Sun, June 22, 2008

I’ve got the tour journal today. Dress code was gray pants, white shirts, yellow and blue stripped tie, and BYU blazers for the boys, and white dresses for the girls. Although the meeting time was 7:45am, we loaded on the bus ten minutes later after Lee had to fetch people, including Shane, from breakfast. We discovered that Brock and Tia had overslept their alarm and we left without them, causing them to pay 22 yuan for a taxi. On the bus, Richard Baldwin chose the song, “Abide with Me,” Charisse had the thought about following the rules: Jacob 6:12, and Angela gave the prayer.

We arrived fifteen minutes early to the meeting place for the Beijing 3rd Branch, located on the fourth floor of the Golden Tower. Before exiting the bus, we gave our bus driver a BYU t-shirt to thank him for all he does for us. Church began at 8:30am and there were about 30 members in attendance at that branch, but they had just split and many were on vacation or just moved. We attended all three hours of church with that branch.

When we returned to the bus, Micah informed us that during the Olympics, our church is the only religion allowed to meet and hold church services (according to the 2nd counselor of the branch) because we have followed the rules while other religions still try to preach underground.

We ate lunch at the same location as the day before. At one point, Shanae heard a little asian boy complain to his mother in English, ‘Mommy, I don’t want to eat a turtle!” And finally the mother turned to her son and stated, “You’re not going to eat turtle! It’s just there for decoration!”

As we headed to the Forbidden City, the men were able to take off their blazers as the women could change out of their nylons and heels. It wasn’t until after our picture at the cypress that men could remove their ties and women their belts. It was a hot day outside! Everyone was dripping with sweat …

So, our first stop was at the garden to discover the cypress tree where President David O. McKay offered a dedicatory prayer on January 9, 1921. We had a long walk from the bus to the entrance, but we found our way and took our group picture. What a sight for the people to see fifty foreigners finding fascination with a tree. Although it may have one appeared as a secluded spot, it now is a busy area for parents searching for arranged marriages. We spent maybe ten minutes in the garden before heading over to enter the Forbidden City. We were given three and a half hours (until 5pm) to wander around the grounds. Many were already worn out so just walked through the central area and had about an hour and a half to sit and wait around. Others took their time and visited many of the different halls. There was a few museums, but many did not realize that although it cost money to enter, the price was only 1.5 yuan … of course there were a lot of people who did not bring money since it is the Sabbath.

Because of the long wait where most of the team sat around wishing we could leave, the blame began to wander. No one really knew who set the time to be 5pm, and no one was going to accept the responsibility. It may or may not have been true *wink* that Lee thought we should make a doll that looks like Shane, hang it by a noose and burn it! Later, such a statement was denied …

We returned to the hotel at 6pm, and had thirty minutes until dinner. It was a nice turntable dinner at the hotel, but it was finally nice to return to the rooms and be able to rest from the long day.