KTVing in Hangzhou

(Cassie)

Hello everyone! Today marked a couple of important landmarks...it is both the end of our first week of school at Hanggao and the exact halfway point of our trip. Looking back it's been a whirlwind of a month! And today was no exception.

First I must say that the weather was absolutely spectacular. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the thermometer didn't drop below 60 degrees until the sun went down. Yin and I began our day with a delicious (as usual) breakfast. Today it consisted of noodles in a chicken broth with greens. After Yin's encouragement, I mixed in some...peanut butter! While it may sound very strange, it was actually quite good. Our bellies warm and full of peanut butter noodles, we set off for school. I began the day in Yin's class, where they spent most of the period going over the homework - a series of reading passages that were very similar to the SAT but a little less difficult. Then William , their teacher (for those of you who don't know, he came to DS several exchanges ago), discussed their recently completed music projects with the kids. Over the last couple of days groups of two or three kids had been making presentations in English on music which varied from Lady Gaga to musicals to rap and a couple places in between. It was quite fascinating to see a Chinese take on some familiar music. After English came math, where I admittedly checked out as I could no longer understand. Realistically, that would've happened (as it was math) whether or not the class was in Chinese as math isn't exactly my strongest point. According to Yin, the class can be classified as algebra.

After the two morning classes spent with Yin's class of 55, the Shanghai 5 had their first class of the day together. The class was called Body Mechanics. We had it in a room on the first floor of the gym (yes, their gym does have multiple floors) which had walls lined with mirrors and a bar. It was, in essence, a dance class. Our teacher, who spoke a decent amount of English and was very enthusiastic, then proceeded to attempt to teach us part of a cheerleading routine. I say attempted because none of us are particularly gifted in regards to coordination and its wasn't exactly pretty to watch. After a short break (which I think was more for her sake than ours) we spent the last 40 odd minutes of class doing pilates. It was very relaxing. All in all the class really made us feel as if we'd earned our lunch.

After a tasty lunch, we went our seperate ways again. Yin had Chinese (in which they mostly read ancient Chinese literature) as well as geography and chemistry. In chemistry, the class was delighted to recieve the news that their exam had been pushed from today to Monday. With this happy atmosphere permeating the class, the last period passed quickly. As Yin has no class last period on Fridays, we got to leave after chemistry. Which was very convenient seeing as we had some fun plans ahead.

After school, we all headed to KTV! KTV stands for karaoke television. A big group of kids including Alex, Alaina, Lauren, and I, our host sibings, Sandy, and several others friends of ours and our host sisters and brothers, all made the short walk to the building which housed the KTV. We got a pretty big room, which contained a big TV, several couches and chairs, and a computer on which we chose our songs. There were both English and Chinese songs, along with several in multiple languages such as Japanese and English or Korean and Chinese. We were all amazed by the voices of our friends - everyone (I do not exaggerate) had spectacular voices. Ning and Liam had particularly stellar voices, along with Jing Yu Chen (a new friend we've made). Alex sang a great rendition of Billy Idol's "White Wedding", and I attempted to sing a song in Chinese with Yin. I have heard it several times - it's called "Xi Shua Shua". Zhu Laoshi played it for us in class, and I liked it enough to put it on my iPod. I'm sure my attempted rendition was quite an amusing sight.

After several hilarious and fun hours spent at KTV, we walked next door for a dinner of pizza! I can't tell you how wonderful it was to eat a piece of pizza...all of us from DS greatly enjoyed it. As my family knows, cheese is the American food I miss most (after chocolate) so I was very happy when the thickly crusted, cheesy Hawaiian pizza arrived. We've discovered over the course of our travels through China how food-obsessed the five of us are. Despite the heavenliness of the pizza, I have to say the company was even better. We sat in the restaurant long after the food was finished laughing and talking in both of our languages together. After we got up from the table, we spent at least another half an hour taking pictures together. No one wanted to leave. When we finally dragged ourselves away, Yin and I grabbed a taxi and went home. As nice as it will be to get to meet a new family, I'm definitely going to miss living with Yin and the rest of the Tus. I'm having a fantastic time in Hangzhou.

'Til next time...

News from "Marge"

(Sandy)

The sun is shining again!!! What a beautiful day in Hangzhou. It is a bit warmer and we are even beginning to remove layers of clothing. Yippee!

I begin each morning at about 6:30...getting ready for school and my truly lovely 10 minute walk down the "silk street" to the school. While I have been told about the optional gated back door that the Chef will open for me, I really prefer the short walk and the cool morning air.

This morning we had Chinese class. We reviewed the alphabet and the double vowel sounds and then went for a walk in the courtyards where our teacher pointed out many different objects and gave us the Chinese name, character and Pinyin spelling of each. Liam, our young interpretor also helped in class and gave us some useful words to use when bargaining...a process that is ALWAYS used when purchasing, even in department stores. I find it exhausting and actually miss having one price for one item. Two pears in China are about two yuan which is about 35 cents and a whole watermelon is less than a dollar. All in all, it was a pleasant low-key class that was perfect for those of us who are novices with the language, but I am sure a little too simple for Cassie, Lauren and Alex.

After Chinese, we had calligraphy class...a subject I was looking forward to and not disappointed with. Along with the calligraphy teacher there was another man who who was known as the "gentle guide". He has been retired for a while, but I guess shows up to help once in a while. He showed us samples of his beautiful writing and helped us with ours as we practiced the simple but technique-strong strokes that are used to write the beautiful Chinese characters. A simple horizontal line is NOT just a simple horizontal line! It is slowly created with a 7 degree upward angle, a little backstroke at the beginning and another little puddle at the end. We were given a huge pad of the practice paper which is made up of squares that are divided into a variety sections...just like the paper in Zhu Laoshi's class. This helps us to keep our lines at the right angles and in the correct proportions. Each of us was also given a portion of a 5-part quote that we will learn to write well and will eventually write on good paper as a final project. We all really enjoyed the calligraphy class.

Today I "taught" three afternoon classes. Here, teaching for me  is really just showing pictures of my family and talking about where I live. I then open the class up for questions...and there are always lots. Many are about SATs and how to get into an American university! Others include questions about our schools' similarities and differences, American culture, how much and when kids in America study, sports, our travels in China, food, my dog, and even how I met my husband! I have been talking sooo much I'm loosing my voice. Alex said my crackling up and down tones sound a bit like "Marge Simpson"...and also like another Marge in his life! I guess I have a new name.

All the best, Sandy...ooops, Marge.

Another Action Packed Day in Hangzhou!

