Ne Hao Ma

The Great Wall is just that. Great. Absolutely goregous. However, we all nearly died on the Great Wall because it poured on us for about half of our trek, but trust me, it was a blessing. You see, the rain got rid of the annoying "friends" we had that tried to sell us tons of stuff! The people will follow you for a 5 hour hike just to sell a tshirt! The person who pegged Deeps and me was an old lady (90 years old, 80 pounds) who wanted to pull me up a steep part. Nice, but no thanks! I can just see the headlines "US citizen kills innocent old lady on Great Wall." Aside from tshirts, you can also buy beer. They have to cater to the Aussie and British population somehow!
On a more serious note, we are loving China. The GW was absolutely breath taking and amazing. We hiked through 30 towers - some from the Ming dymasty and some from another dynasty. Some parts are finished, and some are not - I would have never been able to run the unfinished parts like the soldiers had to!
I think it's the only man made structure you can see from the moon and I believe it because we didn't get too far in 5 hours of diifficult hiking. It's simply massive.
Beijing is interesting...there are a lot of large skyscrapers with the traditional Chinese roofs, the people are surprisingly nice, and the language barrier is enormous. Traffic rivals the Bay Area. We went to the Temple of Heaven and were amazed at how well perserved some of the extremely old buildings are, and very bright - much red, yellow, green, blue and gold. We've also had the traditional Peking Duck dinner, not a fan, and have gone grocery shopping to find that the boxes of Cheerios here have each serving in individual bags. Love it!
The subway here is clean, people not pushy, and everything is written in English as well. They are prepping heavily for the Olympics which come here in 2008 - TONS of building, renovation, etc. Beijing is also very clean...people sweep the streets, subway, etc. constantly. Pollution is awful, awful, awful (LA times 10) BUT today we have a blue sky day (VERY VERY unusual). We'll enjoy our tour of the Forbidden City with the sun on our backs :)
Watched an acrobatics show yesterday eve. The kids were doing the most amazing things - three tiered human pyramids with 3 back tucks off of the top, running up poles and doing flips off, etc. Quite amazing!
All is well...probably won't hear from me for a few days as we are taking a train tomorrow to some village or something. Take care!!!!

Baby steps

There are a number of things I have to do now that I am back in the Midwest:
- use at least 10 products in my hair to attempt undermining humidity's GRAND effects
- wear bug spray at night or itch for hours
- wear as little clothing as possible since it's, oh, 92 and up
- pretend I remember people from HS when they spot me and insist on talking
- watch lightning bugs flutter and spark
- drive an SUV (anything beats the slow Saturn)
- drive at least 80mph on the express way
- cry and complain about Detroit's recent losses: Redwings - Steve Yzerman and
Shanihan and Pistons: Ben Wallace

I find myself baby hunting as there are 3 newbies around here that I must visit: cousin, quasi-niece, and friend's baby. Makenna, my quasi-niece (I am referred to as Aunt Catie!), is so cute and we are best friends. Pictures will be up asap.
Other than baby hunting, I have been making jewelry and reading a lot. Exciting things happening here in the great mitten state :)

Grand Mesa Fe

Santa Fe is surprisingly cute and extremely artsy. Last night we went out for a Tex-Mexy meal and I had really tasty Mole Chicken and green rice. What's the deal with that? Do they grow green rice, put food coloring in it, cook it with spinach?
Mesa Verde was also wonderful - it's very well preserved ruins from a group of Puebloan People. Apparently Anasazi is not PC anymore and I almost fell over when this very astute 10 year old asked the tour guide:
"Why did the Indians, I mean Native Americans, I mean Anasazis, oh, I mean Puebloan Poeple, trade sand stone for other rocks? Who would have wanted their rock since it's so soft?"
Haha. I like to be PC and all, but it is getting harder and harder in my old age to keep up with all of this. I hope today at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market I don't misspeak and end up smacked across the head :)
The Grand Canyon is very appropriately named...hiked for a while until the thunderstorm came and kicked everyone and their moms (me included) onto one of the very few Grand Canyon busses (can't drive in most parts there). If you think public restrooms smell, try a bus full of drenched hikers. Most from Europe. It's true: many Europeans do wear deodorant, but many don't. However, that didn't ruin the spectacular views and wonder the Canyon holds. Pictures can't capture it, but I am trying here....
(Wild Animal Park - San Diego - Amazing place!)

And it goes like this:

Shake your groove thing, shake your keys, clap three times, kick you left leg out, kick your right leg out, be ready to run at any time, scream when compelled...

I call this the "The walkway to my house sometimes has rattlesnakes. Make some noise" dance.

Times Johanna and I have done it: 6.