Thanksgiving - November 8, 2008

Saturday, November 8th, the Somers family (Owen, Lynnience, Alexander and Zachary) and our family took a full Thanksgiving feast over to Moonja and Jong Gun’s home to teach some 20 of their students about Thanksgiving. It was an enjoyable and educational day! The three older boys did a short presentation on Thanksgiving for the Korean students which I recorded and you can watch on You Tube. The Korean students were all good sports about trying the very different foods. They were not sure what to do with the gravy since they do not have anything like it in their diet. Some tried to put it on the side to dip food in which did not work out so well! I’m sure the food was somewhat bland to them since most of their food is spicy. I don’t think any of the students came back for seconds but the Americans sure did! It was very delicious!

Who's the dummy directing traffic?

Two dummies and two U-Turns! (second dummy was driving and not available for a picture)

Happy Halloween!

Andrew "the Ninja" and Mark "the Pilot" checking out their loot!

Last night in China...October 26, 2008

Eating dinner and the kids showing off there finds from the market on our last night in Beijing, China.

Time to come home...

October 27th (5th day in China) - Mark starting getting sick around 0100 on the day we were to fly back to Korea. We stopped counting after the 6th time he threw up, poor little Mark! After breakfast at the hotel in which Mark threw up all over Joseph, we loaded our baggage on the bus for the trip to Beijing International Airport. We flew on Asiana again on the way back to Incheon. Mark only threw up once on the flight! The bus ride back to Osan AB went smoothly and Mark slept thought most of it. It was an incredible trip to China! Thank you Lord for this magnificent experience!

Tian An Men Square & Beihai Park

October 26th (4th day in China) - After another great breakfast at the hotel our bus driver and our amazing tour guide Shelley took us on a tour of Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square was huge and extremely crowded. Afterwards we headed off to Beihai Park which was just a relaxing place to be. We all enjoyed a walk around the park with a choir singing in the back ground. This park was once the winter residence of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. The Bai Ta (White Dagoba) is a Buddhist shrine built in the Tibetan style in the center on the park. Next we were dropped off at another Market for a late lunch and more bargaining. After about 4 hours of shopping at the market it was time to get back to the hotel, start packing, and have dinner.

I know I have not said much about the outstanding driving skills of our bus driver but he was able to drive or park that bus in places I’d have a hard time parking my car – really! And the driving in Beijing is a whole new level of crazy compared to South Korea because not only are the drivers nuts but the bike rides are out of their minds and everywhere. On our first day, we actually had a bicycle rider that was messing with his cell phone run broadside right into the middle of our bus as we were going into the entrance of the Temple of Heaven! And I can’t leave out our tour guide – Shelley was worth her weight in gold. Not only was her English outstanding and her stories of China and Beijing entertaining, she was just a delightful person with a warm kind personality and a joy to be around.

Forbidden City & Hutong Tour

October 25th (3rd day in China) - After breakfast at the hotel it was time for our tour of the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was built during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It was built in the Chinese court architecture style using feng shui to determine the position and shape of the buildings, with 8,706 rooms where some 10,000 people lived over 170 acres. The emperor ruled from the Dragon Throne located in the Hall of Supreme Harmony with a large courtyard that could hold 90,000 spectators located in front of it. Four sided roofs covered with yellow glazed tiles were used on imperial buildings. It was outstanding to be standing, seeing and walking though so much of Chinese history.

Next we went on a visit to a Silk Quilt Factory which was exceptional. The demonstration done here was the best in my opinion of all the factory demos we saw because not only did they show us the process and teach us about how silk is made but we also were able to participate in some parts of making a quilt. The kids seemed to really get into it all. After we had time to shop we were given our own private fashion show. By then it was time for lunch with western style food at a restaurant called You Shi.

Following lunch it was time for the Hutong tour. The Hutong was once the center of life for people who lived out side the Forbidden City (Imperial Palace) but is quickly disappearing as Beijing grows. We had tea in a local family’s home in the Hutong and learned about their pet fighting cricket (the top crickets fetch more than $2000!!). The kids played hackie sack in the courtyard before it was time to leave to take our Pedicab (rickshaw) tour of the Hutong. Our Pedicab tour ended at the Drum and Bell Towers which were used to indicate the start and end of the day. Then it was time to go do a little bargaining at the Lido Market. It was an unusual experience that I’ll have to say I did not enjoy. We did walk away with some great deals, don’t get me wrong, but I did not like the bargaining process in small spaces with way too many people in it. It was like nothing else I have ever experienced. But we won that round! We bought ski jackets and ski pants for Joseph and myself – the asking price for Joseph’s ski jacket alone was $220, but in the end we bargained down to $38 for ALL FOUR PIECES!! That night, we had dinner back at the hotel and then crashed for the night.