First day in Beijing

Fun, jet-lagged day that started at 3 a.m. China-time. Jiao Jiao and I spent
much of the day walking around the pedestrian street near our hotel. (Very
cool - wish we had one in downtown Austin.) Since Spring Festival doesn't
end until Sunday, lots of stores have hung lanterns and other decorations,
and many of the lampposts had tigers or New Year's figures. Jiao Jiao wanted
to have her picture taken in front of most of them, and the sight of her
dancing in front of the boy and girl figures drew spectators. We drew lots
of stares all day, actually. We had experienced that reaction when we were
in Lanzhou adopting Jiao Jiao, as so few westerners travel to that area and
the general public isn't familiar with international adoption. But somehow I
thought Beijingers would be more accustomed to seeing families like ours.
Anyway, Jiao Jiao either wasn't upset or didn't notice.

We spent a good bit of the morning playing Legos with two other little girls
in a nearby toy store. It was sweet to watch them interact - though of
course they couldn't understand each other, they shared Legos back and forth
and at one point helped each other clean up and start over again.

Tonight we went to the acrobat show but left before it started. Serious
miscalculation on my part about how a contorted, costumed person appears
[even in photos] to a sleep-deprived toddler.

Tom visited the Olympic stadium and some buildings. Perhaps he'll post about
his day.

We can't see our site, so I'd be obliged if someone could email and let me
know if these posts and photos are appearing.