Our Trip to China on February 2008

     Ni hao! In February 2008, 46 members of the FDA family traveled halfway across the world to Beijing, China to tour this ancient capital of the East. From the moment we landed and were welcomed by an exceedingly rare BLUE Beijing sky, we knew this would be a blessed trip. We were a group of forty-six, including 18 children and 28 adults, of whom nine were educators. We arrived just in time for the end of the Chinese New Year celebration - hence the blue sky, as Beijing's normally congested highways were now empty as commuters enjoyed their annual vacation. The wintry weather eased up for us as well, with temperatures just reaching into the forties during our stay, a perfect climate for long walks through the city. Our first introduction to Beijing was a tour through the historic Tienanmen Square, followed by exploration of the Forbidden City, home to Beijing's imperial families for five hundred years. In the following days, we climbed the Great Wall of China and visited the Ming Tombs. We strolled the exquisite grounds of both the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven. We celebrated the New Year with the faithful at the Lama Temple, making our way through this labyrinthine complex among the clouds of smoke from burning incense. We visited the famous Pandas at the Beijing Zoo and saw the spectacular Beijing Aquarium. Our travelers turned out to be excellent hagglers, as we visited boutiques specializing in jade, silk, tea, and pearls, as well as the local markets, where anything goes and where our travelers made their best deals! Many of our travelers had to buy additional suitcases for all their souvenirs! Our last night in China coincided with the last night of the Chinese New Year celebration. It seemed an appropriate farewell to the Frederick Douglass Academy travelers, who watched the sky in awe as brilliant flashes of light cut through the darkness and exploded into dazzling displays. Although we could barely hear one another over the popping of firecrackers, or barely see one another through the haze of smoke they left behind, it mattered little - we were all in the mood to celebrate along with the locals! We will miss China and the hospitality of its citizens. We do hope to return again soon!