some thoughts and observations

I just have some thoughts and observations from someone who was here in China 25 years ago. Obviously, there are so many differences from then and now. Just the fact that we can walk around without a guide is very different. Yesterday, we went to a very upscale mall across the street from our hotel. When I was here before we could only shop at Friendshp stores, which were pretty much souvenir stores, and we could only use tourist money, which we called play money. But, what I find sort of interesting is that we are getting pretty much the same tour we got 25 years ago. I realize we only have two days and there is a language barrier, but what they don't show us and don't talk about tells me just as much about their culture as what we saw. We really hear mostly about ancient China. Yes, I know that they have a very long and interesting history, I just find it curious that we got pretty much got the same tour 25 years later. Paul did not mention that we went to a "rug factory" (pretty much a store where they sell homemade woven silk rugs that were gorgeous) and an ancient Chinese Tea Ceremony (which was pretty much a store that sells Chinese tea. Terri c. if you are reading this, I kept thinking of you and how much you would have liked that recreation of the tea ceremony.) This is a way to show Ancient Chinese culture and crafts. Whereas we would have preferred hanging out in one of the many and really pretty parks in Beijing. (A side note about the parks-The governement puts exercise equipment in the parks for people to use to exercise. So the neighborhood parks have a type of elliptical, starimasters and stationary bikes. We saw these from the road driving by.) I guess, I just find it interesting that we do not hear a lot about current Chinese culture. No judgement, I just find it interesting.

Also, I have to give Kyle a lot of credit for being such a trooper. He draws a lot of attention everywhere he goes. And if you know Kyle, you know that he is not comfortable with this at all. But he is doing his best at being respectful. Sometimes he puts his sweatshirt on and puts his hood and so he can "hide" One of our tours to old Beijing we visited a house of a local (they make it seem like she was welcoming us into her home, but I saw one of the guides paying her. Which is fine. It was interesting to see the courtyard style house which was very common in Ancient China.) She was all over Kyle. She kept rubbing his head and back and giving him gifts and just smiling at him. When we left she kissed him good bye. I try to keep him close to me to help him out. He took it in stride although I know he was not liking it. Last night, when we went to the acrobatic show while we were waiting for the show Kyle had a little meltdown. It was a culmination of a lot of stuff, and something small set him off. He was just sitting there crying quietly so we just gave him space and let him get it out. But there was a group of women behind us and they kept looking at him and giggling and telling him he is beautiful. He just put his hood on and tried to disappear. Like I said, he is handling it fine though. It is so interesting to see how people respond to him. A couple of women have tried to get their boys to talk to him. There are a lot of boys and I have only seen only children.
We have tried to put a spin on all of Kyle's unwanted attention. We told him that Linnea is going to get that kind of stuff almost everyday and ou and her can be in it together talking about how much you don't like it.

That is all for now. My little two cents. Pam