Happy Birthday, John

Hi John and all,
Hope you have a good birthday and 4th of July. Well, we finally have a free afternoon and everyone has gone their own ways, some shopping, some to massages, some to who knows where. So, I was able to finagle a computer from the group. I hope to add some photos to this post.

Last night we went out to a Peking Duck restaurant (Yuck! and it was), all I could eat was some shoestring fried potatoes and sweet potato fries. They brought out a cooked chicken still with the head on : (, gross. I am getting pretty good with chopsticks, though I cannot figure out how to eat a soft-fried egg with them. But we did have an excellent speaker, Wu Ching. She is a 70 year old activist for women's right and minority rights here in Beijing. She spent her early years in the US, but she did live through the Cultural Revolution and remembers the horrors of that time. Her mother is a famous Chinese author. She was fascinating. I'll post a photo of the group sitting spell-bound listening to her insights on the country.

This morning we spent the morning at Peking University. We had an intro to Chinese martial arts with a charismatic young man who has spent many years studying the art and has also traveled to Canada, so he spoke English very well. This afternoon we went to the American Embassy and were able to ask questions about the relations between China and the US.

Thanks, Matt, for writing!! I'm glad to hear that the animals are all well. Kristi or Dad, can you make sure they have plenty of fresh water and that the cats have food on the deck and in the shed, please? Katie should be there on Monday, but I know it's going to be very hot there this week. It's so muggy here! The temp is up in the 90's and today it's spitting rain, which I really prefer to the blazing hot sun.

So, I'm going to try to post some photos. let me know what you think or if you have any questions.. Steph