All about us!: 2017

What an amazing month! There have been a couple of firsts for the Lopez family this month! First time on a plane for MJ and first time out of the country for Jason, MJ and myself. We were blessed to be able to go to Japan and China. It was an amazing trip! I cannot believe how clean Japan is! Even the homeless - which you do not see many - fold their cardboard boxes and put them away in the morning. The people were so friendly, when we first arrived we did not know how to use the metro and a nice woman stopped and helped us - she ended up having to run to catch her train. I loved how green it was there, just outside of the city there were so many temples and lush green trees and amazingly beautiful flowers. The public restrooms were very odd, they would play different sounds to hide the noise of your bathroom usage. China was a wonderful and different experience at the same time. In all of the public areas that we ventured, except for the airport, the toilets' were holes in the ground that you had to squat over - in really busy areas there was a person who would rinse the floor down with water every once in awhile. Needless to say it was a little smelly. I do not want to say that the people were not friendly, because there were many that we would walk past on the street that would say hello, however no one was really wanted to help much. I found it interesting that the tour guides told us how poor they are and asked us for tips. All of the old building of the Emperors were full of color, beautiful carvings (wood and stone) and paintings. Most of you know that I have difficulty with food, well my body does, I was surprised and delighted to find that I did not have an issue at all the entire time we were in China, unfortunately I cannot say the same for Japan. After our tour at the Forbidden City we went to a vegetarian restaurant, it had the best food I have ever eaten. Oh my goodness the Great Wall was AMAZING! There were so many steps - and they were different heights and widths. I rode my first lift to get there, I was a little more than a tad afraid - me and heights, yeah no thanks. After we headed out, it was not long before we were above the lushest forest with the brightest greens. As we drew closer we were able to see the curvature of the wall as it snaked along the top of the mountainside. To get back to the bus we took a toboggin ride. That was exciting! I did end up running into Jason once - we ended up laughing about it https://youtu.be/VM7dvqzgRGI. I am so thankful that we were able to share this experience together.