Free Day

We didn’t have any official business today, so decided to venture down to see the Forbidden City. Fairly easy walk to get there, amazing - imperial seat of the country for more than 800 years. Very impressive and huge. CROWDED! I can’t even guess how many people were there with us. One thing I’ve been really surprised at is how few non-Chinese we’ve seen. Inside our hotel there are about 50%, but once we step foot out of the door, if we see 12 Anglo-looking people in an outing, it’s a banner day.  

Walked around in the hot & sweaty for a few hours (E’s arms are getting a serious workout from carrying Ca so often) and then took an air-conditioned taxi home. Hooray! Dinner in an expensive French restaurant where Ca wasn't interested in the food we ordered. When we got up to the room, she had some more of the apricots (which are catching up to her digestive system) by way of a lunch. We are grateful that we can give her things when she’s hungry and that she doesn’t seem to have any food insecurity. (When we’d had S for 2 days, he ate EVERYTHING we gave him) We’re mostly letting her eat what she feels like (although I think we may start limiting the apricots) and realizing that she’ll have some more adjusting once we get home. 

Tried again for a nap. It took a bit of persistence, but the persistence was rewarded with 75 minutes of sleep (tangled up in E’s arms, and sucking her thumb). After nap we went swimming again - we weren’t sure Ca would want to, but she was excited to go. Then had a little to eat and went to meet our guide for the Acrobat Show we had arranged for the evening. Holy cow! It was absolutely amazing! The best money I’ve ever spent on any show in my life! Imagine any “Chinese Acrobat” demonstration you’ve ever seen, and kick it up about 6 notches. We all loved it. It was fun to hear Ca gasp and exclaim at all the different scenes.

Came home and went up to the buffet again - Ca wanted some calamari (I’m sure the Chinese have another word for this, but we Americans borrowed the Italians’), but it had some sauce that was too spicy. Bath, FaceTime with the kids at home, and bed. We’re finding our groove.

Thanks to all of you who are praying. We feel that the transition is going far better than we could have expected. We know that can change at any moment, and are seeking to keep ourselves in a state of mind to deal with that if we need to. But we are grateful for your prayers - God is providing.