Tea, Silk, MTV and the NBA...

(Cassie) Hello everyone! Today is the two week mark...we return home in fourteen days, and we only have one more week of school in Hangzhou. Time has flown! And today was no exception; it was a fun day and it went by so quickly. Jiawen and I woke up and had breakfast out of the house for the first time this morning. We walked down the street to a local restaurant, where I had some dumplings and some sticky rice and she had a dish similar to an omelete wrapped in a thin pastry. Not quite as good as our daily baozi, but tasty anyway. After eating, we walked about down the block to a busier street to catch a taxi. It was tough, as there were many people vying for very few taxis, but we got one just in time. We arrived at the school only five minutes before our departure time. When we got on the bus, Jiawen said goodbye. She was given a ton of homework this weekend and needed to go to the library to take a chunk out of it. Our first stop was the Hangzhou tea museum. We didn't end up spending too much time in the actual museum, as much of it was under construction, but we did spend some time in the beautiful grounds surrounding the museum. We were all particularly enchanted by a small grove of cherry trees. Right now all of the cherry blossoms are blooming spectacularly, and these trees were no exception. Around us there were people sitting eating and talking, while children rolled down a nearby hill. All in all an idyllic area. After walking around the small park for a bit, we went to lunch at a restaurant called the Green Tea restaurant. It was awesome! The restaurant itself was beautiful...all of the walls were made of small panes of glass seperated by thin pieces of wood, with wooden tables and teacups to match. We all sat at a long table and ate lots of delicious food, including chunky tomato soup with bamboo shoots and broad beans, a slightly spicy curry potato and beef dish, and other great dishes. The dessert was just as appealing. It included four heaping bowls of peanut and mango ice cream as well as a small mountain of sweet ice with red and green beans on the outside covered in honey, and cube-shaped loaves of warm bread with vanilla ice cream. Unsurprisingly, there was quite a bit left over when we'd had our fill. When we'd finished lunch we made our way to our second museum of the day...the silk museum. As Lauren had already been to the museum twice so rather than going through the exhibit, we were instead brought to a special area to make our own Chinese-style tie-dyed handkerchiefs. The style of tie-dying wasn't too different from the usual except that a tightly wrapped string was used instead of a rubber band. Lauren's was particularly interesting - she ended up with a cool pattern of rings all over her blue silk handkerchief. When we'd finished, we jumped on the bus to go back to school. Jiawen met me at the school when we arrived. After saying our goodbyes at the Hanggao gate, we turned for home. Jiawen was hungry from her long morning of studying (she hadn't had lunch) so she grabbed some food when we got home. Then we watched the Chinese version of MTV, which is called Channel V. After some TV watching and singing (on Jiawen's part) we both settled down to read a bit before dinner. Dinnertime rolled around and Jiawen, her brother, her mother, and I walked down the street to the family's favorite restaurant to meet her father. At dinner we were met by two of her father's friends as well as one of the friend's son. Dinner was fun as I spent most of it teaching Jiawen obscure food names such as seaweed, ketchup, pumpkin, and snail. She kept making me laugh because she couldn't seem to remember ketchup and was getting somewhat frustrated. She'd always get the same look of concentration on her face when trying to remember it. We went home to meet two of Jiawen's cousins while the adults remained in the restaurant to chat. When we got to the house her cousins Jiaming and Jiayi were there. The names of her cousins are a bit confusing because they all have the same family name (Ling) and the first syllable of their given names are the same (Jia). So Jiawen calls the whole group the Ling Jias. Jiawen, her brother, her cousins, and I spent the rest of the evening listening to music on the computer and watching NBA highlights. Jiawen loves Jason Mraz...she's already memorized "I'm Yours". Her brother and Jiayi are both big basketball fans. Jiayi is a Celtics fan (I told him it was the way to go) while Jiashang really likes the Lakers. We went to bed pretty late. It was a very fun day followed by a very fun evening. I can't believe we'll be in Beijing soon! I'll be sad to leave Hangzhou a week from Tuesday. That's all for now. 'Til next time...

On Top of the World

(Sandy)

Monday March 29

Hi Everyone!!

