Zaijian Zhong guo

Friday  March 20th

Oh my goodness - wow the past five days have been a  roller coaster of emotion  from pure joy to utter depression.   Hangzhou High School is such a wonderful place and Hangzhou is such a beautiful city- leaving is so bitter sweet returning to the comforts of home..but leaving our new friends and this incredible country of China

Wednesday was our final day at Hangzhou High School. I had a bit of a rough start..I had all of these bags that I had to bring to school - gifts, movies that Derek had loaned me, my dress and shoes for the banquet I was running late and ran out of the apartment.  As the door closed, I realized that I had left my keys on the table - .locked out and no key to unlock my bike.   I starteded walking.  To my surprise, William pulled up and offered me a ride!! We pulled into the school -he let me out by the English Office building...miraculously --Rose was standing right there.  I told her that I had locked myself out,  she told me not to worry and that Wang Huo could help me during first period (Rose had to teach).

William, Rose, Wang Huo and Bruce to the rescue  a spare set of keys!!  I ran home to get my keys and a few other things that I left behind.... Mark, Li, and Alex headed to the gym for Kung Fu.  When I returned I headed towards the gymnasium - walking slowly through the impressive campus of Hangzhou High School.  When I walked up the stairs..Bruce and Alex were battling it out on the badminton court Li and Mark were practicing Kung Fu poses and taking photos with Liu laoshi. At the end of class, we took some final group photos and headed to lunch.

After lunch, we had our last cooking class (so sad) with the chef, Wang loashi. This man is awesome! Every day he prepares these amazing lunches for us..and then comes in and checks in on us,  He had decided to teach us how to make dumplings! So fun.   After cooking, we returned to the English office to practice our speeches.

Helen came rushing up the stairs urging us to get ready for the farewell ceremony.  Iit was 3:20 and the ceremony was starting at 3:30 -  we had to put our traditional Chinese silk outfits on! We scrambled in different directions and somehow made it to the administraation building on time.   We were joined by Madame Miao -- who had just returned from the Second Session of the 11th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China in Beijing. She went as a representative of the education department of Zhejiang province as well as the other administrators and a few of the English teachers. Madame Miao spoke about how impressed with this year's delegation (us!) and the importance of the relationship between Hanggao and DS. Then I expressed our gratitude for our wonderful stay in Hangzhou. Madame Miao presented us with some gifts and then we were off to the banquet.. It was so nice everyone who has been involved with our stay,  host parents and siblings, our teachers, English teachers, administrators.all in the same room.  Madame Miao and I walked around the room and toasted with everyone at each table  Each of us had to give a speech in Chinese! I went first, followed by Li, then Mark, then Alex.   A delicious meal was enjoyed - 1,000s of pictures were taken and then it was time to go home... so sad.

Thursday morning Bruce and Ms. Zhu came to my apartment to help me carry all of my things to school. Luckily, Ms. Zhu had a key to the back gate..so we were able to sneak through.

Packing the bus was quite a difficult task-- we have all accumulated so much stuff it is ridiculous between shopping and all of the giifts that we have received we are going to be quite a sight at the Shanghai airport on Saturday morning..

After a send off by the administration, some of our teachers, several English teachers, some students and their families -- full of hugs, some tears, expressions of gratitude and gift exchanges, we were off --heading to Shanghai with Mr. Chen behind the wheel --Derek and Bruce as co-pilots.  Bruce is coming to Shanghai with us!! I cannot say it enough. Bruce is so wonderful. He has become such a good friend to us all   It took us close to two hours to get into the city..battling the insane Shanghai traffic..

Bruce and I spent the afternoon exploring the city.  Mmap in tow we walked to the old section of Shanghai or the Yuyuan section,  which includes an antique shopping street  full of shops selling silks, Chinese paintings, tea, Mao paraphernalia, abacuses, calligraphy sets.   I bargained for some earrings..yet again - this section of Shanghai also includes   a traditional Chinese snack area with some very interesting options, the beautiful Yu Garden, and the Old City God Temple. We headed towards the bay -- and walked down the beautiful Bund,  the street that lies along one side of the Huangpo River  -- it is lined with dozens of historic buildings-- built over time in various forms of architecture and by different countries including Britain, the Netherlands, and Portugal.  We walked along the promenade admiring the modern skyline  of the Shanghai financial district  on the other side of the river  which is dominated by the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Jin Mao building (two of China's tallest buildings) We walked back to the hotel to pick up Alex, Li and Mark  then ventured on to the subway-- over towards the area of People's Square to attend a Shanghai Acrobatic show..amazing!  Several different acts including juggling, plate spinning, Chinese yo-yo, balancing wine glasses, knife throwing and very impressive acrobatics back on the subway back to the hotel

This morning we slept in pretty late, then walked to a fantastic bakery called 85 C to get breakfast and milk tea! We hung around the hotel for awhile.   Alex's former host brother Frank stopped by.  He goes to college in Shanghai.  Then, Bruce, Li, Mark and I decided to go exploring.  We took the subway to the other side of the river..and walked around the financial center... we took a bunch of photos of the Oriental Pearl Tower... we then decided to go to the old section of Shanghai.  We did a little bit of shopping..and then walked to the snack section.  We went to this place called the Snack Kingdom for dinner. We enjoyed some noodles and dumplings for the last time here in China. We then walked back to the hotel stopping at 85 C for some coffee.  Tomorrow we will leave the hotel at 9am to catch our flight at 12:45 to San Francisco, we will have a four hour delay and then a six hour flight to Boston... it is going to be very hard to adjust to waking up when I am used to going to bed and vice versa

Wow, we are leaving China tomorrow...it feels like we just got here..but at the same time as if we have been here forever  The four of us have met so many wonderful people! We have been to so many different places. We have seen and done so many amazing things.  Thank you to everyone involved with the exchange and for reading our blog!

Sunshine and Two Dinners

Allison

Monday, March 16th

I got very sad this morning as I was riding to work, it really hit me that this was one of our last days in Hangzhou. I am looking forwaard to returning home, to see my family and friends, and students, but I am very sad that we have to leave Hangzhou and all of our friends here. 

Publish Post

Our last calligraphy class..our teacher Yang Laoshi is wonderful! One of my favorite people (although I have many) here in Hangzhou, my friend Xu Dao, arrived to help out and provide his gentle encouragement. He is a 70 year old retired English teacher here at Hanggao.   He is a very talented calligrapher. He is always smiling!! He likes to play us songs on his cell phone.

Today, our assignment was to show off everything we had learned and create our Chinese calligraphy masterpieces!! We were each assigned four different characters to master and then had to paint them on some very nice paper. After class, we took a group photo with Yang Laoshii. Xu Dao was our photographer..he was having a little trouble figuriing the camera out and exclaimed "I am from the countryside!!" It was very funny.

Derek or Xu Chang arrived for Chinese class (it is his birthday!). Our assignment today was to write our speeches for the banquet on Wednesday night. All four of us have to give a speech in Chinese..yikes. The weather was so beautiful that we decided to sit outside to write when we were done..Derek and Bruce went to work translating away. 

Lunch and then Alex and I went to English corner. Li and Mark went to the astronomy club.

We met back at the English office and then Obama Lama went off with Helen to pick up our dresses and suits for the farewell banquet. Helen has been so kind to us during our stay here in Hangzhou..Thank you Helen!  After, Mark, Li, Helen, and I went to make some final purchases at the silk market. 

Somehow, the four of us had double-booked ourselves for dinner. Ivan's (one of the Hanggao students who came to DS last yeear) mother and father (he is a math teacher here at Hanggao) invited us to dinner but Derek had also invited us to dinner! So we had to eat twice.  Ivan's family took us to a fantastic restauraant very close to Hefang St. ( the lovely antique shopping street in Hangzhou). Wang Huo also joined us! We enjoyed some delicious dishes including dongpo pork, french fries, and some fried noodles. Ivan is such a sweet girl and her parents are just lovely. 

Then, we took taxis to a hotel to join Derek and his wife Susan, her mother, and uncle, her brother, and his girlfriend, and Derek's best friend and his girlfriend. Derek's dinner was so much fun. His friend, I forget his name, is a magician! He performed several tricks using some elastic bands and then moved on to coins. After dinner we sang Happy Birthday in English and Chinese and then ate some amazing cake!!

Hangzhou Highlights

(Allison)

Last Wednesday, after our beloved cooking class (the chef taught us how to make rabbits out of eggs…) Rose’s sister Angela met me at the English Office to take me to her school. Angela teachers English at a middle school very close to Hanggao. Rose introduced us --we hopped on the bikes and we were off. Chatting and meandering along the road, we finally reached the school. After a quick tour, we walked up to her office – where I met two more English teachers – grabbed my computer and followed Angela quickly to her class.

I walked into the classroom and was greeted by an enthusiastic applause... Angela’s students are in their last year of middle school (a U.S. high school freshman). They are studying hard for their high school entrance exams. My visit gave them a nice break from their focused studies. The students were overwhelmingly enthusiastic and wonderful…asking me all sorts of questions.

I looked at the clock 3:58..oh no!  I told Derek that I would speak to his English club about American food at 4:00… I had to wrap up my speech and head back to Hanggao. Angela and I ran down the stairs and rode quickly back to Hanggao…I thanked her very much for giving me the opportunity to spend time at her school.

I ran up the stairs of the classroom building and down to English club… Derek was showing them a clip of Iron Chef. I had a minute to catch my breath…before presenting again.

After English Club, I met Helen… and we went shopping on the famous Hangzhou Silk Street…the street I have to ride down …to and from school. Helen is a very good shopper – and is very good at bargaining.. After I had made some purchases, Helen asked if I wanted to go to the night market….more shopping?..why of course! We both ran home (her apartment is in the building next to mine)… grabbed something to eat…and then hopped on our br bikes and rode down to the night market. The night market was very cool!  Helen bargained for a beautiful silver bracelet. I bought a bunch of earrings and some gifts…

Thursday we had Chinese and calligraphy in the morning but it was a little different because we were joined by the ten students visiting Hanggao from Georgia this week….. During calligraphy, my friend Xu Dao, the retired, 70 year old, English teacher who Lianna has blogged about…came to assist Yang lao shi. He taught at Hangzhou High School for over 40 years.. He is so kind and wonderful…and he is trying to help me with my Chinese pronunciation….

Wang Huo (an English teacher who came to DS a few years ago) invited me to have dinner with her and then to go to Hefang St.  Bruce and all of the host siblings had taken us there our first Friday night here in Hangzhou. After enjoying our dinner at the school, we hopped on a bus….and headed down to Hefang St. – a fantastic antique street with all sorts of tea, traditional medicine, silk, fans and other souvenirs shops. Wang Huo is also a very good bargainer! We met one of her friends..and we walked down the traditional snack street.. They have all sorts of things even fried scorpions…I decided to play it a bit safe and selected some sort of fried shrimp patty thing.. It started to rain heavily…so we seeked refuge at a Chinese snack restaurant…We enjoyed some warm soy milk…and then headed home…

Friday morning we had Hangzhou history and culture, and were once again joined by the students and teacher from Georgia… We all had lunch together…after lunch and I said farewell to Beth and Robert and wished them safe travels... they were headed back to Georgia. Bruce took me across the street to buy a second suitcase!  Bruce!! What would I do without Bruce?? I honestly do not know….he has been so wonderfful to us during our stay here in Hangzhou..

