First Full Day in Beijing

Ella and I went downstairs early for breakfast on Monday, November 23rd. The hotel had a wonderful range of Chinese and American food in the buffet They also had food cooked to order—omelets or noodle soup. Ella was starving and loved having dumplings and congee for breakfast. We had to board the bus early. Our group consisted of Ella and me, Peiton and her dad, Jim, from Iowa, Dar-Ling and her mother, Helen , from Sweden, Lilli and her mother, Jane, Leila and her mother Pam, Tian and her parents, Robyn and Tim---all from Australia, Elizabeth, her sister Catherine and parents, Mollie and her parents—both from England and two families from Holland. Milou and Elizabeth both had little sisters adopted from China. Chenna's older sister, Larissa was born in Holland.

The first group picture with all the girls and their sisters. Front row--Lisa--Middle row starting from left--Catherine, Elizabeth, Tian, Leila, Lili, Dar Ling, Ella, Peiton, Suze, Mollie --Back Row

Larissa (hidden by flag) Chenna and Milou.
Ella quickly made good friends with Tian (We had loads of pictures, but Ella accidently deleted the pictures from our first two days. They sat next to each other on the bus all day.

Our first stop was the Civil Affairs Office in Beijing. Speeches were given; the event was broadcast on Chinese National Television. All the girls were given Panda Bears. The theme for our reunion trip was “Home in this World, Roots in China.


Next Stop—The Great WallI knew I would enjoy the Great Wall of China and looked forward to it, but it was even more wonderful than I expected. We went to the area where they have a gondola. We met Peiton and Jim in line and shared a gondola. Ella and I planned to take the gondola back with Tian and her mom, but we couldn’t find them and the wall beckoned so we just started walking and decided to walk down to the place where we would meet the bus. Luckily, we found Adam and some others and found our way back to the bus. I could have stayed all day---Next time I will.

Ella and Pei on the Great Wall

Next we went to the Olympic Village which I wasn't that excited to see, but I was wrong. The Bird's Nest was amazing. We toured inside and saw the water cube. Again--we don't have many pictures as these were deleted, but Peiton's Dad, Jim, nicely let his have some of his.

We also saw the water cube from a distance which looked more interesting than I thought it would.
Ella had been up since 1:00 am. She got so much exercise and fresh air at the great wall and continued to run around the Olymic village that she was exhausted when we got back to the hotel. She wanted to go to bed, but I kept her up and fed her dinner while she was practically sleeping. She would put her head on the table while she chewed and I would wake her up for another bite. She went to bed early and slept soundly.