Day 3 and Day 4

Sorry for not being able to blog yesterday, it was a full day to say the least!!! So, I found out what the forbidden city is.... and as much as I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to tell you all about it, I can't, it's impossible. It is a very neat place, and if you ever get the chance you should look it up. Basically it's the place where they Emperors lived in China. It is called the Forbidden City because during the time of Emperors, laypersons were not allowed within the city gates. It took us 5 hours to walk through it, and what we did was not an extremely extensive walk! We got to see what it would be like to be famous in the the city, people were stopping us often to take pictures of us. I'm not quite sure why, there seems to be some differed opinions as to why, but I will tell you this, I DO NOT admire that part of being famous, and NO you can not have my autograph! For a while it seemed like we could only walk about 5 feet before someone was tugging on one of our arms saying "picture? picture?" From the Forbidden City, we went to Summer Garden, which is the emperor's summer house, yeah I know, must have been rough! From there we went to the pearl factory where we got to see how pearls were formed. The unique think about the pearls is that all the pearls from the pearl factory, they get from the Summer Garden. From there we went to the silk factory where we got to see how silk was made. They took us through all the steps of making, it, complete with offering us the highly nutritious silk worm. Don't worry, I was tempted to try it, but when it came down to it, that is one Chinese delicacy that I had to pass on! From there we went to a place called hometown hopefuls, this is a fun little place where people affiliated with the Olympics can go as a kind of escape. Now, I didn't think I could top the $37 dinner our first night here, but oh parnelly I can! So, here is a list of all the free things Hometown Hopefuls had for us, food, drinks and desserts, massages, and the use of a laptop for as long as you want or need! Yeah I know, I am totally spoiled! Now at some point I am going to have to really take the time to sit down and blog the details of these trips, they were by far the most amazing tours I have ever been on. I never realized how rich China's history is. So needless to say the exhaustion was why I wasn't able to blog yesterday!
Today we spent the day shopping. Now many of you may not realize, that I'm kinda a big deal when it comes to shopping, and I've been known to do some damage when absolutely necessary. Well friends, I think it's safe to say I have met my match. Today we went to the silk market. Imagine you're local convention center, for Iowa, it'd be the wells fargo arena. Now imagine that it was completely filled with vendors. Now add in 8 floors, and the best barterers in the world, and that's silk market. 8 floors of vendors in rows, I almost had a panic attack when I walked in, too many people! BUT, you'll be happy to know, that I am now, officially, a professional barterer! Tonight we went back to the Olympics to watch more track and field, it was so exciting! I didn't realize that a lot of world records were not made at the Olympics, fun little fact. We saw many records broken we saw Jamaica take all 3 medals in the 100m, now that was a sight to see. It is just all very cool, once you metal, whomever won the gold metal, they have us rise to the winners' national anthem. So now I am back to the hotel, and I am ready to crash!
p.s If you have enjoyed the pictures I have posted on my website, those and more are available to view and even purchase from http://www.jstoiaportraitdesign.com The author of that website is a wonderful woman named Jamie, she has come with us to not only support Shani, but it just so happens that she is also the best photographer in the world, and yeah I checked, pretty sure that one is a fact! Check out her website, she also has a blog of what has been happening in China, and well since I'm on a kick so does the famous athlete herself, Shani's blog is http://sites.google.com/site/shaniusa08/Home. Kamilah (the baby, who's not really a baby cuz she's off to college this fall!) her website is http://www.kamarks.blogspot.com
With Love,
Tsehaye