sightseeing, part 2

The Forbidden City was the next stop. It is the former emperor's palace and grounds. Everything is ornate and you travel through many series of huge gates before getting to the various areas inside the compound (multiple palaces, political offices, residential wings for the royal family). The funniest moment inside the palaces was when one young Chinese man decided to grab my hands and practice his English with me (last photo above he is walking towards me). The conversation went something like this :
Him: hello hello
Me: hi, ni hao
Him: good you are in beijing, welcome to be enjoying in country
Me: yes, you have very good english
Him: hello hello hello (still holding my hands, still not letting go)
The best part is his nose was caked in snot so I may have contracted the bird flu but he was such a sweetheart and it was valentine's day so I humored him as long as I could and then said goodbye. So now I think I kind of know how celebrities feel. On the way to the bus after the tour we passed a family and the father waved me over to take a picture with his kids, random but they act like it totally makes their day so on we go. Grace told us we have big noses so we look different and that is why we get so much attention.

Crazy Day of Sightseeing

What a day! We've been on the go since 7 AM and it is now 8:45 PM local time.

I'll jump back to last night first: Ryan and I met up with Andrew Mak, an Air Products colleague now living in Hong Kong who was in Beijing on business. We took a walk around the neighborhood with our hotel and then had a fabulous dinner, highlights were hot chili oil beef (very hot Sichuan style) and the lily petals side dish. After dinner we tried to stay awake as long as we could so we wouldn't wake up too early but by 9:15 we were both fast asleep. Ryan woke up at 2:30 AM and did some email but I pretty much slept until 6 AM.

Our guide, Grace, met the four families in our group here at 8 AM and we headed to the first stop: Tiannemen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiannemen square was as huge as we expected and then some. Everything in Beijing is big but this place takes the cake. Tiannemen was the first place where we started getting our photos taken by young Chinese people. They were all very friendly and we just acted like rock stars and smiled for the camera. At the end of the square by the entrance to the Forbidden City is the famous giant photo of Chairman Mao. We of course had our photo taken there.

Welcome to Beijing

We made it! After a crazy landing in Newark due to high winds and a 14 hour flight we are here. The flight from Newark to Beijing was actually quite pleasant. They kept us well fed and we had an empty seat in our row so we were able to spread out a little. It's 2:30 AM CST and 4:30 PM Beijing time so we are exhausted but plan to stay up for a while. We need to go to the Wu-Mart to buy water for our trip tomorrow out to the Great Wall. Here are a few photos from today (us before and after the flight and the view from our hotel room), tomorrow we will have much better ones since we are actually sightseeing most of the day. Good evening/ morning to all of you!

Last weekend home

We leave for China on Thursday morning, so early you could say we leave Wed. night. I spent Thursday and Friday this week in Houston for work so I got back late Friday and just watched a movie and crashed early. Yesterday Ryan had his first track practice in the morning so I got up early with him and got started on the regular chores and packing. Our house always seems to be a mess so I spent the better part of the morning cleaning, after all we want it to look nice for Miss April who will be doggy-sitting for us while we are gone. Then after Ryan got home we made packing lists for all of the stuff we need to remember. I'm usually very nonchalant about packing for a trip because there's always the idea that if you forget something you can just pick it up later. However, being diabetic and using a medical device to keep you alive definitely adds a bit of complexity, especially when you're going to a country that doesn't have as easy access to medical supplies.

After the tedious list-making was done I got down to the fun business of packing up Bo's stuff. Well, I should say pre-packing as I just kind of threw it all in to make sure I wasn't bringing too much. I did pull a few items out but I'd rather Bo have a dozen outfits and I wear the same two things the whole time we're there. I've been waiting a long time to spoil this kid and I'm not waiting until we get home to start :)

Last night we went over to our friends Rob and Candace's house for a party. It was a small get together to celebrate their new home and Ryan and I's last hoorah without a babysitter to get home to. The weather was beautiful so we hung out outside and had a fire going just because it looks and smells good. Also, in full Louisiana fashion there was an amazing culinary treat to the evening. Candace's sister came over with some venison sausage and she made this bacon-wrapped loaf with the sausage, some bbq sauce, and chopped green onions in the middle, which she then cooked on the grill for about 40 minutes. Needless to say it was delicious and I will experiment with this idea when I get back.

