Highlights of Copeland Family China - April 8 through April 19

After spending 11 glorious days in China with George in a group of 24 family members which included my sister Joyce and her husband Doug; my brother Jerry and his wife Shelly and three children: Jace, Austin, and Alison; our son Kevin and daughter-in-law Angie, and four grandchildren: Taylor, Connor, Kade, and Lauren; our daugther Alison and son-in-law John, and three grandchildren who travelled with us: Bracken, Parker, and Tyson;our son Kent and daughter-in-law Natalie; and two friends, Mary and her daughter Kate (they became like-family very quickly), I hardly know where to begin. Rather than do a day-to-day calendar for which both Alison and Natalie have done such fantastic jobs , (click on Alison and Natalie's pictures at the side to bring up their blogs), I have decided to list what I considered my favorite memories:

Funniest

Definitely, the funniest thing that happened was when we came down from the Great Wall and saw many family members climbing on a camel. George decided he wanted to try it, too. I knew there might be trouble when I saw how huge the humps were, but it was just way too much fun to warn George beforehand. Anyway, he got on okay... but getting off was another story. Soon Kent and the girl behind the camel were trying to help him as well. None of the rest of us could help as we were much too busy taking pictures! Kent was completely puzzled as to what to do. Soon with all the laughter from family members, all the spectators completely forgot about climbing the Great Wall to see what all the comotion was about.

Kevin stepped in to try to help, but then decided it was much more fun to videotape the whole event. He might win the $10,000 funniest video contest!

The Chinese were in awe and thought we Americans were about the craziest people they had ever seen. Soon a security guard came on the scene thinking there was big-time trouble. I guess I should have been worried, but George seems to always manuver out of difficult situations, and finally. . . he emerged the victor--a little stretched out here and there, but much wiser about riding a camel in the future!

Most Astonishing

None of us could believe how much of a celebrity status we Americans would have in China. Our guide told us many Chinese have seen Americans on television, but never actually seen one in person. Consequently, daily requests were being made to have pictures taken with the Chinese. Especially popular were the children with us--the Chinese loved having their picture taken with them.

But, adults had their fans, too!

My brother, Jerry's, little girl Alison was extremely popular because of her blonde hair and light colored skin. She always gave them a big smile, but sometimes her big brother Jace would just have to pick her up and take her away or we would never get going!

Cutest Moment

When we visited the Pearl Tower in Shanghai,they have a museum of wax figures telling the history of China. As you walk along through time, it is hard not to believe those figures are real people--so real that when the little girls saw a Chinese girl with her hand out, they wanted to give her some real money and see if she would take it. They waited and waited--when she didn't take the money, they finally decided she wasn't real. No real person would pass up real money! The boys were just as fooled--Austin looked real close to see if this Chinese guy was real!

Funnest Time

Out of so many adventures, I think one of the funnest was when we went to the Temple of Heaven. It was thrilling to see how so many retired people spent their days. I was so impressed at their desire to keep their bodies physically fit as well as their minds alert. It was a lesson to all of us!

These wonderfully sweet people had no problem letting us join in any of their activities or using any of their equipment. They seemed to love having us there.









People were sharing their musical talents by singing---
or playing musical instruments.


This over-80 year old man had invented this neck ring game. Everyone loved it! He was so excited that we all liked it so much--


afterwards, he had everyone sign his book that we had played his game.

Most Tiring

We were on the run every single day, but by far the hardest thing we did was walk the over 900 stairs straight up to the Great Wall. I had heard that even the athletes during the Olympics had a struggle with it, but until I did it myself, I never had any idea. We hiked up one of the parts which had the most steps--Mutianyu, but it was well worth it at the top. It was the getting there that was so difficult!

Fortunately, there was a gondola that some of us took down. George and I can always say we hiked up the great China Wall--we just didn't hike down! That was okay by us! We wanted to see the beautiful scenery on the ride down! (Hah!)
More memories to follow!