Ni hao! ching sen ping xue, xie xie. Bu koe-tje!
That's pretty much all we learned in Chinese. And it's hardly the right spelling for anything I'm sure. It means,
hello! 3 ice waters please. Thank you. You're welcome!
so yes, we made it back from China!! BOOOM! We blew it up as Tim and Noah would say. It was such an awesome trip and we felt the timing couldn't have been better, we had our own personal tour guide and translator, Noah Chang himself!
And he even came with friendly company, his fiancee, Anna. We scored! Noah scored! Anna scored! They are a GREAT match for each other and we'll be excited to join them at their wedding in December in Iowa. I have a perfect corn costume (just kidding!).
So, I bet you are wondering about highlights. There are too many. We could share much about the historical sights we saw, the great times we had with our friends, the amazing church we visited, how our faith was challenged, and the behind-the-scenes parts of Beijing that were much less pretty than the grand skyscrapers and clean streets. However, I've chosen some of the most odd ones to give you a deeper look into the real Beijing.
1. The Slit. Chinese babies and toddlers everywhere are not wearing diapers. No. Instead they have pants with slits so they can, you know, whenever and wherever they want. Makes potty training lots easier apparently.
2. The Zigzag. There are cheap ice cream stands everywhere, and on a hot day, nothing satisfies like a mysterious ice cream on a stick! Anna and Noah introduced us to their favorite iced treat, a popsicle with orange and yellow chunks. Maybe orange and pineapple? Yummy. My other favorite was a sort of fudge-sicle. One time I saw a picture of a soft serve swirled ice cream cone like at Costco only smaller, but when it came out of the machine it was green! Melon, not bad. We decided to get another one to try again, and this time pointed to the darker color. Chocolate? No, dark pink. Red bean. Mmm, melon and red bean. Not quite the same!
3. The Patio Bar. These comfy couches on the street are off limits unless you are wanting to smoke hookah or drink Yanjing, a famous light Chinese beer. Street bars pop at night! Mostly westerners filled the seats.
4. The Exercise Park. This type of equipment is supplied by the government for pretty much every public space you can see, in apartment complexes or community parks. There are several types of work-out equipment, and we decided most are to loosen your joints rather than get your heart going. Lots of older people use these every day. Keeps them healthy I guess!
5. The Small Dog. Beijing had a height restriction on dogs in the city. Small and only small. Not so clean either. I haven't seen some of the breeds we discovered. I also think it was a first to see that while babies don't have diapers, some dogs do.
6. The Phone Booth. These are everywhere along the streets of the city. Orange and funny looking!
7. Meat on a Stick and Other Novelties. Noah and many Chinese children are braver than I in eating meat on a stick. Because the Chinese eat such odd meats without reservation, including the scorpions and cockroaches and
seahorses we saw at 'snack street' in a commercial area, I wouldn't trust myself to the mystery meat.
8. The Bookworm. This was a great experience, an international cafe in the heart of Beijing with AWESOME coffee! And English books! We felt right at home there, until I got my turkey and goat cheese sandwich. Just wasn't what I had hoped for smooshed between wonder bread and stuck in the toaster, but I bet other stuff on the menu was way better. My chocolate dessert crepes made up for it!! MMM! This is also where Noah and Anna had their first date.
9. The Shaq. We spent a morning at a park (there are sooo many in Beijing that are beautiful, minus the foggy smog) and rented these bicycle cars and rode all around looking for the giant Shaq, Noah's favorite thing in Beijing (or not).
10. The Wall. We definitely took common pictures of the Great Wall, what you'd expect to see from anyone who visits. The normal pictures are of the restored Great Wall - rebuilt to look like it would have 5,000 years ago. I don't think there were high heels on the wall that long ago!
Did you know there are actually multiple walls all over China, not just a single wall? The longest one spans around 2,000 miles, but there are other walls build in other dynasties all over the north and south of China, mostly the eastern half. We visited a part of the longest one, but we also spent the night at a hostel in the mountains and hiked the next day to an unrestored part. Not as familiar but still really cool to see what it all would have looked like today, with trees growing in it and through it. Anyway I doubt anyone from the touristy restored wall has any pictures
riding the wall like a wild animal....
That's my husband.
11. The FRIENDLIES!!! These are the Olympic mascots and they are so cute! My favorite is the orange one, Yingying, and Tim's is the green NiNi. There is also Beibei and Jingjing and one other one. Together they symbolize welcome. We love the friendlies!
So there is a glimpse into Team Isaacson adventures. Thanks for following our journeys, xie xie!!
Since we were (sadly) unable to visit N and Roxie this weekend, we decided to ask our good friends Clay and Juel and Allan and Cristen if they wanted to create a second annual camping excursion. We settled on Rainier and this was a last goodbye for the Eyes for awhile. It's been such a great mountain to see and visit and explore (and fear)!
When we we started out mid-day, it was clear and beautiful.
here we are posing for our upcoming album release. (jk)
Before we made it to Panarama Point (I've never been there when it was clear!), clouds started rolling in and we imagined the amazing view. On our way down, there were a few short breaks to glimpse the peak.
I gave the mountain a last hug and kiss good-bye.
That next morning before heading home, we toasted our VC's to good friends, a beautiful mountain, yummy cherry pie, and future memories.