Friday night out with William!! Alex filled you in…Lou Wei Lou (excellent food) and the Impression West Lake (fantastic show)! I just want to reiterate what a nice time we had…so nice. Thank you William!

Saturday – Tea Museum! (see Alex’s description as well..hehehe)… Then we walked along the Yang Causeway….the west side of the west lake… so beautiful…the lake, the he weather…China!

The students went back to the school-- Rose and I decided to stay by the lake. We walked along the Bei Causeway…Rose asked me if I want to try a special Chinese dessert...powder of the lotus flower mixed with boiling water…and it turns into this delightful pink sticky substance… We sat on a bench and enjoyed our treat… We tried to get a taxi…but the city was so so busy….Rose realized that she had two cards that borrow the city bicycles (the city provides bikes to their citizens free of charge - similar to the programs they have started in the European cities…) We couldn't find any at first because the weather was so nice -- but then two people returned some right in front of us… We hopped on and headed home…

I decided to go back to the school to get my bike…(I had left it Friday afternoon…) and I ran into Derek at the gate! He had been looking for me…(remember I do not have a cell phone) and invited me to have pizza at his apartment with Susan…yeah!!

Sunday morning Helen took me to try on my silk dress...it came out great..but needed a few alterations...

After shopping with Helen, Susan met me and we rode back to her apartment to have lunch with Derek, his cousin, her boyfriend, and his parents. They were so nice.. His cousin and her boyfriend speak English very well.. Derek prepared quite an impressive spread...

Susan had to go back to work...she is teaching an open lesson this week...which means any teacher in the city is invited to come and observe her teach... she had to prepare her lesson and materials...

Derek and I decided to go to the Silk Museum... we could not get a taxi...so we took a bus... the Silk Museum is great. Then Derek remembered how I wanted to take a boat ride in the West Lake ... so we got off the bus on the south side of the lake - Nanshan Road ... a beautiful area of Hangzhou... the top art university in China is located along the road...there are many shops and nice restaurants ...We went out on the boat as the sun was setting! soooo nice! Then we walked along Nanshan Road...and traveled to one of Derek's favorite restaurants -- Mr. Chen's Noodle House..delicious... I was exhausted ...I went home and fell asleep right away... 

Sunday's with Shuang

(Alex)

Hi everybody, I know it has been really long since I last checked in, but it has been really hard either to find the time or the proper material to blog about. My time here at Hangzhou has seemed to fly by, as I am writing this I only have three (!) more days in this beautiful city. School has been quite an experience, and, while I have learned something new every minute of everyday, it has been one of those experience which has not really been conducive to a blog. Yeah, so since covering my behind is over with, let’s get to this weekend, which has been by far one of the best weekends of this trip. To start with, William took us out Friday night to Lo Wai Lo for some much needed and much loved, you guessed it Viz, Beggars Chicken. Quite honestly the best tasting and most tender chicken I have ever tried. Period. A serious competitor for my pick as best dish in China, second only to the delectable Dong Po Pork (Mao’s Pork). After a great meal, William led us for a beautiful night-time stroll along the edge of the West Lake, ultimately ending up at the place where the famous West Lake Impressions occurred, a daily event which is famous throughout China. The show was directed by the same guy who directed the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, so you can just imagine the scale and beauty of the show that we enjoyed for the greater part of an hour. I kid you not in saying that at one point, a huge metal construct literally rose magically out of the water and towered above the actors, all of whom were standing on submerged platforms in the middle of the lake, giving the decidedly ghostly appearance of “walking on water.” The beautiful lighting effects had Mark, our resident Light Guru at DS, mesmerized. It was simply one of the most beautiful and breathtaking shows that I have seen on this trip, or in my life for that matter. And before you guys reading at home think I am just given to hyperbole, please wait until you see some of the video clips Li got before you decide for yourself. After the show, we met back up with our host families who where saying their final goodbyes to the OTHER delegation from America (that’s right.) I’m not sure how much the others have spoken about the delegation from Athen’s Academy in Georgia, so I’ll give a quick overview. This week, another group of students came to Hanggao and have been taking classes with us. They are very cool, but a much larger group (twelve in all, including a teacher and the headmaster of their school), and have sort of ended up preoccupying the teachers time. It has been really cool, however, to give them our advice, what with us being such experienced foreigners at this school. Anyways, they were leaving the next day, and our host siblings, who had seen them a lot through us, wanted to say goodbye. The next day we all headed out with Rose to the Tea Museum. And once we got there, we met … Jin Shuang! For those of you who don’t know, I hosted Jin Shuang (Frank) in America my sophomore year, and became very close with him. He looked a little older, but had not changed much at all. He sends his love to everyone back home, and has great memories of everyone he met and everything he did. It was great to see him, and, an added bonus, it was a beautiful day, and the museum was really cool. It was nestled in amongst rows and rows of tea plants (??), and really exuded a sense of peace and serenity. Wandering the halls of the tea museum and learning about the different types of tea and about its preparation (apparently I have never had a real, correctly prepared cup of tea in America) really made me feel like I was experiencing something amazingly Chinese. After another great lunch, Rose took us for a walk around the West Lake, one of the first times we had been there while the sun was shining. The walk put any body of water in America to shame, the views so stunning they defy all description. I felt, at that moment, so very blessed to have been able to see this beautiful scene, hundreds of thousands of miles away from my home, surrounded by friends of the past and present. This, my last weekend in China, really reinforced my appreciation for this great experience, and has made it very hard to begin to let go. After saying goodbye to Rose and Shuang (more on him shortly), we made our way back to Star’s (Li’s host sister) house for a farewell party by our siblings. Bruce made dumplings and pork steaks, and we watched a lot of movies. It was just one of those moments where we felt so close to everybody in the room, so content and at peace, that it was with a heavy heart that we left. The next morning, Shuang met me at Sunny’s house bright and early and took me out on the town. We first went to a Chinese supermarket, where he proceeded to show me all the best things to buy for the lunch we would have later, reminiscing all the while about his stay with me. I can’t believe how much he remembered about his stay two years ago. After, I finally met his mother and father, and they made a great lunch for me. His house was amazing, and it was simply an amazing experience to come full circle and go from inviting him to my house to he inviting me into his. I was so overwhelmed by the huge overflow of kindness his parents gave me, showing me around the house and thanking me profusely in broken English for hosting their son. I could only respond “Mei guan xi” “It was no problem”, and I tried to convey the immense affection my family and I had for their son. After lunch, we went for a walk around Shuang’s neighborhood, where he pointed out various landmarks of his childhood along the way. Stopping in small little garden, we chatted for about an hour about how life was going for both of us. I felt as if this day had been two years in the making, and it was truly one of the most enjoyable experiences of my entire trip. Unfortunately, Shuang needed to head back to Shanghai at six, so it was very reluctantly that we left the garden and headed home. After making plans to meet up again in Shanghai, I said goodbye to his family, who repeatedly sent their best wishes to my family. And that’s how the best weekend of the trip ended. So that about finishes up one of my longest blogs. Sorry again that it took me so long. Miss you all, but I guess I’ll see you soon enough. I might be able to squeeze out one more blog before I’m done… but for now, Zai Jian!

Sunny Skies and Winding Down!

(Allison) 

Ok, so time is really starting to fly here in Hangzhou. Fortunately, this week – it stopped raining!! We had a few beautiful days! But then rain returned yesterday…oh well.

Last Friday was National Women’s Day here in China!

In the morning….we had Hangzhou history class – Our history teacher Zhao Yi Bin is a wonderful man.  I cannot remember if I have blogged about him already. He is very interested in ancient history – and also knowing more about how history teachers teach in the U.S. I really wish that I could speak Chinese so that we could chat.

Then off to the gym for Kung Fu class – Mark, Li and Alex are working on perfecting their series. Our teacher, Liu Laoshi, also attempted to teach us some Tai Chi. He told us to clear our minds and imagine that we were standing on a beach facing the ocean.  After our sorry attempt at Tai Chi…Li and Mark decided to play ping pong. Bruce, Alex, Liu Laoshi and I played an intense game of badminton. Our teacher taught me how to properly serve…between my serve and his skills we beat Alex and Bruce – twice!

Because it is National Women’s Day ….all of the women teachers at the school received the afternoon off to go to a tea house. Rose and I rode our bikes down Fengqi  Road (a very busy road that the school is located on.), towards the West Lake, and arrived at the tea house. The tea house was very large; we walked up to the second floor. In the middle of the second floor, there was a huge buffet of all sorts of Chinese food.  On each side there were little rooms with a big table and comfy chairs. We found some seats with some of the math teachers from Hanggao –we ordered tea – I had flower tea - Rose had green tea, and then went out to the buffet.  Once again, there was an insane amount of food. I tried some sort of famous Hangzhou snack – a flour cake with shallot and sauce.  We spent the afternoon drinking tea, snacking and relaxing. Then we rode back to the school…I met up with Lianna, Star (Li’s second host sister), Mark, Tao Tao, and Bruce…and we headed out to get something to eat and do some shopping..

On Saturday, we traveled out to Wu Zhen! It was fantastic. Derek, Ms. Zhu Wei., and Mr. Pan (both administrators at the school) accompanied us.. Wu Zhen is a well preserved historic town about an hour and a half outside of Hangzhou. Because it was Saturday, and not raining – there were a ton of people there... we meandered our way through the swarms…and explored. The town is absolutely picturesque…lined with canals, classic Chinese buildings, humpback bridges…Lianna described it as Lijiang meets Plymouth Plantation..  soo nice…. We took the bus back to the school…snacking, listening to music and napping...

Derek and I took a taxi over to the section of Hangzhou-- where he and Susan attended university. This area of Hangzhou reminded me so much of the strip of Com. Ave. near BU… college students everywhere, shops and all sorts of places to get food. We met Susan at the Curry Bistro. When we arrived she had milk tea waiting for us…mine had these little black pearls in the bottom that were made out of sticky rice!

Sunday

I do not have a cell phone here in China. It is nice…but it does cause me a little bit of anxiety … and it makes making plans rather challenging. People just say -- ok meet me here at this time¦and I just have to trust them.

Star (Li’s current host sister) called me in the morning, (I do have a phone in the apartment) and told me to meet Mark and Tao at the school gate at 1:30… I walked to the school – the sun was shining!! Tao Tao’s mom drove us over the Baishan Road – the road that runs along the north end of the West Lake… We were meeting Bruce, Star, Sue, Lianna, Harry, Alex and Sonny to hike up Bao Shu Shan pagoda. Once everyone arrived – we were off. We climbed up Bao Shi Hill and reached the pagoda.  There were people everywhere up there! (six million people live in the city and greater Hangzhou area) Just past the pagoda are all of these rocks that you can climb.…Bruce, Harry, Sonnny and Alex climbed up a very large rock..

We strolled around and hung out at the top for awhile..and then walked down the hill along a path…there were various people selling things – some of them were selling stinky tofu…it is these small squares of fried tofu…but it smells soooo bad-horrible...we picked up the pace. At the bottom -- we walked along Beishan Road once again -- people everywhere along the lake…and walking on the Bai Causeway.. The students all decided to camp out at a Starbucks¦ I decided to walk along the east side of the lake for awhile. I discovered a statue of Marco Polo – in his writings he said that Hangzhou was the most beautiful and splendid city in the world! On the way back to the apartment, I decided to check out some of the Hangzhou clothing stores…

Monday

A beautiful, sun shining day! In the morning, we had calligraphy and Chinese…after lunch with Bruce, Tao, Star and Sunny –we went to broadcast club! One of my friends from English Corner..Brianna or Chen Yun…has been asking us to come to broadcast club for a few weeks now….we finally committed to a day! During the lunch break, a few students put on a radio show...they mostly play music, but some times they interview people. Brianna asked us various questions about our lives in the U.S. and our experiences in China.