Today was actually a comparatively slow day for me. I had a few unscheduled hours to use as I wished! So... I will tell you a little about yesterday in Shanghai and my trip to the top of the third tallest building in the world (Shanghai World Financial Center). When I was here 9 years ago, the tallest in Shanghai was the "Jetson Family-looking" Oriental Pearle TV Tower... today it is the third and soon to be the fourth. Construction of the tallest in the world is well underway. The Shanghai World Financial Center is an awesome sight. You gaze upward in disbelief that it is a real building. The Sky Walk is on the 100th floor, 474m above the ground level. I was told that the elevator zooms to the top at eight meters a second....and that it takes only about a minute and a half to reach the top. (I'm not doing the math!!) The Sky Walk offers a trek across an observation deck that is glass on three sides. It has a partial glass floor which is heart-stopping for those who are afraid of heights. Looking straight down 100 floors to the busy streets below one can see the dwarfed Bund, the comparatively short Jin Mao Building (second tallest in Shanghai),and of course the tiny old Pearle Tower.

The other really cool thing that happened to me in Shanghai occurred at an unexpected stop at an art gallery. While I was purchasing a book on paper-cutting, the sales person and I began to chat and I told her that I was an art teacher. All of a sudden she called to another person in the store and Li Shou Bai, a famous paper cutter, showed up at the counter. Through an interpretor he asked if I had some time to spare...and began creating a paper cut of a butterfly. He allowed me to film him at work and then signed and dated the piece and gave it to me! Until I read his bio in a magazine, I did not know of his great achievements and his gold award as "Best Paper Cut Master in Virtue and Skill". He is also the director of a number of impressive Shanghai Cultural and Artist Associations. Li Shou Bai  creates in other media as well. I wish I had had more time to investigate his other work. Time is always an issue here...there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything you'd like.  Best to all, Sandy 

Malling in China

(Lauren)

Hangzhou Day 21/ Shanghai Day 2

Most of the interesting activities that I have done with my host family have already been covered in other blogs, so instead of beginning this blog with a recap of my last few days, I would instead like to write about my impressions of my new family after several days with them.

Hongan, my host sister, is very sweet. She is more a lot more reserved than Ning was, and also tends to be more serious. I would probably describe her as more openly affectionate than Ning, - she's read several English novels and has heard of many classical English authors. Because Ning had a surprisingly small amount of knowledge about most American forms of entertainment, our conversations on those subjects were limited. I am really happy to find someone here who has heard of the author O'Henry and can discuss him to a certain extent, which is something that I would not necessarily expect American students to be able to do! Hongan is very interested in American culture, especially in the ways that it differs from Chinese culture. Although she is still a little reluctant to express strong opinions, particularly ones which I could interpret negatively, I really like hearing about the things that she has seen us do that she finds strange. Sometimes I think I spend so much time adjusting to customs that I find unusual here, I forget that my own habits are seen as equally perplexing!

Hongan's mother is one of the most fascinating people I've met so far in Hangzhou. Because she teaches seventh grade history and geography, she has amassed an incredible amount of knowledge about the historical sites around the city. She is also deeply interested in the differences between American and Chinese education. Although many Chinese students have asked me questions about American schools, I was surprised to find that a teacher held the same inaccurate views - everyone here thinks that Americans don't go to school until nine or ten in the morning, have no homework, and party all the time. We constantly have to explain that they shouldn't judge our entire education system based on Hollywood's portrayal of it!

Hongan's father is the person I know the least in my new family. He doesn't speak any English at all, and works most of the day. But he seems very nice. Because of his rounder appearance and everlasting patience (he was incredibly nice about waiting for us when he was on "chauffeur" duty last weekend) I have mentally labelled him "Buddha Dad." He's really sweet, and loves poker and Taichi (which he wants to teach me!)

Now, on to today...

