Take me out to the ballgame...

John and I are trying to see as many Olympic venues as possible before the big event. One warm Saturday afternoon, we headed to a baseball game...no tickets, but we knew we could get some there.

We were wrong!

As we walked away, a tiny man came up to us and muttered, "tickets" under his breath...and began to walk away. Part of the adventure that is China is following your instincts...so we scurried along behind him. When we were far from the stadium (the police were watching for scalpers...), he showed us the tickets and the price! Tai Gui Le! Too expensive! We got him to sell them for about 1/3 of what he was initially asking.

Baseball in China is fun -- everyone cheers for both teams. But it was the saddest rendition of the seventh inning stretch, Take me out to the ballgame, we've ever heard. However, John and I sang lustily and swayed to show them how it's done!

Andi arrives!

Andi is here! And so far it's been a magical week. She's so far away in Peoria...but we are so proud of her hard work as she finishes her nursing degree. But this is a week for fun! Her friend Kelly came, too.

So what does a week in Beijing look like? We started with dinner at a local seafood place...with a show. Andi and I both got to be in it!

Then the girls went with me to Chinese language lessons -- by the end, they could say, "Ni Hau" like a native. Lily joined us for lunch an our first shopping foray into the Silk Market.

We learned to cook spicy Chinese food at a cooking class at the Hutong! And both girls...as well as Lily...loved getting food massages.

The week went too quickly... I returned to the US with Andi and met John here.

Miss Ning reads...

The children of China are lovely -- bright and fun. My friend Erin works as the English teacher in a Chinese/International pre-school. The children are pre-kindergarten ... 4 or 5 years old. The class has about 18 kids. Erin works with a team of 4 Chinese teachers.

She invited Miss Ning to read to the kids!

I spent an entire day in my Chinese language class getting ready. I learned to say, "Hello my little friends!" and as I read, I would point to something and say -- "what is this?" "Say it in Chinese -- say it in English".

The kids were wonderful -- and I was so proud of Erin. She's an inspiring and loving teacher. One of the hardest jobs in the world!

I'm going to help other educational groups by reading English materials and on a web site that translates traditional Chinese stories.

What a fun way to learn more about this country!