Final Preparations and Sleep Deprivation!

It has been a busy past few weeks. We have purchased gifts for Chinese officials we will interact with and orphanage workers. We visited a multi-lingual pre-school for an open house and while we won't be sending Bo there we did meet their Chinese teacher and got some good tips on educational materials. I am in the process of wrapping up work assignments and making sure all of my day to day functions will be filled while I am in China. This week I opened a local checking account so we can start collecting cash for our trip, nice clean $100s for the donation and various legal fees. I also visited our family doctor and got some prescriptions for our travel, an antibiotic and some back-up insulin in case something happens to my pump, etc.

I think Tuesday night was the first time this happened but it has happened now 3 nights in a row! I keep waking up around 4 AM and I just lie there thinking about what I need to pack or what I still need to do before we leave. I do eventually fall back to sleep but then I spend the whole day in a fog because I am so exhausted. I've been going for regular runs with the dogs, even running on the treadmill in the evening if my schedule doesn't allow outside activity in the daylight hours. I am doing everything possible to make myself tired enough that I sleep but I think there is just too much going on and until I get more organized this will continue. So, this weekend I will start my packing list and get all of Bo's things packed so all we have to do is our clothes right before we leave. We leave in 13 days so it's not too early. I'm just hoping a little more organization will make it so i don't create packing lists in my head at 4 AM.

One happy note: my uncle told me he is going to meet Bo and I at customs in Newark on our return trip 3/4! So that will be a nice welcome to the US for us after an incredibly long flight.

Trip to Houston

Yesterday, we drove over to Houston for Ryan's half marathon. We stayed with friends from Allentown, Amy and Jason, who are also Gulf Coast transplants. We went to the race expo Sat. afternoon then headed out to an Italian restaurant so Ryan could eat his pre-race carbs. Our day started at about 4:45 AM this morning as Ryan had to be ready for the 7 AM start time. I am posting a photo of him just before being picked up to drive over to the starting area at 6 AM! Luckily it warmed back up again so it was a beautiful day, about 60-70 degrees out and Jason, Amy, and I had fun driving to different spots along the course to see Ryan run by. His training got a bit messed up by a bad cold over Christmas and the procrastinating thought that we might be in China by now, but he finished the race with a very respectable time of 2:28. Not bad for the first time! Bo will certainly need a good bike if he wants to keep up with Daddy on future training runs.

Visas!!!

Our passports came back today with the visa stamps in them. I've got to say it was a little stressful not having them for the past 3 weeks. Needless to say, another step in the right direction so I am excited.

Also, I have called about every non-religous preschool in the city and it looks like we are going to stick with Kindercare. I liked the place when I visited last week and there is even another Chinese speaking little boy there (parents are engineers who moved to the US 6 months ago). The assistant to the director babysits a little boy with diabetes who used to be a student there as well so they have experience with Type 1 kids. I had really wanted to go Montessori but they are all booked up and even if I could get him in for fall I don't want to move him if he can stay at Kindercare. So I guess I will start applying for a kindergarten for Fall 2010 as soon as we get home, LOL. Oh the fun of living where the public schools suck so bad that the state has to take them over by law! Ryan has a lot of work to do.

Shopping update: I found out there are indoor pools at the White Swan, where Bo and I will be staying in Guangzhou, so I went to Old Navy yesterday and got the cutest swim trunks and matching shirt. He is definitely going to be the best dressed kid!

Next task for this week: figure out how to open a bank account locally so I can get clean $100 bills for the trip. Why doesn't everyone take Visa?