After broadcast club we went to English corner... Joe one of the students coming to DSHS this year – showed up!

After having dinner at the school, I decided to ride my bike down to the Bai Causeway…there were too many people there on Sunday to walk it. I rode down the very scenic Beishan Road … and then back over the Bai Causeway… the West Lake is so pretty and relaxing at night...

 

This morning -we had Chinese painting class! I love this class. Our teacher is a very talented artist.  Today, we were joined by a delegation from Athens Academy – that is located in Athens, Georgia - 10 students, a high school history teacher - Beth, and their headmaster – Robert. They had traveled in Beijing for a few days and arrived in Hangzhou – Monday afternoon. There school is possibly going to set up an exchange similar to the DS one…

Our teacher presented the new students with some paper cutting, a Chinese folk craft.  Mark and Li attempted some advanced paper cuts... Alex and I decided to paint.  I painted a fish...and then something between a shrimp and a lobster -then I attempted to paint a duck...

The Georgian students went on a tour of the school…and our teacher took us up to her gallery/office to show us some of her work. She has traveled to Europe, and enjoys painting European buildings and landscape scenes.

Off to lunch...today, instead of our usual round table, the chef and his staff transformed the room into a buffet set-up… because they had to feed the DS exchange and the Athens exchange…

The last period of the day we were invited to Harry’s class for a class meeting/party. Alex went to Sonny’s class meeting/party. We played some English games, and they put on a performance of the Peking Opera and made us join in!

Arcades, Ice Cream and a Chinese Forest Gump

 

(Li)  2/26 and 2/27

Today is Sunny’s birthday! Sunny is Alex’s second host brother. All of our siblings are good friends now (although they didn’t know each other a month ago), so we all hang out all the time. We had Chinese and Calligraphy in the morning. We watched a movie in Chinese. Although the movie was really good, it was kind of disappointing that he showed us a movie. I wanted to actually learn a lot of Chinese while I was here, and I don’t think that has really happened. But anyway, the movie was called “tough guy” or “underdog warrior”… not really sure. It was basically the Chinese “Forest Gump.” In the movie a man is in the army, but he jumps in a body of water to save another soldier. He nearly drowns and ends up with brain damage, causing him to be much like Forest Gump (mentally). The main character is incredibly strong and a good fighter, so he fights in the name of good. He gets tricked by a bad guy and ends up in trouble with the law… but I won’t tell you any more because you should see it. Not much to report about calligraphy, other than that it was good.

After school the three of us, all six of our siblings, and Bruce went to Sunny’s house to celebrate his birthday. We ate pizza, played mahjong, and watched Valkyrie. O by the way, I am really good at mahjong. My host sister taught me how to play. But yea, Valkyrie was a really good movie, shocking that its based on truth and yet I had never heard about it. It was sad knowing the whole time what the ending was. During every scene I wanted the outcome to be different. Sunny’s birthday was really fun.

Friday we were supposed to have Kung Fu, but our teacher was feeling sick and had an injured elbow, so he just gave us free time. He taught Mark and I how to play Ping Pong and we have been practicing every class since then. We are actually getting pretty good, but not good enough to beat Nat. After lunch we went to get the fabrics for our silk dresses and jackets. Mark and Alex each got jackets and pants, while Allison and I each got dresses. I ended up getting 2 dresses because I couldn’t choose between two fabrics and the dresses are actually pretty cheap. We got our fabric and headed to the tailor to get fitted.

After school Mark and I, our current hosts, Sunny, and Bruce, went out for dinner at a Japanese noodle place (Alex and Allison both wanted to go home). Dinner was good and we went to an arcade after. Arcades here are lame, in the sense that everything requires WAY too many tickets to cash in. Where as in America, you can at least get candy regardless of how many tickets you win. So we were sad that we couldn’t get anything… and no, that is not a little kid mentality—almost everybody at the arcade was a teenager or adult. We got ice cream at the arcade and hung out in the ice cream store for a while before going home.

First Days in Hangzhou

(Li) 2/19

I met my host sisters yesterday. They are both really nice. They are in the same class, so I won’t have to get used to a different group of kids or teachers at all. I am living with my sister, Sue, her mom, dad, grandmother, and little cousin. The apartment is pretty nice, but they don’t use heat!... not something I am used to. Today was out first day of Chinese classes. First we had Chinese class. Our teacher, Derek, is an English teacher at the school and he will be coming to America this year. We were glad to find out he is coming, seeing as he is awesome. Derek is similar to William; cool, fun, nice, and young. I also have to talk about Bruce. Bruce is amazing. Bruce is a senior three student (aka our grade. Senior three is the hardest year of a Chinese student’s life). Bruce, however, applied to colleges in the US and has already received acceptance letters, thus escaping the dreaded college entrance exam. He also no longer has to attend classes (amazing, right?). Because he has a lot of free time and all his friends are still in class, he volunteered to be our translator, since most of the teachers don’t speak English. Bruce has become more than a translator, however, he has become a really good friend.

We had Chinese, in which Bruce and Derek taught us basic greetings and random words in Chinese. Not much more to say about that. After a short break, we had Calligraphy class. Calligraphy is really fun. Our teacher is very nice, and extremely helpful. He is a good instructor and can usually communicate with us through body language, although we have Bruce if needed. Our teacher knows how to say “okay” and “very good” in English, unfortunately he doesn’t know the difference between the two phrases (or so it seems). In calligraphy class we also met a 70 year old, former English teacher. He exercises at the school every morning and came to meet us. He is really nice and hilarious, so we enjoy his periodic visits.

We went to lunch, where we had an amazing meal in a small, heated room with our host siblings, cooked by our very own personal chef. Our chef is actually the head of the school cafeteria, so he doesn’t cook the school food, but he is an amazing chef and has been featured on Chinese cooking shows. Not only does he make great food, but he is such a sweet little man.

After lunch we went to classes with our host siblings. Most of the classes were really boring, seeing as they were in Chinese, so I did my own thing. Sue and Star had English though, so I got to participate in that class which was…. interesting. First we heard Ferddy the Frog sing a Beatles song. Then my English teacher, who has actually been to America, Ms. Wang, asked me to read the vocab words to the class for the students to repeat.

After school we went to the grocery store. CRAZY experience, there were 9 of us and everyone was saying different things. The siblings were arguing and trying to figure out what we needed. They were trying to figure out what stuff was, such as loofahs. It was crazy. There was quite a large language barrier between us and our siblings back then. But they have all progressed SO much and they speak English really well now. It’s amazing. Then we went out for dinner… The end

Blog…. DONE

Hangzhou High School

 (Allison)

Thursday, March 5th

I cannot believe that it is Thursday already..our time here in the city of Hangzhou is flying by..

It is still raining…ho hum.. it has rained every day, except one, since we have been here…

Last week, I spoke to the twelve different classes (about two or three per day -- in the morning). They were all grade one (age equivalent of a U.S. sophomore in high school)  English classes here at Hangzhou High School.  The students were great -- they were so warm and welcoming!

I spoke to them about schools in the United States.  I shared some pictures of my family and friends, and then, if there was time…we discussed holidays that we celebrate in the U.S. The students seemed particularly interested in Easter and Thanksgiving… All of the grade one English classes are learning about festivals celebrated around the world.  The students were so enthusiastic.

Each class consists of about 54 students, yes 54.. The students stay in the same classroom, with the same students, all day long – and they will stay with the same students for all three years that they attend the school . In China, it is the teachers that come and go from the classrooms, not the students.  All of the teachers have a designated cubicle in their department's office.

The schedule here is much different than back at DSMS. The class periods are 45 minutes (about the same), but there is 10 to 15 minutes between classes. Everyone gets an hour and ten minutes for lunch. It is so nice..the students can eat at the school, or leave the campus and get food somewhere in the city. Some of the teachers even sneak in naps…so nice..  Although all the extra time makes the school day is a little bit longer (academic classes end at 3:50…and then students use 4:00-5:00 to attend clubs, extra-help, or self-study), it is such a nicer pace than my days at DSMS sprinting up and down the stairs. 

Another thing that I observed -- it is amazing… when the bell rings – the students do not grab their stuff and run for the door.. (It is ok Team Moon – we will just have to work on this when I get back..) The students actually stay in their seats and listen to the teacher finish the lesson before they pack up.

 This past Tuesday, I was able to observe Sue's history class! Bruce, our translator, came with me. He is the best! The topic of the class was European Exploration. It was such a wonderful experience to be able to observe someone doing your job..but in a different country! The teacher was fantastic, she was enthusiastic, and held her students attention by using a fantastic PowerPoint with lots of notes, photographs, maps and video clips!

Rose is going to try to schedule a time, next week, for me to go to the middle school where her sister teaches English! I am looking forward to this experience...

Tuesday night – Derek and his wife Susan took me to out for dinner to a Japanese noodle house! Then we went to the movies to see Red Cliff Part Two (with English subtitles) .. Derek had loaned me Red Cliff Part One – and I had watched it on Monday night..

Red Cliff Part One was the number one blockbuster last year (and actually of all time in China – it beat out Titanic – which he held the previous record..)  It is a fantastic movie! It takes place during the end of the Han Dynasty – it is about the wars between the emperor and some competing warlords..very similar to Troy or Gladiator – but a little more humor thrown in…  A shorter version will be released in the U.S – at some point this year..

Yesterday (Wednesday), was Helen's birthday. In the morning, Li and I enthusiastically headed out of the school gates in search of a cake! There are bakeries in Hangzhou everywhere…it is actually insane – Ganso, Dan Be, Sep, Free Muri, Rita's, Romantic Event, Christina's, Donghua – to name a few. Hangzhouians are cake crazy!  There are actually four bakeries within three minutes from the school gate.. We entered the closest – Ganso…the cakes were beautiful – but -- it hit us that we had no way of knowing what kind or flavor the cakes were¦.so we pressed on.  Romantic event…no luck, yet again…Dan Be was closed…so we turned the corner and went to Sep.  Slightly defeated by our lack of knowledge of the Chinese language, we opted to point to a bunch of different cake slices (we could see whether they were chocolate, green tea, or something else…) within a glass case, the baker put them into a lovely box, we even managed to communicate with her that we needed forks  = mission accomplished!

Off to P.E. for some kung fu, ping pong, badminton, then lunch, then English corner…after E.C.  we went back to the English office to look for Helen in order to celebrate, but she was not in the office…so we went off to cooking claass!

Our teacher is the manager of the school cafeteria, but – Brruce told us that he was previously a renowned Chinese chef - - and has been featured on a Chinese cooking show. He is very talented ¦he loves to make art out of food..he can cut a carrot into a rose, or a cactus out of a cucumber. Last week, he taught us how to create a butterfly – out of sliced mangos, banana, and tomatoes.  This week he showed us how to cut up a fish (it had already been gutted). He cut off the head, and then slit the fish in half…he then sliced the meaty part of the fish (but left the skin intact) into a grid. Then, he fried it. When you fry fish that has been sliced like this it comes out looking like flowers!  Beautiful and yummy!

