Yesterday, Saturday, we went to see the life-size Terracotta warriors. They were AMAZING! I didn’t realize it was one of the eight wonders of the world, but that’s what the sign said. It’s really hard to put into words what it was like. After the terracotta soldiers, we went to a Muslim Mosque which was fascinating. Then we went to shop at the Muslim bazaar. Bargaining is the custom over here, and I have found I am quite the bargainer. I bought a couple of souvenirs for Brett, and the cutest outfit you have ever seen for my soon to be nephew!!! (I guess that ruins the surprise Kris, but it’s too cute!) We then went to a jade factory, and I bought myself a lovely pair of earrings. Finally, we had a dumpling banquet which consisted of eight appetizers, 18 types of dumplings, soup, and a cookie. I can honestly say it was the worst meal I’ve had since I’ve been here, but it is the tradition in Xi’an. I’m glad I got to do it, but the granola bar after was even better. The good news is I think I’m losing a little weight!!
Today we flew to Cheng Du in the Sichuan province. Of course, it’s another huge city with millions of people, but very different from the other cities we’ve visited. It is not really a tourist attraction and very little English is known or spoken by the locals. Tibetans also heavily influence Cheng Du and we’ve already seen several of them. Very cool!
I have to share a story about the flight to Cheng Du today! I was the first American/white person on the plane. Remember Cheng Du is not a tourist area so everyone was staring at me. None of my other group members had boarded yet. As I found my seat, it was next to two young Chinese men. As soon as I sat down everyone started snickering, turning around, and even taking pictures!!! Halfway into the flight one of the men started talking to me in Chinese, but of course I couldn’t understand him. A little later, I could hear them practicing very broken English. Then they handed me a paper that said “Do you speak Chinese? What country from? Welcome to China!!” I cracked up it was so cute! Then we tried to talk with very broken English. I did find out they were on vacation, but that was a hard word to translate. It took three rows of Chinese passengers to figure it out; by the end, they were all smiling and waving at me! I told them I was a teacher and they thought that was exciting. Finally they wrote me another note that said “Nice to see you have a nice trip!” Then we all took pictures together and waved goodbye. I loved that interaction and look forward to more. I seriously felt like a rockstar! Ha!
Tomorrow we start the school visits, but this is the time of the Dragonboat festival, a huge holiday in China. The kids are actually out of school, but would you believe... not only the admin and teachers are coming back, but also the students are going to go to school tomorrow just because we are visiting. They think it’s such an honor to meet Americans. I just can’t get over the concept we have of the Chinese in America, it is so different from what we are experiencing. They are by far the kindest people I have met.
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