One Year Ago . . . January 10th

After a fairly decent night sleep, we got up early to have breakfast before heading out for a day of "touristy" things. The breakfast area at the hotel was beautiful with many foods to choose from, including:

I wasn't quite brave enough to try either of these, but we still enjoyed a good breakfast.

After we finished, our guide and driver arrived to take us to the Great Wall. Since it had been dark when we drove the night before, this was the first chance I had to really notice a few things, like:

The infamous China air pollution - nope, that's not fog

It was also an interesting experience to see how people drive in China. Cars have the right of way over pedestrians (so watch out if you are on foot), intersections are pretty much a free-for-all, cars stop suddenly and weave around each other, and seat belts are not at all important (after a few days, we pretty much stopped even bothering to use seat belts - they tended to be either non-existent, non-functioning, or buried in the seat). Although it was funny that on our way to the Great Wall, we approached an accident with police already there. The first thing that both our guide and driver did was reach for their seat belts, in unison. This being our first day in China, both my dad and I were already wearing ours.

When we arrived at the Great Wall, it was still early in the morning and there were very few people there. The weather was probably in the 30's and it was sunny, so we were comfortable in our heavy coats.

My dad and I at the bottom of the Great Wall

We started climbing the stairs which was quite an experience. They were steep and uneven, and I felt dizzy every time I looked behind me. After climbing a ways, I was exhausted and decided not to go further, but my dad kept going. He took this picture from pretty high up.

Wow!

After I walked back down and was waiting for Dad, more and more people started arriving at the Great Wall. I noticed that there were very few people that weren't Asian, and even though I had heard similar stories, it still surprised me when I was approached by two people and asked if they could take my picture. Apparently, seeing a person who is not Asian is quite rare and exciting for some!

And some signs posted at the Great Wall:

We'll keep that in mind . . . 

Good advice!

After leaving the Great Wall, our guide and driver took us a jade factory. At first, I was annoyed because we had not been told we were doing this and I had heard stories from other families about being pressured to purchase expensive jade items. However, the place was actually pretty interesting. The jade pieces were amazing! We didn't purchase anything but enjoyed looking around for awhile. There were very few people there so I did kind of feel like we were being watched but it was still fun. Afterward, we were escorted upstairs to a restaurant and treated to an excellent meal. It was delicious!

It was now early afternoon and we headed back to our hotel. I had been able to connect with someone from the foster home where Kellin lived when he was about 9-17 months old, and she agreed to meet me at the hotel and take me to see Bethel, which is a group foster home specifically for children who are blind or visually impaired.

The drive to get there was about an hour and a half, through city traffic, but I was so glad I went. I saw where Kellin lived during his time there:

And the building next door where he spent his days, his "school:"

I was also able to meet some people who had known and remembered my little guy. They were so happy to know that he would have a family!

I met some of the children too. They were adorable! All were blind or had low vision but they were playing, talking, jumping, and having a great time. This is where I met Robbie, who I have blogged about several times before:

He still needs a family . . . 

I met this little guy, too. He wanted me to hold his hands while he spun around. He needs a family also!

After spending a couple hours at Bethel, I headed back to the hotel, again through heavy city traffic, and arrived back around suppertime. Dad shared with me that he had had his own adventures that afternoon (but that's his story to tell). We decided to walk across the street to McDonald's for supper. We discovered that they were prepared for non-Chinese-speaking customers, since the cashier took one look at us and pulled a picture menu from under the counter so we could point to what we wanted. The chicken sandwich I ordered turned out to be VERY spicy. After eating, we were curious and decided to venture into a sort of store next door, which turned out to be kind of like a market in a basement, with many tiny booths crowded close together, piled with goods, and selling everything you can imagine. Another fascinating experience!

Then back to the hotel. And a chance to talk with my family! Overall, we had fairly good luck keeping in touch with family during the trip, but sometimes the connections were spotty and we couldn't talk long. We talked often enough to keep up with things.

Tomorrow was the big day . . .