Pictures from the Month of August

Back in Beijing a visit to the square is a must. Here is the outside of the Forbidden City. We didn't have time to go in but maybe at the end of the year as I head out. Beautiful.


The city is getting ready for the olympics and every student asks if I will go to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics.


This was a group of us "new teachers" out in the city having a cultural experience with two student guides.


Me and my Beijing roommate Brad. When in Rome...





The Temple of Heaven in China where the monks would go to have ceremonies and burnt offerings.




I can feel my mom's excitement mounting. I wasn't so enthralled and didn't stay long.


THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

Riding the lift up the mountain to the wall with my teammate Nancy.


Nancy and Becca strike a pose


Me and my sack lunch on the steep stairs


This made me respect the soldiers that had to guard these posts and walk on the wall.




We are still walking on top of the Great Wall here but it is so overgrown that it is like a forest between two short, elevated walls.


This is one of the outposts that had become overgrown out past the tourist section.




We slid down the mountain in these carts. Had the traffic been less they could have really flown down the mountain side.