Because today's weather was much nicer than the previous day's, Sandy and Derek were eager to return to the Financial Center to see the view from the tallest building in Shanghai. Thinking the price was a bit steep, Alaina, Cassie, Alex, and I separated from them and visited the Pearl instead. As that was even pricier, we decided not to bother going up to the Observation Deck, and looked around the square for something to do. Because it was before ten, many stores had not opened yet, so there weren't very many options. Fortunately, Cassie spotted a shopping mall nearby, which she and I visited. Neither one of us had ever been to a Chinese mall before. I think the comparison to America is as follows: Chinese supermarkets = American malls. Chinese malls = absolutely enormous buildings that look deceptively small on the outside, but that can fit thirteen floors, a movie theater, every restaurant/ice cream place known to man, a gym, and a yoga center quite comfortably, and still have plenty of room left over. I think my favorite thing about the mall was how layered it was. Everytime we went into a store, that store led into a subdepartment of the mall that we couldn't have seen from the outside, so we really could have wandered in there forever, never really getting a sense of how many subdepartments there were.

After a half an hour, Cassie and I rejoined Alex and Alaina, and we headed back to the subway to meet up with Sandy and Derek. Because it had taken the two of them a bit longer than they planned, we had to cut our plans a little bit short. We took the subway to Shanghai's famous Nanjing Road for some lunch (Pizza Hut, which is incredibly classy in China). After lunch, we walked around Nanjing Road for a little while, but we had to go back to the subway station to get over to our train back to Hangzhou.

The ride back was uneventful, and we were picked up at the station by the school bus, which saved us the ordeal of trying to find a taxi! Back at the school, we separated and each of us headed back to his or her own host family. I was really glad to see Hongan and her family again - I'd missed them more than I'd expected!

Tomorrow, we go back to our usual school routine. Hopefully, it'll be a laid-back day. The excitement of Shanghai definitely wore us out a bit!

PANDAAAS AND CHEEEESE!

(Alaina)

Hello!

First, a quick note about my week:

I want to mention an unusual interaction I had with my host sister Yimei. We were talking when Yimei unintentionally brought up a political issue (I think its better not to name it specifically or go into details) that I feel strongly about. Though I know she didn't mean to launch a political discussion and didn't realize how heavy her words were, she made a few casual comments that I felt I couldn't ignore completely. I told her that her statements were not necessarily true and asked about her background knowledge on the issue, suggesting that she may be missing part of the story. I was stunned at how quickly she became very upset, particularly since she had made the inflammatory claims and I had only asked for her reasoning. She sounded near tears when she told me that since we have different opinions, we can't talk about it, and since I'm not Chinese, I'll never understand her point of view and there's no use trying. This mentality is what really struck me. I know this sounds epically corny, but I feel like that statement is literally the antithesis of a major American ideal. I told Yimei that no, I didn't yet understand where she was coming from, but I might be able to if she helped me. I told her that I didn't want to change her opinion, just understand it- that's why I'm here in China, to learn things that only Chinese people can teach me. From there the cliches built- it's good to have different opinions, in America we like to talk about them, no one will ever understand without talking, lalala. Somehow my speech actually carried some merit; Yimei believed that I was just curious and let down her guard. She ended up telling me about the things she has read and learned, and the personal opinions she had drawn from that information. When she asked me to do the same it was clear that our facts have a huge chasm running between them. I think we both viewed each other's take on it with skepticism. Though neither of us believed the new revelations, we both found it interesting to compare our versions of the truth, if somewhat bemusedly. The whole thing began as a sticky situation, but in the end I'm glad it happened. The political discussion yielded cultural lessons.

Now, on to Wednesday

Spoiler alert: PANDAAAS and CHEEESE.

We arrived in Shanghai around 11am after a comfortable hour(ish) on the high speed train. After several subway lines and a short walk we were able to check into our hotel and begin our Shanghai adventure. And where do all adventures start? The zoo!! We were all resolved to see pandas while in China, and a major incentive of the Shanghai trip was the fact that several pandas have been relocated from Chengdu for the World Expo. The weather alternated between drizzles and showers, and while it wasn't as cold as the psychotic news reports predicted, I was preparing mentally for a potentially miserable trek. On the contrary, the drizzles ended up being an amazing stroke of good luck. The entire zoo was utterly deserted; sadly this meant all the food stands were closed, but that aside, it was much more fun having the place to ourselves. After visiting West Lake on a nice day, I can say that when it comes to tourist destinations, I absolutely prefer a chilly breeze and open walkways to the massive crowds of sunny days. We were worried that the animals would all be hiding due to the rain, but once again, the weather proved to be our greatest ally. When we made our way to the pandas we found that there was an outside enclosure connected to an indoor enclosure, the latter of which was roofed and contained only by glass. Rather than scattered around the large outdoor enclosure as they would be on a good day, all ten pandas were chilling in the much smaller indoor component. They were SO CUTE!! We spent about an hour watching them play, roughhouse, sleep, and look generally huggable from just across the glass. We also watched them get fed bowls of milk (?), carrots and bamboo. I took about 80 pictures, that's how unbelievable it was: a line of 10 pandas drinking milk, a panda hanging from a log, a panda sitting on his butt on a slide, a panda eating a carrot, a panda with a big belly... I swear, it never got old!! It was absolutely amazing to see SO many pandas SO close and with no need to share. The fact that this was possible thanks to crappy weather also adds a nice moral to the story. :)

