Greetings from Beijing!

I hope this letter finds all of you well!

The last few days have been very busy, with much running around and plenty of sightseeing! Before I get into that, however, I will tell you about the trip over here. On Sunday morning, March sixteenth, I was dropped off at the Sea-Tac Air Port by my friends Bethany, Leah, and Justin, and my sister Jazmine. I was very glad to have them along. I have never traveled outside of the U.S. before, and while I wasn’t really nervous, I felt just a bit of tension on my way to this new adventure. My friends helped me to stay engaged in conversation and plenty of laughing. It was nice to have their support!

Once our goodbye’s had been said and there were hugs all around, the Cody family and I went through security. It wasn’t as bad as I had apprehended, and we were not required to leave anything behind.

The first flight went very well. It took ten and one-half hours to fly from Seattle to Tokyo. I sat between Tamsin and Mei mei, in the center aisle of the plane. The girls watched several movies, but I did not have the concentration to finish either of the two I started. I wasn’t the only one without an attention span. Mei mei would start a movie, and about half an hour into it, ask me to start a new one for her!

We landed in Tokyo with just enough time to go through security and find our next plane with a little time to spare. We boarded the plane and it taxied out to the runway. Usually when a plane gets to a runway it accelerates and takes off into the sky and goes somewhere. Not this plane. We waited and waited and it didn’t go anywhere. Apparently there was some sort of computer glitch that didn’t have a simple fix. So, everyone climbed off the plane to wait for a later flight. The kids were exhausted. They had been very well behaved, but by this point had been awake for about eighteen hours. We sat on a bench for about half an hour before wearily boarding or replacement jet. This time it managed to get off the ground and fly to Beijing!

I was so excited when we finally landed in Beijing after twenty-four hours of traveling! I have wanted to go to China since some friends adopted a little girl from there when I was eight. My parents told me that in China families are allowed to have only one child, and that boys are preferred over girls. I couldn’t understand why that would be. Ever since then it has been a dream of mine to go to China and help these “extra” kids in some small way, but it always seemed like something that would only happen in the very distant future. You might understand then the feelings of excitement and disbelief that I was actually on a plane landing in the place I have so often longed to go!

After getting off the plane we had to walk through a scanner that was checking to see if we had fevers. Once we made it through we had to have our passports checked before going to collect our luggage. We were very relieved to see that our guide/driver was waiting for us at the end of all this. After being delayed for so long, we were afraid he wouldn’t wait for us! He was there, however, ready to help us load our luggage into a van and drive us to our hotel.

We are staying in the Lu Song Yuan Hotel. It is such a pretty place! Called a Hutong, it is a place where rich families used to live three to four-hundred years ago. Hutong are large buildings built around a central courtyard. The decorations are very ornate, with much detail.

Once we finally arrived and were able to climb into bed, it was one in the morning, and we had been awake for well over twenty-four hours. Needless to say we were exhausted, and the kids were pretty much walking in their sleep.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. I am not a fan of eating dinner foods for breakfast, but that is what they do here. Think about eating dumplings, pork rolls and noodles for breakfast! It will take some time for me to adjust to this…I should also mention that the hotel did serve some fruit and pastries as well as dinner.

The Codys and I left the hutong around nine in search of a Starbucks so that Bridget could buy a mug that said Beijing. She has started sort of a tradition where she buys a Starbucks mug from some city every time she comes to China. When leaving the hotel the first thing I noticed was the smog and the heaviness of the air. The other thing that hit me was the smell. The Chinese like very strong potent flavors, so with all the tiny little food stands everywhere, the car exhaust, dust, and sometimes fresh sewage, breathing there is quite interesting, and sometimes repulsive.

There is a lot of restoration work being done on the city partly because it just needs to be done, but also because the Olympics are being held here this year. Buildings are being refaced and updated, flower gardens are being readied, and parts of the sidewalks are being repaired.

As we walked a really, really long way to the Starbucks, one thing that cracked me up was the traffic! On the main road, there are five lanes of traffic traveling in each direction! The inner four on each side are for motor vehicles and the outermost lanes are reserved for bicycles and scooters. The sidewalks were crowded with people, occasional bikes, and once, a parked van!

The morning passed pleasantly as there was so much to see! After stopping at Starbucks to pick up the mug and have some cocoa, we poked around in a few small shops. The kids were well behaved, but still very tired and because of that, prone to being a little fussy at times. They trooped right along in spite of their exhaustion taking turns riding in the stroller and holding hands with us adults. Speaking of which, I no longer own my handsJ. At almost every moment we walk there is a little hand tugging at mine as the children alternately skip and then trudge along. If I let go for just a second to get my hair out of my face or some such thing, they are pulling at my arm, trying to grab my hands! I am glad for this though, because the city is so busy it would be easy to lose sight of them in the crowds or let them wander into the traffic.

Later in the afternoon we found our way to the Forbidden City. What an amazing place! You wouldn’t believe the size of it, or the incredible detail put into it! First, there is the huge main gate. And I mean huge. The wall is about forty feet tall, and on top of it is a structure about the height of a two-story building! After passing through this gate there is an enormous courtyard, then another gate just as bit as the first, then another courtyard, gate, courtyard…you get the picture. It just keeps going until it finally reaches the Imperial Garden. The garden was pretty and very well laid out, but as it is winter here almost nothing is in bloom.

For awhile I just stood staring up one of the huge walls at one of the palaces on top. I tried to imagine what it would be like, hundreds of years ago to be one of the people living in this Forbidden City. I felt so small next to these huge structures. It must have built to make people feel exactly this way, small and insignificant. The rulers and there families could parade around up there, separated from and above everyone else.

After the visiting the Forbidden City we caught a couple taxis and went back to the hutong before walking to a restaurant for dinner. I can’t say that I am in love with the food, I am still getting used to the different flavors.

Well, I will continue this later. I need to give Ron a turn with the computer, and get to bed. Soon I will tell you about what we did today, it was so much fun! Until then, I hope all is well with you, and I would love to hear any comments you might have!

Much love,

jubilee