Then, back to the English office to find Helen! We sang Happy Birthday to her in both English and Chinese and then enjoyed the cake!  Rose popped in and asked me if I wanted to go shopping -- and we were off!

Guitar Hero in Hangzhou

(Allison)

March 2nd

We had a fantastic weekend… Saturday we all met at the school.. I arrived at the school gate...and did not see anyone..A very nice guard came out and tried talking to me..but he only spoke Chinese...and I, for the most part, only speak English...he was being so nice, and trying so hard...

Luckily, Mark and his host brother Harry showed up and Harry was able to translate.. turns out he was trying to tell me that Lianna had already gone outside.. and that I could enter as well..

 

Two English teachers, Wang Huo and Michelle, a history teacher, Li Wang Ping ( I am going to observe her class this week), and Mr. Li who works in the Student Affairs Office.. accompanied us to a museum called-- An Exhibition of Southern Song Dynasty Guan Kiln Relics -- pottery of the Song Dynasty!!

 

The museum featured many pieces of my two favorite types of pottery - the beautiful Chinese celadon green pottery! and the classic Chinese blue and white pottery...

The celadon pieces in the museum were mostly discovered in Hangzhou near the West Lake. Hangzhou was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty.

 

At the end of the exhibit there were several stalls that featured an activity where you could try to piece together an ancient pot, like an archeologist.....the students enjoyed this!

 

Then -- it was time to make some pottery ourselves -- using a pottery wheel... A very talented man..who works at the museum-- came over and centered the clay for us..then we went to work..

It brought me back to art class in high school...

I attempted to make a tall narrow vase..but it did not come out that well...

 

After lunch, we attempted to go to the West Lake Museum—but it  was closed – so the kids decided that they wanted to go bowling..I tagged along with them because, I was invited to have dinner at Josh's apartment – and felt it would be easy if I just stayed with them. Unfortunately, China has not yet passed a non-smoking in public places law…and you can still smoke in bowling alleys = gross.

After bowling, Josh’s father picked Alex, Josh and I up! Josh’s parents are so nice.  We had a lovely meal – Alex practiced his Chinese with Josh's parents… Josh’s  father did not believe me when I told him (through Josh’s translation), that the fish we ate was the best fish that I had during my stay in China! 

I know that Mark is going to blog about this – but I just cannot help myself. Sunday -- we went over William's apartment (the teacher who came to DS last year)! He is the cutest man alive! He picked us up in his red Jetta (but it is called something else here in China-there are Volkswagons everywhere here). William and his wife Helen (not to be confused with Helen – one of the English teachers at Hangzhou High) just had an adorable baby, in November – Emma!!  In the U.S., he purchased PS3 – and he just purchased Guitar Hero World Tour – which is amazing… we spent the day admiring Emma and making music! Of course, William was a wonderful host and provided us with a delicious lunch (Li says the best dumplings she has had in China!) and lots of snacks, Pringles, banana chips, dove chocolate and fruit!

After William's house – we met up with Harry and Sue – and traveled to Wushan Square to meet Bruce and his parents for dinner!!  Bruce's parents are awesome! Just like him. I embarrassed Bruce by making him translate to tell them how much we love him – and cannot imagine our experiience here in China without him!

This morning we had Chinese calligraphy, and our Chinese language class. In calligraphy, we learned how to paint our numbers, as well as some basic beautiful characters such as fire, mountain, and forever.  During Chinese class, we watched the movie Nanking – about the devastating invasion in 1937 --by the Japannese.

After lunch, we had English corner (which has been moved indoors because of all the rain). The regulars (the sweet girls from Class 9) and some new faces showed up. Mark provided some chocolate.  After discussing some ancient history (they are very interested in Egypt), the girls told me some Chinese folk tales that took place around the West Lake!

 After English corner, we headed to the English office to warm up..  Helen whisked us away, and took us shopping (umbrellas in tow)  for the lining of our silk dress and suits! Li and I are getting traditional silk Chinese dresses made. Alex and Mark are getting silk suits made. Last Friday, Helen took us on a very fun shopping trip to purchase the silk.

I had dinner at school, prepared by the amazing chef!  --Now I am going to watch a movie that Derek loaned me-- Red Cliff Part One (more information regarding the movie below…).

Finally… HANGZHOU!!

(Alex)

Well, we finally made it. As I write this, I am sitting in my new room in my host brother Xu Taoyin’s house (his English name is Joshua). What a wild morning. Waking up in a moving train was quite an experience, although I did sleep surprisingly well. Our ridiculously cramped quarters made it hard to stretch out, and it was a struggle trying to get all of our bags organized before the train arrived in the station. 

Pulling into a drizzly Hangzhou station, we were almost immediately accosted by a group of some 20 odd people, all of our host families, and officials of the school. We met Derek, the teacher who has been selected to come to DS this year, Naichuan, the MAN (I totally did not know he was a he) who pretty much organized the trip on this end, and who very kindly had prepared some breakfast for us in bags, both my host brothers, Xu Taoyin and Sun Xuan, as well as the other host siblings of Mark and Li. 

We proceeded rather slowly outside, where a bus picked us up and took us straight to school. And if you thought we would draw attention traveling in China… you would have thought we had three heads traveling through the school to our meeting room. Everywhere we went students would pause and point, or, those more bold would snap a quick sketchy picture of the four new-comers to their school. However, this attention was certainly not of the negative sort, with everyone going out of their way to make us feel especially at home. After a brief meeting in what looked like a business meeting room, we were lead away from each other (marking the first day we would be completely by ourselves since this adventure began) by our new host siblings, and into their respective classes. 

My first host brother, Josh, is a shy but very intelligent guy who seems to be the envy of his entire class, by merit of his hosting one of the American’s. As we shuffled into class, the students all stared at me and just began to clap… which was extremely awkward, but an obviously very kind gesture. We settled down and the first teacher of the day, an English teacher who actually came to DS my freshman year (whose name escapes me at pres. time), and I was treated to the experience of a Chinese English lesson. It was pretty basic, but everyone in the class was extremely disciplined and studious, and made far more progress studying English than many of our students back home who studied other languages. It was fascinating and revealing to just sit back and witness the very different class dynamic and the behavior of the students. 

Although after English class, I didn’t really understand any of the lessons, I really did find my time spent in the class was interesting and informative. We took a break for one of the famous Hangzhou lunches made by The Chef, who has already become one of my favorite people in Hanggao (the slang name for the school we are staying at). The lunch was delicious, as hosts and exchange students alike were stunned by what the schools kitchens provided for us. 

After lunch we had more classes, and, although it was by no means a grind, I can’t say I wasn’t a little relieved to hear the bell at 4:30 sound the end of classes. We were then taken to the Headmistresses Office for a proper welcoming ceremony. On the way, who should show up but Kathleen (Ma Chaoren), one of the exchange students with Jin Shuang, a student I hosted my sophomore year. It was great to see her again, she looked a lot more grown up, and to hear how she was doing. She sends love to all those back home in the States, especially the Maddens, and Mrs. Viz! Madam Miao, select members of the administration, Naichuan, and almost the entire English department (including William!), were present at the ceremony to speak to us and welcome us very warmly to the school.  Allison also made a very nice speech and presented gifts to the school. Following the ceremony, we were taken to the school’s very own history museum to learn more about the prestigious schools long and storied past, including, of course, pictures of past exchanges!! Mrs. Viz will be happy to know that she is forever enshrined within the museum in both photographic and written form. 

Next, out to dinner with all the welcoming faculty, which was great but served much more seafood than I cared to try… Sorry Viz! Finally, after a really overwhelming day, we went home to our host families. My family is amazing, very kind and sweet, and although their English is not very good, has made every effort to make me feel at home. It looks like a great beginning to our much-anticipated Hangzhou experience. I don’t really know the next time I will blog, although I think the group consensus is that they will come less frequently now… I don’t know. Hope everything is well back home, and hope to finally upload some pictures! 

Beautiful Beijing

(Alex)

Getting up really early this morning in the Shaolin Temple was not the easiest thing to do … especially after such a strenuous couple of days. We shuffled out of the Temple at 5:30 sharp, in order to catch our early flight out of the airport, 2 hours away from Louyang. We were rather worried by the timing, and thought more than once that we would miss our flight. Our cool-headed guide, George, assured us everything would work out, and even managed to intimidate the airport manager enough to get us out of having to pay a fee for our overweight bags. One short plane ride later and we landed in the capital of China, Beijing, exhausted and ready to sleep. 

At 9 in the morning. Our new guide, Ashley, a very small and very young looking girl, met us and began to lead us to the car. Sensing our exhaustion, Ashley decided not to push us too hard. Allowing us about two hours to recuperate at the hotel, which was very much needed, she picked us up for lunch at around 12:30 and promised that we would have a short day. We had a delicious lunch in a secluded little restaurant, which gave off the ambiance of a truly traditional and local restaurant, although it was very smoky. Soon after, we headed to the Beijing Capitol Museum, an amazingly built and organized exhibition. Ashley informed us that it had been very recently rebuilt in lieu of the huge increase of tourism within Beijing for the Olympics. It had a total of seven floors, on which the exhibitions were built along the sides of the building, leaving the center in the open air, and allowing some of the braver tourists to view the formidable height and size of the building.  A huge imitation stone column dominated the entrance, within which were housed completely digital interactive screens of some of the more lavish artifacts on display. Many photos to be put up as soon as we get to Hangzhou. 

After the Museum, Ashley brought us to the much anticipated Beijing Zoo, where we headed straight to the Panda exhibit to see the countries most famous citizens. The pandas, almost 20 in total, were definitely one of the many highlights of the trip. Watching them waddle about and play with one another completed for me what I wanted to get out of a Chinese travel experience. It turned out that we had arrived at the Zoo too late to wander around and look at the other animals, which was a bummer. I especially wanted to visit the section labeled as “American Animals”. I think it would have been cool to see what animals Chinese associate with us. 

So we left the zoo around five, calling off the Peking Duck Dinner until the night that we were heading to the Peking Opera (as per Ashley’s advice) and headed sleepily back to the hotel. Where we all are now. We all seem to be winding down lately and look forward to getting to Hangzhou… though I am sure this will not diminish our experiences to come in China’s capital. Sorry that this blog was so short… but there I think my exhausted stupor somewhat prevented me from being able to take in the full experiences of the day. Good thing I took a lot of pictures! Hope to blog soon, although this might be the last one I do during our travel portion

Jiaozi making in Hangzhou

  (Allison)

Monday – February 23rd…

I woke up today and looked out the window…rain..again… Hopped in the shower… and and quickly got ready for school. I am living in an apartment that is located just behind the school. Every morning, I get to walk or ride my bike (that the school has loaned me) to school! I love this – it is so different from my 35 minute drive to work in the morning at home. To get to school, I have to travel through the famous Hangzhou Silk Market (Hangzhou is most famous for silk, tea, and the West Lake).   As I was walking to school, I heard a car behind me honking..I just thought that it was someone trying to tell me to get out of the way (sometimes cars in China like to drive on sidewalks) ....but it was Mrs. Wu, a vice-principal, offering me a ride to school. Although I love to walk, I hopped in to escape the rain… I thanked Mrs. Wu for the ride, and then walked to the dining hall. Every morning the school cafeteria prepares breakfast for me. They leave it in a small room off of the main cafeteria that is heated (the majority of the buildings at the school are not heated). There is always a glass of hot coffee or tea, which makes me very happy!! I then ran up to the English office to check my email quickly…and then ran to our desiignated classroom. It appears to be one of the schools conference rooms. It has a very large table in the middle. Our first class of the day was Chinese calligraphy! Chinese calligraphy is a beautiful art… it is very difficult…our teacher is very talented. He does not speak English, but Bruce (our translator) does a wonderful job translating and helping us with our calligraphy…

I was scheduled to teach Class 7 at 10:05…it was 9:55…so I handed my brush to Bruce and ran upstairs..When I arrived the students started chatting very loudly (in Chinese of course..)and then they all started clapping…they seemed very excited for my arrival..!  Ms. Cui Hongxiang, otherwise known as Helen came running in...she had been looking for me!!