After saying goodbye to our ten best friends, we visited a few more noteworthy animals. First, we saw a huge lion, also particularly interesting because he was so close and active. Despite the raw power and majesty, I think he was just as unhappy as any kitty to be out in the rain. Unlike other kitties, however, this lion began to growl and roar, seemingly at us. There is no way to describe a full-blown lion roar experienced at close quarters with no background noise or distraction. We also saw a giraffe that was practically knocking its head on the glass, adorable giant-chipmunk-tiny-deer things, elephants, and a silverback gorilla. I visited a major zoo in Bangkok that was not up to my humane-treatment standards, so I was happy to see that the conditions were just as good as the nicer American zoos and it was probably a bit cleaner and less smelly too. I probably should have expected this; as the World Expo is sure to demonstrate, Shanghai is an immensely modern, sophisticated, and international city.

Wow… the zoo was so exciting I didn't really pay attention to the rest of the day. I guess I was still playing with pandas in my head.

Oh, yeah! Food! Unfortunately for those interested in Chinese cuisine, this was not a cultural dinner… but it was VERY much enjoyed. We had driven to a small traditiional shopping street to look around and have dinner. Cassie and I, of course, were very quick to spot a beautiful, shining, majestic… Americann diner!!! They nailed the decor, complete with mirrored walls and leather booths. Cassie, Alex, and Sandy got burgers / fries, Lauren got pesto feta penne, Derrick got creamy shrimp fettuccine and I got an egg / bacon / cheese breakfast burrito with potatoes (breakfast for dinner! True diner style!). To seal the deal Lauren and I also shared cheese fries… withh REAL cheese, not the gross liquid nacho kind. Now, you've got to realize, legit cheese fries are difficult to come by in the US. I was PHYCHED. Ahhh, so satisfying. I've missed cheese! Other than the problematic lack of cheese, it's not that I'm tired of Chinese food itself, just the monotony. I've realized that at home I would never eat the same kind of food multiple days in a row. I miss the variety.

The shopping street was very nice to walk around. Most of us didn't buy anything because it was pricey (stores rather than stalls), but there were lots of neat things to look at. In particular, there were several photography stores displaying and selling gorgeous prints. I was interested to note that almost all employed the same Photophop gimmick, which I thought enhanced some pictures and was very distracting in others.

From the shopping street we met Derek's friend. They tried to take us to some kind of bar, but as all the party spots were full, we ended up in a nice coffee shop. The two quickly supplied all of us with very large frappacino drinks, complete with whipped cream. We tried to protest this addition to the unnecessarily generous food offers, failed, accepted the delicious chocolate yum drinks, and made quick work of them. This seems to be a repeating occurrence.

Uhm, I think that's all we did (the pandas! The pandas in my brain are blocking out everything else!). It was really a great day!

Yeeeeey

Kaybye

Thanks for reading,

Shanghai Here We Come!

(Alex)

