Tiannamen Square, Great Wall

I have so much to say!!!! I’ll start out with Tiannamen Square yesterday morning. We walked over there and we had about an hour and a half to look around at stuff. Sara, McKenna, and I got some fruit bread for breakfast which was amazing!!! Then when we finished it some people asked if they could take a picture of us with their kids. We thought it was the most adorable thing ever! We took that picture and then we took one with the Dads and then with the Moms and that continued with other families that came over! That was all we did the whole time was take pictures with people. It was so funny! The little girls were the cutest. They would come up and stand really close to me and so I would put my arms around them and they would do the same. One little girl (I’m thinking she was around 12) took a picture with us and after the picture was taken she got so excited and started stroking my arms and yelling, “You are beautiful! You are beautiful!” And her little sister started stroking my arms as well. It was the cutest thing ever. Anyway, things like this happen all of the time. I’m pretty sure like a thousand people I don’t know have a picture of me now. It is so fun!

I want to tell you about yesterday but I have to tell you about hiking the Great Wall this morning! It was the best ever. To start out the hike you climb up about a billion stairs (that is no exaggeration) to get to the wall. Seriously there are so many stairs. When we got to the wall we were SO excited. It is so amazing. There is so much detail to it just like all of China. Nothing is simple. It is all so charming and has so many little details! I thought it was just going to be a plain wall! It was so amazing that I don’t even know what to say about it! It was breath taking. We hiked along the wall forever and took like 500 pictures so I will send some. I seriously can’t think of what to say about it but that it was amazing. So if you have questions about it just ask! All I can say is that you have to hike the Great Wall at some point in your life. J

I remember someone telling me before I left that the pollution in China isn’t that bad… but it is SO bad. There is a thick smog ALL the time. I can’t even imagine how amazing the views would be from the Great Wall if it wasn’t so polluted. The views we could see were spectacular. But really, you can’t see the sky, the sun is always so dim, and you can’t see like more than 2 miles in the distance, maybe less actually. Haha I think by the end of the 4 months when we fly out of the smog I am going to be so excited to see the beautiful sky. So when Annie said that there will still be trees and cars and streets and clouds in China, that was a little wrong. There are definitely not clouds! Haha But as we are driving around I still think about how she said that. She is so true that even a foreign country can still look like home in a way. It is still the same beautiful world Heavenly Father created! Only I think the trees are prettier here. J But anyway, one day Jay asked if there were mountains in China and I haven’t been able to see any. But there are! We saw shadows of them through the smog on the way to the great wall. And I’m pretty sure the Great Wall is on one? Maybe I should look that up. If it’s not on a mountain it is at least on a really big hill.

When you hike down from the Wall and start getting about a mile from the bottom there are little booth things that people are selling stuff at. As you are walking down people are shoving things in your face saying “Twenty dollar!” and when you don’t respond they say, “Ten dollar, I give you for ten dollar!” and when you still don’t respond they continue following you and going down in price until you can get “Three for one dollar!” haha “Hello!?? Hello!?? Hi!?? I give you for one dollar!!” Everyone is yelling that. Haha it is hilarious and kind of stressful! Tomorrow we are going to the silk market and pearl market so I think I am ready to get some good bargains. J

The Great Wall was amazing. I can’t wait for Annie and me to add it to our list of hikes to do together someday!!! We also went to the jade factory today which was incredible. I saw so many things there that I wanted to get my sister but it was all just so expensive. Which is funny to say because nothing here in China is expensive! I feel rich and I love it! J But the jade factory really is expensive, so maybe tomorrow I can get some good stuff at the markets. I am thinking about you all J

Oh and Carianne, tell Nathanael that I see pandas all over!!!! (Just not real ones J) But I am going to try to go sightseeing at the panda zoo place at some point in the next four months and I will take lots and lots of pictures. J