(Lauren)


Hangzhou Day 6

Because the five of us are living separately, I would like to start off this entry by introducing you to my host family.  I live with my host sister, Dai Ning, her parents, and her grandparents.  Over the last few days, we have gotten to know each other pretty well.  Everyone in my family seems to have an interest in music and athletics.  My host parents regularly play ping-pong and badminton, which they are currently teaching me.  Even my host grandmother, who rarely leaves the apartment, plays a fantastic game of Wii bowling.

The family is also incredibly musically talented.  My host dad plays the erhu, a traditional Chinese instrument which vaguely resembles a two-stringed violin.  Ning is a great pianist.  They all enjoy singing, and have an amazing ability to learn whole songs simply from hearing the notes once!  Listening to them sing has made me wonder whether speaking a tonal language improves singing ability, since they all appear to have perfect pitches.  I suspect most of my host parents' English ability comes from music as well.  Ning loves listening to Chinese singers singing English songs, so the apartment and car are often filled with the sounds of classic English songs sung in a heavy Chinese accent.

Now on to today...

When Ning and I arrived at school, we headed to her first period class.  Ning worked to finish her homework, while I finished eating breakfast.  Within a few minutes, Ning's English teacher arrived to start the "unofficial class" of the day.  Ning and I listened to recordings in English which were supposed to help the kids' understanding of oral language.  Once this was over, the first official class of the day began: Chinese.  Chinese was mainly spent with the teacher reading excerpts from a work book, which the kids repeated.  Our next class was math, which was slightly more interactive.  After math, I left Ning to go to Kung Fu with Alaina, Cassie, and Alex.  Our Kung Fu teacher, Mr. Liu, opened the class by having us jog around the gym three times, and then we stretched for several minutes.  We began the actual Kung Fu portion of the class with a series of basic maneuvers, such as walking along a line on the floor with our heads up and our palms out (harder than it sounds).  We were then asked to repeat the move, but we had to do high kicks as opposed to just walking.  Some of us were better at this then others.

Once we had finished the basic sets, Mr. Liu tried to teach us a series of Kung Fu moves.  The first move involved drawing our hands up into fists and looking to the left.  Second, we jumped around a little and slammed our fists into our palms.  Then, we had to do a ballet move (I thought tne hand motions slightly resembled a pirouette).  The fourth and final move was so complicated nobody could do it.  Mr. Liu gave up on us, and told us the remaining hour of the class could be free time.

Alaina and I decided to play badminton.  Unfortunately, neither one of us really knew how to play.  Mr. Liu came by to help us, but it was very obvious that he was much more skilled, and found playing with us a bit boring.  So Mr. Liu joined another gym teacher, and Cassie joined our group.  To be honest, we were all pretty tired from the long days we've been having, so we didn't play much more badminton.

After Kung Fu, it was time to go to lunch.  Lunch was very delicious (it always is!).  We also met the chef, Shifu Wang (I think Shifu is the Chinese word for master).  As it turned out, Shifu Wang was going to be teaching us our next class - dumpling making!  That was a really fun class.  Dumplings are surprisingly easy to make, but there are many different styles.  We mainly focuses on the Xi'an, Beijing, and Hangzhou styles.  Xi'an style dumplings are folded over twice, Beijing only once, and Hanghzou are crimpy.  I made Xi'an, because they were the easiest.  We were all surprised to learn that dumplings are actually considered a dessert among the Chinese if they are served in watery soup (as ours were).  Only dry dumplings are considered dinner.

Once we had steamed our dumplings and put them in the soup, we ate them.  They were really, really good.  Ning also came back after her class to eat some, and she agreed.

Cooking was our last class of the day together, so Ning and I went back upstairs and had Music Appreciation.  That was one of my favorite classes so far, because apparently Music Appreciation means "watching English musicals on TV."  So we all got to watch CATS, which was a real treat for Ning, who is a big fan.

After music, Ning and I went to Astronomy Club (Hangzhou is particularly famous for its observatory).  The club has a big national competition this Saturday, so Ning and her friends were frantically preparing.  Hopefully, the Hangzhou team will do well.

After the club meeting, Ning and I headed back to the apartment, where we had dinner with her family.  In the Dai household, Wednesday night is badminton night, so my host parents and I left after dinner to go play badminton.  It was a lot of fun, but it was a real workout.  Ning's dad, who is a great badminton player, took it upon himself to teach me how to play properly.  He started out by teaching me how to wham the birdie at people, and then he amused himself immensely by whamming it at me, and deliberately aiming his shots for opposite ends of the courts.  He thought it was hysterical how I had to run and dive to get the birdie each time!

After a few hours of this, we returned to the apartment.  I was pretty exhausted, so I went to bed (poor Ning was still doing her homework!)  Tomorrow night is Wii Golf night at the Dais'.  Wish me luck!

Missing My Fuzzy White Blanket

(Alaina)

Hello!

So first, sorry that my last blog (the Pengliu day) never showed up… it's currently written but stuck on Sandy's computer, which hasn't been able to get internet in Hangzhou.

But.. at least we're in Hangzhou!

I'll introduce my host family first. My sister's name is Ling. She's planning to go on an exchange to America for her next two years of high school, so she's very interested in everything I have to say. We quickly discovered that we're both bad at algebra, interested in psychology / the brain, excited to see Alice in Wonderland, and therefore a good match. Her English is very good and steadily improving as she gets better at bypassing missing vocab words and I get better at guessing. Her parents are divorced so she lives only with her mom. I'm just seeing now that the mom does speak a small amount of English. She's incredibly good humored and friendly, so we have a great time speaking brokenly to each other in alternating Chinese and English. One night we had potatoes, and I told her that they are my favorite food (I now know more Chinese phrases concerning food than any other topic) and said that I want to eat them everyday. This was supposed to be a joke, one that I only said because I happen to know the Chinese days of the week and it seemed like a good opportunity to whip out this highly advanced vocabulary. As the obvious plot development would have it, potatoes have graced the dinner table every night since. While this was not my intention, I see it as quite agreeable. :)

Though there are only two people in the house, there is a very lively third family member: Tila, the teeny tiny fuzzy dog. It seems that their lives literally revolve around her... which is fine because she's SO cute. When my host mom brings out a certain black bag, Tila goes crazy until it's lowered to the ground and she can hop inside. I was calling her Rat Dog for a day when she puked on my suitcase, but I suppose I've forgiven her. I need to get my dog fix from somewhere, even if it's mini-sized!