Good evening America,

Its a fine Tuesday night over here, and the rain is coming down very, very hard.  The weather today started off mediocre and eventually spiraled into this storm.  It seems like last week's heat wave was short lived, but we can only hope for more good weather for the next two weeks.  At this point, we are all getting acquainted with our new host families and are doing well, but we already miss our old way of life with the first group of kids.  Li Tianle has been nothing but nice, but I miss Charlie and his family so much.  I guess I got closer to him than I thought I had, but its a very good thing I still see him at school, or else....I would cry (kidding).  Tianle lives about a half hour drive out of the city so I am also a bit further way from everyone, but his house is very nice and I am glad to have such luck to be with such a great and welcoming family.  They are all Christian and I very much enjoy the differences of their lifestyle as opposed to mine.  I plan on going to church with my family one weekend and I am really interested in how a Chinese church will be.  Tianle's father is actually building a church in the community for those who wish to worship and that shows his dedication and good attitude both to his religion and his neighborhood.  They are intrigued that I am Jewish, but I am not surprised seeing how very few Chinese are.  I have actually been teaching Charlie and Tianle a little bit of Hebrew here and there and they both love it!  Another shift for me is that instead of waking up at 6:40 am, I now get up around 6 am or earlier!  We live further away and we have to beat the Chang Long (Long Dragon a.k.a traffic) to get to school on time.  I told this to Charlie at school and he just laughed like usual, and I stood there reflecting on my shame...but we both enjoy picking on each other; he truly is my little brother (don't worry Jake!). 

As for the school day, we had our Chinese Painting class today and we began preparing to make our final "masterpiece" or so our teacher called it.  The girls are all excellent artists, so I feel very intimidated when they paint well and I can hardly paint a straight line for my life.  Couple this with the fact that my hands are really big and you have a recipe for destruction!  My first few paintings here were like caveman prints, except mine were just smudges of Chinese ink; it was quite embarrassing.  I feel like I have improved though (no matter how little), and I have begun to enjoy the class more.  When we finish our Chinese painting lesson, we all paint what we feel like or talk to Liam to pass the time, but we all very much enjoy our Chinese painting and calligraphy classes and wish we could have more of them.

Today was also a big day for the Shanghai Five.  We had our first meeting with Madame Miao..  She had been in Beijing for a while at the National People's Conference and was very busy these last few weeks, so it was finally great to meet the woman who clothes-lined our chances of going to Tibet.  She is a nice lady who runs a tight ship over here at Hanggao and takes pride in it.  Derek was there to help translate our meeting and we all discussed how thankful we were to be able to visit the school for one month.  Alaina, Cassie, Lauren, and I all individually introduced ourselves and Mrs. Thibeault gave her all the gifts from America that were brought for her.  I taught Sandy a cool phrase for when giving a gift to a Chinese person (Wo song gei ni) which translates into I give you a gift, but she kept thinking I was setting her up to say bad words in Chinese.  It was funny, but when she said it and it turned out to be an actual phrase I saw how relieved she was.  I love to joke around with Sandy just because she is fun to be around and is very gullible sometimes.  Her reactions are also priceless, however she is learning how to counter me at my own game and she is starting to become the jokester herself.  This is not good for me!  But anyway, after our meeting we headed home with our siblings and the rain began.

Tomorrow is going to be amazing!  Shanghai here we come!  I am very excited about going to Shanghai and seeing the Pandas, the Bund, and all the other cool sites and high rises there.  Alaina and Lauren both have their blog days scheduled while we are away, but they will be unable to write the blog when we are there, so there will be a big update on Shanghai on this Friday, so get ready!  Tianle and I are going to go do work now, but check back soon to hear from the Shanghai Five once we have officially been there!  Derek will be coming with us and help us get around and we all can't wait.  Goodnight America, until next time.     

We Are Sooo Busy!

(Sandy)

Hello Blog-readers!

Let me begin by saying that each day is filled with new adventures and often we are not made fully aware of exactly what they may be until we arrive at "the sight". It is my belief that our hosts know the daily plan so we all just go with the flow. Sometimes, for me anyway, the plan includes being passed off to the next family in the middle of the day. I am forgetting how to think for myself and how to organize a day. We are sooo busy, that I have had no time to sketch...thank goodness for cameras. The hospitality and friendliness is "over-the -top". We are all thinking that it may be difficult to return to reality after being treated like royalty for two months! 

This morning's CCTV9 news station had an interesting piece about Chinese weddings. There was a huge wedding expo held in Shanghai and it appears that weddings no longer reflect those of just thirty years ago when one black & white photo and a ring were the necessities. Now, weddings can cost between 80,000 and 100,000 yuan and bring in 2.5 per cent of the GNP of China. Each year for the last two years, over 10,000,000 registered to get married. During the course of our stay here, we have seen many couples getting their pre-wedding photos taken at some of the picturesque places we've visited. The pre-wedding photos are quite a production with the future bride and groom dressing in many different oufits and posing for what could be a Style or GQ magazine cover...some actually quite provocative!

