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Tuesday was destined to rain - again. It was cloudy and felt like it was going to bust loose soon. I let the girls sleep in as I realized they are still college-aged students. But about 10:00 I needed some translation services and I felt good about calling out Jessie’s name in a low voice, and she responded quickly. To my surprise she appeared out of her room dressed and ready to go within seconds. She apparently was already up and going long before I called her.
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Wednesday brought excitement that I was getting closer to getting my sweet wife in Hengyang. But I needed to get the apartment cleaned. Edwin and Mary hired a cleaning lady that comes by once a week or so. They helped me arrange for her to come by my apartment and spend about four hours or so cleaning. The cost of ¥50 (~$7.50 USD) for four hours of work seemed way too low and I wanted to pay her more.
I was up early because I knew that Donna would be at the airport in Chicago waiting to board the plane for her trip here. I had told her to call me from the gate to tell me she was on her way. I was expecting that call about 7:00 a.m. here which is about 6:00 p.m. the evening before in Chicago. On cue, the call came and she was on her way!
The morning sun was up and Donna had been in bed (with a varying amount of overnight solid sleep) for about 11 or more hours. I knew that my jet lag had turned around rather easily with the same kind of schedule. I thought she would be good to go if she could get out of bed and stay up again all day again. No Chinese naps for her. Fortunately, she’s not a napper anyway. After some coffee, tea and some breakfast foods we were ready to explore the new world before us.
It was Sunday morning. Jessica and Mia wanted to make breakfast for the Myers and us. They made a very traditional breakfast much like I had been served at Jessica’s house a few weekends previous. The noodles with sausage and egg that was served was just as good as I had been served earlier by her family’s live-in cook, Luo. We also had real brewed coffee brought down by the Myers. It was more than I usually ate for breakfast but Donna is a much better breakfast eater than I, and I wanted her to experience this cuisine as best she could while she was here. We ate the noodles and sausage soup with chopsticks! Of course, we were supposed to pick up the bowl when it only had the liquid contents remaining and drink the final portion of the dish
As had now become our routine, albeit short, we had breakfast with the Myers. They brought the brewed coffee and we brought the Friendship Bread that we had purchased the previous day. It was to be our next to last meal together, at least in China for this summer. I have so enjoyed the fellowship of this amazing couple.
Tuesday was the start of our vacation portion of this trip. Donna, as usual, had researched many of the sites she wanted us to visit and had done her usual due diligence. We had made arrangements to Meet Tina in the lobby of our Hotel at 9 o’clock this morning. We had also planned to sit for a few minutes with Tina to see what she wanted to do for the week and to see what she could, or was willing, to help us with.
After Tuesday’s visit into the Forbidden City, and knowing that I would go to the Great Wall the next day, I was expecting a down day. But The Temple of Heaven proved me wrong. The Temple of Heaven is a worthwhile visiting place in Beijing. It is much bigger than the Forbidden City and smaller than the Summer Palace (however, we never made it to the Summer Palace).
Breakfast was great! The Park Plaza Hotel caters to Americans and other foreigners very well. While they had some traditional Chinese offerings for breakfast they always had plenty of the kinds of foods that we and other non-Chinese folks were used to for breakfast.
Today was going to be special because this Friday was to bring upon us a reunion of sorts. We were going to meet up with Eileen, Li Jie in Tianjin. Tina was going to meet us at the Beijing South Train Station and we were going to take the fast train to Tianjin.
Breakfast was great, again! This was a day that we had almost nothing to do except get rested up for our long journey home, buy whatever else we might want, and do some packing and repacking for our trip.
THE SKY WAS BLUE! It was the first day since I have been here that the skies were blue. Maybe because it was the day I was going home and I was ready for both. Today was also the Lord’s Day! We had been referred to the only legally recognized church of Christ in Beijing or maybe even China itself.
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AuthorSteve Shaner, also known as Xie Yeye, is a professional story teller that delights in traveling to meet new and old friends. He can be contacted at [email protected]. Blog ContentsMay 12-14, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010 Sunday, May 16, 2010 Monday, May 17, 2010 Tuesday, May 18, 2010 Wednesday, May 19, 2010 Thursday, May 20, 2010 Friday, May 21, 2010 Saturday, May 22, 2010 Sunday, May 23, 2010 Monday, May 24, 2010 Tuesday, May 25, 2010 Wednesday, May 26, 2010 Thursday, May 27, 2010 Friday, May 28, 2010 Saturday, May 29, 2010 Sunday, May 30, 2010 Monday, May 31, 2010 Tuesday, June 1, 2010 Wednesday, June 2, 2010 Thursday, June 3, 2010 Friday, June 4, 2010 Saturday, June 5, 2010 Sunday, June 6, 2010 Monday, June 7, 2010 Tuesday, June 8, 2010 Wednesday, June 9, 2010 Thursday, June 10, 2010 Friday, June 11, 2010 Saturday, June 12, 2010 Sunday, June 13, 2010 Monday, June 14, 2010 Tuesday, June 15, 2010 Wednesday, June 16, 2010 Thursday, June 17, 2010 Friday, June 18, 2010 Saturday, June 19, 2010 Sunday, June 20, 2010 |
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