The First Day in China!

Hey Guys! Today was such a busy day. First, we had to wake up at 7:30 in the morning to get ready. We were going to the Great Wall of China. The ride there took about 2 hours but was easily passed with the talking of our tour guide Pam. They have wierd looking birds and trees here. Also, I have to say one thing. The pollution here is awful. I think that everyone smokes or something. Ah! It's awful. My throut is burning and my lungs are on fire! Other than that it's been great. Everyone's really nice and they don't mind that we're American. They sometimes stare at us but that's just out of curiousity because we're so tall to them. Anyway, back to the Great Wall. We had to take a cable car up the Himalayas to the Great Wall. It was an amazing view. They mountains were astounding. The Great Wall has really steep hills and stairs. It is FREEZING up there! Everyone would smile at us and was really nice. I loved going to the Great Wall.

But... before you get on the cable cars, you have to pass through a market place or something like that. The people there follow you holding their items saying,"One Dollar! Only one Dollar! I remember you, one dollar!" For some reason they seem to always come to me and my parents were laughing that a swarm of people were trying to sell me things. I felt so bad turning them down. I did make one friend named Li who sold me post cards and I also bought a T-shirt. The total was around 11 dollars for both. It was really scary when the people followed you yelling at you like shadows. Sometimes they would even grab you.

I saw my first squat pot there. It is GROSS!! Instead of a toliet you squat and pee in a hole in the ground. You can smell it before you even walk in because everybody misses. I had to hold it the whole day.

After the Great Wall of China, we went out to eat. It was in a poorer area. It looks kind of dead out there with the dead crops and the sparadic colors of worn neon blue, red, and gold. The only thing alive is the lively people and the culture. At the resturant, they gave us traditional Chinese food which I abviously DID NOT eat. I think on this trip I'm gonna loose 10 pounds because I'm starving!

After that we went to a factory where they make beautiful pots with wires and this cool type of paint stuff. The living spaces are really small and they do the work all by hand. The outcome of the hard long work is beautiful. I would never have that much patience to do what they're doing.

Then we went to a place called Hu Tong. It is a city( I think) that is owned by the government. The living spaces are EXTREMELY SMALL. One family live is the amount of space as two of my laudry rooms. They drove us around on these wierd bycycle things with covers on they. There are many street benders that also come up to you and try to sell you things. The area is really messy and it is really really poor. However, the people are extrememly happy with their lives, even if they do manual labor for everything including farming (no machines-carry on their back) and use coal to heat their houses. They all know eachother and are always happy. It's very strange. If I was living there I'd be miserable but they are all so happy with their simple lives.

Then, still in Hu Tong, we went to a women's house to show us normal chinese living quarters so we could look inside. It is VERY VERY small and to the chinese she's living the suite life-lol! anyway, it is very messy and very homey. It is nothing like America. they hang their clothes out to dry and you see clothes hanging just out on the main road. How the chinese live is much more simplier than us.

In China, traffic is horrendous. It is sort of like Atlanta except no one stays in their lane. Car are everywhere and they're aren't very good traffic regulations. On top of all this, people walk on the streets. Yeah, I know they're crazy. But, when we drive, people just walk in front of cars and don't care. But nobody gets hurt! It's amazing. And nobody has road rage and there is hardly any honking. Everyone just goes with the flow.

In China, people ride bikes. Riding your bike everywhere is very popular. There are almost more bikes than cars, (maybe not but there are A TON!) They also ride in the streets and infront of cars. People ride bikes EVERYWHERE!!

Here you can see the vast difference in the number of men and women. Men are EVERYWHERE! You see women but men are just everywhere and it's crazy. The streets are so crowded and 8:00 here is as busy as 12:00 in Atlanta. At 8:00 in the morning people are already up and working doing construction, cleaning, and farming. Everyone is up and about while I was exausted.

Although the pollution makes it difficult to breathe, I really like China. It's really cool and the buildings are old. There is so much culture here and I really like it. Plus, I'm so psyched about getting Lexie! AHHH!!! I'm so excited. All of the other families here are really friendly and nice. We made friends instantly. Their babies are about the same age as Lexie and there is a girl whose name is Lexie Marie here too. She's real nice and she's 15. She also has a sister named Tori. WIERD!! Anyway, I really miss all of you but I'm having so much fun in China!!

Bye!!