On the note of missing things… I've been sorely missing the fuzzy white blanket that I live in all winter at home. I can see my breath in the apartment! It's a beautiful apartment on the 25th floor of a very nice gated complex, so it seems that warmth simply doesn't rank highly on their priority list. I was freezing for the first few days, then I guess they noticed that I was struggling to adjust. I've also had a perpetual cold and the coughing clearly alarmed my host mother, so for one day my room was blissfully warm. Now I can still see my breath, but I sleep in just a fleece instead of my winter jacket. The fact that my special treatment is causing unplanned lifestyle (and spending) changes makes me feel like an inconvenience, but I can't deny that I'm glad it's a little warmer. This experience has proven to me that I have not approached the level of enlightenment that is true altruism. Perhaps in a month, given the extra insulation the copious potatoes are sure to supply, I'll sleep outside to make up for it.

Out main apartment is about 20 minutes away from the school with no traffic. With traffic, the drive apparently takes more than an hour, so Sunday nights (because traffic is the worst on Mondays) we stay in a second apartment that's a 10 minute walk from Hanggao. Everything I said about the first apartment applies to the second, except that it's much smaller. After school Ling and I walk to the small apartment, where we stay to eat dinner and wait for the traffic to die down before driving to the big apartment around 8pm. I was a little disappointed that I'll continue to switch between homes and beds even in Hangzhou, but oh well. The people are great, so those small things aside, I'm very happy with where I ended up.

Today was our second day of school! After a bit of uneventful time in homeroom, we five met for our Chinese painting class in the morning. The teacher began by introducing the basic brushes while painting a simple picture. She then showed us a room of her own work. Wow! Her paintings include both intriguing / innovative abstract compositions and a piece that is honestly the most detailed and technically incredible watercolor I've ever seen. I was expecting her work to be mostly traditional Chinese, so the contemporary and edgy paintings particularly surprised and excited me. We were then let loose to experiment with the ink and brushes on our own. I like to call myself an artist, but I'm best with pencil, acrylics, and oils. I'm by no means a natural with techniques similar to Chinese ink painting (namely watercolors), so I've always avoided them. While I was embarrassed by the ugly flowers I produced during today's session, I'm excited to learn a new medium that I would probably never explore on my own.

In the afternoon, we followed our siblings through their classes. I went to Chinese, Computers (they're learning to use Flash), and Photography (the film kind). Seeing as I couldn't understand anything, there isn't much to report. In the end, however, it's probably good that I have all this time stuck in a Chinese classroom because it makes me do my DS homework. Thank you, periods 5-7, for eating a sizeable chunk of Hamlet. I don't need to understand Chinese though to notice a clear trend in all the classes: lecture, lecture, lecture. Every academic class and most of the electives have been 100% teacher talking to note-taking students. I can't imagine how boring this would get period after period, day after day. I know for a fact that I would not do as well in my classes if they were all so monotonous; yet another reason to admire the intense work ethic of my new classmates.

Finally, my last period was a "class meeting." Ling told me yesterday that the headmaster planned an American-style discussion about "history problems" involving money, WWII, democracy, and freedom. Given the scope of these huge topics and my potential lack of historical knowledge, I was intimidated! Unsurprisingly, I didn't need to be nervous as I was never asked about any of these things. The meeting started with a long PowerPoint presentation on the Chinese-American relationship after WWII. Ling told me that the class is thoroughly versed in everything that was said, so I believe it was for my benefit - but it was all in Chinese, so go figure. Then the teacher asked if anyone had questions about my life in America, but no one volunteered a word, so I just started talking about a school day at DS. The teacher asked about the college application process, and I outlined that too. Finally a few students ventured a bit of English to ask about afterschool activities, pets, AP classes, and April Fools Day. Everyone is SO hesitant to speak English! It's so silly. What's the point of knowing a foreign language if you refuse to speak it?! I think this lack of confidence betrays an indisputable flaw of the Chinese education system. In some cases, there's no question that students can't learn effectively without participation. (I think I hear all my past Spanish teachers cheering.)

To cap off the day, a boy with a lovely voice sang an English song. There was an awkward moment earlier when the teacher tried to find some talent I could share with the class, and I couldn't think of anything. Ling told him that I draw, so he decided that I would teach the class to draw something. I believe I was a bit less than graceful in telling him that I would not be capable of doing so. I considered reciting the "to be or not to be" speech, which I memorized while bored in computer class, but by the time I thought of it he had given up and moved on. I'll keep it in the back of my arsenal just in case.

Nothing exciting happened afterschool, so that's it. OH there has been important good and bad weather news. Good: it stopped raining and the sun came out! Bad: then it snowed. Uuuuuuh, hey mother nature, wachya doin?

Tonight's potatoes were very good - a slightly sweet brownish yum sauce.

Goodnight, America.
Thanks for reading.

Per-Capita Ping Pong Performance Positively Prodigious!

Hello once again all.  Today was our first day at Hangzhou Highschool, and what a day we had!

School over here is truly quite different then that in Dover Sherborn.  To begin, the day kicks off around 8 am and continues to 5pm, but after studying our schedules, it turns out that despite the increased day length, the students here have only an extra half-hour of classes than we do back home!  The breaks and lunch time the students have are very spread out which is great for rest, hanging out, or doing homework.  The classes all have no heat, so we were bundled up like a group of Eskimos in search of some place warmer!  The weather has been pretty bad since we've been here, but apparently last week Hangzhou had a heatwave and we just missed it.  Just our luck.

Either way, the students and faculty are outstanding and have been welcoming since we arrived on Friday.  Today we attended a small welcoming ceremony put on for us by the heads of the school minus Madame Miao (she is in Beijing for meetings).  After that, we toured the school and visited the school museum! That's right, the school has its own 3-4 stories dedicated to its history.  The school is over 100 years old and has a great history through many violent and changing times such as the ending of the Qing Dynasty, the Cultural Revolution, and Tiananmen.  We had a mixed schedule of our own classes and our host sibling's classes which provided us a unique feel to the school.  This is a great schedule because it welcomes us into the daily life of a student while at the same time providing the rest of us our own private classes for Chinese and the arts.

At 11:30, we had our first lunch, and what a lunch it was!  We had a good combo of Western style food mixed with Chinese food.  Not to mention we also had dessert first!  When we were all full, we headed out to our next class.  We also met our student guide (just like Bruce for Team China last year).  His name is Liam and his Chinese name is Li Han Bao.  He is a great guy and has applied to twelve American schools and already been accepted into two.  He told us that when he was younger his father always joked around calling him hamburger or han bao bao in Chinese because of his name.  We all had a good laugh from that and his sense of humor is great!  He ended up being our Chinese teacher today because the actual teacher was teaching us all a little too fast and too much, but when Liam stepped in, he really helped us improve and review our Chinese.

For the last two periods of the day we followed our classmates around for just a little longer.  Around 4 pm we all had P.E togehter and played some awesome rounds of ping pong.  I have never seen more people good at ping pong per capita than here in China!  I went against my host brother Chen Yifan (Charlie) and Alaina's host sister as well.  I had a friendly match with Cassie as well, which was nice seeing how we are both similarly skilled.

