Winding down

Last days in China!

On our last day we went to New Day Foster Home, where Elizabeth lived for one year until she came home to us.  The kids were thrilled to find a playground in their beautiful, lush back yard.  It's truly an oasis!

The resident dogs, Tom and Sydney.

The front door to the foster home.

Elizabeth went right to her former room and showed everyone her crib!  Yep, she slept in a crib until she was 4 1/2!!

The kids would have liked to play here all day!

Elizabeth and her nanny who screamed "LI XIN!!!" when she saw her.  El was thrilled!

The day before we went to the Forbdden City.  It was built more than 600 years ago and was the home for emperors for about 500 years.  It's magnificent and I love going there.  This was my 3rd visit.  This time was a huge disappointment - it was so crowded and dirty - litter strewn all over.  It didn't help that it was also H*O*T and smoggy.

Love those roofs!

The mass of humanity!

On our way back from the Great Wall, we stopped for lunch.  The restaurant "just so happened" to be next door to a Cloisonne factory!  Imagine that!  I was more interested in the bleak surroundings!

This little boy was so cute.  He was trying his best to get the kitten interested in playing with him but it just ran away.

Well, most of us are ready to come home. Ana misses homemade tortillas, Frances 
is sick of the dirty streets, Lewie wants a better supply of peanut butter, Elly 
wants to see Trixie, Lisa's stomach hurts, Suzie needs a rest and I need a good 
cup of coffee! Amazing how I've never had a good cup of coffee here EVER!  But 
Lewie said he might want to live here and Ana loves it here.  It's really been a 
positive experience for us all and we couldn't have planned a better 
trip....well, more Mandarin would have been helpful. We have had so many funny 
experiences here and made lots of great memories. 
Yesterday on our way to the Great Wall, our guide was telling us about her 
grandparents, aged 103 and 104!! We were trying to pry the secret to their 
longevity out of her.  She said they get up every morning at 4:30 for tai chi 
anddrink tea all day BUT not green tea - "it's terrible for you!" 
We told her that green tea is pushed as a wonderful drink inthe US- she told us 
very seriously that we are WRONG!! 
Then on the way home we saw something that one would only see in China. We 
passed a huge field with sections of different kinds of flowers.  In each 
section was a white grand piano- yes, out ina field! People were having wedding 
pictures taken there.  There were probably 15 pianos!!! So crazy. 
When we got up this morning, it was really smoggy but we ventured out to the 
Forbidden City.  I grossed the children out with stories of how all the men were 
castrated in order to work there! It was around 90 degrees so we wilted early on 
but made it through.  There were 1000s of people there and it was kinda 
oppressive. As we exited, there were cabs trying to get 200 yuan - $30 for a 
ride back to the hotel - we paid about $3 to get there! We split up to try to 
get cabs and one cab came. I waited and waited with 3 of the kids and then a 
scooter rickshaw pulled up and motioned us over.  We crammed in and had a crazy 
fun ride to the hotel. It only took. 5/10 minutes and the guy tried to charge me 
280 yuan - $40. I just laughed and gave him 25 - $4!  He fussed, then shooed me 
away.  Always an adventure! 
Tomorrow we are going to Elizabeth's foster home, where she spent her last year 
in China. It should be interesting since she recalls this place with some 
rosecolored glasses. 
Love 
Barbara