China - Great Wall

CJ 11.19.2010
Friday – The Great Wall.
We got up early as usual and met Belinda downstairs at 9am for our trip to the Great wall. On the way, Belinda told us of some history of the Great Wall. A lot of it we had read or watched in documentaries we rent from Netflix. :) But it was fun listening to her tell it and adding some stories of its building. Before getting to the GW we stopped at the Jade factory. That was really neat to see the steps taken to make a piece. We saw some ladies carving some balls and as we stood there watching, one of the ladies poked herself in the eye!!! We were all horrified! The poor lady! She kept holding her eye… I am sure she hurt herself pretty badly, I hope she didn’t poke her eye out though! She was so disgusted that she threw her tool across the room!!! I don’t blame her! We were moved along fairly quickly after that! The young lady showed us some of the different types of Jade, there is of course the dark green and the pale green, but there is yellow, cats-eye, red, pink, blue… different kinds can be found in different areas of China and the world. Finally of course we entered their sale room! It was HUGE and full jewelry counters and display tables! Amazing pieces were everywhere!!! I knew I wanted to get something, but I had to find the right things and they couldn’t be too expensive. I ended up buying the girls’ each pale pink necklaces, very delicate and tasteful. The beads look like pink pearls. I think they would make lovely wedding day gifts. ;) I also bought a few bracelets. I don’t wear bracelets often, but I could make them into a watch later. Most of the stuff was just more money than I wanted to spend. Besides at some point I plan on visiting the pearl market, too! So I have to space out my spending! Haha!

Jerry was carrying Maria in the bjorn and had let her down to walk around with him in there… I came and took her hand and she walked with me… until we were mobbed by all the sales girls! It was so funny! There was probably 10 of them all around us. All of them trying to touch Maria and talk to her… she of course ignored them all and stood there true to self… STOIC! That’s our Maria! She shuts off. She just held on tight to my finger! One of the girls tried to pick her up and she started to cry and just wanted me! So cute. She definitely knows that we are hers… She wants no one else. Which is great! That doesn’t mean that she is sufficiently bonded to us, but starting at least! She needs at least several months.

She’s so cute… sometimes she will just chatter away and make noises and carry on… and then sometimes she goes into her little shell and just stares. She had a little nap in the car on the way to the GW. So she was ready to go… we strapped her in to the bjorn again and off we went… Jerry and Belinda walked a head, while I took my time taking pictures, which means I walk a little ways and then I turn all around and look at the views from all directions… yes… slow going, but seriously how many times do you get to go to the great wall!!!? We did NOT climb all the way to the top… we wanted to go some on the other side of the river, too. So we went part way both directions… there was NOBODY the other way and it was a neat area too. The GW actually crossed a river, which was NOT common at all. I can’t remember if she said it was the only place, but it seems right. There is a road built under the GW next to the river, so that part was obviously revamped and reinforced! Some of the rock steps were so worn in parts, its amazing to think that THAT many people had walked on those stairs! It is not even tourist season and there were people everywhere going up the super steep side! You’d even see cute little old grandpas and grandmas climbing and descending. I love that! You’re never too old… as long as you’re alive! There was a sign that cautioned people with heart conditions… to be careful. It was all over way too soon… and… it was a foggy day, which was a bummer for the photographer, which means I will have to go back someday… :) Maria even climbed a little on the wall!! She is so weak… she can’t even climb up the tiniest step. But every day we are making her walk more and more… although we do need to remove the squeakers from the bottoms of her shoes! Those are getting annoying! Ha!

After that we headed to a restaurant. Belinda said it was in a touristy place, but the Chinese food was good, so she thought we would like it. I remembered to change Maria’s diaper at the restaurant before she wet through today! So we had rice, soup, corn, soft tofu, broccoli, dumplings, scrambled egg. It was all very good. Although not as good as the first Chinese meals we had with Charlotte. Maria ate some of everything. She eats really good… when she gets full… she slows down… it will take her 5-10 minutes to chew a bite… then you know she is done! Haha! funny girl. We walked around the shop downstairs from the restaurant , did not buy anything. It was all too expensive! A Christmas ornament was about $10!!! Goodness! On the way out Jerry spotted a gelato seller… so he bought a couple little cones… Maria wasn’t too sure about it… too cold or something… but she liked the cone part!

Then we drove back to Beijing, where we visited the Olympic Center. We walked around Belinda told about it and we asked some questions. It was fantastic how big everything was!! On our way out we met up with Charlotte! She wanted to meet Maria and see how we were doing! We talked about the plans for our train ride. What time we needed to leave and that she was going to have a girl named Crystal take us to the train. Neither she nor Belinda could take us. The having 3 guides thing is hard! It complicated the gift giving! However… nothing new, it was the same way in Kazakhstan for us! Haha!

When we got back to the hotel, Jerry went out to find another suitcase… All the stuff they gave us at the orphanage put us over the edge on the baggage! We would have way too many small bags to carry! This way we would have the 4 larger suitcases and then one carry bag… the diaper bag, with diapers and the camera!! :) Much better.

I weighed Maria. She was about 9 kilos on the hotel scale. So she is around 20 lbs I suppose. I forgot what happened, but she got in trouble or had some kind of conniption before Jerry went out to get the suitcase and was all stoic until he was gone about 2 minutes and then she went crazy! She was AMAZING!!! I can’t wait to see more of her like this!! She was silly and playful and loud! She would yell “MAMA!!!” and then laugh when I responded! It was so cute!!! I was re-packing and would throw something at her like a hat or something… she would try to put it on her head, then a headband, I tried a couple outfits on her to see how they fit. She loved it… she played with her toys… she even put one of the toys up to her ear and was talking on it like a phone!!! This is where you see the two year old come out! Otherwise you just think she maybe 9 months old by looking at her! I tickled her and flopped her backward on the bed from her sitting position, she would just giggle and laugh!! She is especially ticklish on her neck and I would play the game and say “lets’ see if I can find a baby neck!!” and walk my fingers up her chest to her neck! She would squeal and scrunch up her neck! She has lots of things that sound like words, but I have no idea what they are… since I don’t know Chinese! The other day we asked what she was saying and she was saying “that” over and over and over! Sometimes she says “la” a bunch, but I don’t know if it means anything or not! Anyways she was like this for as long as Jerry was gone… once he got back she toned it down a bit, but kept some of it up at least. Then he went out again to find something, can’t remember, but when he came back in for the night she quit and went back to her shell. Its too bad! She’s is even more ADORABLE when she is silly! But she LOVES me and is comfortable with me that is for sure! Haha!

We packed everything up as much as we could and went to bed!