Lunch – everyday at 12::00 --Mark, Alex, Lianna, their host siblings, and either Rose (an English teacher) or Bruce and I - eat together. The chef does a fantastic job preparing our meals. There is always tea…but today there were little white dried flowers in my tea cup! Chrysanthemums! It was a tea made out of dried mums! It was the best tea I have had in China (..and I have had a lot of tea..), and absolutely the prettiest! Imagine a clear glass of hot water, with pretty little white (with a yellow center) flowers floating in it¦ I drank about five glasses.

After lunch, I headed back to the English office – It is nice and toasty warm there..they have setup a very nice desk for me…Helen asked if we would be available Weednesday afternoon to go shopping for silk in order to get our Chinese dresses, and suits made!

Yesterday (Sunday), I was invited to have lunch with Lianna and her host sister, mother, father, cousin, mom's best friend and her son. They took us to a very nice restaurant that specializes in traditional Hangzhou cuisine. They were so nice, and they ordered an outrageous amount of food (here I go blogging about food, yet again..)…four vegetable dishes, two pork dishes (one being dongpo pork..so yummy)…an entire chicken roasted in a pot, chicken wingss, a huge bowl of fish stew with an entire fish in it, some sort of beef dish, a shrimp dish (for Lianna), dumplings, green tea bean curd cakes, and noodles…it was insane. Sue and her mother are so enthusiastic and happy to have Lianna stay in their home..We were talking about how much Lianna and I like dumplings and noodles, and Sue's mom invited me over to make dumplings with her mother. Sue's mother's best friend's son…he's  very shy..but his mother wanted him to practice his English by speaking to me..throughout the meal he would randomly ask me a question such as what are your hobbies..and then look away…

 After lunch we met..Mark and Alex, all of the host siblings, along with Alice, Bob and Ivan ( the students who came to DS last year). We walked to a KTV…Chinese for karaoke…in China you can do do karaoke at any time of day…you go and rent out a private roomwith couches, a television and two microphones…this way.you only have to listen to the songs that you and your friends want to listen to – and not have to suffer through stranger's singing horrible songs…

 That was Sunday…back to Monday… after schooh, Sue's mother picked us up in her red Buick coop..she was very excited about having us as guests in her home -- and finally being able to serve Lianna dinner! (She has gone out for dinner every night since last Wednesday…!)

After getting stuck in some crazy Chinese traffic… We arrived at the apartment…Sue's grandmother had prepared the dough and was ready to teach us how to make dumplings!! They had strawberries and a very small orange like fruit waiting for us…Sue must have told her mother how much I enjooyed the tea during lunch because she had some waiting for me.. She gave me a huge box full of it and a plastic bag – which I think was grown by Sue's father's mother… ! 

After eating some fruit..and drinking some tea… Sue's grandmother began teaching us how too make dumplings..she rolled out the dough into small circles…Then she began demonstrating..she picked up one of the small dough circles and placed a small ball of a ground pork mixture (that included green onions and garlic) into the middle of the small circle..then she pinched two sides of the circle together… and then very skillfully folded the rest of the dough up to form the dumpling!!

Li and I went right to work.  At first, our dumplings looked nothing like Sue's grandmother…but towards the end they were coming out pretty good. We had a lovely meal (our dumplings were very good) and we were once again joined by Sue's cousin, and mom's best friend's son..

After dinner, Sue's father drove me and Sue's mom's best friend's son home (I keep saying that because I do not know his name…) Back to the apartment – I am staying in an apartment just behind the school. It is very nice…There is a huge television, but I only get one Englishh channel.

Knowing my love for movies, Derek called to let me know that the Oscars would be broadcasted on CCTV tonight at 10:30…I do not know if I will be able to stay awake to watch them.. (even though I already know the results…) >

Hangzhou Highlights

(Allison)

Saturday – February 21st

We are finally in Hangzhou! We were looking forward to getting to Hangzhou because we thought that we would get a chance to rest…but we were wrong.. We have not stopped since we got here!!  Our first three days at Hangzhou High School were wonderful…Everyone here is so nice and helpful! It has been raining quite a bit! I am very grateful because Rose (an English teacher that came to D-S two years ago) loaned me an adorable black and white polka dot umbrella, and Derek loaned me a lime green poncho --that I can wear when I ride my bike in the rain!!

On Saturday morning, Mrs. Wu (vice-principal), Mr. Xie (vice principal), Mr. Chen (our driver), Derek (the English teacher that is coming to DS this spring!), Bruce (our amazing translator), Mark (you should know who he is..), Harry (Mark's host brother), Lianna, Sue (Lianna's host sister), Alex (Alex's brother could not come because he had to go to Shanghai to take an English test), and myself piled into the school van and headed to the West Lake!

We were very lucky..(once again!) because it was not raining…and the sun was kind of shining..

The West Lake is so beautiful. Kunming Lake – the lake that abuts the Summer Palace - was built ass a copy of the West Lake. Hangzhou is a very popular tourist destination for Chinese people. A scene of the West Lake is actually on the back of the single yuan.

We walked across the lake on the Sui Causeway…it is very early spring here.. and some of the flowers are already blooming… The plum trees are beautiful…and  they smell sooo good!

We went to a park, just next to the lake, called Watching Goldfish on the Flowery Stream… There were gold fish everywhere! Mrs. Wu bought us some bread and fish food so that we could feed them.  Lianna ended up giving her food to an adorable little boy – it made him very happy!! Then we headed back to the bus..

We traveled a little outside of Hangzhou to a tea village..the hills in the village were covered with tea bushes…it reminded me a little bit of a vineyard.  Some of the farmers in the village have transformed their homes into restaurants…

We walked down the street to a villager's home… In the front of the house, there was a large patio with some small tables set up with glasses of tea, oranges, sunflower seeds, and peanuts. We sat and chatted there for a while..snacked and drank some tea..  Hangzhou is famous for West Lake Longjing Green Tea… Bruce told me that Hangzhou is a city of leisure.  People enjoy relaxing and drinking tea!!

Then we entered the house..the house was very nice and very clean. The bottom floor was wide open, and included the living area for the family.  The food is cooked outside – just behind the house.. Derek said that Chinese people prefer going to these homes, over restaurants, because the food is much better…!

We walked up to the second floor and sat down in a room..it may have been a former bedroom… it had a set of glass sliding doors and a patio looking out on the hills of tea bushes. Then, the food started to arrive..once again—endless. There was a plate of pigs feet…Mrs. Wu told us that women love to eat pigs feet because it is good for your skin and makes you very beautiful…none of us were brave enough to try them – but our driver Mr. Chen ate quite a few!

After lunch, Mrs. Wu asked us if we wanted to play Mahjong…we had no idea what that meant. .but agreed to try it out.  We relocated to another room down the hall to play.  It turns out it is the best game ever!! It is very similar to rummy  but you use these game pieces..that are kind of like dominos anyway.. it is fantastic! Sue had brought a bag full of chocolate!! So we ate chocolate and played Mahjong for about two hours..

Time to go… we hopped back on the bus and headed back to the city… Derek invited us all over to his apartment! Alex was tired and decided to go home… Mark, Li, Harry, Sue, Derek and I got dropped off at Derek"s apartment.  Derek"s apartment is so nice! His wife Susan is also a high school English teacher. She is so sweet!   Derek has an enormous movie collection – American, Chinese, foreign, documentaries..... I was so excited --because I love watching movies..He told me I could borrow anything that I wanted!! He also selected some good Chinese films that he thought that I would enjoy… Because we loved Mahjong so much – we decided to continue playing games…..so we decided to play UNO.  We were listening to Averyl Lavigne ( I have no idea how to spell her name..) and Dave Matthews Band. Derek and Susan wanted us to go out to dinner but everyone was still full from dinner..we decided to just order pizza from Pizza Hut!!  After eating pizza – we decided to watch a movie. ¦Susan really wanted to watch High School Musical 3…I have never even seen High School Musical 1…but I found it very humorous. ¦I kind of felt that I was back in Boston..listening to American music, playing UNO and eating pizza…

After dinner, Derek took me home – I got to ride on the back of Susan's electric bicycle!!!  

Another Beijing Blog...

 (Mark)

 

Bet you're all dying to hear about our adventures here in Hangzhou (which are numerous and exciting, by the way), but again, that's not what my blog is about. No, no, this time you get to read about the Great Wall and Peking Opera! This, like my last blog, was also more than a week ago, so again, I apologize for fuzzy details.

 

That day was the longest day we've had on the trip. It started much earlier (around 8:15 or so), and went till about 9 at night. It was very tiring, especially considering we climbed a section of the Great Wall! That is actually what we did first. The drive out to the wall was about an hour and a half. Oh, on the way we stopped at a jade carving factory or something, but aside from the feng shui cabbages and the dragons that don't poop, it was pretty uninteresting. As we got into the mountains near the Wall, we passed fragments that were either once part of the wall and had been destroyed/fallen apart, or that were attached to other parts and actually stretched on past the mountains. It was pretty cool. We stopped at the Badaling section of the Great Wall, also called the North Pass. On his trip to China, Richard Nixon, along with his wife climbed this section. Mao Zedong also climbed this, and wrote at the top that 'anyone who reaches this point is a hero." with these words in mind, Obama Lama set out to conquer the climb. It was absolutely amazing. We were there on one of the very few clear days we had in Beijing, and from the wall, we could see for MILES around. We could see rolling mountain tops off in the direction of Mongolia, and other sections of the wall stretching in pretty every direction. It was amazing to actually BE there.. just like the Terra Cotta Warriors. The view made the climb somewhat more barable. It wasn't a particularly long ascent, it was just that parts of the wall are INCREDIBLY steep, like probably 50 or 60 degree inclines to the horizontal, maybe even more. Most of these parts have stairs, though some of them were just inclines with a hand rail. Even the stairs weren't easy, most of the steps were knee-height or taller, making the climb that much more difficult (especially for me...). So yea, it was pretty intense, and we passed through an old guard tower on the way up, which was pretty cool. After about 50 minutes, we arrived at the top. I was looking forward to seeing Mao's writing, but I'd missed the memo: the government removed the writing and put it somewhere more special in Beijing for the Olympics. No writing for me. We stayed at the top of the wall for a while, took some individual and group photos, then headed back down.When we reached the bottom, we had a little more time to walk around the entrance area, which is filled with a bunch of different merchant stalls and such, and a few bear pits. Allison bought a bunch of stuff for herself and her class, and I was considering buying a dragon. I did a lap around the shop I was in, and the woman followed me trying to sell it. Simply by ignoring her, I got her to lower the price from 180 RMB to 30. yay for "haggling." The bear pits each had 1 to 3 black bears in them, but they were nothing like black bears I've ever seen before. They had a huge amount of scruff or something around their neck area, which made them the cutest things ever. We all just wanted to hug them, but we decided that'd be a bad idea.

