When I woke up the first thing I did was run up to the rooftop to see the view. Words can’t adequately describe the view of the spectacular and brilliant Bell Tower and Drum Tower. These picturesque structures stood massive over the Hutongs standing as a permanent reminder of ancient China. Originally built as muscial instruments the towers later served to announce time. I hope we have time to tour the towers.

I was amazed that we remembered how to get through the alleys and streets back to the lobby. We had taken so many turns to get to our room I thought for sure we would get lost. Once you are in the hutongs, it’s almost like a maze before you find an exit to the street. The path to the lobby was still a long walk but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. In fact, it was beautiful and serene….so peaceful! Here is a picture of our alley! It looked much scarier in the dark. 😂

 

As we passed by the park next to the drum tower people were doing Tai Chi.

Back in the lobby we dined at “Toast,” the hotel restaurant. It featured a rooftop patio area. The perfect place to start off the day. 

After breakfast we walked to the main road and tried to hail a taxi. A taxi stopped, we showed the address printed in Chinese and he waved no and took off. A second driver stopped and said “no, too much traffic.” Kathy offered an extra tip and he said 200RMB. NO WAY!  Finally a third car stopped and we offered 100RMB to take us. SCORE! 

At the Ford Foundation we met with an amazing woman named Elizabeth. She is American, but has lived in China for 20 years. her life story was so interesting.  We had a great meeting and discussion about how grantees could be more inclusive of people with disabilities. Sharing our work is always so energizing and motivates me to want to do more. I seriously love doing this work!!!

One of the BEST things to happen to China……Starbucks!!!! At least for me! There is a Starbucks on every block, or so it seems. After Starbucks we wanted to shop for a few snack items. On our walk we randomly came upon a lovely city park, Ri Tan. There were so many children laughing and playing, mostly with one or both grandparents. We could hear music so we followed it and came upon people dancing in the park.

No China visit would be complete without a visit to Wal-Mart. It was equally as  overwhelming and big as U.S. Wal-Marts. It was such a busy morning with so much walking and that was all before lunch. 

We met with Huke for lunch. I met him last year at a Beijing Union University (BUU) conference. Huke is a professor at BUU. He knows some ASL because of his time in the US studying at Gallaudet University. It was a lot of fun. I love connecting with the Deaf community and learning more about what’s happening. I also got to meet Kaizi who will be assisting with Chinese interpreting on this trip. Such a sweet young man! 

It was such a long day….our feet hurt and we were still exhausted from our trip. But…the evening ended so beautifully.  We were able to meet with Joe Wacker, Principal of Minnetonka High School. He and Kathy go way back and have been on many China delegations together. It always fun to run into a Minnesotan all the way in China.