Last day in Beijing

It is Wednesday evening here right now. Long post today. And a little emotional. But...this trip is real and it can be emotional.  I always try to type on the bus and as we go along throughout the day so I can remember :) I need to journal this for Anna. She journals each night, as well. It is a hoot reading her take on each day. I feel it is important for her to write down her thoughts and feelings throughout the trip. 

We boarded our bus at 8:30am and met up with our guide, Eric.  Eric is a great informational guide. He teaches us Chinese as we go along. Instead of "How are you?" As you greet someone in Beijing, you say "Have you eaten?"  They like to think about their next meal. I can't write it correctly in Chinese but it sounds like "Sure La Ma?" You wouldn't say this phrase in all cities. This one is Beijing specific. He talks to us almost the entire time along the way to teach us about Beijing and the culture of the Chinese people. 

As you travel throughout Beijing, you see all of the electrical wires everywhere. They do not have companies cut the trees out around the wires. They just leave them. These electrical lines are typical and usually tons and tons of wires everywhere through the trees. In this picture below you also see a couple of umbrellas. These are fancier umbrellas only used for shading a person. Not for keeping rain off of you. They are made of a silk material. 

We visited the CCCWA. China Center of Children's Welfare Adoption.  This is the place where ALL the files sit of every child who is needing a family from China. So, at one time way back in 2004 after Anna was born and placed at the Orphanage, her file sat there waiting for just the right family.  Our dossier (paperwork) sat there and needed translated into Chinese and then was sent to the next room.  In 2004, we waited 5.5 months after our paperwork was sent to China to be matched with Anna. Now, families wait years and years and years. This is no ordinary office building to adopted families. We waited for someone to match Anna with us, but she waited 13 months for a family to arrive and give her a forever home.  She was matched with us in the final room. She was the perfect match for our family. Some may think that our file was just simply done quickly and boom they just didn't think much and then Anna was just quickly put with our paperwork. BUT.....Jeremiah 29:11 states 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

I like to think of this scripture throughout life. She was meant for us. She was meant to have our family. She was meant to have a future. And hope to prosper. Anna and I also talk about how it states in the bible that God knew us long, long ago and knew that there was a plan and that each hair on our head has already been numbered. It is hard to understand why a child has to live without a family. Hard to understand why she and so many suffer in orphanages all over the workd. It is hard to understand why so many files sit and sit to be worked on. Each file represents a child....a child.... And that child needs love, shelter and a forever home. 

There were three different rooms and hundreds if not thousands of children's files waiting to be matched for a family. We saw their pictures on the top of their files. Faces everywhere. Sad faces. Faces needing families. So many empty eyes. So many needing to be given the chance for a future. 

It was interesting seeing the office rooms where the workers were actually working on the paperwork today for children they need forever families. 

We then went to a large room where our three groups were combined for 134 people. There are 2-3 other groups at the Great Wall today. The large room was where the children had culture classes. First was the Chinese Calligraphy and they learned how to hold the calligraphy brush,  They also learned about the tones in the language. The children received a paper cut book from the first woman who spoke. She talked to the children about how happy it makes them feel to see happy children in families. And that they hope they made a good match for the children. Lol. 

The children also learned about paper cutting. Anna is crafty, so she enjoyed her classes. 

Along the way to our next area, Eric told us that there are two main Beijing foods. Hot pot and Peking Duck. Lamb, beef, tofu and veggies are in the hot pot. Peking Duck is another well known food and it originated from the Qing Dynasty. 

We traveled to the Hutong area....old residential area. We actually went to the Hutong area with Diane the other day. The Hutong area has a history of 1000 years. Eric was born in the Hutong area. Hutong means narrow alley. People live in a court yard/quadangle of 5-7 families. They share a bathroom and kitchen with neighbors. Special relationships build between family and other neighbors in this type of setting. Eric was the 4th gen in his Hutong neighborhood. 120 total years for his family to be in his neighborhood. They have moved on however. In 1991 they moved to an apartment. We rode a rickshaw to the Hutong area and when we got there we heard a little bit of history and how the Hutong's live. We ate a delicious family style lunch, prepared by the Hutong women. 

As we got to the Forbidden City and Tianmenn Square, it kept getting warmer and warmer outside. Then all of a sudden it got cooler and then poured and poured. We found shelter for a while and then, when it wasn't a downpour, we continued on in the rain. :) We went through the entire Forbidden City and Tianmenn Square mostly through rain. We wish we could have stayed longer to hear more, but weather prevented us from getting the time we needed there. 

We had a Peking Duck Dinner tonight. Peking Duck is a dish Beijing is very well known for.  It was served family style, as all of our group meals have been. All of the food we have had here has been delicious. 

Tonight we will use a hair dryer on our wet clothes LOL and sopping wet shoes and pack up for our early morning flight to X'ian. Our checked luggage is supposed to be downstairs tonight in the lobby and head to be airport without us ;). We leave the hotel at 5:50 in the morning to go to the airport to catch a flight by 8am to X'an.

Thanks for following along and learning a few things about China with us. We feel very blessed to be in this country sharing these moments with Anna. 

The rain today left us with a beautiful sunset on the way back to the hotel. 

Goodnight from Beijing!!!! Stayed tuned tomorrow for our adventures in X'ian and the Terra Cotta Warriors.