 

After the wall, we headed to the Cloisonne Factory, where we saw copper pots being made, and ate lunch above a large, way overpriced store. We then headed to the Ming Tomb, which was about halfway between the Wall and Beijing. When we arrived, we first walked down the Sacred Way, which is basically just a really long walkway with statues of animals and guards and stuff on either side of it. Somehow I'd dressed warmly enough that I was fine on the wall, but I was FREEZING at the tomb, which contributed to my feeling that it was kind of boring and uninteresting. After the walkway, we went into one of the actual tombs. I was expecting this to be a LOT of fun, but was sadly disappointed. Apparently, the tomb USED to be really cool and impressive, but in the Cultural Revolution, everything in it was completely destroyed. Everything in there now is a replica, it isn't remotely original. The whole place just felt like a museum or something--it was too bright and modern to feel like a Ming Dynasty tomb. Quite the letdown, I'd say.

 

From there, we headed back into the city. Me and Lianna fell asleep on the way back, but apparently we passed the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. It was dinner time when we got back, so Ashley brought us to a Peking Duck restaurant. It was the BEST duck I have ever tasted. But I felt like the whole thing about wrapping it up with veggies and sauce kind of ruined it. Oh well, it was still very tasty. As tradition dictates, we then headed to a Peking Opera performance. Our expectations were VERY low for this, as we all knew how bad it sounds to western ears, but it really didn't turn out that bad. There was a lot of music, and not nearly as much singing as we'd expected (which was fortunate... their "singing" is more like screeching). It was pretty boring though, because the show completely lacked a story. It was translated to english on an LED display, and some of the translations were really funny, so all of the westerners in the audience were laughing quite a lot, but I don't know if it was meant to be comedic. We left after about 45 minutes of the show, figuring we'd at least tried it.

 

So yeah. We headed back to the hotel, stopping at DQ on the way for some ice cream (I had a banana sprit! it was delicious!), and watched Juno, which was on HBO. Then, completely tired out from the day, we went to sleep.

 

Perhaps I will blog again tomorrow. If I do, it'll be about Hangzhou! Finally. We'll see. We're celebrating one of Alex's host brother's birthday, so I might be too tired. You can hope though!

 

10 days ago... wow, time flies!

 (Mark)

 

'Lo everybody! We're in Hangzhou now and it's awesome! but that's not what my blog is about :( I apologize in advance for this entry. I'm writing it more than a week after it actually took place, i didn't take notes at the time, and I was kind of ambivalent towards everything 'cause I was just so tired of traveling.

 

On that note, our second day in Beijing was incredibly cold. Before it, we really hadn't had sub 50 degree weather anywhere, and even the first day in Beijing hadn't been that cold. As such we were all completely under dressed and not prepared for the day. Even so, we headed out to Tiananmen Square, a little curious as to what we'd see there and what Ashley (our guide, in case that hasn't already been established) would tell us about the events of '89. On the way there, we passed the street on which the famous picture of the single Chinese student stopping a line of tanks from entering the square was taken. When we arrived at the square, Ashley gave us some info about it. For one thing, "Tiananmen" literally means "Gate of Heavenly Peace." A little ironic, I'd say. Also, the square is apparently the largest city square in the world. Yeah, it was pretty big. She then proceeded to tell us that the Square is a huge symbol for China because of the many key events that have occurred there. She rattled off a few that I don't remember, then got to the "Student Protest of 1989" and left it at that. I was debating whether or not I should ask her to go into further detail about it, but I decided against it.

 

With nothing else to say, Ashley took us across the square to the entrance to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City isn't actually a city, it's basically a mansion. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties (around the 1500s, I think), the Emperor, his concubines, and his eunuchs lived in there. The place is huge. There are enough rooms that if you slept in a different room every night, it would take 27 years to sleep in each one. There was a paranoid emperor who did just that, in fact, though I don't think he managed to sleep in each room. To get into the city, we had to cross one of five bridges that were all lined up. Only the Emperor was allowed to cross the middle bridge. The top officials of China crossed either of the bridges to the left and right of the middle, and peasants were only allowed to cross one of the two outer bridges. Even today they have guards posted on the middle three bridges, so that visitors can only cross the peasant bridges, but we assumed that if high ranking officials visit, they're allowed to cross in the middle. After the bridges, we proceeded through a giant door into the entrance way of the city. Each door had nine rows of nine tumor-like bulges on it, apparently because nine was a lucky number back then. There are also nine entrances to the city, according to Ashley, which we took to mean that there are nine sets of doorways as you walk through the city. As we walked through we stopped and looked at some of the rooms. They were all incredibly spacious... there was one that must have had about 500 square feet of floor space, and the only thing in it was a throne on a raised platform with stairs leading up to it. What a waste of space!

 

From the Forbidden city we headed to the Summer Palace. The summer palace is basically supposed to be a microcosm of China, filled with all of the most beautiful aspects of the country. Kunming Lake, around which the entire area is constructed, is a man-made replica of Hangzhou's West Lake. All the dirt and such that was dug up was just put right next to the lake to make Longevity Hill. The whole process took about 15 years. The biggest story in Chinese History regarding the Summer Palace is that of the Dragon Lady (Empress Dowager Cixi).  Basically, this woman wanted power, so she did a bit of research on the emperor, AKA bribed his eunuchs, and discovered that he enjoyed Peking Opera. She thus learned a song or two, and one day she pretended to be practicing her singing while the emperor was walking through a garden nearby. He heard her, and of course fell in love with her. She bore him a son, which was fortunate, as he died soon after. Her son was thus destined to become the next emperor, but he was too young, so the Dragon Lady took charge. She was pretty much a despot who loved living in style... she loved pearls, so eunuchs would fill kunming lake with them for her to find (along with fish for her to catch). She was never officially the Empress of the Qing Dynasty, but she was in power for 48 years. Her son was supposed to take over when he reached the right age, but for a long time he was simply a puppet controlled by his mother, until he "died mysteriously" at the age of 20. The death of her son meant that her nephew would become Emperor, but he was too young, so she continued to rule. Seeing that she would do anything for power, the nephew tried to overthrow the Dragon Lady, but was unsuccessful, and was thus placed under house arrest for 10 years. COMPLETELY coincidentally, he died a few days before he was supposed to be released. So yeah, she ended up ruling for a long time, and the fall of the Qing dynasty is largely attributed to her, but she did do one good thing. Apparently, one day, one of her eunuchs approached her and said he had found something that shined more brightly than a pearl. She eagerly asked what it was, and he showed her a light bulb (no idea where he got a power source...). The Dragon Lady loved it, and had electricity run to the summer palace so she could have light bulbs, making it the first building in China to have electricity.

 

We headed back to the hotel after the Summer Palace, as we had dinner on our own that night. Alex didn't care to go out, and I forget what Allison was doing, but me and Lianna went out and discovered the BEST mall ever. It had every store and restaurant we could possibly want, including a supermarket that sold American food. It was a lot of fun. We had Pizza Hut for dinner, marking the first American dinner all trip.

 

So yeah, that's pretty much it for now. It's getting late, so I guess I'll write about the Great Wall and such tomorrow or the next day. Just had to get this done at least 'cause Viz was getting angry!

 

Hogwart's Express...

(Allison)

I am typing this in our very small apartment on train Z9 that is traveling from Beijing..overnight to Hangzhou..we will arrive in Hangzhou at 8:17am! Although the last 3 ½ weeks (I cannot believe that it has almost been a month)  have been absolutely amazing..we are all ready to be situated in one place for awhile.

Today was the last day of the travel portion of our trip. When we woke up it was snowing…our first snow in China (although we have heard that there is quite a bit of it at home..)  We gathered all our stuff and headed downstairs to check out of the hotel.

Beijing is a fantastic city… the government invested an enormous amount of money into the city to prepare for the Olympics…they built 300 new hotels alone… but Beijing is actually not as built-up and modern as I was expecting…it certainly has been able to maintain its history and unique character..

Ashley, our wonderful Beijing guide, met us in the lobby and we hopped into the van. We traveled to the hutong section of Beijing..It is a very old section of Beijing, which consists of hundreds of homes built in the traditional Chinese courtyard style.  The word hutong actually means alley. The houses are built very close together, and narrow streets and passage ways wind through them. 

In between the old drum and bell tower, we found some rickshaws to ride! Our journey began (it was really cold…but our friendly driver provided us with a blanket). We pulled over and Ashley led us into one of the homes. An actual family lives in the hutong, but invites tourists into their home. A sweet old man met us at the door, led us through the courtyard, and led us into his living room! He proceeded to speak to us in Chinese, which none of us understood, but Ashley served as our interpreter. He told us the story of his house, and how his father had purchased it in 1935, and that it was taken away from them during the Cultural Revolution, but then returned to them in 1987…He showed us some family photographs and then walked us out. Hopped back on the rickshaw, meandered a bit¦and then happily returned to the van to warm up.

Next, we headed to…where else…but another temple (at this point – we have been to quite a few..)! The Yonghegong Tibetan Buddhist Lama Temple – this was certainly one of the most beautiful temples that we have seen on the trip! It is quite large, the last building housed  an enormous stunning Buddha! It is the largest wooden Buddha in the world, but it is painted gold and draped with a giant wooden bead necklace, and silk from Tibet Alex got in trouble for taking a picture…and was worried about karma...

Lunch = The Future Long Beijing Bean Sauce Noodle Restaurant  -- this was one of my favorite restaurants that we have gone to on the trip (and we have been to a lot of those as well…) usually, when we arrive at a restaurant we are quickly ushered back and placed in a private room (not always – but usually).  Alex, Lianna, and Mark all ordered noodles with pork, and I went with the famous bean sauce noodle. We actually got to order off the menu…usually our guides make thee selections for us..but the menu was in both English and Chinese, and Ashley let us choose.

Has anyone blogged about crossing the street in China? I think that people have mentioned the traffic patterns?? And how there really aren't any… and cars hardly ever give a pedestrian the right away.. when you cross the street…you actually have to cross it lane by lane..I usually try to find other people who are crossing at the same time..and just cross with them..

After lunch, we headed to the Temple of Heaven. The entire complex is actually larger than the Forbidden City…We walked towards the center and passed a bunch of Chinese senior citizens playing instruments, playing cards, dancing, singing, and also playing Chinese hacky-sack..one of them asked us to join him…so I made a sorry attempt to play along.   Ashley and the kids just laughed at me..oh well.

The iconic round building, in the middle of the complex, is known as the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.  Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasty used it to worship heaven and pray for good harvests, then we meandered around for a bit…

Ashley then took us to the Hong Qiao Pearl Market…to get war rm and to kill some time before we had to arrive at the train station¦ it is a very large building full of mostly knock-off goods and souvenirs – the sales people are extremely aggressive and were yelling hello at us the whole time..some of them even grabbed onto our jackets – in order to persuade us to look in their booths.. we were put off by their tactics..and did not make any purchases..

