We’re here!!! What a long flight - thank goodness for the portable dvd player (thank you Andrew for letting me borrow it!) Luckily the flight was only 12 1/2 hours instead of 14!! We made really great time, and at one point we were flying at a speed equal to 585 mph!! On our flight, we flew over the North Pole and I looked for Santa’s Workshop but couldn't see it. We must have been too high up, after all, we climbed as high as 38,000 feet above the ground!!! The trip from Chicago to to Beijing, China was 6,800 miles long which is farther than flying from Virginia to California and back!

Mom told me it might take some time to adjust to the time change over here, I guess that’s why we were all up at 2:30 this morning ready to start the day! This could make for a long day!

We had a fun day sightseeing today. We went to Tian' anmen Square which is a huge plaza with a Monument to the People in the middle and it was unbelievably crowded! We saw groups military guards walking by in formation which was pretty cool. In our group there are ten other adoptive families so it was nice to meet and talk with some of them. Guess what? In our group, there are five other children, three of which are five years old too! This is going to be fun!

Next we went to a place called The Forbidden City which has 999 buildings in it and is surrounded by a huge wall. Back in the time of the different dynasties (the Ming Dynasty for example) the Emperor, his family and his servants would live and work here. There no longer is an emperor living here, so it is merely a tourist attraction. The buildings inside the city are beautiful, wait to you see my photos!

From there we went for a ride in a rickshaw (like at BAPP!!) though a Hutong (an old neighborhood) and stopped at someone’s home for lunch. The house we went to was that of a chef who actually used to be the chef for one of the Emperors years ago. We sat at three tables and ate family style; which is where everyone shares all the dishes of food so that everyone can sample everything. We ate with chopstick which was tricky, but luckily the rice was sticky so it made it easier to pick up the clumps of rice. The food was different but I tried a few things - bean paste spring rolls (not exactly my favorite), broccoli and snow peas. They also served spicy stir fried beans, lotus root, dumplings, shrimp (with heads and tails still on them), stir fried celery, and chicken sausage. The meal was finished off with pineapple and orange slices for dessert!

We the went to the silk factory to see how silk is harvested. Guess what?! Silk worms feed on mulberry leaves and they eat continuously 24 hours a day for 22 days growing to about 1 1/2” long, and then they spin a cocoon around themselves. It is this cocoon which is pulled and the silk is harvested by a machine which winds them into skeins of silk thread.

What a day! Mom tells me we walked over six miles today! No wonder my feet are sore! I was so tired on the bus ride back to the hotel that I fell asleep and ended up missed dinner completely! Tomorrow we are off to the Great Wall and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Village.

Hope you had fun on PJ and Waffle Day!

Zacre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!