As I was heading for my morning pick-up at the school's front gate, there were as usual, many many orange-clad workers using their long bamboo tongs to pick up rubbish and to keep the streets free of any unsightly refuse. Sometimes, they are hooded, masked and gloved and resemble a neon Darth Vader! They work hard and do a great job!

Boy have we had some unusual dishes while in Hangzhou and for the most part at least a few of us have tried everything. I definitely have my "never-try- again" list but am glad that we were offered turtle meat and shell, duck tongue, jellyfish, chicken feet, teeny little fish that look like a 2-inch portion of a round shoelace and a variety of vegetables that I have not seen before. My personal favorite food is the sweetened lotus root, bamboo shoots in all it's forms, and a clear gelatinous soup with dropped egg and tiny sweet marble-sized bean-paste filled dumplings...often used as a dessert.

I was asked to participate in the school's noon-time student-run radio broadcast. It was a lot of fun and the girls who run it are quite professional. One in particular wants to be news commentator an I believe that she will succeed. She reminds me of Katie Couric. I was asked to speak about DS, my family, my favorite Chinese foods and....why I think art is important!!! Those of you who know me can imagine my impassioned delight to have to speak about that subject. After they restled the microphone out of my hand...(just kidding)...! I referred them to the Internet, to Eliot Eisner and the Ten Things that the Arts Teach...it was all very interesting. This Friday, I believe Alaina will join me for another radio interview.

Lauren and I and her host family visited the Tie Sha River area...a man-made canal at the sight of the old East Gate of old Hangzhou. There is a replica of the gate that also houses a small museum exhibiting a variety of items from that era as well as the original base structure. The Mom is a history teacher, so there was an abundance of information being disseminated with great energy. The Tie Sha River connects Beijing with Hangzhou and was used by the emporer to visit Hangzhou during the spring and to oversee the planting. We also climbed Jade Emperor Mountain (a guzzillion more stairs) which is the highest peak in Hangzhou and offers a great view of West Lake and the eight-sided planting fields that the emporer visited. We walked all around it and through the gently curved walkway that divides the yin/yang tree-filled design in the center of the fields. The locals and tourists enjoy the park and fields...some future brides and grooms were having their photos taken there...and some children were playing ball over a large replica of the "farming calendar" invented by Wang Zhen in 1313.

We also visited the pottery and kiln museums that displayed the ancient processes as well as both original and contemporary pottery made only in Hangzhou...the Southern Song Dynasty Guan Pottery. Because Jade was and is still admired, the potters attempt to replicate the beauty and characteristics of jade in the pottery glaze. I will end as I began...everyday there are new and wonderful adventures to experience!

Best, Sandy

"The Man in the Egg ... He Was Really Big!"

(Cassie)

Hello all! I'm now writing from my new host family's apartment...as I'm sure you've already heard that we made the move last Friday. My new 16 year old host sister's name is Ling Jiawen, and she lives on the tenth floor of a highrise along with her fifteen year old brother and parents. Her family is from the countryside and thus is able to have two children...the rule is that if a rural family's first child is a girl they may have another child. Although Jiawen's family moved to Hangzhou shortly after she was born, the rule still applied. Jiawen is very energetic and quite fit. She proudly told me that she is the strongest girl in her class, and I'm not surprised. She is a bundle of happy energy. Her English is impeccable; she went to a special primary school, so she has been learning English for three years longer than most of the other students at Hanggao. She has been nice enough to agree to help me improve my Chinese pronunciation if I'll help her with her vocabulary, which she feels "is quite poor" but really is the opposite.

This morning, we began our day with blueberry muffins that we had bought at a bakery yesterday. After breakfast, we walked about five minutes to meet two of Jiawen's classmates and friends who all live nearby and therefore have joined in a car pool. After introductions and several questions about which Johnny Depp movies I've seen (one of Jiawen's classmates is a big fan) we got in the car to come to school.