We had to be at the train station by 6:00..and we were not hungry for dinner…so we decided to spend our dinner money on snacks for the ride – this meant – a trip to a Chinese supermarket!! First,  I love Chinese supermarkets because they actually have bike parking lots…a parking lot just for bikes...! Our driver decided to join us..and although the only English words he knows are pretty much hello and OK…he was delighted to take us around..and make various recommendations towards our selections..He was especially helpful in the candy room – yes, a room full of candy…he helped Alex find  white rabbit…and he threw a bunch of different candies in a bag for me to try!

To the train station! The train station was a bit intimidating but Ashley led us through and found our gate… we had to wait a little while…but then we were allowed to board..We had to walk all the way down to the front of our train because our compartment was in the second car.. We got on the train and realized  how small our quarters would actually be… It took a bit of time and effort to work out a plan to fit all four of our suitcases, all four of our backpacks, all of the random bags and other items that we have accumulated, and all four of us into the compartment..but we did it!

It is 10:54 pm, Lianna and Mark are asleep and Alex is watching a movie on his laptop.. I need to go to bed now.. We will be in Hangzhou tomorrow!!

 

And Then I Almost Killed Lianna (that title is completely literal!)

(Mark)

Today we woke up and got down to our second kung fu class by nine. The dojo that we practiced in was pretty nice, it’s spacious and the floor is completely padded, which was especially useful for today. There’s a rack of weapons on one wall, ranging from cheap training swords to pretty nice looking halberds and spears. Also some spiked maces and weird chain weapons, which I didn’t expect to see here. One corner is filled with a bunch of sparring gear, as well as a large punching bag that I totally almost broke my foot on. The opposite corner has kicking pads and a bunch of weight lifting stuff. It’s pretty cool.

Warm-ups included jogging, suicides, grapevines, the usual. And then some weird kicking things, jumps, the unusual. After about an hour and a half of warm-ups and calisthenics, we took a ten minute break, which is when I tried out the punching bag. After that, he tried to teach us how to do a flip. A lot for a beginner, right? Basically the idea is that if you can do a small cartwheel really quickly, then it should be pretty easy to just take your hands out of the picture (small meaning your feet land pretty close to the starting point). For me and Alex, this sounded like a lot of fun. Allison and Lianna, however, who have apparently never done a cartwheel in their lives, were not as excited. We worked on this for about an hour, at the end of which I was able to do a quick, small, one-handed cartwheel about once in ten tries. I will certainly keep practicing though… doing a flip would be awesome. We then spent the rest of the time going over the series we learned yesterday, perfecting it and speeding it up. 

I don’t know if Allison talked about the little girl in the dojo, so I will. Basically, there’s a six-year old girl who’s constantly in the dojo; we’re not sure if she’s a student or if one of the instructors or staff or somebody is her father, but in her Shaolin jacket, she is the CUTEST thing ever. I bring her up because we noticed while going through our series, she was off to the side of the room learning the same thing. She was much better at some parts, probably because she still has the flexibility that comes with youth. Also she’s small enough that she didn’t have to bend down very far to be close to the floor.

After the first class, we headed to lunch in the “hotel” dining hall. It actually was quite good, despite some of the warnings we’d gotten from George. Unless we puke our guts out again in a few hours, knock on wood. After lunch, we basically just lay in bed for an hour, as we were too sore to do anything else. When we returned to the dojo for our third and final class, we were one down, as Allison opted out of it. This class started a little more easily than the previous ones—no running, just stretching and a few calisthenics and such. Then we did a bunch of random/weird things, including front rolls, back rolls, and the move where you start lying on your bag, flail your legs and push yourself up and end up on your feet. The only problem with most of this stuff? I couldn’t do it because my legs don’t bend. For this reason, Shaolin overall was kind of a bust for me. For those of you who don’t know, my legs were congenitally dislocated, and I now can’t bend them all the way. Chinese kung fu is heavily based on your leg bending—for one thing, all of the stances he showed us involved bending at least one leg. I thus couldn’t fully do most of the stretches and moves he showed us, but I just did my own version, and was able to complete the series anyway. It was still great to be here and to see everything, and to partially experience lessons, but it would have been much better if I could do it.

After the break, we did a very small amount of pad work, including some punches and kicks, but I think only because the instructor saw us playing around with the pad. Then class started for real, and all hell broke loose. It consisted mostly of strength training stuff (not with weights, thank Buddha). It was stuff like repeatedly jumping over a bench, doing a lap around the room carrying a partner, and doing a lot of push ups and curl ups as FAST AS WE COULD. It was incredibly tiring, though I realized that everything we did would have been EASY back when I was rock-climbing. Guess you were right parents, I need to work out more. When we finished, Alex said that he felt more sore than he did at any point during his three months of uber football training or something, back in freshman year when he was even less fit than he is now. 

After class, we headed out to the Shaolin sword factory. With four decorative swords, and a bunch of other Shaolin memorabilia in hand (including the red jackets that all 28,000 students have!), we headed out to dinner, which was nothing special. Obviously the swords didn’t come to dinner with us, thank you Lianna. Afterwards, we came back to the hotel to relax and repack our bags. We have another flight tomorrow, because the silly government stole our train tickets (according to Richard).

And then I almost killed Lianna.

Basically she was just drinking water, and apparently I made her laugh. It took me a few seconds to realize she was doing MORE than laughing—specifically, wheezing and spitting up water. When she was suddenly unable to make any noise at all, I figured it was time to run for help. By the time we got to Allison’s room, however, she was wheezing again, and from there she just got better. In retrospect, she probably wasn’t really in that much danger, it was just terrifying in the moment. And Alex was on the toilet the whole time, which just adds a little humor. His version of the story is much better. DeBors, don’t worry (and anyone else, I guess), she’s COMPLETELY fine now. So now I’m lying in bed writing this. I should probably go to bed, seeing as how we have to wake up at 5 AM tomorrow. EW.

P.S. I forgot to mention that I had a lot of coke and fries at dinner, to make up for the fact that I’ve lost about 12 pounds on this trip. Steve, I bet I’m lighter than you now! 

Shaolin Temple (Look Out Jet Li)

(Allison)

We are currently somewhere outside of the city of Luoyang..at the Shaolin Temple Scenic Zone. The Shaolin Temple is the birthplace of Zen Buddhism, and a very specialized form of kung fu. A Buddhist monk named Bodhiharma (Damo) traveled from India to China. He walked across the country for three years and finally settled in a mountain outside of Luoyang (the future site of the Shaolin Temple). He lived in a cave for nine years. While living in the cave, Damo drank only water and ate vegetation available to him on the mountain. In the cave he meditated, and observed the actions and movements of the animals –which led him to develop kung fu.  Eventually he traveled down the mountain, settling at the site of the current Shaolin Temple. He became the father Zen (Chan –Chinese Word) Buddhism, a form of Buddhism with a major emphasis on meditation. The kung fu that was developed, through Damo’s teachings, is a combination of Buddhist meditation and martial arts.  The movements are brief but strong and it is only used in self defense.

Next to the Shaolin temple, there is a martial arts school, the Shaolin Monastery Wushu Institute. Their student population is huge – 18,000 --they all wear red jackets and black pants. We are staying in one of their dorms…which is kind of run down and dingy..and there is no hot water in the morning, but everyone is very nice and helpful. 

Mark and Alex are in heaven here. They have been obsessed with buying swords since we entered the country…

George,  our new tour guide, is quite a character, he a little older than most of our guides have been, and he kind of looks like a cowboy to me… he wears pointing leather boots, and he has a big buckle belt…He met us in the lobby and we headed towards the temple.  Before we reached the temple, we stopped to attend a martial arts performance.

The performance was very impressive….the performers were all students from the school, ranging in age- decked out in their gi’s ( kung fu garb)  Two of the highlights included – one student throwing a large metal needle through a pane of glass, in order to pop a balloon, another student split a piece of steel over his head.

Lunch time – we walked to a restaurant that was attached to the temple.. vegetarian of course! Yummy noodles, and pieces of “chicken” made out of tofu…

Next – the renowned Shaolin temple. At this point in the trip, we have been to quite a few temples…as you know -if you have been reading… The Shaolin temple looked very similar to most of the other temples that we have seen…( I still think it is kind of weird that we get to walk around and take pictures in Buddhism’s most sacred places of worship) - but the history of the Shaolin temple is unique --considering the popularity of Zen Buddhism, and the cultural phenomenon of kung fu. 

The temple was built in 495 CE – but most of it was burnt down during various uprisings over time. Most of the structures are reconstructions, except for the two buildings that are the farthest back. These two buildings have beautiful - and very old- frescoes covering the walls. One of the frescoes depicts the monks of the temple using kung fu to defend themselves from invaders. 

 Back to the dorm to rest, and get ready for our kung fu instruction. Ok..so I have never taken any type of martial arts classes and I was a bit wary of the experience, but to my pleasant surprise, it was actually quite enjoyable, and very challenging.

Our lessons took place in a small gym area within the dorm. George introduced us to our instructor – Mr. Hu. He had us warm up by running , and then engage in some serious stretching.. We learned very quickly that kung fu requires a large amount of flexibility. We then did some calisthenics, -- running back and forth…including jumping, high kicks and spinning in the air.  Then Mr. Hu began teaching us the basic stances of kung fu….including “ma bo” (sp?) or horse stance…which involved sitting in a squat for a long period of time). Then he began teaching us a very basic series, continual movements involving various stances, punches kicks and other arm formations --  kung fu actually kind of reminds me  a little bit of yoga..  it took us a very long time to master the series - but it was fun… Mr. Hu was very kind and patient with all of us. Finally, he said that if we could get through the series – individually, on our own, we could end class. We did it!

After class we were exhausted, but somehow managed to get in the van to go to dinner, get back to the dorm, shower and go to bed….

 

Another Traveling day…

 

 (Mark)

First of all, let it be known that there was a mistake in the blog; I wrote the entry on the Terra-Cotta Warriors, not Lianna. As such, it was I that made the mistake in the entry: it was Chiang Kai Shek who was kidnapped at the hot springs, not Sun Yat Sen. Also, I think I spelled “Shelob” wrong in my Stone Forest entry. Sorry LOTR fans! I’m just full of mistakes!

So anyway, today we had a slightly early start, as we had to check out of the hotel at 8:45. Ew. At around 9, Obama LAMA said goodbye to Richard, who refused to accept our tips, which instead became donations to Peng Liu. We got into our private van, which was surprisingly spacious, and set out for our 5 hour drive to Luoyang. The drive itself was rather uninteresting, though thankfully quite smooth. We stopped about two hours in for a brief rest, and to check out the Yellow River.

The Yellow River gets its name from its color: a deep, muddy brown. So why not the “Brown River?” I don’t know. Anyway, it is brown mainly because of pollution and dirt from upstream. Essentially, China has three “levels.” Tibet, in the west, is the highest of the three. The Yellow River flows from the second level, snaking through many different provinces. Prior to the 12^th century, all of the capitals of China were located in or near the gorge around the Yellow River. I’m not completely sure why, because George, our new guide, told us that the river is impossible to navigate, as it’s so difficult to tell the depth of the water at any given point. Even today, most boats don’t risk it. Maybe they did before the 12^th century? Maybe back then it was deeper, allowing it to actually be useful for trade. As we drove away from the area, we passed by some large hills, which George informed us were completely dirt—no rock. In the spring, the wind blows dirt off of these hills, making the air very dusty, and adding to the color of the river.

