New Blogger

Well, the real blogger has abandoned us to returned to the States to eat steak and eggs and try to recover from seventeen days of choices between MSG terror or peanut butter. I will try to keep the blog going, but I'm sure the literary quality is going to take a dive.

Team 1 left for the U.S. last night and it was tough to see them go since both my wife and daughter went with them. But life in Beijing doesn't leave much time for mopping. We took the kids to the largest shopping mall in China today. It would pretty much rival most of our large malls in the U.S. The prices would as well. Lisa probably told you about the Pearl and Silk Markets where you can barter and bargin. But this is an upscale mall where you just bring your money. Within that mall is a huge play area with a sand beach, and that is where the little kids went. In China, they wear shirts with English writing and it doesn't always interpret correctly. When we were at this mall in 2007, we have a picture of a little boy about three, playing in the sand, with a shirt that said, "Life on the Bitch". Close, but not close enough. There is also a ice skating rink in this mall, and that's where we took the older kids. Besides watching a couple of old guys fall on their butts, it's always fun to see the kids who have never been on skates start on their backs and butts and end the session looking like future Olympic candidates. That was certainly true of our little girl from India.

Seeing this mall reiterates what a modern and cosmopolitan city Beijing has become. Yet, just down the street sits a Buddhist temple used by the Emperors a thousand years ago. Truly, a unique place. Our history goes back a little over two hundred years; theirs goes back four thousand.

After we skated, we did the all-American lunch at the Golden Arches. I know I've been eating too many noodles when McDonald's starts tasting good. And then, believe it or not, we went upstairs to the DQ for a Blizzard. Now, that did taste good.... not Bluebell (for the Texans); but pretty good.

We are headed back to tha Great Wall tomorrow. More later.

zai jian,
Kent