Just Another Day in China Pre Noelle

Flying over the Continental Divide. 

This child finds fun in everything. 

What a fashion sensation I was in my sarong blanket!  lol

Temple of Heaven (Temple of the Wind more like it!). 

                                               Driving through Beijing in the cab.

 This big guy must be in the witness protection program - he wouldn't show his face for nothing.

                This would have been a fab photo if it weren't for the smudged glass enclosure.

I tried to be inconspicuous taking this photo of one of the many parent and boy child groupings we saw throughout the zoo, thanks to China's 1-child policy - I felt many unwanted stares from some of the younger gals (angry stares).  Their anger is misdirected at those of us who want a child to love and are giving a child a home - they should be angry at their government and their older generation and perhaps even some of the newer generation - who favor boys over girls.  We did see some one boy/one girl families - wealthier families who can afford to pay the huge fine for having another child.

Amongst the bamboo - this is one of those great photos that takes you by surprise.

This child is still out cold and I am headed to bed without a fan for my "white noise", Wayne snoring like crazy, all the sounds of hotels and the smell of cigarette smoke coming through the heating system.  I will get no sleep tonight I am betting.  :(  Another mom who was just here in China mentioned the cigarette smoke all over the city and it is so true.   They love their cigarettes here sadly.

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As I have said, I cannot type on this laptop so y'all are not going to be bombarded with my gift of gab.  I hope to put more detail on the blog when we get home.  We had a huge day - we are all exhausted and are supposed to go on a tour tomorrow with our adoption agency.  Emma has a nasty cough - she has been eating fine and seeming to act fine until tonight - she is out like a light on the bed and her cough sounds even nastier when the cough wakes her up.  The wind was worse than anything I have ever seen today!  Worse than Colorado/Estes Park mountain winds even.  It was sunny today but the wicked wind was biting and obnoxious.  It made sight-seeing not so fun.  One woman told us they call it the Mongolia north winds (?).  We tried to see the Temple of Heaven but it was miles of walking in the wind so we just in the end took some photos and left.  Emma hated the wind.  We took a taxi to the zoo and loved seeing the giant pandas.  I couldn't really get too may great photos as the pandas were behind glass and unfortunately we didn't get to see the cubs.  :(   However, it was a thrill to see them at the Beijing Zoo no less and we bought a beautiful silk ebroideried (is that a word?) - lol - picture of 2 pandas and bamboo.  Pandas sure love their bamboo we found out.   We could not hail a taxi back to the hotel to save our lives, but finally by the grace of God did!!  It was rush hour and it felt like a time we were in New York and couldn't catch a cab only this time we had a very, very tired and coughing little girl out in the cold wind and I was almost in tears.  Another very interesting thing was that many civilians would just pull up in their cars and ask us if we needed a ride.  Of course that was not going to happen, although I think they truly were just being helpful.  When we finally did catch a cab, Emma was asleep and slept all the way back to the hotel and is still sleeping.  Wayne has ordered a pizza to be delivered which I told him was sacreligious to do while here in China.  We will try out best to go tomorrow with the tour group but ONLY if Em is feeling better.  I am a bit worried - this is the sickest I have seen here and she is so exhausted from the flight and all.  However, there was NO way we could have left her behind and come here to get Noelle.  She would have freaked. I can tell she is nervous here amongst other Asian people - I wonder what is going on in her head.  We keep talking all the time about what we will ALL do when we get back to Colorado.  She clings to us even more so here. 

Hope you enjoy the photos!!  Noelle is only 3 days away - the real reason we are here, so all this other stuff (Great Wall, etc.) pales in comparison.  ;D  I just hope we don't end up at the doctor tomorrow.  :(