CHINA!

About a month ago, Than was talking about his upcoming trip to China and out of the blue was like…Hey, do you wanna come?  The tickets are pretty cheap.

And I was like….Ummm…..maybe…..Uh, yeah…Okay!  Let's go to China! 

That's usually how these things work.  Than hurried to get all of our passport and visa stuff taken care of.  We called Becca to see if she could babysit.  I actually called my sisters to see if they wanted to come with us, but believe it or not….many people won't go to china with just a few weeks notice.  But I really really wanted someone to come with me for two reasons.  Number one:  I had a whole day where Than wasn't going to be able to hang out with me.  Apparently he was going to China to work.  What's up with that?!!?  And two:  I had to fly back by myself so Than could fly to Korea.  And I really didn't want to fly by myself.  But no one could come and I believe it or not, I survived.  

So here we are on our flight.  I was super nervous.  I almost couldn't smile because I was worried about the flight, and about the kids.  I knew they were in the best hands with Becca but I just don't like the feeling of being so far away from them.  I was going to be literally half way around the world from them and I don't think any mom likes that feeling.  I was excited to take the trip, but just nervous.  But, like usual, I had no reason to be nervous.  Our plane didn't mysteriously disappear (seriously are they ever going to find that plane?!?!) and it all ran smoothly and all of my kids are still happy and love me.  

  

The first picture in China. :)  We were super tired!  We tried to stay up on the plane so that when we got to China, we'd be able to sleep.  We left SFO around 2:00, and then left Seattle around 7:00pm.  We had a 12 hour flight which put us in Beijing around 10:00 PM.  The goal was to sleep and wake up the next day on local china time.  It worked for the most part, but we woke up around 2:30 am awake for the day and tried to go back to sleep but it was hard.  Around 5:00am we got up since we knew we couldn't sleep anymore anyway.  Everyday we ate an american breakfast in the hotel.  The hotel was super nice.  A Marriott.  Huge.  Comfy Pillows.  But so hot!  Our room's thermostat was off or something and we couldn't get it to cool our room off.  We can deal with stuff like that. 

I just thought this was funny.  All the signs on the food were wrong.  LIke all of them.  This one made me crack up. 

Our first stop:  THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!   

I don't care who you are, it's everyone's dream to see the Great Wall.  I mean…it's a Wonder of the World.  It's been around for over 2500 years! It's pretty phenomenal.  

It really just goes on and on and on and on.  

Those stairs are steep!  Now we know why Justin bieber couldn't walk it on his own.  And we had to reenact it.  :)  But seriously…those stairs are dang steep.  And the stairs are uneven.  Definitely a tripping hazard.  

I love that we went to China together.  We are so lucky to have each other and are happy and in love and be able to rely on each other.  We make a fantastic team. 

And welcome to my glasses.  I have a stigmatism.  I feel old when I wear them but I can see and I wasn't going to miss seeing every detail of that place!

It's hard to see but there are chair lifts that you can pay for to take you to the top.  Or you can just walk. Obviously, we paid for a lift.  

Than thought we were going to fall off and die the whole time.  

View to the front.

View from behind. 

This is the street you walk up before the chair lift.  We bought some stuff for the kids right here! 

This lady yelled at Than for not buying enough of there dried fruit. I love hearing Than speak in Chinese although I feel like the Chinese language just feels like people yelling at each other all the time.  

Our attempt at the perfect Great Wall Selfie.  The sun was pretty high in the sky. 

Than has a soft spot in his heart for Chinese people.  He bought her postcards from her after she remembered him on the way down and told him that she walked all the way up from village in the picture below just to sell them.  To quote him, "Not the worst way I've spent $2.00."  Truth. 

Gil and Jon of the Zinch team.  Excuse me….the Chegg team.  They are working on the brand transition right now. :)

Just pretty.  

Awww, how sweet.  

The whole crew that was out there, plus two Zinch China folks.  

He's cute. 

Trying to get a good Great Wall Selfie of myself.  Not as easy as it looks.  :)

The iPhone picture of us at the great wall.

On the way down, it was kind of like The Alpine Slide.  You rode a "toboggan" and I was afraid it would go too fast, but really, it went pretty slow and I was being a chicken for nothing.  Like usual. 

