Hot Day in Beijing

We have had a huge day....we started in Tienammen Square which can hold 1 million army troops--it was enormous. We sae Mao's Maseoleum where his body is still preserved. Our guide Lily told us that as a child, they practiced drawing the buildings around the square with the hope that one day they might get to visit there! We hooked up with Tabitha from Nashville for the day, which was great. We also learned about the 4 parts of a Chinese garden which are rock,water, Pavillion and hills. Boys, I got to ride in a rickshaw in the Hutong districe which has miles and miles of tiny streets (the guide for that told us that if they stretched those tiny streets out, it would be longer than the Great Wall---not sure how accurate but pretty impressive! We were able to "make" our own dumplings for lunch--there is a specific way to roll them,and I am not sure the lady helping us felt we could handle the rowing! We also tok a drive to the Summer Palace which is incredible---the buddhist temples, the hills: one thing I notice in Beijing is just a PEACEFULNESS among the people---everyone is polite and clam. They love their children and elderly. It is amazing to see families on the street. Most grandparents care for their grandkids during theday. We got to experience split leg pants on the little ones today, and also got to drive by the Olympic Village--it is pretty incredible, but there is a long way to go!

We leave in the AM for a church service and then we go to the GREAT WALL!! After that we fly to Hohhot where we will be for the next week--we will try to post tomorrow night, but we may not be able to!

All is well--we have fixed the computer problem!

My family---I love you! A quote from the Summer Palace "The works of men should match the works of heaven."

Eve