At this point, the weather outside was very rainy and cold so we all left as early as we could.  In China, the traffic is absolutely horrible, and when it rains out, it is that much worse.  What generally took 15-20 minutes to get to school took us over an hour to get back home.  Not a fun car ride except for listening to some nice jazz along the way.  Once home, Charlie and I did our homework while his parents made dinner, which was very good.  We had sweet and sour pork, tofu, and a really odd, but good, lettuce.  As I finish this blog now, Charlie is finishing his homework as well, so we must get to sleep soon for another day tomorrow.

Goodnight America and keep checking in.

Spooky Song!

(Cassie) Hello from Hangzhou! This is my first blog with my host family, so before I give a rundown of today's activities, I'd like to tell a little bit about them. First of all, their family name is Tu. My host sister's name is Yin she is in year one (sophmore year in the U.S.) and is sixteen years old. She is adorable, and is very into a specific anime comic called "Reborn". In telling me about this, and everything else, she is very enthusiastic and earnest. I've had a lot of fun getting to know her so far. Her dad's name is Tu Yong and her mom's name is Tu Hu Yongcui. They speak some English, but what they lack in knowledge they make up for in humor. It's been really fun watching Yong attempt to mime whichever word he's trying to get me to figure out...my favorite so far was probably gorilla. Yin's waipo (mother's mother) also lives with her family. She immediately took to taking care of me...she is convinced I don't have nearly enough meat on my bones, and has taken to asking me "Ni yao chi ma?" (Do you want to eat?) nearly every time she sees me. She doesn't speak any English, so I've been attempting to learn more Chinese by talking to her. All in all, the Tu family has been wonderful to me and have given me the warmest possible welcome. Now onto today's activities! Yin and I planned to get up around eight this morning. I woke at five til eight to discover that she had already been up for over an hour doing homework! It turns out she had been hiding just how much homework she has in order to spare my feelings and to keep me entertained! That's how nice she is. After a delicious breakfast of baozi, which are steamed buns full of leeks and pork, as well as warm milk (my family doesn't seem to drink anything cold, including water) we got ready and got on the road for the half hour drive to Song Chen. The weather was absolutely beautiful! It wasn't raining and was warmer than the day before. We arrived and were met by Sandy, Alaina and her host sister Ling, and Lauren and her host sister Ning. Alex was feeling a bit under the weather so he and his host brother Charlie (who insists on being called by his English name) didn't come with us. Song Chen is a little hard to explain...the nearest thing I can compare it to is Plymouth Plantation and an amusement park combined. It is a replica of a Song Dynasty village, but made very touristy. There were shops everywhere, and there was also an area in which there were obstacles and dangerous ways to cross a small body of water (such as logs or wobbling platforms). Alaina wore her rain boots and was the only one brave enough to try it. We also all went into an area (which was definitely supposed to be for small children) with a swinging bridge made out of ropes. While all these things were fun, I had two other things that were my favorite. The first was a structure made to mimic a Buddhist grotto. It was a long, twisting, skinny cave with carvings of Buddha. It was a bit unrealistic at parts...especially in a tunnel which had dizzying, spinning colored lights and gyrating music. It reminded me of a Beatles song off of one of their stranger albums. My other favorite part was the park's "Ghost House." It was an American haunted house, but vamped up far beyond U.S. standards. It included, but wasn't limited to dripping water from the ceiling that felt like blood, a small street with grim reaper like tenants, creepy two headed vampire baby dolls, and a live actor who jumped out at you. At this point, the house took a turn for the hilarious. When the actor jumped out at Alaina, she grabbed him and said "are you a real person ?" to which he responded (in English, no less), "what's wrong with you?!" I was in back and missed this whole exchange, but had the same question in mind as Alaina did. When I passed him, I called out a tentative "ni hao." I think he'd given up on staying in character anymore, because he responded to me as well, saying (in English again) "Hello! It's nice to meet you." I told him it was nice to meet him as well, and we made our way out of the haunted house. After lunch in the park, we all went our seperate ways. Yin, her parents, and I got in the car and headed to a nearby pagoda called Liuhe Pagoda. On our way, the sun came out! The pagoda we went to visit was built in 1121. It was beautiful. At its foot stood a stone archway with delicate red paper lantern and a red poster on which people wrote their wishes. Mine was the only one in English among the hundred or so. Yin and I then went into the pagoda on our own. Her parents had spent the day hiking a local mountain and were a bit tired. We climbed all thirteen stories of stairs to the top of the pagoda. The view was stunning. Although we were still about a twenty mintue car drive from the city, we could see both it and West Lake. On the other side of the pagoda were rolling hills covered by trees made lush and green by the frequent rain. After enjoying the view, Yin and I climbed down the steep stairs to meet her parents again. On our way home, Yin took a small nap while Mr. and Mrs. Tu chatted with me about the sights we passed in the car on the way home such as the local Chinese Art University and the blooming magnolia blossoms. When we got home, everyone else napped while I caught up on some reading. After a rest, we all headed to a local restaurant called Zheweiguan. There we had noddles made out of sweet potato with cabbage and beef as well as smaller baozi and lotus root. Mrs. Tu had fried chicken feet as well. Everyone else passed on that dish. That's it for today! Tomorrow is our first day of school at Hangzhou. I'm nervous, but I also can't wait to finally see the inside of the school and experience going to Chinese high school. Til next time...

Wii Bowling with Grandma!

(Sandy)

March 6, 2010

It was still raining…a lot…our first full day in Hangzhou. Helen came to fetch me at the teacher’s apartment at about 9:30 am to guide me to the school and to meet up with the rest of the “Shanghai Five” and host siblings. I am REALLY glad that I brought waterproof boots. It was pouring and cold most of the day. We were bussed to West Lake and because of the awful weather did not take the boat tour but instead visited the museum across the street. We viewed works of two contemporary Chinese painters. Their work was beautiful but very un-Chinese. Both had studied and painted in Europe and certainly brought the traditional technique back home. One of the artists was from Hangzhou, painted many portraits of his family and figure studies, and has works hanging in some of the great museums. Having painted in Europe mostly, the other artist’s work was interesting because all of his subjects were westerners. We then visited the part of the museum that housed magnificent porcelain pieces from a number of the dynasty eras. Many were in perfect condition with the tiniest details still in tack and included bowls, drinking vessels, incense holders, and a huge dish that had to be close to three feet in diameter. The beautiful matt celadon green glaze was in abundance along with dragons, lotus leaves, little squiggle designs that were meant to be silkworms, and some very humorous animal caricatures. Because it was still raining after the museum visit, we were taken to a teahouse for, of course, some tea but also sunflower seeds and chips that resembled the sweet-potato chips that we can get at home at the grocery store. Many of us were just happy to hold the hot teacup and capture the heat.

