Shillig 4 Family

 After my french fry snack and our bags being replenished with high quality H2O we went to get in line for tickets.  I found myself under the umbrella of the lady behind me.  They use those umbrellas ALL the time.  They block the sun and the rain with those things.  Then they get their umbrellas stuck in the hair of the "laowai" in front of them and are clueless to that little fact.  After getting hit repeatedly in the head by the umbrella because I was at just the right height Jake sent me over to sit in the shade while he bought tickets.  When we first entered the palace and crossed this bridge it felt like we were entering Disney World's Animal Kingdom.  We couldn't help but laugh.   We explored the vast grounds.  My sweet husband collected fans from all the places he went instead of post cards or tiny spoons. "The Summer Palace  in northwest suburban Beijing is the largest and most complete imperial gar...

 We hit up the Emperor's Park (you know the place with the bird's eye view of the Forbidden City) and came across even more people of Chinese retired age (55) dancing, exercising, and standing and bending at the hip.  They are like a bunch of kids playing in the park.  Jake got to work right away with his new friends and this new toy.  You have to keep it from getting twisted, keep it spinning, and I say try not to get dizzy and fall down.  They switched the yo yo they gave him for one of theirs and he had it, he was able to spin that thing no problem!  He had worked so hard at learning on a busted one that when he got a good one he was golden!  We went for a walk and had some frustrating disagreements.  We were hot, tired, and hungry and with no food in sight and no idea where we were tensions ran high.  (in China we had this problem with one day going perfectly, next day full of hiccups, and so on)  Just as we we...

 We took a van with a small tour group of us and another family into the city to see the Opera.  The other family was from Mexico and they were headed to see an acrobatics show.  Jake spoke Chinese to the driver and two workers in the front of the van and Spanish to the family of 5 Mexicans in the back of the van.  It was so impressive!  There were quite a few encounters we had where Jake had the opportunity to use his Spanish and Mandarin while in China.  We seemed to meet a few students from Mexico in China for their Bachelor's degrees.  I guess America isn't the only game in town for college.  Jake talked to the girl about her impressions of China since she had been there and her thoughts on the people etc.  They had a pretty similar outlook on it.  The people are very focused on the money seemed to be the number one thing I drew from their conversation.  I love that in Spanish I can follow along but for the most part in Chine...