We have 5 days to go in this country until we're back on home
ground in the USA. Good ol' USA. Needless to say, we are so ready
to be home. Ready to see our family and friends. Ready to eat some
delicious American food, especially home-cooked food from our moms. Ready
to move into the new rental house. Just ready. I wouldn't say it's
been the easiest year here in China, but it will be forever ingrained in our
memory. There were valuable experiences we had here and good relationships
built along the way. That's what we have to take away from our time here,
and that's what I choose to hold on to. I can now say I have never been
so tested by a job in my life. Maybe we were supposed to learn how to act
in the face of adversity without bending to the ways of this world. I can
tell you it is a very hard thing to do. When all you want to do is
retaliate and say mean things, it is so difficult to come back with patience
and peace, and most of all a good attitude. Sure, I may seem calm and
collected on the surface, but I assure you my husband gets the brunt of what
I'm talking about. I'm ashamed of how I have reacted at times throughout
the year, but maybe that's what our Father is testing us for. Maybe
that's one reason why we were placed here during this time. It has
definitely been a learning experience as a Follower.
On a lighter note, we were finally able to visit Beijing and
Shanghai. Shanghai was a confidence booster for travelling in China.
It is a bit difficult to travel around China, but Shanghai and Beijing
were super convenient and smooth. We were so confident, that we decided
to book a trip to Beijing. It proved to be great!
Shanghai had a lot of newer designed buildings, such as the Pearl
Tower, but across the bay from it was the Bund with all the older European
architecture. It was a very cool contrast to see. I prefer the
older European architecture myself, but that's just me. We also went to a
science museum east of the Pearl Tower, and found out shortly that it was more
for children (but still cool!). My favorite place was Yuyuan Gardens,
west of the Bund. It was an area with a lot of older Chinese architecture
and many shopping places for Chinese souvenirs. There was also a
beautiful garden, hence Yuyuan Gardens.
The gardens were built for an official that lived there during the Ming
dynasty. We also briefly stopped in People's Square before our train had
to leave. We only had time to eat dinner, so we ate at Pizza Hut in the
People's Square. It was just a day trip, so we got to spend about 7 hours
in Shanghai.
Beijing was great, and when people tell you to eat the Peking
duck, DO IT. We stayed at a hostel that recommended a certain restaurant
for the Peking duck, so it was 98 yuan for this dish, but I've heard that's
about normal. Just to give you an idea, when we order dishes at Chinese
restaurants, we usually spend about 15-30 yuan per dish. Some other
places we visited not too far from the hostel were the Forbidden Palace,
Tianan'men Square, and the National Museum. We also saw Mao's dead body.
It was a surreal experience, and he looked like a wax figure laying down
in a glass case (inside a bigger glass room). I've never seen Chinese
people be so silent... for anything or anyone. The coolest part of our
visit was of course seeing the Great Wall! We booked a day trip with our
hostel, who arranged a van to drive 16 of us foreigners out to the Great Wall.
It was about a 3 hour drive outside the city. So, we were actually
in Jinshanling. We went to the more ruinous part of the wall, where not
many tourists go. We hiked through 22 towers along the wall. That
took about 3 hours to do. If you ever want a good workout, this is it!
Ha. We also didn't get the memo that you had to bring your own
lunch, so we didn't eat until the end of our hike, and forgot we had some Chips
Ahoy in our backpack until the end. All is well in the end, though!
What else is there to say before we bid you adieu? I guess
pray for safe travels and good relations with our school the next 5 days!
Thanks and see you in a few days!
