Day 2: I am so thankful

I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze, and cut through their iron bars.  Isaiah 45:2

I am so very thankful.   Often it is these times away from all of our everyday comforts that we so easily take for granted, that remind us of all the blessings in our lives.   The reminders from our guides, books and travel information echo repeatedly in my mind throughout the day. “Don’t eat anything that can’t be peeled, don’t use the water to brush your teeth, keep your mouth shut in the shower, don’t eat ice, don’t step in anything wet on the street, don’t forget to take tissue with you to the public restroom etc.”.

As we spent the day sightseeing my mind continued the comparisons between our little village of Tipp and this city of 18 million.  Many people still don’t own cars yet the days one is permitted to drive a vehicle are controlled by their license plate number.   Those with odd numbers are not permitted to drive on Monday and Friday and even numbers aren’t allowed out on Tuesday and Thursday in order to keep some of the 4 million cars  off the already cramped streets.   Every inch of public buses seems to be  crammed full and we literally thought our mini bus would be smashed between two full size buses which are everywhere we turn.

I believe the Chinese culture is such that the people don’t think it is rude to stare.   I feel like a mama lion with her cub though and so they are receiving the same in return!   All the memories of our last visit and the noticeable lack of little children, especially girls and even more so, girls with special needs is coming back to me now.    We are so blessed to know Jesus and not live in such a dark oppressive culture YET.

We visited the Temple of Heaven this morning and then off to the Silk Street Pearl Market to buy pearls for the girls.  While we were there we ran into our flight attendant who absolutely adored Sasha.   With all the people in Beijing that was really something!  We had lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant.   I think I’ve had enough eastern food already though I hate to admit it!

The highlight of the day was the visit to the Hutong area.  This is the oldest area of Beijing where families still live in little quadrants and the streets are old and narrow.   The houses are set up with rooms on four sides of a courtyard with the north side being for the grandparents (the largest room and warmest), one side for parents and boys (the next largest rooms) and the other room for girls – still smaller since they are least valued.   They share a community toilet with many other quadrants and a community bath.   We toured in rickshaws which was quite fun.  We also climbed to the top of drum tower; a very steep climb up a very old building which also gave us a great view of part of the city.  The drums used to beat on the hour to tell the time.

We finished our day with a Chinese acrobat show which fortunately was early enough that we all stayed awake.   Our new friends, who also will meet their children early Monday, are a joy to spend time with and although we all thought we would dine together tonight, when we returned to the hotel we opted for showers and room service!

Hope you all are safe from the hail and storms there in Ohio.   Off to bed now – tomorrow we visit Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall and then dine on Peking Duck!