Back to Beijing

On August 28th we arrived in Beijing and hit the ground running as we started helping our new friends, Mark and Cheryl, get settled here after their move from South Carolina. We met them at the ariport the day after our arrival and have been busy with outings to show them around town, help them buy things for their apartment, get them registered at the police station and language school, and to exchange money at the bank. 

Funny story about the bank: Rodney and I had learned the Chinese vocabulary for exchanging currency last semester, so we felt pretty confident in our abilities. We ran into difficulty, however, as the employees were telling us we could only exchange up to $500 that day. We had exchanged a lot more than that in the past, and were quite confused. They asked if we could call a Chinese friend to help translate for us. Eventually, I realized that the bank employees thought we wanted to withdraw money from our account, and didn't realize that we had American money in hand to exchange for Chinese currency. Once this message was relayed to the employee by our friend, the employee looked at me and said, in English, 

"Ohhhh, you have cash!" 

On our last day in California this summer, we had the perfect day at Zuma Beach.
Clear water, fun waves, warm sunshine and great company!
We are so thankful for the time we were able to spend with family and friends.

Back in Beijing we met up with new friends who are just getting settled here.
On a trip to Wal Mart, Rodney and Mark found these great toilet seat chairs.

We have always wondered how people with bad knees use the "squatty potties" here in China!