Monday, March 12

Welcome Back!



Okay, we start off with a quick shot of Cassidy at dinner last night (Sunday). Dinnertime is usually when the tiredness of the day catches up with our littlest tourist - until then, she can run everyone off their feet!

Today was completely packed with adventure again...

We met up with our whole group (9 families) at 9:00 am in the hotel lobby, then we headed off on the bus to visit the Summer Palace. For all the children at Osprey Woods Public School, the Summer Palace was the summer vacation residence of the Emperor's family - it was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries but reached its most beautiful (and how it remains today) when restored and rebuilt by the Empress Ci Xi (that's right, girls, the Empress, not the Emperor!) Today it takes less than an hour to travel from the Forbidden City to the Summer Palace by car or bus, but in the time of the Emperor the trip would have taken 2 weeks by boat.

Bryanna and a number of the children stopped to practice calligraphy with a gentleman who was decorating the sidewalk with graceful strokes of his water brush.

And we managed to capture nearly all of the kids staying still in the same spot at the same time!

We walked through the beautiful grounds and in the centre of the park, we climbed all the steps to the top of Longevity Hill to reach the temple there. A LOT of steps, but even Cassidy made it all the way on her own!

After we left the Summer Palace, we went to a Pearl factory where we were given a fascinating lesson on how pearls are made. They even opened a large oyster in front of the children to show them the freshwater pearls inside (about 20 of them). This picture is of Cassidy watching, fascinated, as our guide did this.

Then on to a beautiful restaurant back in the city for lunch. The CB Homeland families who had this on their itinerary a week ago sent word to our guide that the restaurant beside the factory was not a good one, so Ma Rui booked us in an authentic and elaborately decorated place not far from the Olympic park and new, space-age stadium.

Finally, it was on to the Beijing Zoo to see the giant pandas. The children all enjoyed this visit...especially the opportunity to add panda souvenirs to their collections.

The day ended back at our hotel, where Ma Rui arranged for a tailor to come and fit anyone who wished with a silk outfit. I believe that nearly all the girls have chosen beautiful jackets or dresses, and quite a few of the moms as well. Choosing from all the gorgeous material was half the fun! Not to mention a certain gentleman (no names, right Michael?) who ordered a gorgeous cashmere pin-stripe suit. There was some negotiating involved for Bryanna and I to come to an agreement on which dress fabric would be a good choice for her!

The "back of the bus" phenomenon of the homeland travel groups kicked in today, and all the children talked and laughed and told jokes back there while their parents and grand-parents caught our breath and relaxed at the front. Funny, can you imagine who wanted to be right in the center of all the fun back there?

Tomorrow is our visit to a grade 1-5 school. We will be taking part in daily physical activity with the students, sitting in on their classes and helping them learn english and taking part in a "show". We think our group may be singing O Canada in French and English for the students. We'll update you tomorrow night on everything that happens.

Thanks again for all the comments from our friends and family - we love reading them all!