After another three hours of driving, we finally reached Luoyang and the Longmen Grottoes. The Grottoes are basically a series of caves and niches, carved into the mountainside, featuring thousands upon thousands of Buddhas. Dating back to about 1,500 years ago, many of the limestone carvings have fallen apart (generally first the head goes), or else have been stolen or bought by museums. A relatively new pathway allowed us to walk up right next to many of the caves, including the Thousand-Buddha cave and the Fifteen-Thousand-Buddha cave, each boasting its respective number of Buddha carvings. In the Grottoes, the carvings range from a mere 2 centimeters to 70 meters tall. The tallest one is one of the highest in the mountain, in its own little clearing with a few other large carvings around it. Originally, to get up to it, one had to follow a long, snaking, and often-steep path of the hillside, but stairs have now been constructed for easy access. There was a relatively large cave in the way of the stairs, however, so they just went ahead and built the stairs around it, such that it juts out halfway up. It was really cool being there, we didn’t see any other westerners the whole time. George told us that very few Americans ever come to the Grottoes, and only a small number of Europeans. No world leaders have ever visited the Grottoes during any visits to China, and even Mao never came.

After the Grottoes, we headed into the city to a nice hotel for dinner, though we had to sit around and wait an hour for the dining room to be open. We ate in a buffet-style revolving restaurant on the 25^th floor of the hotel, which was pretty good. The food all looked and smelled delicious, but it certainly wasn’t the best tasting dinner we’ve had all trip. After dinner we piled back into the van for another hour-long ride to the Shaolin Temple. Our first impressions are relatively good—the “hotel” is just a section of the student dorms reserved for visitors. Each room only has two power outlets, and no internet, but I think we’ll all survive… Alex included. We’re just happy that we DO have private bathrooms, even if they’re not the cleanest we’ve seen all trip (Viz, you’ve totally been spoiling us in some of these hotels). As for me, I’m just hoping that the martial arts will be enough to take my mind off of the living conditions… looking forward to it!

Paintings, Walls, and Paradise

 (Alex)

For our fourth day in Xi’an, Richard decided to take us outside the city to visit one of the local towns and allow us to sample some of local culture. After about an hour’s drive, we came to a town that Richard described as “very prosperous and well-developed”. The town appeared to be more of a gated community than anything else, with a shoulder high wall surrounding the entire village and with one very grouchy gate-keeper. After our driver Mr. Liu and the gate-keeper argued for a little while as to how we would negotiate the car through a gate which looked only large enough to accommodate mo-peds, we decided it would just be easier to walk through the village rather than drive. We set off into this “prosperous town”, a term we discovered to be rather relative. Although the town was, by all accounts, far more developed than the towns we had driven through in Yangshuo, the only really indicator of prosperity was the relatively large and well made houses. The streets were, for the most part, deserted, with only remnants of the past nights New Year’s celebrations indicating that people lived here. After about 15 minutes walk, the real object of our visit came walking toward us. Xiao Ling, one of the preeminent cultural artists of China and winner of multiple prizes for artistic achievement around the world, had been contacted by Richard and had graciously allowed us to visit her home and studio. Entering her house Richard exclaimed in English “Her house is bigger than mine!” which gave us some impression of how well off she was. Her studio upstairs was covered from ceiling to floor with magnificent cultural paintings; very reminiscent of some of the German cultural illustrations I had seen in my childhood with a decidedly more Asian flair. It was quite an experience witnessing the works of a lifetime of an artist who had singlehandedly elevated her town out of poverty, and some of us even bought a few of her more reasonably priced works. After a good hour of just viewing her vast collection and asking her more about her experiences, we said goodbye to Xiao Ling, thanking her profusely for such an enormous honor, and headed back into the city for lunch. Most of the food was, as usual, great. However, one dish Richard ordered, “Mao’s Pork” was hands down the most delicious dish I have had in China. Those of you who know how much I love the food here will appreciate the extremity of this statement. With the delectable still Mao’s Pork sitting in my stomach, Richard took us to the old city wall of Xi’an where we learned a little more about the intricacies of ancient defenses of the city, and, of course, were able to bike the entire 26 km length. Mark and Richard stayed behind to sit and talk, while Allison, Li and I all took off at different paces around the wall. I took off ahead of the pack and pretty much stayed there the entire time, but I did meet a friend, “Fling”, a 14-year old boy from a village outside Xi’an who was also riding the wall for the first time. We talked and biked for a while, practicing our respective languages on each-other (he was far better at English than I at Chinese…) The panoramic of the city that unfolded before our eyes was truly spectacular, and extremely therapeutic. It was a beautiful day for a bike ride and I welcomed the opportunity to finally stretch my legs after what felt like weeks of driving and trudging. As luck would have it, Li and Allison had also made friends, the traveling companions of Fling. After finishing our bike ride, we said our goodbyes to our new friends and headed on to what Viz had described in the itinerary as “A Tang Dynasty Theme Park”. Needless to say we were all curious and a little hesitant. As it turned out, “Tang Paradise” was more of a Plymouth Plantation, only on a far more epic scale. We entered the walls of the recreated Tang Empire and were greeted with all the sights and sounds of an ancient, extravagant civilization. This place was enormous, dotted with many buildings devoted to many aspects of the Tang culture. My favorite was a stone carving façade devoted to many of the most famous of Tang poets. However, full appreciation of the park seemed lacking due to both to Mark still feeling a little bit under the weather, and that we could only appreciate so much of the history without speaking the native language or having learned more about its intricate culture. But we all agreed that today was a great day. Right now the fireworks are blowing up all around like a warzone (it’s the last night of New Year’s, and the Chinese are trying to get rid of all their explosives). I’ll take a video and hopefully post it soon. Will blog again soon!

The Legend of Richard

(Allison)

We are in Xi’an – a history teacher’s dream! It is a bustling large modern city, but at the same time incredibly rich in history dating back to ancient times. Richard – the legend…is our tour guide. Richard is a wonderful man..he is the travel agent who is in charge of the travel portion of our trip. We have the honor of having him as our local guide during our five day stay in Xi’an.

Unfortunately, Mark became ill last evening and was not able to join us for the day. Richard met us in the lobby of our hotel - which is in an excellent location – it is in the center of the city – inside of the fortifying walls built by the Ming dynasty – that have been maintained and destroyed and are complete today.   It is in the midst of the historic drum and bell towers, high end shopping malls, several restaurants, and the Muslim section of the city.  

Our first stop was to go shopping for the students of the school in Pangliu School (Richard grew up in Pangliu Village, a village outside of Xi’an, and still has very strong ties to the village – especially the school). Richard, Alex, Lianna and I went to a large sporting goods store, it was going under some renovations…and the sound of a large drill made it a little difficult to communicate, but we survived. Richard helped us pick out a bunch of things for the children – jump ropes, Chinese checkers, a soccer ball, ping pong balls, and few other items. We will bring the items when we visit Pangliu on Tuesday.

We then traveled to the Shaanxi History Museum (Shaanxi is the province that Xi’an is located in). Richard told us it is one of the three best museums in China. He also told us that Xi’an was formerly known as Chang’an, which means “perpetual peace” in Chinese. Xi’an has been the sight of the capital of 13 different dynasties of China including the ancient dynasties of  Western Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, Tang dynasties --as well as the later –  Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing.

Richard is incredibly knowledgeable on the history of China. Although museums are not their favorite places to go, Alex and Lianna were really good sports as Richard and I moved very slowly from exhibit to exhibit. The history museum has an incredible collection of over 3,000 pieces of historical artifacts. Including several Neolithic tools, bronzes from the Zhou period, terra cotta soldiers of the Qin, pottery and currency of the Han,  a detailed exhibit on the Silk Road (began during the Han dynasty - Chang’an was the start and end of the Silk Road in the east), tricolored pottery and silk of the Tang, and stunning celadon pottery of the Song dynasty.

For lunch, Richard selected a local noodle restaurant! Northern China is famous for their noodles and dumplings (we had dumplings for dinner last night). Alex saw Chinese meatballs on the menu and had to have them – good thing because they were so good! We sampled two different types of noodles – first, a thick noodle with a very tasty sweet sauce - second, a thinner noodle in a beef based broth=delicious, once again.

Second museum = The Xian Beilin Museum, also known as The Forest of Steles in Xi’an – it is the oldest museum in China. It was initially founded in the year 1087 CE - inside of a very old Confucius temple. It is the home of China’s largest collection of stone steles.  The steles include inscriptions of classic Chinese literature, historical events, and other important pieces of information engraved in Chinese calligraphy. The stones are massive and very impressive. Several of them are supported by large stone tortoises (Richard explained that it is because tortoises symbolize longevity and they can carry a large load) One of the stone slabs describes Nestorian Christianity arriving in China around 635 CE, a reproduction was made and stands in the Vatican. The museum also includes some beautiful tomb stones, large statues excavated from ancient tombs, and a grand collection of decorative horse hitching stakes.  After spending a considerable amount of time in the second museum of the day - we were slightly museumed out – but rallied to visit one more site – The Great Mosque of Xi’an – the largest and oldest mosque in China.

The Hui people are the largest group of minorities in China. They speak mandarin Chinese, but they practice the religion of Islam. The mosque was built in 742 CE --during the Tang Dynasty. It was built in the style of traditional Chinese architecture—so at first – you feel that you are simply in another Buddhist or Taoist temple - but when you look closely - you can see Arabic writing and art engraved into the walls.  On the way out - several of the Hui people were congregating in the temple for their mid-afternoon call to prayer.  We walked through the Muslim bazaar – and the shop keepers were yelling out at us “hello” and “just looking”.  We walked back to the hotel to check on Mark…he was feeling better but decided not to join us for dinner.

Dinner plans – a Muslim dinner! I did not know what to expect – but – as usual it was amazing. Once again Richard, Alex, Lianna and I headed out from the hotel and walked back to the Muslim section of the city and entered the restaurant. Richard took us up the counter and had us select some appetizers – we selected persimmon cakes, spring rolls, sliced cucumbers, and sliced lotus root. When we got back to the table there were four bowls with these flat round pieces of semi-cooked bread. Richard told us that we had to work for our dinner- and then instructed us to tear up the bread into very small pieces. We went to work…Once we were done the waitresses took the bowls away and we worked on the appetizers.

Eventually, the bowls came back and the torn up bread had transformed into an amazing lamb stew (I had never eaten lamb before our wonderful hot pot dinner the other night – now I have eaten it twice in one week). The stew was so delicious…and we were so full!  Ignoring our fullness and despite my mixed emotions of western food establishments invading the rest of the world.... Alex, Lianna and I were seriously wooed by the Haagan – Daz (with a Starbucks next door) located directly below the Muslim restaurant.  We gave in - the Haagan-Daz was actually more like a restaurant (with decadent ice cream creations on the menu) , but we opted for “take away”.  Alex ordered two scoops – and they put them in two different cups…it was funny. Lianna and I decided that we did want to sit down and enjoy the ice cream – Alex headed back to the hotel…

After we finished Lianna and I strolled back to the hotel – and we were fascinated by a women who was carrying a tiny puppy in a box. There were several rick-shaw drivers standing along the road – they repeatedly called out “hello – need ride?”. We declined. I convinced Lianna to walk to the fantastic pharmacy I had discovered when I went exploring last night…we made some purchases and then strolled, once again back to the hotel.