Better Late than Never, I Suppose! :)

Hello friends and family,

Ok, so I am a seriously bad blogger!!!! Sorry it's taken so long for me to update. Life has been a whirlwind of traveling and work. Third quarter just ended, so I had a few weeks of frantic grading, midterms, and report cards. If you're a teacher and you understand, then you know how much work that entails! :) Now we are a few weeks into fourth quarter, and I am, at the moment, all caught up! That won't last!!! :)

Well, we just had a small break from school--our May holiday. It was nice to have a time to rest and relax. My friend Jen Chan and I headed to Beijing on Saturday morning, and we really hit the ground running! Tian'an Men Square, The Forbidden City, The Great Wall--all checked off the list! There were a GABILLION people in BJ, though, so getting anywhere was a major headache!!!!! We survived, though, and have the blisters (me) and sprained ankle (Jen) to prove it!

We also saw all the Olympic stuff--Bird's Nest (cool) and the Ice Cube (even cooler:) and a traditional tea ceremony with random a hand puppet show and a part of the Beijing Face Mask Opera--they switch masks at the blink of an eye--sooooo amazing! The tea was pretty good, too.

Anyway, the coolest part, besides the antiques market we happened to go to right when it was CLOSING! was the WALL. I have always always always wanted to see the Great Wall of China. It's been a dream of mine for a very long time. Jen and I headed out to Simatai, which is for the adventurous thrill seekers because it is a CLIMB! Most people head to Badaling, which is an hour from BJ, but we headed two hours out of the city. The scenery was beautiful! Mountains, mountains, mountains! It was a smidgen daunting to see the watchtowers of the wall when we finally arrived---sooooo high up! We took the cable car AND a tram AND had to hike up just to get up to the wall. Little old Chinese men and women, families with (little) kids, etc. all were trekking up the steep stairs . . . but it was amazing!!!!!!!!! We admired the view and hiked all up and down the wall. It was a workout for sure!!!!!!

So many experiences . . . several strangers asked to take my picture . . . I couldn't people watch because so many people were watching me! One of the "perks" of being so freaking pale I guess! :) Overall, it was a memorable trip . . . I want to visit all of the sites of the Great Wall now! Who's with me???

Some pictures to enjoy . . . I don't know if I'll ever get to blogging about Israel . . . someday. :)

Love to you all!!!