Our Incredible First Day

(give me grace I'm writing all of these on very little sleep :))

 

Wow! What a day it was!!! We both woke up feeling pretty good and rested. We got ready and jumped on skype to see the kids. Anna was spending the night with Nana, but the others seemed to be in much better spirits. It is still so crazy to me that they are doing their day while we sleep!!!

I had the day before starting feeling nauseous on the car ride home and at one point thought I would have to make them pull over. So far the feeling hasn’t gone away. I don’t know what exactly is my deal, maybe a combination of jet lag, the awful smog (could hardly see the mountains in the distance it was so thick) or just the nerves of the whole trip, but it a lingering feeling that makes eating not enjoyable. Despite it though I kept pressing to have a great day. Josh’s cousin Ben took us to a breakfast cart that was on the side of the road. We had something that was like a flat bread with and egg baked on top and lettuce some kind of sauce and Josh had chicken on his. IT  WAS WOOONDERFUL!!!!!  After that we went on a short walk to see some of the campus. Ben is an English speaking teacher at one of the top collages in all of China. We walked back to meet with a few of his students who were going to give us a little tour of their part of Beijing (which is actually right outside Beijing). Walking around we did get stares but none seemed more than just a curious glace, well other than the poor young girl riding her bike that almost caused a bike accident staring at us.  They took us to am old Hao Tian Pagoda which was in walking distance. This one is over a thousand years old and is the tallest Pagoda in Beijing. They were used as a defense for the defenses when they were going to war. They would sit up there with their guns and shoot at each other. It also had a Budist shrine where a man stopped to kneel and pray and was trying to wave at us to come and join him. None of us took him up on the offer. We asked the girls what religion they followed and they all said none, but that didn’t stop them to joking stop in front and bow for luck for their midterms.

After that they took us to lunch and spoiled us with SO MUCH FOOD!! It was so good though! All of it was amazing! We asked the girls how they all got their American name. Some said they made it up, one girl had the name Amy from the girl on Big Bang Theory, one said her mom gave it to her and some said teacher. Fascinating right?! We starting talking about school and found out that many of them went to bording school and one girl said she only had 3 days off in the years to see her parents! The girls shared so many other facts and stories, we had a great time with them, Later we went to Ben's office hours which is where kids might go just to brush up or have more conversatioinin english to practice more. We speant the whole time talking about adoption. All of them but one had no siblings and all said they were sad they didn't have any. A few of the girls told me how lucky our kids are to be adopted and then said please adopt me I want to go, I'll help with the babies! (So tempting ;)) After that hour we went to the 2 hour class Ben taught. We got to listen to them do many things like report and examples of how to converse in English. We even particapated a lot. One of the boys who sat in fron tof us said that he was from Xian where we are getting Nina and was soooo excited to tell me all of the places we needed to go! HE pretty much went on the whole class when he got the chance! It blows my mind how much harder English sounds when you listen to them trying to grasp the concept but I told them if you can do Chinese you can do just about anything!

After the class Josh and I managed our way back to BEn's apartment to hang out and rest and that night we went to go hang out with some of the other teacher's Ben teaches at the college with. They are all with the Eli project and they have Christian men and woman go into other countries to teach and reach. They were such an awesome group to hang out with! Got to learn more about China and how God moved them there! And played a new fun game! LOL

Tomorrow we leave for Ningxia to get Isac!!!!!!!!!!!!