Next, I was told that I would have dinner with Lauren and her host family. Let me just say up front that it was the most fun and interesting evening for me since the start of our adventure. After walking up 7 flights of stairs, we arrived at the host’s home. It was a lovely 2-floor apartment with many surprises waiting. First we had some milk tea and then the Dad brought in what appeared to be a lemon about the size of a soccer ball. We were all in awe as he cut away the top and began to use all his might to peel away the very thick tough skin. It had a great citrus-like aroma to it. He gave us each a wedge and then showed us how to break it in half, peel away the membrane and eat the interesting fruit. It had the texture of a somewhat dry orange, but a nice subtle flavor. “Ning”, the daughter, said that her Dad usually never peels this at home, so I’m thinking this was a special performance for us. Little did I know that it would be just the beginning of many performances!

After a few minutes, the house was buzzing with visitors. Ning’s Grandma and Grandpa joined us from their rooms and an Aunt, Uncle, Cousin Frank and good friend knocked at the door. Ning and her friend played the piano for us. They are both very talented and kept us entertained. Lauren and Ning also played a duet they had worked on. I couldn’t even remember how to play chopsticks! Ning then let me know that her Dad played the erhu, the tall 2-stringed violin-like instrument. I asked if he would play and it appeared that he was not shy about performing for us. It was so interesting to see this instrument played up close…how the strings encompass the reed…how the reed is played on each string separately…where his fingers travel to create the notes…how the bow sits on top of the snake skinned barrel part of the instrument…I was fascinated by the mechanics and by how beautifully he played it. He even played the theme from Titanic while Ning sang a bit.

With that part of the concert over, Ning’s friend then unveiled her guzheng, another stringed instrument that looks like strings on a fancy log…played flat across a table. She is fairly new at this instrument, but played a couple of very sweet and soft tunes. Her hands floated over the strings very delicately and yet plucked them with a variety of finger techniques that were very authoritative and guitar-like.  When she finished she tried to teach both Lauren and me a couple of notes. It is much harder than it looks to create the beautiful sounds and look graceful doing it!

As if that wasn’t enough entertainment for the evening, we were then escorted upstairs to compete at Wii Bowling. Ning’s 14 year old cousin, Frank, was very good at this game and was encouraged to show his dominance, so Lauren, Ning, Frank, the Friend and I all competed. We had so much fun and there was a ton of laughter and good sportsmanship. After the first game, Ning’s 77 year old Grandma was encouraged to play me (I knew I was in trouble) so to fill out the second game, four of us played. Let me tell you, Grandma was talking to that TV (in Chinese) and tossing that virtual bowling ball like her life depended on it. Again, we had a great time with lots of good humor and great fun.

I think she beat me!

Finally it was time for dinner. We were taken to a really nice buffet-style restaurant at a hotel. The food was good and included spaghetti as well as many of the local Chinese dishes. Lauren and Ning had ice cream for dessert…a cross between gelato and sherbert. While I hopefully ate enough to be polite, I was still stuffed from the huge lunch we had earlier in the day. At the time I didn’t realize that I probably should have “carbo-loaded” because after dinner we were taken to the ping-pong room at the hotel. The host family changed into their ping-pong outfits while Lauren and I were still bundled up in the warm clothes required for the day’s earlier events…I had long underwear on! So you can see where this is going, right? To make a long story short, we again had a great time albeit a very hot one. After just playing for fun for an hour or so, Lauren won one out of two games with Ling…way to go Lauren! I just played for fun. Frank once again showed his athletic ability playing really intensely against his opponents.

Finally it was time to say good-night. I was dropped off at the gate of the school to find my way in the dark back to the apartment. I will admit that I was a little apprehensive, but after just one wrong turn found the right doorway. Thank you Joanne for the flashlight suggestion!

I will end by saying that Lauren is very fortunate to be staying with this family. They are so much fun and the hospitality was abundant.  And, I am glad to be joining them tomorrow morning again. I wonder what Grandma will have in store for me?        

Best, Sandy 

Hangzhou Safe and Sound (but whew!)

(Lauren)

Today was an early day for the five of us.  Because our flight to Hangzhou was scheduled to leave at 8:25 a.m., Richard had decided to play it safe, and asked us to be checked out and ready to go by 6:15.  As we ate a quick breakfast in the car, we fretted somewhat about meeting our host families.  Had we brought enough gifts?  Were we wearing nice enough clothes?  Cassie, Alaina, and I had gone through all of this the previous evening, but felt the need to hear each other's opinions a second time.  Alex found this discussion highly amusing.

We arrived at the Xi'an airport without incident, and checked our bags (sadly overweight by this point).  Once our luggage had been checked, we reluctantly said goodbye to Richard, and headed of through security.  Everything continued to go smoothly for us, and we soon found ourselves aboard the plane.  That was where things started to go somewhat less smoothly.

Shortly after we took off, the plane hit some mild turbulence.  We weren't particularly worried as we received the standard instructions to stay seated and buckled up for safety.  It wasn't until later, when the turbulence became markedly less mild, that we began to wish the plane would land soon.  Several times, the turbulence got so bad that we actually thought the plane had touched the ground, only to be proven wrong!  As our watches struck 10:20, we were relieved, thinking that we would be landing shortly.  That was when the announcement was made.

Since the loudspeaker announcement was first made in Chinese, we had no idea what was going on - but the rather distressed exclamations from our fellow passengers let us know that it was something serious.  We learned soon enough that the plane was actually unable to land due to the severe thunderstorms Hangzhou was experiencing.  Instead, we were being redirected to an airport halfway between Hangzhou and Shanghai.

While we found this redirection inconvenient, we were still not particularly worried.  We assumed it would be easy enough to land, reclaim our luggage, and catch the next bus back to Hangzhou.  We soon found out how wrong we were.  Once we landed in the airport, the flight attendants told us we would not be allowed to leave the plane, which was waiting to hear if the weather in Hangzhou had turned.  We sat on the plane another half an hour waiting for the weather before we were allowed off.  At this point, the airline told us that it was impossible to fly into Hangzhou period.  They suggested we instead fly to Nanjing (tickets we would have to pay for ourselves) and then take a bus to Hangzhou from there.  By this point, we were pretty livid.

The airline soon came back with another solution.  There were buses that would go from our current airport to a bigger bus depot, at which point we could take the bigger bus back to Hangzhou (an hour and a half ride).  Alternatively, we could stay in the airport and wait for the weather to turn, and then fly back (20 minutes).  We decided to wait until we could get ahold of Naichuan, Helen, or Richard to ask their advice.  Unfortunately, neither of our cell phones worked, and nor did a nearby pay phone.

