Last weekend we went to one of the most visited sites in Beijing -- the Temple of Heaven.  Built in 1420, the Temple is the place where Chinese Emperors would make sacrifices to Heaven for good harvests.  In fact, the round Temple you will see in the photos (slide show below) is called the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.  It is truly beautiful, but the entire Temple area is probably one of the least impressive sites we have seen in China.  We were far more impressed with the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace, but the Temple of Heaven is a must see -- and now we've seen it.  Now you can too by looking at the photos!

In addition to the Temple of Heaven, we visited the Hongqiao pearl market (just across the street from the Temple, actually).  Like the Silk Street Market, you can find anything you want at this market, although their specialty is pearls.  They have some outstanding freshwater and saltwater pearls -- and jade too.  The pearls are very reasonably priced (well, the freshwater pearls are -- about $50 for a lovely 18 inch strand).  But, the jade is crazy expensive!  Anyway, we bought a few Christmas gifts and went on our way.  Let me know if you have an interest in pearls because I am sure we will be going back!

And for an update on Hannah's experience at school, she is enjoying it very much.  She is still struggling to understand much of what goes on during the day, but the kids have been really helpful to her -- and most of the teachers too.  Monday of this week was national teachers day and there was a big ceremony at school (and then they got out early, which was nice).  The kids in Hannah's class selected her to stand at the head of line and lead them outside and present flowers to their teacher during the ceremony.  She thought that was pretty neat.  And she continues to help out with English class -- assisting the kids with their pronunciation.  So, all is going well!

Pat has settled into his Chinese life quite well.  So far the work situation is working for him.  He works about half his day in the morning and then breaks until the evening and works the other half when he can overlap with the US morning.  Like me, Pat finds a few things about China really annoying -- the traffic, the unpleasant people on the streets, the dirty air -- but overall I think he finds this an interesting place!

As for me, I started teaching at Beida today.  I am team-teaching a course for the joint Beida/London School of Economics masters program.  We have 22 students from many different countries -- China, the US, Thailand, Japan, Germany, Spain, Iceland, and Mexico to name a few.  We had a great class today, which will hopefully continue!

That's it for now!  We hope all is well at home!  Check back in a few days for our latest adventures.  We're not sure what we will do this weekend, but we are thinking about the Lama Temple.  We have heard there is an old Buddha there that is over 60 feet tall!  We'll let you know.