For the first time since we arrived, the weather was nice enough this morning to have the weekly school meeting. This meeting occurs every Monday before school, weather permitting. The meeting was rather militaristic. All of the students formed single file lines which were seperated by class number and gender. The meeting began with the marching of the Chinese flag to the flag pole and its raising to the Chinese national anthem. Then, the entire student body made an about face to watch the day's speech makers - a first year student and a math teacher. After this the students were dismissed and the five of us went to handiwork class. In today's class, we did needlework. Each of us worked on a small wallet which had a cartoonistic, happy picture on it. Unfortunately, all of these wallets (excpet Alex's, he got lucky) had very small pieces which were quite difficult. For those of you who know me well (and probably some of those who don't), you're aware that I am quite clumsy. It was a wonder that I didn't end up with a needle or a pair of scissors protruding from one of my limbs.

We all managed to make it through the class with all of our fingers and proceeded to lunch. After a wonderful lunch, Sandy left for her radio interview and the rest of us made our way to our usual spot for English corner. Today we had a group of about twelve, and we played what seems to be a favorite game in China. It is a mix of truth or dare and pick a number. Basically, one person picks a number, and whichever person picks that number is the victim of the number-picker. The number-picker gets to ask his or her victim any question he or she wants. If the victim refuses to answer the question, he or she instead must do whatever the number-picker asks. We never get too crazy, but today it ended up that Alex had to climb a tree and I had to carry one of the girls around on my back when we refused to answer questions. As always, it was amusing and triggered lots of laughs. After far too short a time we all went to the first of our afternoon classes.

For the five of us, this meant Chinese. Our Chinese class was taught jointly by our teacher and Liam. Our lesson with Liam consisted mainly of a review of everything we've learned so far in the class and a very strange Chinese story. It was about a giant man who lived in a giant egg, where he slept for 18,000 years before emerging to form the sky and earth. We found it so hilarious that it prompted Alaina to write down a direct quote, which was "the man in the egg, he was really big". Looking back, we may seem nuts for being so amused by something like this, but at the time it was wicked funny. After Liam taught us, our teacher took over to give us some vocab about our favorite...FOOD! We learned some new words as well as some old ones. This class wound to a close, and we all went our seperate ways.

When I met Jiawen, she told me that she had music class. During her music class, we watched a segment from Cats and listened to some Tibetan music. It was very unique; franky, I've never heard anything like it. After the Tibetan music, we heard some traditional Chinese singing. Then, the teacher (who has a very strong, smooth voice) sang some traditional music. It was a very interesting class.

At the end of the day, Jiawen had a free period. We went for a run together. By the end, the heat had us sweating bullets. We ran for about three miles, then went to see Lauren, Hongan, Alex, and Tianle, who were playing badminton. We were also joined by Charlie. After a short time the final bell rang and we headed for home. On the way, we stopped to get some ice cream.

The process of getting home was much longer than I'd expected. It took us about an hour from start to finish. We walked about fifteen minutes to catch a bus. Then, we rode the bus for another fifteen minutes. Finally, we got off the bus to walk for about a half an hour. As the weather was wonderful the walking was quite enjoyable, but I'm not looking forward to doing it in the rain that's predicted for tomorrow. As Jiawen is always so happy, however, I'm sure it'll still be fun. When we got home, I met Jiaming, Jiawen's cousin. Jiaming stays with Jiawen's family during the week because it is far closer to her school than her own home is. Then, we ate a delicious dinner which included soup with mushrooms and pork, tofu and celery, and the omnipresent rice, among other things. Jiawen, Jiaming, Mrs. Ling, and I then went to go shopping at the nearby grocery store, which was huge and very crowded. After picking up some necessities, Jiawen and her mom began to pick out food. I must say, they really have me pinned. It was very funny actually. I'd told Jiawen that I like baozi on Friday; she and her mom proceeded to buy a whopping seven varieties of baozi, despite my protests. I didn't protest too much, to be honest. A) I do really like baozi, and B) they both seemed to be having a lot of fun picking out unusual varieties of baozi. The most outlandish was probably a type which is in the shape of rabbits, complete with little red eyes. After shopping, we carried the groceries home. Then, Jiawen began her homework. She seems to have far less than Yin...either I would guess all of her energy helps her to be very efficient. She had all of it finished by 10:30! Tomorrow, she tells me we will begin to sample the baozi. That's all for today! Til next time...