Within an hour of our landing at the airport, the airline came back to tell us that the weather had changed, and that we could fly back to Hangzhou.  Elated, we rushed to get on the plane.  We then learned that the weather had not actually changed at all...so we had to continue waiting for the plane to take off.  2 hours later, we were still sitting on the runway.

Tired and grumpy, we thought longingly of our layover at the Chengdu airport.  At Chengdu, the airline officials gave each of us 100 yuan as compensation for the 6 hours we waited in the airport.  Since the situation on the plane was far less comfortable than in Chengdu, several of us felt that we deserved 200 yuan!  Unfortunately, this was a different airline, and they seemed to feel that seaweed-covered peanuts would satisfy people.  Alaina and Cassie tried the peanuts and said that they certainly were satisfactory - but not as much as money would have been!

Once the plane finally took off, we were told that the ride back to Hangzhou would take half an hour.  An hour later, we were finally landing in the Hangzhou airport.  It was four o'clock in the afternoon.

We met up with the Hangzhou delegation, who had had an equally unenjoyable day waiting in the airport for us to show up.  I was thrilled to be introduced to my host sister, Ning.  She is a sophomore, and is a wonderfully sweet, friendly person.  Ning and I struck up a fast friendship on our bus ride back to the school, where we met up with her parents.  Ning's parents didn't speak much English, but we had fun communicating in a mix of English and Chinese (with the help of Ning, whose English was excellent).  After dinner, we returned to their appartment, where I met Ning's grandparents.  She and I had a lot of fun playing piano together, even though I can't actually play piano.  We sounded pretty good, all things being equal!  After we finished playing, Ning's dad sent her to go do her homework (she had extra, since she'd missed school today).

I have been completely thrilled with the hospitality that Ning and her family have shown me already.  I feel certain that I will have a great time with her family - and suspect that Alaina, Cassie, and Alex feel similarly!  Tomorrow, we tour the West Lake during our first full day at Hangzhou.  The real adventure has begun!

Terracotta Warriors to Dumplings

(Alex)

Hello once again America. This is our second day out and about in Xian, and today we all had a blast! After having a good western styled breakfast (similar to that of our Hong Kong one) we left the hotel at 9:30 and headed off to the Terracotta excavation site. Along the way we stopped at a pottery and ceramics factory and toured the area. We saw them make Terracotta warrior replicas ranging from life sized to finger sized; it was really fascinating. The tri-color ceramic work there was also truly beautiful and highly intricate. There was a piece that caught all of our eyes in particular due to the fact that it was very dragon-esque, but not a dragon. It was called Pi Xiu which is one of the nine sons of the dragon. It brings good fortune to those who hold it, so of course we were all interested, but after spending an hour perusing the shop, we drove to the Terracotta museum.

Now to start, it was our coldest day in China yet so we were all sniffling like it was nobody’s business, but we are all okay and not very sick despite some malaria medication side effects. We all got student discounts with our school IDs so we took that opportunity to catch a go cart up with the money we saved! In this cold, we couldn’t have used it in a better time. Once at the top of the hill, Sandy and Richard talked about how just ten years ago the museum looked totally different and not nearly as clean as it is today. I find it intriguing to hear Sandy talk about her experiences of China ten years ago because I look around try to see it how she has. This just shows how much China has modernized in the last 30-40 years and how quickly and efficiently too! From the courtyard, we walked into a 360-degree movie theatre that was a thirty minute action-documentary about the history and discovery of the Terracotta warrior pits. There are three main pits at the Museum that were all excavated very close to one another, but the main area of the excavation site is 56 square km! This area is actually the tomb and mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang Di, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty. He was the first emperor to fight war to unite China from the 7 states into one kingdom, and he did so successfully. He came to power around 350 BCE and the Terracotta warriors were made shortly there after. He also was the first emperor to construct the Great Wall. The Great Wall had four construction periods and this was the very beginning. But after his powerful reign, Xiang Ji, a mercenary leader overthrew him and ended the Qin Dynasty. When he found his tomb, he set it ablaze and destroyed much of the Terracotta army (which took 40 years to build). It wasn’t until 1974 that peasants discovered the remains while farming and the government began excavating. Since then excavations are still going on, but upwards of 8000 Terracotta soldiers and horses have been found and preserved. The museum was awesome and I recommend it to anyone who visits China.

Before heading to our next destination, we stopped in a local restaurant for lunch. Richard loves to take us to places with lots of western people, and this was no exception. The food was great, but you could tell that mainly westerners eat here. From here we made our way to the Huaqing Hot springs. On a cold day like today this was perfect! We learned about the recent history at the springs along with the palace that is constructed around it. The Palace was first made in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and since then has been a relaxation place for emperors and high power figures. Jiang Kaishek, the leader of the Chinese Nationalist party, was actually kidnapped here in 1936 in what has now become known as the Xian incident. The Communists were pressing him to join forces to defeat the Japanese, but he was being extremely stubborn. He eventually gave in after months of pressure, helping the Chinese take a stand against the Japanese. We saw where he was found hiding between rocks on a mountain side. We also saw his private field HQ that looked more like a retreat than a military complex. The springs and bathhouses were really cool looking and amazing to see how they worked. The emperor used to come here with his concubine and spend a lot of time with her (the wife wasn’t too happy). Each bathhouse looked like something out of ancient Rome, but of course was Chinese. The palace has been partially destroyed from wars and deterioration, but the rest of it has been preserved perfectly and made a great stop today.

We then headed back to town for a dumpling dinner! We all looked forward to this so much since getting here, and it paid off! We ate so may different types of dumplings ranging from pumpkin pork to sweet walnut dumplings. Alaina loves to take pictures of our meals, so look forward to seeing them all.

Tomorrow we head to Pangliu village to see the children, so I leave you here. Goodnight and you will hear from us again soon.

Noodles mmm ...

(Cassie)

After a very late night, we woke up luxuriously late this morning for our first day in Xi’an.  We all skipped breakfast, as the breakfast service ended at ten and we weren’t meeting Richard until eleven.  He greeted us in the lobby with a smile, and we headed on our way.

On the way to Big Goose Pagoda, which is located in a park outside of the city’s center, Richard gave us a bit of background on Xi’an.  Originally, the city’s name was Chang’an, meaning long peace.  The city’s current population is about eight million.  The city has a very rich past – it was the capital of thirteen dynasties and is known as the cradle of Chinese culture.  It was the original starting point of the Silk Road as well.  The Han Chinese nationality, which makes up ninety-two percent of China’s population, was born in Xi’an. 

