Today we went to the Forbidden City. For only $300 RMB we could hire a “tour guide” to take us through the city. Sounded like a good idea at the time….

Our tour guide was pretty good at english, much better than most people. She was very excited that we had 3 kids, she couldn’t believe we had that many 🙂 There were so many things that she said they needed to learn about the Forbidden City!

We started off pretty good. There was an ancient pot with gold dragons that were good luck. When you rubbed them you could make a wish. Back when the English and Japanese came in, they tried to scrape all the gold off and you can see all the scrapings.

If you are supposed to rub the dragon for good luck, why put a gate around it?? So we helped Paige over the fence 🙂

Have you seen Mulan? Oh yes baby! I told the tour guide I wouldn’t need her, you see, I have seen Mulan almost 200 times and I am pretty sure I could lead this tour myself. Because this is the place that when Mulan came back with her friends to save the emperor they were doing all the crazy tricks on the roof top with the hanging lanterns…

Have you seen The Last Emperor? Yes, most of my knowledge of Chinese history is through movies, sadly. Well this is where the scene where they are throwing the Emperor out of the city is filmed.

For all of you worried I might starve to death, where there is Nutella and croissants there is lunch! I was optimistic that I would loose 10 pounds while I was here, but my diet looks like it will be mostly carbs, and chocolate.

This is where the day took a turn for the worst. See, our tour guide was really concerned that you know ALL the history of China and the Forbidden City. We had a 1/2 hour lesson on concubines, eunuchs, and MUCH more. While I know that this is an important part of history and I don’t want my kids to miss anything, I was TOTALY not prepared to try and fill in the gaps where my kids had no idea what she was talking about. Plus she did NOT leave anything out. Holy smokes!

At one point, my son just shook his head and walked away as we were trying to explain to the girls what a eunuch was. I left most of this to my Mother who happened to be with us, I figured I would make her squirm!

Since my kids are always looking for ways to earn money, and I have always been interested in what a Chinese prison looks like, I told my son I would give him $50 if he ran off the porch and jumped on the back of the 600 year old deer statue. When he balked, I offered him $100 for the dragon. He was not as excited to see the inside of a Chinese prison so he passed. 🙂

Seriously, it was REALLY cool to see all the history. It was an amazing day and we really did learn a ton!

This is my 10 year old. When she was born we almost tossed her back we were so surprised by the red hair! I never in a million years considered I would have a red head, and was stunned when I saw her with her full head of bright red hair! But I LOVED her immediately and fell in love with red heads! Sadly as she gets older her red hair is fading into strawberry blond and gets lighter and lighter every year.

My other kids affectionately call her “Ginger” which has become her nick name. I know that sometimes it is a negative name for red heads, but the way they say it to her is so endearing that I don’t care. BTW, I also have a 6 year old red head, when she was born nothing was a surprise anymore!

Let me give you one piece of advice: If you visit a foreign place where all the people have black hair, TAKE A RED HEAD WITH YOU! We couldn’t walk 10 feet without someone taking a picture of her today! Then the kids were getting slap happy from lack of sleep, and starting just stopping and posing with her in front of the people just blatantly taking a picture of my kid. It was fun for her and a good laugh for us!

Since my Dad is still in the states for a few more days, my Mom took us shopping so that he could come with us to the BIG tourist sites. We spent the day shopping and walking around the old city. These streets and buildings are 600 years old. It is unbelievably beautiful.

This persons home was built right in with all the stores. They had a small tomato garden with pretty green tomatoes. For as little precipitation as they get everything is VERY green.

I might be slowly starving to death however. Please send food.

I thought I was fairly adventuresome with food. However, I have decided that I am not, and have consisted on some fried rice and fruit for the past few days. I will post pictures later and you can decide if you would eat or not 🙂

This kid is freaking hilarious. If he skips college and runs off to be a stand up comedian I might not sweat it. He is seriously struggling in the negotiation department and so comedian might be a better fit then corporate litigation or chief negotiator.

We gave each of our kids some spending money {which I will be posting about later in the week as that was hilarious} to add to what they have saved and brought. My husband exchanged it for Chinese RMB. So 100 RMB is about $17 or around there.

Chinese parents don’t like their kids negotiating prices with people. We shoved our kids in there just after giving them a few lessons and letting them watch us, to experience it themselves while we helped them. Apparently confidence won over Tucker and he headed off on his own. He comes back with a stuffed panda bear and 3 plastic bracelets.

“Did you just buy those” I ask.

“Yep” he says.

“For you?” I teased.

“Um yeah. I like teddy bears and pink bracelets” he answers.

Then his sister starts ratting him out.

“Mom you wouldn’t believe this lady, we only wanted 2 bracelets but she wouldn’t let us leave until we got 3. But that is ok, since now all the little girls will have one!”

“How much did you spend?” I ask.

“Only 100 RMB” he says proudly!

What the hell? I yell at him, “Are you kidding me?”

“Yeah?” he says.

“Do you know that is $17 dollars???!!!”

“These bracelets are $12 each at home Mom. It is high quality plastic and came all the way from China. Wait. We are in China. OK, well, how often do you see stuffed panda bears at home Mom? Huh? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Like HARDLY ever! O.K. fine! She was a scary mean Chinese woman and wouldn’t let us leave! She started at 150 RMB and I talked her down to 100!!!!”

“Nice son. Seriously. Don’t spend any money again unless we are with you.” I tell him, shaking my head knowing that in someones home tonight a Chinese woman will be telling her friends about a ‘stupid American boy’!

Fast forward 20 minutes:

“Mom can I have some watermelon?” Tucker asks.

“Yes it is 1 RMB, can you handle that?” I tease him.

He walks over about 100 feet away and I can see him buying the watermelon.

He comes back and hands me 7 RMB. “I gave you 10 RMB, where is the rest?” I say

“Well see Mom. Apparently I paid the nice Chinese man 1 RMB for the melon and 2 more RMB for helping me organize my money.” He says.

“What the hell?”

“Ok, so I hand him the 10RMB and he hands me back 9 RMB, then before I can put it away he takes it from my hand, rearranges it and takes 2 RMB out and sticks it in his pocket.” Tucker explains.

“So you just let him steal 2 RMB from you?”

“I prefer to call it payment for his consultation services on how to arrange my money.” Tucker tells me.

He is not allowed to buy anything else unless “Ginger” or his other little sister is with him. They have master the art negotiation and proudly bought 2 darling Coach pink knockoff purses for $8 each. Less then 1/2 of what he paid for a stuffed panda bear and 3 plastic bracelets!