’ve never seen so many people smoking it’s crazy!  

We are immensely happy to be here. We are glad to see where our son is coming from and will share as much as we can remember with him.  It was interesting to watch Max today. I think something in his memories was touched because he asked a lot of questions and seemed to recognize the temples. He went to the Buddhist temples in Thailand.  There's definitely some sort of connection he is sensing with the Eastern world.