During our drive, Sandy couldn’t get over the changes Xi’an has undertaken since she was last here in 2001.  The government, apparently, is trying to restore Xi’an to its Tang style of architecture.  Thousands of villagers were relocated in order to make room for high-rises and hotels.  Among the buildings being constructed was what will eventually be the tallest in northwestern China.  It will have fifty-six floors – one for each nationality in China. 

When we arrived at the park we made our way through its northern square to the pagoda at its center.  Called Big Goose Pagoda, it was constructed in 652 B.C.  It is a Buddhist temple built for a monk named Tripitaka.  He made a long and dangerous journey to India in order to find scriptures that he could bring back to China.  His travels were the inspiration for the book and movie Journey to the West.  The pagoda was eight stories tall, and surprisingly sturdy for its age.  It managed to survive a major earthquake in the sixteenth century because of the building materials used – the bricks are made out of finely ground dirt, limestone, and sticky rice juice.  We walked around and explored the small temple buildings surrounding the park before proceeding to a greatly anticipated lunch. 

We had our first noodles at lunch!  We’ve been having lots of rice, but no noodles or dumplings because we’ve spent most of our trip in the south of China.  It was well worth the wait! We had two different varieties of noodles.  One set was wide and flat and came with a meat sauce with chives and scrambled egg, while the other was spaghetti-like noodles with a very strong and pleasant flavor that came with mushrooms.  We also had non-alcoholic pear beer, which was interesting but a little weird. 

After lunch, we made our way to the Shaanxi History Museum.  It had begun to get pretty chilly, so we were happy to be going inside.  We went through three galleries, which basically provided a window into ancient Chinese civilization through artifacts and artwork.  It was pretty fascinating.  The first gallery held the prehistoric, Qin, and Zhou exhibit.  There were a lot of Neolithic pottery and tools, as well as copious amounts of jade (unsurprisingly).  I found the Zhou particularly intriguing because Richard told us that they made ritual sacrifices for tombs, much like the Egyptians.  Slaves were buried alive with their dead masters so that he would be prepared in the afterlife.  When they weren’t killing slaves, the people living during the Zhou dynasty were making lots of bronze tools and intricate urns.  In the second gallery, we saw artifacts from the Han, Wei, and Jin dynasties, which mainly consisted of decorative tile ends, green glazed ceramic animals, and beautiful bronze mirrors.  Finally, we got to the third gallery, which held all of the pieces from the Sui and Tang dynasties.  These two dynasties ruled during China’s golden age, and this period of time marked Xi’an’s time as one of the largest ad most prosperous metropolises in the world.  Apparently (on a random tangent) the royalty often played polo during these two dynasties.  The Sui and Tang made a lot of gilded bronzeware, delicate silver urn and drinkware, and tri-colored glazed pottery (of which the horses in particular are world renowned).  With the end of this third gallery we piled back into the van for some rest time at the hotel before dinner.  Outside of the museum, we saw some of the most remarkable kite flying I have ever seen! A man was flying a line of small kites which stretched at least three hundred meters into the foggy sky above Xi’an. 

After a wonderful nap, we went to a hot pot dinner.  Similar to fondue, hot pot means that you cook your own food in a small individual pot of boiling water.  While the food wasn’t great (probably partially because we were cooking it ourselves) Alex had fun boiling eggs and Alaina managed to successfully poach one!  We did, however, get very excited when the amazing fried bread and cheesy frosting sauce we had fallen in love with in Yuanyang appeared again.  We all had second helpings. 

Full of eggs and cheesy sauce, we made our way to our final destination for the day – Xi’an’s old city wall.  This wall is now the tallest and thickest city wall remaining in China.  Richard told us it would be lit up for the New Year, but we weren’t prepared for how stunningly beautiful it was.  Frankly, I was a bit awestruck.  Even before we had gotten into the small square within the wall, we were starry eyed with lights and colors.  All of the trees were strung with twinkling lights, as well as a type of light I’ve never seen that looked light dripping water.  On the grass were 3D figures of flowers and bugs to complete the spring theme (Chinese New Year is also known as chun jie, or Spring Festival).  Banners of light arced over the entrance into the park.  We were met by more flowers within the wall. They were both mounted on the walls and on the ground.  Just when we thought the lights couldn’t be more gorgeous, we climbed up the stairs onto the wall, and were met by a solid half mile of 3D lit structures and classic red lanterns.  These structures included Beijing opera masks, peach trees, the Sphinx, Native American totem poles, and giant yellow hanging lanterns.  There were far more spectacles than these, but they were too numerous to chronicle.  I was reminded of the 4^th of July as children walked by holding blinking glow wands and fake glasses with glowing smiley faces.  Tired from our busy and a late bedtime the night before, we came back to the hotel for an early night. 

I can’t believe this is my last traveling blog! Talk to you when we get to Hangzhou!

Yakking It Up, Close and Personal

(Sandy)

First, we can’t believe it’s already March!

Today included a few interesting turn of events. The first being that our guide’s official company itinerary listed only the second leg of our two flight trip to Xian…so she thought we had a lot more time to explore before leaving for the airport. It was a good thing I chatted with her about the day’s events early in the morning. With the correct timing worked out, we left the hotel at 9am for a 20 minute ride to the base of Yulong Xue Shan (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) to catch a very, very large shuttle bus that would wind its way up and around many unguarded hair-pin turns to a chairlift. The chairlift carried us further to about 3600 meters to “Yak Meadow”. We were all very excited at the expectation of seeing these amazing and beautiful creatures that give so much back to the people – meat, fur, bone, leather, Yak butter sculptures and tourist income (more on this later). So after a fairly cold 20 minute chairlift ride, we arrived at the meadow and NO yaks were to be seen anywhere. There was a tiny monastery off in the distance and we were told that we would have to walk further up the mountain to see the Yaks…no time for either. To help warm the chilled bones, some bought hot chocolate from an elderly woman manning the mountain-side counter which also sold Yak bone chopsticks, dried flower pods picked from somewhere on the mountain and Dove chocolate bars. When our guide, Diana, asked for just hot water, the old woman replied that it would cost 5 yuan! She stated that she was the one who carried the water up the mountain and payment was due for the effort. We jumped back on the chairlift to head back down the mountain to a spot that we noticed previously. It was a lovely green mineral-tinted lake/river that housed a tourist destination which offered Yak rides and picture taking…for a price. Of course, those of us who are enamored with Yaks wanted to stop, so we did, and lots of “cheesy” pictures were taken of us on Yakback. For me, it was the next best thing to seeing “Yak butter sculptures” which are evidently mostly in Tibet (I haven’t given up, yet, though). Alex, Lauren, Cassie and Alaina waded into the shallow water, which by the way, was where the Yaks were standing…watch where you step!