Lunch afterwards was pretty amazing.  THe food in China was pretty dang good.  I was worried that it would have a strange flavor like I remembered from Taiwan, but most of it was just dang good Chinese food.  And we had someone there to order for us so that helped too.  

Our next stop was the Zinch office in Beijing.  Here is the view out of their window.  

I love how gracious and welcoming chinese people are.  They had gifts and played get to know you games, and just wanted you to feel as welcome as possible.  

I felt so welcome, I decided to take a nap right there in the office.  :)  It was hot, smelly, everyone was "working" and I was exhausted. Luckily, it didn't screw my sleep up too badly that night.  

We got to experience the subway for the ride home.  This is all blurry because we were practically running through it to make sure we caught up with everyone, but seriously, there were people EVERYWHERE!  LIke, everywhere and you were like a fish just following along.  Don't stop or you'll get run over! 

And apparently, this train wasn't very full.  

I'm really glad I didn't get to experience a full train because this was enough for me! 

I'm trying to think of what we did that night.  I believe that was our first night of shopping.  The shopping place was pretty crazy.  It was jam packed with "stores" of all the same people selling the same things.  Shoes, bags, touristy stuff, clothes, jackets, wallets, belts.   It was all there and if you had enough guts, you could haggle your way to anything you wanted.  

Oh, and that night we did have our first chinese foot massage.  The first of four I believe.  In three days.  Yep, that's how you roll in Beijing.  

Then we were exhausted and went to bed.  

DAY TWO: 

This was the day I was supposed to be by myself, but luckily, Alison was there to keep me company.  She is on Dustin's team and they won this trip through a sales conference, and she ended up being the only one who got to come.  And since she is only a prospector, and didn't really have to be at the conference, she got to hang out with me.  

We spent the day at the shopping place.  The bummer of it was that I ran out of money and ALL of the ATMs were down.  It was probably a good thing.  I would have bought more things that I didn't need but it was fun to barter with them.  When you had the energy, that is.  It did get kind of exhausting having people yell at you, "Hey Lady!!!  You want Michael Kors!  You want prada!  I have coach!"  All in a very stereotypical chinese accent. :) 

WE did get pedicures and manicures and foot massages which was super fun.  

And we ventured out and found some lunch.  I ate beef noodles off a street cart in Beijing!  I felt so brave.  And it was delicious.  I still have no idea what kind of chemicals I put in my body but #yolo.  :) He did stir mine together for me when he saw how terrible I was at using chopsticks. 

And I seriously look like a giant next to that guy!

Oh, and I got some pineapple.  

The guys came back to meet us and had just enough time to fit in a massage.  Don't mind if I do have a half hour upper body massage for $7.50.  Don't mind at all. 

After that was the Zinch reception.  Than had to give a little "speech" there and was the star of the show. I kind of laid low and kept off my feet and rested from my really busy shopping day.  

And we had dinner at this Peking Duck place that was CRAZY expensive.  Look at that menu!  It was a lot of weird, artsy dishes that no one in their right mind would actually eat, but the chinese zinch team recommended it and we found a way to order without being terribly expensive.  Peking Duck is a pretty big deal there.  I tried it.  I was a big girl but duck is really not my thing.  

Everyone else went out that night for dancing and more massages and came home at 2:00pm, but Than and I went home.  I was so tired and it felt good to sleep.  

DAY 3

This was Sunday.  My last real day there.  We headed off to church and it was a really sweet experience.  In China, only in recent years can you meet as a congregation.  You are not allowed to have any Chinese nationals in your congregation at all.  In fact, if one showed up, they would be asked to leave.  But they also have a branch of just Chinese nationals who have joined the church outside of China.  

I posted this picture on Instagram with this quote from President Hinckley: 

"The Church has become one large family scattered across the earth.  A marvelous and wonderful thing is coming to pass.  The Lord is fulfilling His promise that the gospel shall be as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands which would roll forth and fill the whole earth, as Daniel saw in vision.  A great miracle is taking place right before our eyes."  

It really seems like the Lord is preparing a way for a day when we will be able to proselite in China.  I think Than said something like this, "Different signage, same great spirit."  And it's true.  No matter where you are, when you walk into a church building you feel like you are at home.  

