Hey everyone - we are still having a fabulous time here! I am going to hit some culture highlights tonight! Last night, the most important thing that we wanted to post was about Florence and Timothy. However, now is probably an appropriate time to tell you about the excursion that we had yesterday to the 2 story Walmart. What an experience! In many ways, it is similar to the Walmart back home. However, there were definitely some differences. Like the roasted duck - head, beak, and all. And the seafood section...most of the seafood is live (turtles, crabs, fish, etc). There was however a row of dead seafood on ice towards the back of this section. Instead of seeing catfish or salmon, we saw eel, stingray and squid. We had a great time exploring this section.
Later, near the checkout, we were invited over to the tea section where we pretty much had a full meal. Seriously, think about the free samples at Sams or Costco....and then multiply that by about 10! The ladies were giving us different teas to try, and all kinds of green tea snacks. They were great salespeople...and the snacks were yummy...so 2 of us really stocked up on them!
Last night, we went to a wonderful restaurant called The Garden. It is an incredibly beautiful restaurant, but we were a bit worried at first. They have pictures of all the available dishes, and we saw that they had frog, duck tongue, and grasshoppers (I think they were fried, but I couldn't tell for sure). However, we ordered a wide variety of "safe" dishes and they were delicious!
This morning, we were up bright and early since this was our Great Wall excursion. It was about 3 hours away, but well worth the drive. You take a ski lift up part of the way and walk the rest of the way up. At one point it branches off in 2 directions with the right side being the steeper side and the left side being the "easier" side. Don't let the word "easy" fool you - it was quite a workout whichever way you went. Most of us went on the easier side, but Alex, Caryn, and Jen were courageous enough to tackle the steep climb. Both sides were breathtaking! When we were ready to leave, we got on a toboggan and that was our way down. Some of us were a bit nervous about the toboggan part at first, but it was really fun!
After a delicious late lunch/early dinner, we returned to Shepherds Field. Some of us rested while the others went to Samaritan House to play with the kids there. We took some musical instruments and they had a blast! The sound of maracas, egg shakers, and tons of laughter filled the halls. Then we were off for our next cultural experience - a Chinese massage! We all were lined up in the same room, and since we were not sure what to expect, we took comfort in the presence of our teammates (and especially our translator)! First they soaked and washed our feet in VERY hot water with herbs. We thought our translator told us an herbal knee treatment was the next part. However, after further reflection, she might have said thermal instead of herbal. They put something on your knees and then wrap them up in a heating apparatus. It was nicely warm for a while, but it heated up very quickly!! A head and neck massage followed and after a foot massage, it was time for....the Chinese fireball. This was the most unique part of the experience. They take a glass globe, light a fire in it, and then use it to do this suction thing on your foot until it actually sticks to your heel. I believe our translator said it was supposed to absorb any pain in our body - but I could have misunderstood her. I was a bit distracted by the flames that were so close everyone's feet!
After our massage, we returned to the inn where we are ready for a good night's sleep!! Please keep praying for Jarek, the ayis and children in Zachary house, and all these precious children!
-Jess
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