Sunday morning, 3/4/07

Ok, it's 4:15am in the morning again and I'm the only one up. I've slept about 12 hours now. Roy brought to the hotel last night, KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and I forced myself to eat. Literally. I ate chicken, but other than that, don't ask me what else I ate, because I was just plain out of it.


Last night we visited the DuFu cottage. DuFu was a very famous poet here in Sichuan. Everyone in China knows about him. He is more famous in death than in life. The cottage reminded me of how some of the older homes in Norway are built. With hay/straw in the walls and thatch on the roof.
I thought that was interesting. The memorial they have built to this man is remarkable. Flowers and trees and bamboo everywhere. It was just lovely!
***One extra note from Kristen and Rebecca? WE DID IT! We actually used a Chinese potty!! All I have to say is OH MY!
That was quite an experience but I will say this, Rebecca, when she saw the bathroom, was scared of it, I told her not to be, and I held her over the potty and she knew exactly what to do with her legs and how to "go". VERY interesting beings we got her at 15 months old and she remembered this?!?!?! INTERESTING!! (Hey, when you have to go, YOU HAVE TO GO!***


After spending an hour and half there then Mr. Wong and Marina took us to the "People's Park" in Sichuan. OH WOW! Some park!! AWESOME PARK!!!!
Flowers everywhere and in pattern formation for the Beijing Olympics and music, all different types that the locals just get up and do......DANCING........oh boy do we have pictures of dancing. Rebecca saw people dancing and just starting begging to dance!! So we did for a while.
It was fun. Thing was, the music was coming from a CAR BATTERY and some tape looking machine. Imagine that. People of all ages, young and old, just dancing for exercise. Over to our left and our right people, mainly women, were doing something similiar to Tai Chi except it was a faster movement, all doing it together. It looked like Jazzercise to me, but it was just captivating to watch! Not one woman was outta sync! Not one!!

The park also had things for the children to do. We drew attention no matter where we went!
Young and older mothers/grandmothers took to us. Some just stared at us and left us, others just wanted to try and talk to us. Or their babies were wrapped up in about 4 layers of clothes but yet their little bottoms were just a stickin' out because of the split pants! I find that so funny!! That park I could have stayed in all day and all night and still found things to see and do. Vendors were everywhere wanting to sell you things. (Balloons, chinese art, statues, jade, toys, ice cream, food (oh no!), bottled water, etc.) I loved it there. I truly did. People flying kites as big as me! Taller than Roy! Rebecca was fascinated with those. And as much as we loved it there, we had to leave.

Thank you God for Mr. Wong! Thank you for his driving and safety and protection on us. Driving in China, in rush hour......well, I consider myself an assertive driver, but here? NO WAY! Absolutely not! People driving on the wrong side of the road because the stopped cars in front of them won't move! Even though there is a light!! Drivers weaving in and out to get ahead of others, busses doing whatever because no one lets them in or cares about them. WOW.....seatbelts are a MUST! Trust me! We feel blessed and relieved to get to the hotel again.

OH YEAH.........we asked what was the reason for us not getting Matthew on Friday? Well, it has everything to do with the Lunar year. (New Year) Timing has to be everything here. They take their New Year, very serious here. That's why. Something to do with someone (a dignitary) coming and well, you know the rest. It's ok though. We'll get him tomorrow, 2pm, China time!!!!! 1am your time!!! WA HOO!!!!!!!!!!!