Friday, August 12, 2005

A Day in Beijing

Hi everyone, Noemi here. Today we started out the day with a downpour of rain. We went to a nearby restaurant to have dim sum (Chinese breakfast). I must say that the cusine in Beijing is excellent. We had just sat at our table when all of a sudden this waiter started to yell at the top of his lungs across the room!!! I literally jumped out of my seat. That's the way they order the food from the kitchen. I was in shock!!!!!! Everyone in the restaurant would go to a common table and metal cart to pick food over each others shoulders in combination with the waiters yelling as loud as their lung capacity would allow (one of the male waiters was only 3 feet tall but yelled the loudest) It was quite an experience. Another peculiar sighting was toddlers and young children walking around by their mothers hand completely naked. Some wore clothes that covered their front torsos but with only a string around their butt cheeks. In America they would have gone to jail for child pornography . LOL. I don't know what older folks do for a living in this country. 

Today we were supposed to go to the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace but the rain made it impossible. If you know me this was the perfect excuse for a day of shopping. We headed out to the famous Pearl market. To start all I can say is OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!! can you believe that my husband, yes WAYNE, OUT SHOPPED ME!!!!!!!!!!!Now that will go down in the history books. That man was in rare form. He impressively bargained his way into tremendous deals and for the first time in our 10 years of marriage this man actually wants to go back tomorrow for more!!!!!!!!!!!! At the end of the day he had more shopping bags than my mother in law and myself combined. I thought New York was the heaven of shopping. Well for all you shoppers, I was wrong. There is nothing like China. I believe that Mia and I will be visiting very often, for heritage teaching of course!!! And on our free time we can always do a little shopping (Wayne will never know) ha, ha, ha. Mami and Ani I thought o lot about you guys. I wish you both could have shared this experience with me. I see a trip for us in the near future. Papi, I saw a motorcycle with a sidecar that reminded me of Ani's and I wonderful childhood. It got me a little sentimental so I just want to thank the both of you for the wonderful life that the two of you have given us. Ani you are the best sister. 

We finished our day with a 10 dollar body massage. OHHHH YEAHHHHH!!!!!!!