China Trip No.1
As most of you know, my daddy took me to China for my senior trip, July 17-31. As requested, I am now publishing my emails. :-)
We were with family friends, the A family.
For those of you who don't know them they are as follows:
Mr. A & Mrs. A;
Coach, 9 yo;Mr. Gap, 7 yo;Goofy, 5 yo;Princess, 4 yo;Chuckles, 2 yo; and Baby, almost 1 yo.----------
EMAIL #1:
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Random fact: It is July 19th, 9:35 PM right now here.:-)
In Denver I walked past this oriental family. The 'caboose' was a little girl pulling her carry-on. I thought they were all together, but when the grandparents, dad, and mom turned off at a gate and the little girl kept walking I figured she must be with someone else. She followed, her eyes on the ground. As I was watching, she looked up just a short while after the family turned off and instantly panicked. "MOOMMMY!!!???" She started running forward to try and find them in the crowd. I ran after her, caught her by the arm, and turned her toward her family. She started running towards them just as the mom looked around and realized she was missing. They started freaking out just as the little girl ran up. They grabbed her, and it sounded like they were giving her a scolding for the heart attack they just had. But I don't know Chinese. :-)
On the plane ride over, I had chicken and rice for supper. The first piece/bite of chicken had somewhat of a rubbery texture to it. I instantly wondered if it was a part of the chicken that wasn't supposed to be there. But it was okay, and I ate it. Then throughout the ride I had bouts of queasiness until I finally threw up just was we were descending (not that you all wanted to know that :-/) and felt better immediately! I think it was a combination of motion sickness and the supper. Dad has decided that we'll skip the supper going back and just live on snacks. :-) :-) When we met up with Mr. A and Goofy, Goofy enjoyed telling me about the times when he has puked :-D.
OUR FLIGHT TO CHINA After a discussion, we all voted that western food for supper (our first meal in China) might be a good idea. We headed to a mall close by that had a Papa John's. We walked there and back from our hotel and I almost got run over 8-). We were crossing 2 busy streets, and to get across you just have to run for it. So we started over the first one and then cars went in behind and in front of us so we had to stand there in the street with cars zooming around us before we could continue. On the 2nd street we had a good gap. There was a three wheeler (electric bike) coming, but I thought by the time we got to where they were headed they would be past so I wasn't really looking. Besides! I was worried about getting out of that street before any other cars came. We just missed each other. Mr. A told me "I said go fast, Abby, but not too fast! You probably about gave that driver a heart attack!" On the way back to the hotel we went over the bridge instead of through the street. :-)
I was surprised at how American the pizza was :-). (You know how things taste different in another country.) And thankfully it settled well! We stayed at the Beijing Friendship Hotel building 3 room 3033something-something. I fell asleep as soon as I crawled in bed :-).
PAPA JOHN’S! :-) This morning we were up at 5:00 because we had to be checked out by 6:30. We had yogurt (I had kiwi & aloe) and fruit juice for 'breakfast' before we headed out. Then as we were leaving, Mr. A asked me if I was ready for some breakfast. "No... I thought we just ate breakfast!" He laughed, and after we rode the subway to the train station, we stopped at a McDonalds for egg McMuffin and coffee. Only, I finished my yogurt. :-)
KIWI AND ALOE YOGURT! Then I had a real train ride (a bullet train) for the first time in my life. The seats were in little rooms with a sliding door. When you stand in the doorway, there's a bench to your left, then a window in front of you with a table in front of the window, and another bench to your right. Above each bench there is a shelf of sorts to put luggage on. Goofy and I played fruit ninja for awhile on Mr. A's phone after which Goofy climbed up to sit on the shelf :-).
When we finished our train ride (about 1 1/2 hrs), a guy met us at the train station to take us the rest of the way. It was hilarious!! The guy Mr. A had hired sent his brother. We finally connected with him, and he went to get the vehicle. The vehicle was supposed to be a mini-van of sorts. We are waiting there in the parking lot when Mr. A puts his hands on his head and starts saying, "Oh, no! Oh, no!!!" Not only did a different guy show up, but he pulled up in front of us in the ‘wrong’ vehicle: a little white car. Mr. A is asking him in a tone of disbelief, "What is going on here!?!!?" Mr. A told us later that he was thinking, "Let's hope this guy can at least get us to the bus station." He's talking to the guy, and the guy is saying "Put in the suitcases! Put in the suitcases!" The guy is grabbing luggage and stacking them in the trunk. Then he grabs a long strip of sheet and ties it down tight. We get in and off we go!
WAITING FOR OUR RIDE OUTSIDE THE TRAIN STATION
TYING DOWN THE LUGGAGE After about 5 minutes we realized that the lane markings on the road meant absolutely nothing. Most of the time he was driving down the middle of the road taking up two lanes. And the rest of the time he was driving on the wrong side of the road! There were a couple of times when I was expecting a head on collision to happen right then. It was kinda fun though ;-). One time there were two fire engines putting out a fire alongside the road. The rest of the traffic was going around, but our guy squeezed right through them! (You would’ve been in BIG trouble if you did that in America!) And "squeezed" is a good word for it! There couldn't have been more than a couple of inches on each side! He didn't go slowly either! He blew a couple of red lights too. Including the intersection that had a camera. (He pretended to make a right turn, but it was really a sort of U-turn. That way the camera couldn't catch him blowing the red light.)
THIS IS A GOOD PICTURE OF THE DRIVING STYLE.IF YOU CAN SEE IT, THERE’S A CAR COMING TOWARDS THE TWO BLACK CARS… AND IT ISN’T THAT FAR AWAY!! MAKES FOR AN EXCITING DRIVE :-) We got 'home' in time for a late lunch. We had chicken noodle soup, pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, and fresh rolls. We also had Chinese fruit and chocolate chip cookies. It was just the right thing and very tasty.
Then it was nap time! After naps we opened the suitcase of surprises. Mrs. A kept exclaiming, "It's just like Christmas!" From then till we left for supper we were putting stuff away and getting ready for an 'adventure ride' (is what they call it). We got out the three-wheeler and bikes. Mr. A, Dad (with Goofy behind), and Coach rode bikes; the rest of us rode the three-wheeler. Supper was at an open air restaurant that served mutton or chicken all meat kabobs. They were delicious! We sat at tiny, short, circular tables on red or hot pink plastic stools. Afterwards, we went on an adventure ride (which is riding around town). Then we came home, got ready for bed, and had Bible time.
READY FOR AN ADVENTURE RIDE! :-)
THEY COOK THE KABOBS OVER WOOD COALS...
…AND THEN, AFTER SHOVELING SOME COALS INTO THE METAL BOX ON YOUR TABLE,
THEY LAY A PILE OF KABOBS ACROSS THE BOX..
ENJOY! :-)
DAD LEARNING TO EAT WITH CHOPSTICKS :-)
ICE CREAM AFTER THE ADVENTURE RIDE
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More to come!! ;-)
