The morning started at 6 a.m. with Bethany crying - a sore throat and raging headache have presented themselves. Mind you, we are 24+ hours away from "leaving on a jet plane..." My mind kicks into overtime and I begin dispensing ibuprofen, calling the doctor, getting Cayna ready for school because today is PICTURE DAY and trying to get myself ready. Bethany feels better by the time school starts so I drop her off (am I nuts?), drop Cayna off at preschool and put three more frantic calls into the doctor. Three prescriptions later with a probable reoccurance of her strep throat from four weeks ago...only us! Bethany has been on the couch all afternoon sleeping (which is good!)and the antibiotics have started working (I hope). I am trying to figure out how to get all this stuff into my car tonight - plus a stroller and tricycle for Cayna while she is at her Ayi's (aunt in Chinese).

Saturday we started off early by visiting the Temple of Heaven which we actually could not go into because they were doing renovations! Everything here is doing renovations. However it was a treat to watch all the retired people doing their "thing" in the park area - whether that was ballroom dancing, tai chi with swords, kite flying, playing cards and any other number of things. From there we walked the Forbidden City and got very confused between all te outer courts which are all inside each other, and then of course the inner courts - of which there are several. We also got to go to the market - it's like a huge flea market only triple the amount of stuff and then make it all dusty and have all the stalls very close together and people in your faces to buy things. Quite entertaining!! LAst night we went to dinner at the Peking Duck restaurant and that was very nice. Everyone eats with chopsticks of course because there is not any silverware. And they serve beer to all the adults! Then at 8pm last night the pearl lady came to the hotel for those who wanted to buy pearls. They show you the strands and you decide what you want and then they string it right there and add the clasps and everything! I did get something small for me.

Today we started with the silk carpet factory and watched how tey make those beautiful carpets. I have all the figures upstairs, but it is truly incredible. Bethany and Zoey both got to try and weave the threads onto the carpet. To make one carpet for a large area takes about a year and a half. Too make one of the runners takes anywhere from 6 months to a year depending on how big it is. From there we went to the summer palace and walked around that. The most exciting event was of ourse the great wall which we climbed today! The girls had much more energy and needless to say - ......They also got to have their picture taken on a camel! Why there are camels on the great wall I have no idea. From there we drove to where they are building the stadiums for the olympics and then to dinner. Tonight we went to see he famous Peking acrobats. The things they can do are unbelievable! And of course, Bthany is asleep - within a minute of her head hitting the pillow.

I am leaving out a lot, but there is not much time rght now and I am VERY tired! Tomorrow we go to Tianamen Square, do a hu tong tour and eventually end up taking the sleeper train to Xian where we will see the terra cotta soldiers.

We also got to visit an elementary school - the class we visited was doing their English lesson at the time so they sang some songs for us and a few of them stood up to introduce themselves. Out of maybe twenty five 4th and 5th graders, only 5 were girls. The class was very plain - although the teacher did have a computer. And all the classes exit to the outside (like they did when I taught in Florida) but here they have the doors and windows open - and it was maybe only in the 50's!

We also visited a daycare for developmentally disabled adults. What was fascinating here was the man who could play almost every musical instrument. He had them all hanging on his wall - and then he did this story telling pice to the girls with his noise makers. It was awesome!

We took the train to Xian Monday night. It took 12 hours by train - and for the most part we just slept! Once again the girls did really well!

Yesterday we visted the Tang Dynasty art museum - the museums here are again not what you would expect. Each room is separtate and you go outside to get to the next room. The old art was interesting - but I think what the girls liked the most was the story of how the Buddha came to be. We also visted another buddist temple, the Muslim mosque where there just happened to be a funeral happening - that was different. And we finally had a free evening to relax.

Today we will go to visit the factory where they carve the jade and then off to see the terra cotta warriors. Tonight is a special dinner and opera where the girl;s will where their red dresses.

Almost time to meet and everyone seems to be on edge today for some reason. Maybe we all need some extra sleep.... £º£©

Today was an incredibl;e day. Seeing the jade carvings and how they do it was alright - no different than the last time I was here. You can tell the difference in jade by holding it up to the light - if it is transluscent, it is good jade. The harder the jade the more expensive. The different colors are also more expensive than the green.

The best part of the trip though was seeing the terra cotta soldiers. This was something beyond belief. Known now as the eighth wonder of the world it is truly a sight to behold. There are three pits that have been excavated to some extent. They will not be doing any more excavation of the wariors because there are so many and it is so expensive to do - and there is really no need to keep unearing these warriors. There are over 6000 warriors - and they have all had to be put back together as they were all in broken pieces from when the peasants had their uprising and burned and damaged this place.

