My Thoughts on Beijing- by Grace

Beijing was a wonderful experience that I know I will never forget. Its one of those "once in a lifetime" opportunities. Hong Kong is, too,  but I have 3 years to enjoy it :) When we were on the airplane to Beijing, I tried to remember the times when my dad would tell me about his trips there. I asked him if it was similar to Hong Kong, and he said it was fairly different. I tried to imagine: something not too similar to Hong Kong, but definitely not the same as U.S. I guess I would have to wait and see :)

On the mini bus to the hotel, I tried to look out the window without falling asleep. It was almost midnight and my eyelids were heavy and closing. Lights and buildings were surrounding me, and I knew that this was the city part. Also, it was definitely fall temperature! The last time I got to experience fall in the U.S was in 2011. That blew my head: Has it really been that long? I went back to sleep. In the morning, I got up early, but not that early compared to my school day (6:00am). We were going to the Forbidden City :) I got ready, and we headed for breakfast. Like my mom said in her post, It was such a privilege to have western food. After breakfast, all 13 of the Savvy's and Puff's, plus our tour guide and driver, climbed into the 13 seat passenger van. I have to say, that is one of the most squishiest cars I have been in. But at least I was next to my best friend in HK, Karhie Savonoff. When she stands next to me in the pictures (if there are any) you would think she is 2 years OLDER. But no, she is 2 months YOUNGER. She is a hilarious person, and is going through the same thing as me, having at least 3 younger siblings, so we know how each other feel. Hard to get that good of a friend with 3 younger siblings just like me in HK! We finally got to the Forbidden City (after traffic :P ), and walked out. People around us just kinda looked at us, shocked. But people in HK do that, too, so it should be the same right? I found that out easy. Instantly when we tried to get our first shot of the 13 of us, about 5-6 more people came up to take a picture of us. Then after, they would come up, and smile at us, thinking we cant speak Chinese. Well, in China, they speak Mandarin which is what I'm learning, so I can give off a good basic summary of me and my family which is all they need to know. So, they are usually looking at Sarah, since she is a pretty cute western baby with bright blue eyes. I first tell them she's one, then they ask me if I can speak Chinese. I tell them yes, and then we start to chat in Chinese. Personally, I think its fun :) Its funny what the people ask you though. I think I got asked 3 times if I was French. I then have to tell them that I'm American, and we are just visiting Beijing, but live in Hong Kong. Sometimes, I need Karhie to help me with the words. She is SUPER good at Chinese, even if she has been only studying for 5 years. Its fun to be able to do go to Beijing, speak Chinese with them, and get your picture taken all at once. I told Karhie: "I could live with this." She agreed.

I would share SO much more, but the other 3 older puff kids need to write, so I wanna give them room to write ;) I was glad when my mom told me I could write a little bit of what my experience was, especially since this was one of the major 5 places I will be going before Christmas (HK, Beijing, Malaysia, Phillipines, and Thailand.). Besides, that's the last family trip before I go by myself to Malaysia in 3 weeks! Beijing was such an experience that I will be remembering for as long as I can. I never thought at my young age I would be doing this at all. God really does work in mysterious ways, doesn't he:)