Happy Birthday, Dani!

Beijing tomorrow


We are leaving on an overnight to Beijing tomorrow morning so I won’t be posting until Saturday.
We both woke up about the same time and fairly soon I opened the drapes to a misty, gray, cold looking outside where I could hear the wind though no loudly. We watched part of the morning show, then some news, and finally I turned on the destination channel where there are shows about China, specifically the Great Wall of China. (BTW: it cannot be seen from space; the Great barrier reef is visible from space.) The commentator says that the Chinese came to believe that the building of a wall to keep out people was the sign of a weak ruler (or something along those lines). That irony was interesting.
Ed went off to the gym, I got ready and went up to the library to upload. I had an internet connection for a few minutes and then nothing would load. So I’ll try later to upload and catch up with emails. It seems that the connection with the satellite is “iffy” because of the position of the ship.
Cultural lecture
Our onboard anthropologist talked about the Chinese culture and wove it into the fabric of the Japanese and Korean cultures. He described some differences and similarities that I hadn’t really paid attention to in the past. I now know the meaning of the fu lions that guard every Chinese restaurant around the world and several other symbols.
Computer class
This was layers and selections. I was debating between this one and an earlier one on adding and removing people and things from photos. I think I might be able to do that based on something which was a part of a previous class. But it all takes practice and I don’t have Photoshop Elements on this computer. Boo Hoo. Every computer was being used for this class.
Lunch
We sat with a couple who are professors, now retired. We shared dissertation horror stories and had a lot of laughs. It seems that a large percentage of the passengers are doing either the one day, one overnight, or the overland tours. Some of the staff have been offered the opportunity to take a tour to the Great Wall for a reduced price but the number of slots is very limited. Others were waiting to see if they would be selected to go along as our “ship’s escort” on some tours. Frankie is doing the one overnight with us. This looks like it will be a large caravan. And I’m taking everything I can to layer so I won’t freeze quite so much there as the weather is predicted to be as low as the high 30s F.
The weather
It is so foggy that we cannot see the ocean from our balcony and we are on deck 7. You can hear the fog horn of the ship with regularity. One person mused if this meant our radar and such wasn’t working. I hope they weren’t seriously thinking this.
The interview with the celebrity didn’t interest either of us, so I finished looking at the photos and Ed is snoozing. He’ll tell you he was just resting his eyes but I can hear his snoozing away.
Grapevine
Since this is free for us, and I keep hoping I’ll find another wine I enjoy, we go. The wines were the same we’ve had before with one exception. I’m not sure why they do this but I learn more about each wine each time. I still don’t like the reds but I love the dessert wine with which they finish it.
Trivia
This was a really tough one. We were only 5: Chuck is packing for his overland. I’m amazed at the number of people who aren’t doing their usual things on the ship because they are packing whether it’s for the overnight of one night, or the overland of 5 nites. What’s the big deal? I can’t imagine what it’s like for them to pack for this trip!
Dinner
We laughed our heads off
Since I have a connection I’ll close this now. WE will be gone for the next two days.