Truly a sight to behold.

One of the things that I had hoped to do was to be able to share some of the stories from this trip. This has been difficult to do because there is so little time. As it is, we have a small break before heading out to dinner and the opera. The girls are all dressing up in their red qi pao's tonight - and they will get their picture taken up on stage with the actors/actresses after the show.

Each day the girls have received a small gift as part of the remembrance of what they did that day. They have received a kite which they flew on Tianamen Square, a Chinese flag, a red scarf which they wore on the visit to the elementary school (all the girls wear them as they are "young pioneers"), a terra cotta soldier for today - did you know that no two soldiers are alike? They are all different in some way - all 6000+! The girls also received a memory box, a memory box in which they write about the activities of each day and some other things that I can't remember right now.

One of the things that tugged at everyone's heart strings yesterday was seeing tiny children begging for money. There was this 2, maybe 3 year old that came up to us - pointing to her mouth (or his I couldn't tell) and then holding out their hand. Several gave coins (which are worth not much) but to see this little child doing this - it was almost more than I could take.

There have been times here that all of us women have been forced to use the "flat" toilets - for lack of a better way to explain it. My two previous trips I never had to, but this time....Needless to say the knees have gotten a good workout.

Tomorrow morning we fly to Chengdu.

The cars are more numerous now since the last time I was here. And the motorbikes seem to be less. So traffic has become a big problem. It is still very chaotic with cars going every which way and people and bikes and rickshaws and whatever else. I have also seen alot more dogs on this trip. What that means I am not sure!

All for now....

We arrived in Chengdu yesterday around lunch time. After lunch we received a quick tour of the silk factory and got to watch them make silk comforters. I cannot express how soft and light they are! Then last night we got to have feet massages - a 60 minute massage on feet and legs for around $15. Even the girls got to have mini-massages! Then another 15 course dinner! One of the interesting things here - and which we have all gotten quite used to - is having beer with our lunches and dinners. It seems to be the standard fare! Hmmmm - wonder if I can get away with that at home??

Today was one of the highlights of the trip - The Chengdu Panda reserve. For some reasons pandas are extremely cuddable and cute. We took many pictures of them as we could get very close and they move very slow! The girls each got to have their picture taken with a panda - a one and a half year old - bigger than Bethany! And then they got to hold a red panda - which looks like a raccoon.

This after noon was free time and I just relaxed and got another massage - remind me in person to tell that story!

POLLY - THIS IS FOR YOU - BLESSINGS ON YOUR SURGERY AND A SPEEDY RECOVERY!

Tonight after dinner we will go to the opera and then tomorrow we leave for the most important part of our trip - the visit to the girls orphanage. We will fly to Nanchang and then take a van west for about 4 hours. We should arrive in Pingxiang around dinner time - so it will be a long day.

The traffic here seemed more civilized when we first got here, but now I think it is the same everywhere. Here in Chengdu they do have crossing guards that seem to help a bit but it is still chaos! There are approximately 200 rainy days here in Chengdu so we consider ourselves lucky that we have been here on the days when it has not rained. Today was in the 80's. And of course, very overcast.

Off to get ready for dinner. Please keep me in your prayers as I seem to have caught a sore throat and minor cold - and yes, I have started the antibiotics just in case.

We had two days in Pingxiang. The orphanage director met us at the hotel - which was just across the street from the orphanage. We did not get to see many children. But most importantly, we got to look at Bethany's file. I was happy to find a red note in her file that I did not know existed. This note was found with Bethany and told the date and time she wwas born. While I did not get to keep the note, I do have a picture of it and a translation. The director took us out to lunch and the assistant director remembered us and even had the pictures that were taken of us the day we adopted them. I did give them the binder of all the pictures of the Ping girls and they seemed to enjoy looking through them and remembering them. Ann - if you read this, I have a picture of Ya Ping.

We have already been out shopping today - the weather here is quite warm (80's) and the people are out in full force! We had an interesting encounter with the rolex people! Remind me to tell that story!

As always, the trip today left me a little green - and I did not even go out on the sampan to the fishing village.

The weather here has been hot - I cannot imagine visiting here at any other time of year.

Last night we visited the Hard Rock Cafe, got kicked out of a taxi because there were six of us instead of five, walked all over the markets and then collasped in our rooms. The girls got to enjoy some swimming time up on the roof of the hotel too.

Tomorrow we will leave for the airport around 9am and our flight leaves at 1235 pm. We get to do Thursday two times so I am trying to prepare myself for the jet lag.