Friday, September 3rd

Evidently there are many Chinese people who have never seen a very white, red headed American. They are constantly asking us if they can have their picture made with us. I keep wondering who they think I am but Troy said I am just really white!

Today we got to see Chairman Mao's body (yes, his real body) in what Troy called "the longest funeral ever." They sell flowers outside on Tianamen Square and then after people put them inside they retrieve them and sell them again. They file people through and his body is encased in glass with a red light illuminating his face. We toured the massive Forbidden City and its exquisite architecture. I now know just what i want my dream house to look like with all of the gold and vibrant colors they used. We saw the last emperors nephew who is a famous artist for his Chinese writing of characters. He created a very special piece for Noa which says, "Faith, Hope and Love". It has her name (An Yi Shan) as well. He picked out the special color for our "wawa" or "baby". Our guide then took us to a family's house in Hutong to eat lunch. They cooked fresh food from the market just how they eat every day. Amazing experience. We took a rickshaw tour of the little old city and got to visit a local and famous artist at his house. All of the people received us very kindly. He was amazing! He learned the traditional Chinese art as a child and then learned western watercolor and has combined them to make his own beautiful form of art on rice paper.

I was overwhelmed again today by the emotional pull I have toward this place. Even the guide said she thought I was really Chinese because of how drawn I am to all of the art forms of the Chinese. The Museum with the Qing Dynasty (like Ching/the last dynasty in china) art was very moving for both of us. This is just a very special place. God is pretty cool how He plans so far ahead but for Him 38 years is just like a day!
 
Till next time,
Brooks