Today, Saturday August 4, we thought we would go and take a tour of Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. We got there around 9:30 AM and were absolutely dumbfounded by the thousands and thousands of people that were all there. It was hot and it was crowded but we ventured in. I have never been one to be considered a history buff, but the whole story behind Tienanmen square is amazing and you could feel the admiration and pride that China's countrymen feel for this life changing protest that happened in 1989. I won't go into grave details about it but it is a cool story.
So after being there for about 5 minutes a group of teenage girls comes up to us and asks if they can take their picture with us???? Hugh??? I thought they wanted me to take their picture but then they grabbed my girls and me and next thing I know we are smiling for their camera. Ok, that was interesting. Then about 5 minutes later it happened again. This father with twin boys was asking to have his sons picture taken with the girls and wanted one with Ella standing in between them. Julia and Ella were very accommodating and a little embarrassed but just smiled and posed and went along with it. This happened several times as we finished our tour and as we headed out 2 older women stopped us, and I have no unearthly idea what she was saying to us, but she was petting Ella's hair and rubbing and kissing her cheeks and I could see Ella's eyes getting as big as saucers. Her face was beet red! (If you know Ella, she is one of the biggest hypochondriac, germaphobes I know) Apparently, they see Westerner's (particularly ones with blond hair) to be good luck for wealth and prosperity. Ella wasn't feeling to lucky at that point because she looked at me and said "I need to wash my face right now, did you see her teeth?!" We finally made it out, found our driver and headed out to a restaurant called Da Dong Duck, to meet up with some other expats for lunch.
Julia's mentor at school is a girl named Gabby. Her father works for the US Embassy and they live in a neighborhood close by. They have 6 kids, one in Julia's grade and a boy in Ella's grade. They are an incredibly nice family and oddly enough have a mother/grandma that lives in Davenport, Iowa. We learned a lot about expat life from them and had an amazing meal. We even experienced using the squatter for the first time. AKA "taking a leak in a hole in the ground". It's really not as easy as it sounds and there is a sticky floor around the hole to prove it!
All in all an amazing day! You seriously have to learn to take things with a grain of rice around here and laugh about it!
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