August 3, 2009
Today we took about 35 kids from PHF to the Blue Zoo Aquarium in Beijing. We were paired up individually with kids. My kid was Hayden. She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the bus. All of the kids were excited to go. At first I felt a little helpless because I couldn’t communicate very well with Hayden, but I started putting together what little Chinese I knew and was able to ask her things like her age (she is 6) and if she wanted to drink some water. I showed her my little picture album that I brought with my family members in it and tried explaining in Chinese who they were. She liked that. I tried to use my dictionary when I didn’t know words, but Hayden thought I was ignoring her, and so she took the dictionary away from me and did not want to give it back! She is a very sweet and loving little girl, who liked to hold my hand and was very obedient. Every now and then, she would come up and give me a great big hug. She also really liked my camera and took a bazillion pictures with it. We arrived at the Blue Zoo and after a lengthy potty break, we went in. It was pretty neat….there was an underwater tunnel with a people mover on it. It was funny watching Hayden get on that for the first time. She also apparently had never been on an escalator before either. She had a tough time getting on that! The underwater tunnel was so cool. It was basically made out of glass and so you could see fish and mermaids and scuba divers above and all around you. Hayden really liked it. After that we went back to the buses and to lunch KFC (yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken is in China). After that, we hung around outside for a while until everyone finished up. I started to notice how everyone would stare at Hayden’s face. She has a large tumor that will grow and grow until she is about 14. It has severely disfigured one side of her face. The good news, is that with a series of surgeries, by the time she is 14, you would hardly be able to tell she has a problem. The bad news is that by the time she gets the surgeries (if she gets them), her self-esteem may very well be shot. I really want to help this little girl. She is so sweet. We loaded up the buses and headed back to PHF. Another miracle….after drinking 20 oz pops, no one had to go to the bathroom on the hour plus drive back! We got back and I delivered Hayden to her house and said good-bye. I really enjoyed the one-on-one time with her. So far this has been my favorite thing on the trip.

August 1, 2009
Today we visited the Great Wall. The bus ride was about 2 ½ hours. When we arrived, I was a bit disappointed to see that there were a lot of low clouds, so visibility was poor, especially for taking pictures. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise later as we would have just roasted if it was sunny. We took a “ski lift” up the side of a mountain. The equipment looked questionable and we went over some deep ravines. My knuckles were definitely white! We arrived safely at the top. Wow…I had no idea that there were so many stairs on the wall. Steep stairs, short stairs, stairs on an angle. You really had to watch your step. Stairs would go down, down, down, down. Then stairs would go up, up, up, up, up, up. Then down again, descending a steep ladder, then ascending almost vertical steps. Then up about twice as many steps as the time before to get to “the top”. This is where the wall becomes inaccessible and you cannot go any farther. After a short rest at the top, it was back doooowwwwn, then uuuuuuuuup, then dooooowwwwwn, then uuuuuup. Whew! My legs were shaking by the time I got back. Also, did I mention that many of the steps were designed for Chinese feet…about a women’s size 5 or so. And some of the steps were as tall as two water bottles stacked on top of each other. It is amazing how they built this wall on top of the mountains. I don’t know how they got all of the materials up there! To get back down the mountain, you could either take the ski lift again or you could take a toboggan down a metal track. We took the toboggans. It was very fun…not scary at all. I would have gone faster if I could, but there were a lot of us on the track at the time. After exiting the toboggan ride, there were a lot of vendors. In the usual Chinese way, they come and grab your arm and pull you into their booth and shove things in your face that they hope you will buy. I am getting better at resisting. As we went up the hill, prices got cheaper and cheaper. I wish I had figured this out before I bought some stuff. I bought a t-shirt for 35 yuan, which at $5 USD, I thought that was a pretty good deal. Steve burst my bubble when he told me he paid 9 yuan. I did buy a couple of more shirts at that price. When I got to the top of the hill, those vendors only wanted $1 (7 yuan) for 3 t-shirts. By that time, I didn’t want any more t-shirts. Oh well….still got good prices by U.S. standards. I wanted to buy a banana crepe. The price was 20 kuai. I talked her down to 10. Then Andrea came by and said she got hers for 5. I said I would pay 5. The lady was angry and said some unsavory things in Chinese to Andrea! I bought a few more trinkets and then headed down to meet the bus.

The Great Wall