After the up close and personal special Yak moments, we headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and to eat a quick lunch at KFC! Alex and friends discovered how to say “no mayo” which made Alex very happy! There was no time to spare as we needed to get to the airport. At the airport we said our farewells to the driver and guide and headed for security. This process, we have discovered, is VERY random with no rhyme or reason to the varied searches that have occurred. We are always frisked, sometimes let through with liquids, sometimes not…sometimes asked to open a bag, sometimes not. Only once have I been asked to show my computer, but a certain bag of candy seems to send security into a frenzy. At one airport, some of us were wisked off in one “secure” direction and others in a different “unsecured” direction. It’s all very exciting and keeps us wondering what kind of an adventure we’ll have at the next departure.

And speaking of airports, our storyteller, Alex, now has new fodder for a great tale. While there have been many (accidental) legitimate reasons for having our carry-ons searched, today, Alex was asked to open his checked luggage! It appears that his newly purchased antique Chinese bayonet could not be transported even in checked baggage. Fortunately our guide was still with us and authoritatively took the reigns of the situation. Alex was forgiven, but the bayonet will meet up with us in Hangzhou via the mail with thanks to our guide.

Okay, so here we are ready to board the first leg of our flight and Richard (Viz’s Chinese buddy) confirms to us by phone that the second flight is delayed by 2 hours. No problem, we’ll eat at the Chengdu airport to waste time, we thought. Once we arrived, we discovered that our flight had been delayed even longer. When we tried to inquire about the rescheduled time we were handed free passes to a hotel and nearly herded into a group to leave the airport…which none of us felt was a good thing to do. We finally made our wish to remain in the airport understood and were directed to a KFC…yes, another KFC! We had the no mayo thing down AND there was ice cream, so everyone was happy. We found a cozy spot on the floor near a door and proceeded to make camp. I used a luggage trolley as a seat and found it quite comfy and fun…could wheel around a bit like a crab. During our wait, we chatted about our happiest moments ever and reviewed the trip so far rating events and guides from one to three. To be sure that we did not miss the rescheduled flight, we later changed our camp location to the gate area and discovered that many, many flights had been cancelled due to bad northeast weather. Ours was one of very few that was still scheduled albeit, very late. They even gave each passenger a 100 yuan cash refund because of inconvenience. Finally, after a six hour wait, we boarded the plane for our relatively short flight to Xian. It was great to see Richard’s smiling face waiting for us as we finally arrived at about 1:30am. He zoomed us off to the hotel for a good night’s sleep and suggested an 11am meeting time…thank goodness.


Talk to you soon….

Dragons and 600-Year Old Camellias

(Lauren)


Lijiang Day 2

We began our second day in Lijiang with an early morning tour of the beautiful Black Dragon Park and nearby pool.  In ancient times, according to local folklore, the water of the pool was generated by the constant splashing of the Black Dragon, whose job it was to keep the people supplied with water.  Unfortunately, the dragon was a bit of a “playboy” in the words of our guide, Diana, and often neglected to work in order to spend time with his girlfriend, the Snow Princess.  One day, the Black Dragon abandoned the pool completely to move in with the Princess, and there was a terrible drought.  The people prayed to the dragon’s father for help.  When the father arrived on the scene, he was furious to learn that his son had stopped working.  He trapped the dragon in a temple, so that it would be forced to splash water for the people.  The Snow Princess turned into the Snow Mountain in her grief for her lost love, which is why now the Chinese find it romantic that water from the melted snow from the mountain feeds the dragon’s pool – proving that the Princess and the dragon are still together. 

While walking around the park, we visited the temple where the father imprisoned the Black Dragon.  Inside the temple was a little wishing well of sorts.  Throwing a few yuan into the well was supposed to guarantee longevity, but we found it difficult to get our yuan to sink into the water!

We then stopped by a Naxi Minority Cultural Museum, to learn about the customs and traditions of the local Naxi people.  The museum had many exhibits featuring Naxi clothing and handicrafts, but one of the most interesting was a study of the Naxi written language.  Naxi writing features a complex system of pictographs, similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics.  We learned that few Naxi people are actually capable of reading their script, since only the local Dongba (Naxi religious leaders) are permitted to read and write.  The Dongba then act as interpreters for the rest of the Naxi.  We were fortunate enough to be able to see one of the local Dongba writing scrolls.  Although Naxi script is different from traditional Chinese writing, the beauty in the calligraphy was the same.

Once we finished looking through the museum, we headed out into the countryside to visit some of the villages.  We stopped at a little village where the local women were famous for their embroidery.  To create a piece of embroidery, the women would have to pain a watercolor of the design that they wanted to stitch, trace it over, and then embroider it.  The embroidery work alone could take over a month, but the finished product was amazing.  Because of the tightness of the stitching, the finished products seemed to shimmer – from a distance, they actually seemed to be painted!  Even more impressive, each of the designs used was completely unique, since the women never kept the original watercolor pattern (those tended to be given to whoever bought the final embroidered product). 

We left the embroidery shop and headed for lunch.  Cassie was especially thrilled to be offered fried goat cheese, and we were all happy to receive fried potatoes that seemed similar to hash browns.  We ate quickly, because we wanted to check out a local market just outside the door.  We spent quite a while haggling over the local goods, such as yak bone bracelets and singing bowls.

Done haggling, we traveled to another village.  This village was particularly famous for its frescoes.  The biggest, most famous fresco was unusual for its mixed disciplines: Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian beliefs all coexisted.  Diana explained that in many ways, the fresco was a metaphor for China itself, where many people believed in a blend of these three philosophies. 

Our last stop of the day was a monastery containing a rare camellia plant.  This camellia was over 600 years old, although it only bloomed once a year.  Fortunately, we were able to see it in bloom.  We also met the lama who was the caretaker of the camellia, and had even saved it from destruction during the Cultural Revolution.  Diana explained that the locals joked that the camellia was the child that the lama had never had.

We returned to our hotel for a brief rest, where Alaina, Cassie, and I caught up on the Olympics.  We were also exposed to a taste of Chinese television.  As far as we could tell, Chinese TV shows are meant to be melodramatic with hilariously poor special effects.  The overdone acting and lighting made it seems as if a stage show had been poorly adapted for television, but we were amused nevertheless.

Refreshed, we went back out for a quick dinner.  We then decided to go a world famous Naxi Concert.  The Naxi music played at the concert dated back to the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, and was played entirely by old men (many of whom were in their eighties, and one of whom was blind!).


Once the concert finished, we decided to buy some plastic flowers with candles in the center.  We lit the candles, and then let the flowers go sailing down the river that runs throughout Lijiang – although all of us were sure to make a wish before we let go!  Spent, we called it a night, and went back to the hotel for the evening.