The rest of the day was spent being a tourist.  I really loved this day.  We just went all around the forbidden city and old Beijing and it was just fun.  Exhausting, but super fun.  

This is outside the Forbidden City.  Or like they told me, where Mulan was filmed.  Those cameras are watching everything!  Big brother is real in china.  

And here we are being Chinese tourists.

It just goes on for days and days.  

 Than with his Zinch employees.  

 Mao is still a really big deal in China.  I had them explain it to me, but I kind of already forgot all the details.  

 Thanks for the photobomb, jon. 

This girl wanted to have her picture taken with these "Cute americans" and was so excited!  It was so cute.  

And then we told them to kiss her on the cheek and she about flipped!  It was so funny.  

This is the view from the palace up on the hill.  The pollution in Beijing is pretty incredible.  We were there are 'good' days. I would HATE to see the bad days! Pretty cool view regardless.  

The Emperor's palace was just so so so huge. And crazy to think that they still had  up until 1911.  That's only a hundred years ago.    

This was when I just starred taking pictures of random Chinese people.  Some of them are my favorite pictures from the whole trip.  

I told the kids this was Mushoo.  From Mulan. 

This is a tree that has something to do with love.  Sorry…really bad memory and it's getting late.  That couple sitting next to us have been married for 40 years!  Hopefully it's a sign of things to come for Than and I. :)

My favorite picture from the entire trip.  That kid was so cute! 

And you gotta love how they don't use diapers!  I have no idea how it works, but it does. 

Amazing work.  So many details.  If love is in the details, then the Chinese know how to love. 

From there, we explored.  This guy gave us a ride on his Rick-shaw.  No idea how to spell that!  It was crazy!  I thought I was going to die. 

Really…it was scary!

We are supposed to look this guy up.  Apparently, he was an extra in some Chinese movie.  Very famous! 

And then this is when I really almost died.  But I had to get a picture of that totally dangerous scene in front of me.  Helmets people!  Helmets! 

We go to cross and then Than just starts running!  

And I got stuck in the middle of the road!  The middle of a very busy road!!!!  But I lived to tell the tale. 

This are the scenes we saw while we were exploring.  I really thought this was a pretty cool area.  

Dessert expert???  No, exdert works just fine. 

This guy was hilarious. I first took this photo….

And then got he just busted up.  

And wanted to make sure I got one with her in it too.  So cute.  

I totally fit in there. 

Yep that's just fish sitting out stinking.  I think it was dried at least.  I think. 

Sweet potato to go?!?!  It actually was really good. They should start selling them at Disneyland next to their turkey legs. 

Where are you going, Sir?  That's gotta make your legs burn.

I liked how that kid was like luggage.  

Hey look…..we're both in Taxi's!!!!  

Then it was off to finish shopping and another massage!  

She was the owner or at least the manager and she gave me the best foot massage EVER!  

And looking up, I saw my mom's name.  Love you, mom. 

On our last night, we ventured out into the night market.  It's basically where tourists go to see octopus, snakes, scorpions, and spiders roasted on sticks.  REally disgusting! 

And why do they do it….because people like this guy actually eath them!  So gross! I think he was eating a cricket of some sort.  

It was crazy.  And smelled really bad!  So much so that we found a Diary Queen and ate blizzards. :)  

And just like that, it was time to go home.  Three days goes by so quickly, but Than was right.  It was a great amount of time.  Enough to see some cool things, but just enough time where you are ready to get back to real life.  

Some more smog shots.  

I'm proud to be an American that is for sure.  I love this land of the free, home of the brave.  

And I did read this book on the plane. A very interesting story.  

Just some pretty plane shots.  

But I tell you what…..it was so great coming home to these kiddos.  Maren is just walking so well and is all over the place.  It's amazing how much you love your kids really.  I just love them so much and want to be with them and hear about their days and fight with them over piano. :)  But really, so great to come home when you are coming home to a house filled with so much love.  

There it is.  Beijing in three days.  I am super grateful that I get experiences like that.  Who does stuff like that!?!?!  We are very blessed with Than's job and with our family and I make sure to acknowledge that daily.  Now it's off to Pacen's overnight Columbia (CA) trip this weekend, and Oceanside the weekend after that for Than's triathlon and then Disneyland!  Let the crazy continue!