Continuing this amazing journey ... A day in Suzhou.

On Wednesday, we were taken to Suzhou, a major city in Jiangsu Province.  It is east of Wuxi but west of Shanghai and is known for its canals, bridges and classical gardens.  It was named the 'Venice of China' by Marco Polo when he visited it during his life and they say that he was assigned the title of Consultant to the Chinese.

The first place we visited was The Humble Administrator's Garden.  The Garden dates back to 1513 and is considered by many Chinese as the finest in all of Southern China.  The Garden became famous because of a popular poet long ago wrote about the Garden and is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This is Xu PeiJuan and Hu GuoMing.  In the family, they are considered to be Molly's aunt and uncle.  

This is Xu XiaoHong and Xu BeiChun.  They are one set of Molly's foster parents and she called them Mama and Baba when she lived with them.  Molly used to go around to the people telling others that she was so lucky because most Chinese children only have one mama and one baba ... but she had two mamas and two babas.

The older woman below is Molly's official 'foster mother', however, she called her Nai Nai, which means grandmother.  Her name is Wang You Xian.

This is the Bonsai garden within The Humble Administrator's Garden.  

So pretty ...

We went to the oldest road in the center of the city.  It's along one of the canals where we saw several of the old-style canal boats.  This was such a treat!!

There were many shops with the local foods.  Yes, those are chicken feet in the stainless steel bowl bottom right.  Molly used to LOVE to eat those ... not so much anymore!!

And the world should take note ... and be proud ... !!!

We went out for lunch after visiting The Humble Administrator's Garden and it was a place sort of like a cafeteria where you just choose the various dishes that you want to eat.  

Well, I selected the dishes shown below.  The dish nearest the bottom of the photo ... I thought were noodles.  After we sat down to eat, I was asked if I LIKE it ... I said, "well, I know it's not noodles now that I've eaten it but please don't tell me what it is."  

I was misunderstood as they thought I say Please, tell me what it is ... and guess what??

It is a plate full of mogu - MUSHROOMS!!!  

AAAAHHhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Okay, it really wasn't that bad ... but this doesn't mean that I will be eating mushrooms once back in the USA.

In the afternoon, we went to the Hanshan Temple, a Buddist temple and monastery.

The architecture is fascinating and it is very interesting to observe the various Buddists who come to honor their beliefs.  

We learned that many of the temples have become commercialized and use different areas as a tourist attraction to make a profit.

(hmm, sounds like the temple in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus)

It was very pretty to look at and we did enjoy learning more about ancient China.

This is Molly's second set 'mama and baba' ... the woman on the far right is the mother of this foster mama.  They are Xu Beixing and Chen Caihong.  

Chen Caihong (Caihong means 'rainbow') is our primary connection to the family.

She is interested in learning English and I am interested in learning more Chinese.  She and I communicate with each other and share the goings-on of our two families.

This little girl, from the neighborhood, visited with us and she sang us a song and then she showed us her daily exercises that she does in school. 

I was very excited about this and asked her to show me how to do the exercises.  It was my motivation to burn off some of the million calories that I have consumed because of all the food that the foster family is making us eat!

I wasn't very good at doing the exercises ... but I sure gave it my best shot! 

Brynn definitely enjoys when the other children are around! 

In the evening, when we arrived back to our hotel, we found this plate of fresh fruit was left for us.  The people working in the hotel have been very kind to us; it has been so amazing.  

On the plate was an apple, banana and this pink, spikey, floral-looking piece of fruit.  We were not sure what it was but we certainly knew that we should try it. 

This is what the fruit looks like on the inside.  We learned the next day that it is 'Dragon Fruit'.   

Afterwards, we left a note ... I wrote in my not-so-good-but-it-will-have-to-do Chinese characters, "thank-you".

We can never stop saying "thank-you" ... we have so much to be thankful for.

Molly's Foster Family

Well, where do we begin??

We have spent our first full day with Molly's foster family and it has been quite an amazing day!!  I don't even know if I can find the words right now to share with you because it is simply overwhelming the impact that one little girl has made in the world.  There are so many people who love her and care about her and have her forever imprinted upon their hearts and in their minds.

While I am usually quite OPEN about most things and a storyteller of sorts for educating, informing and sharing, there is a part of me that, at least for today ... or for a while ... just needs to hold much of this close to my heart and ponder it for a while.  But, at least, here is a bit of what our day held ...

