Beijing Adventures - Day 2

Ni Hao Everyone!
First off, thanks a million for your wonderful comments on the blog site. We feel connected to you all despite the distance.
Lesley and I slept very well last night and both feel like we have put the jet lag behind us. We encountered our first foreign (spanish we think!) family with thier daughter this morning. We were struck by a moment of emotion, realizing that we are 5 days away from holding our Mara. What a mixed bag of excitement, anxiety, and anticipation. We had a "western" style buffet breakfast in the hotel (included in our package) which was just "western" enough with boiled eggs, bacon, rice congee, bran based cereal, fruit, etc. So far no need for the immodium :) We then headed out to an amazing market (shopping mall really). It had 6 full floors of anything you can think of buying - tailored clothing, tea, trinkets, ski jackets, pearls etc. Probably not our last visit there. On our travels we passed one of the buildings that is being completed for the 2008 Olympics - the Workers Stadium . The Olympics are a huge deal here and the spirit is everywhere. The mascots are quite fun.
The construction that is occurring in Beijing is unbelievable! The contrast/clash between the new construction and the old buildings (that are everywhere) is striking. We then ventured to the Beijing subway. The subway was quite fun. The platform seemed quiet, which didn’t last long. The train arrived absolutely packed and I couldn’t believe that we actually crammed our way on. Exiting the train was a “birthing” experience. We arrived at our subway station and exited to a rain shower, so we flagged down a taxi to take us to our final destination. Transportation so far is reliable and very inexpensive. Thanks to our friends Sandy and Hector, and a connection back in Canada, we were treated to a personal tour of the Paleozoological Museum by Hailu and Peter Dodson - 2 world renowned paleontologists who ironically have roots in Canada (Montreal and Ottawa). They graciously gave us a tour and answered some of my basic questions. It was a real treat for us - like playing pickup hockey with Wayne Gretzky coaching us. Through our tour of the museum chinese children would approach us to say hello. Apparently children are learning english, but are reluctant to try and speak it, so we were glad to say hello back...at least 100 times.
CHINA factoid: China is #2 in the world for paleontology, behind the US. China is the world leader in feathered dinosaurs - the specimens on display are amazing!
The rain had passed so we walked back to the subway station, passing the Beijing Zoo which we considered visiting, but for some ethical reasons choose to avoid...good decision as it turns out, even though we missed the Giant Panda’s :( The subway ride back to the hotel was uneventful and less crowed, but it is amazing to see how interested people are in us. They are respectful, but it is not hard to catch people watching us, pretty much everywhere we go. What a fascinating experience to be the obvious minority. Upon arrival back at the hotel we met 2 more of our Group 234 families (Barry and Shelley, and Chris, Caroline, and Stephanie) who arrived in China today. We enjoyed a dinner together (with less fire breath than last night) and said goodnight to our jet lagged friends. Tomorrow we are taking a highly recommended tour of a “traditional” chinese village.
China is wonderful!
Goodnight and thanks again for your thoughts!