19 Kids and Counting

The Duggar’s excursion to the Great Wall started on Monday, September 24, at the Grand Hyatt in downtown Beijing. At 9AM, we loaded the entire family, using two 39-seat coaches-one for the family and one for the filming crew that would document the experience. At noon, we arrived at a courtyard near the base of the Gubeikou Great Wall, and we assigned two guides to the family. The two host families in the village provided a wonderful Chinese lunch of Kongpao Chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Broccoli Beef, Deep-fried Green Bean, Fried Chicken Fillets, and fried organic vegetables planted directly from the soil that the host families own.  Jim Bob, the father and Michelle, the mother thanked the hosting families as their opening remarks for lunch. The smaller Duggar children were also interested in playing with the hand pump that fetches water from the underground well. They played one by one and didn't stop until lunch was ready. The filming crew interviewed 65-year-old Mama Meng, one of the owners of the courtyards to ask about her life in this village. Mama Meng's courtyard is one of the approved host courtyards by Great Wall Adventure Club. 

 After a quick check-in a dumpling supper was served outside. Four of the Duggar children were coached on how to make dumplings. Earlier before dinner, they had watched how the dumplings were cooked with boiling water. Now, it was time for them to try! After a delicious dinner it was time for some cultural activities, such as paper cutting. Mama Shi, whose courtyard hosted the Duggars and her daughter-in-law, showed Michelle and three of her boys how to cut rabbits and fish with paper. Michelle and the boys were very focused and finished the cutting assignment perfectly. They even took some original pieces (paper with animal drawings) home to cut for when they would return to Arkansas. They were told they could put up those cuttings on their windows when they celebrate the new year of 2013 and the Chinese New Year of the Snake (Feb., 2013). Shi's daughter-in-law is a master at paper cutting, who demonstrated how she cut a big pieced of "Great Wall". She also gave the Duggars some of her works as gifts. Mama Meng, who hosted the filming crew, also gave the crew some works that she did to take home. One of her works is a cutting of the Chinese character "Fortune," wishing everyone good luck for the future. In the meantime, two kids fell asleep in the living room despite the noise from the paper-cutting class. Shi brought her family photo albums to show Michelle her grandsons, etc. and this gesture was much appreciated. After an action-packed filled first day, everyone was asleep in bed by 9:30.