Today, we learned so much more about Molly's early life in China ... so many wonderful stories ... she was quite the brave and daring girl and we were shown this shed that keeps the bicycle that she rode around and nearly drove right into the nearby river.  We enjoyed hearing the stories about her courage and determination ... qualities that are very much true about her today.

There are photos that we have sent all around the homes. 

This photo is of Molly's foster grandmother holding her at the orphanage on the first day they met.   

More photos and cards that we have sent ... 

There was a great deal of reminiscing about Molly with her foster grandfather.  Molly has memories of him, as she does of many of the foster family; he passed away about a year before we adopted her.  She told us about him and the day he died when she knew enough English.

They took us to the place where his ashes are kept. 

It was incredible to visit the place that kept the remains of so many Chinese people, each space holding a box of ashes, a photo or two, some papers or notes and maybe even a significant item that they believe the deceased person "needs" where they are.

The foster grandfather's mother passed away just last year at the age of 86 and we were able to see her 'resting spot' as well.

This evening we were treated to a wonderful meal ... so many delicious foods.  They even prepared specialty dishes such as fresh water crab and longevity noodles to show honor for the occasion.   

Second Day in Beijing - LONG POST

What a wonderful and exhausting day we had today.  We did quite a lot; the day was full and fun and we learned a great deal.  We were taken to the Temple of Heaven.  This is the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties held the ceremonies of worshipping heaven and praying for good harvests.  It's construction was began in 1406 and was completed during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty.  It is the largest and best-preserved ancient sacrificial architectural grouping in the world (according to the souvenier guidebook I bought).  

We did not expect the magnificent site and did not even have any idea of it once we walked through the first entrance gate.  When we first entered, there was a huge courtyard / gathering area.  The ground was like marble tile.  There were many people all over the area.  Our guide, Cindy Lee, told us that many of the people were retired and that they come here every day because they do not have anything else to do.  

We were amazed and after watching the different groups of people for a while, we felt like we could come here every day too to pass the time.  There were groups of people writing Chinese calligraphy characters on the ground using a small bucket of water and a large sponge-tipped stick.  It was quite something!  

The man here even eventually allowed Brynn to give it a try and she "wrote" her name in Chinese and English.

There were other groups of people exercising and practicing martial arts. One group of people who were at least 60 years old were dancing and they were having a wonderful time.  They would even ask passersby to join in the dancing.

The next group of people were playing games of 'shuttlecock' and 'Chinese badminton'.  This was very fun to watch and then we were even given the opportunity to play along.  

The shuttlecock is a few small, weighted discs bound together and then several colorful feathers protruding from the center of the discs.  You play it by volleying it off of the ankles or feet.  This is similar to the game westerners know as "hacky-sac".

We were able to enjoy the day playing these games with our new friends, the Bachelders. 

Molly was so excited to see 'Chinese Badminton' and she was able to join in quite quickly.  The gentleman who played with her was quite impressed with her ability.

  

We could see the Temple of Heaven being a wonderful place to spend all day, with a picnic lunch.  There was so much to see and do and it was quite interesting watching the Chinese visitors and to observe their customs and acts of belief related to the various areas within the temple grounds.

After we went through much of the Temple of Heaven buildings, we exited through the North gate.  As we were exiting we came upon many groups of people playing card games and Chinese board games.  The people were leisurely enjoying themselves and each other's company.  It was a lovely sight.  

My favorite part of the day happened next!!  I was in my own personal 'temple of heaven' ... as we were taken to a beautiful Tea House where we were given a demonstration and tasting of various teas.  It was wonderful and I could have stayed there all day.

The building was traditional Chinese architecture and it was filled with beautiful artwork and handcrafted items.

Isn't it beautiful??  So many lovely pieces ...

I think I may frame this photo ... LOL ... to remember this wonderful experience!!!

After the Tea House, we were taken to the Hutong of Beijing.  The Hutong in Beijing, are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, which are traditional courtyard residences.

Well, it's pretty late and I'm tired so I guess I'll end this post.  It was a very eventful day ... just filled with SO MUCH!!!  This post doesn't cover it all nor does it provide the full explanation but we hope that you enjoy the bits that you are getting anyway.  

Stay tuned for more ...