So right after school on Friday, Sparky and Bob drove all of us to the train station. We had all 12 of us Shiqi girls, plus all 14 of the Kaiyin group, plus about 6 coordinators, so we were doing a lot of head counts and attracting a lot of stares. But we made it through security, boarded, and after a couple of speed train rides we were in Chongsha!
We got on a tour bus and went straight to our hotel. We had a break before dinner, so we went to our rooms to "rest". Mckenna and I were roomies for the weekend, and Larkin and Emily were right next door. It was a party! And the rooms... oh, the rooms. I don't know if it was a really nice hotel room, or if my standards have decreased dramatically since the last time I stayed in an actual hotel, but it felt like we were living in luxury.
First of all, the beds. We walked into the room and immediately flopped on our beds. And they were so soft. I can't remember the last time I slept on a bed that can be described as "soft". (Actually, I can. It was January 14th. In my own bed. In America.) But these beds were an absolute dream! I was literally crying tears of joy. Judge me if you want, but it may have been the happiest moment of my life.
Second of all, the carpet. When is the last time I felt the feeling of carpet on my bare feet? (You guessed it. January 14th.) I think the only thing that got me out of that wonderful bed in the mornings was knowing that I got to walk barefoot on actual carpet.
Third, the shower. There were two shower heads: one on the wall, and one straight above your head so you could feel like you were in a warm, clean waterfall shower. It was steamy and wonderful, and best of all, it didn't smell like a giraffe like our bathroom in our apartment always does!
We had dinner that night in our hotel. There was pork, beef, eel, tofu, pumpkin cakes, fish balls... you know, the usual. I ate way too much. Then we went back to our hotel room and had some good old-fashioned sleepover fun! There was jumping on the beds and dancing and singing and embarrassing-picture-taking... all the good stuff. Then I remade my bed and crashed for the night.
The next morning was the signing ceremony. We knew that Bond was signing with a real estate company to build a new kindergarten, and we had to perform at the ceremony, but that's pretty much all we knew. So we showed up to this place in our matching orange jackets and I immediately felt out of place. There was a full on red carpet. There was a girl painted gold. There was a clown. There were black guys playing bongo drums. Then we went inside, and there was a girl playing the harp, a magician, some girls in crazy dresses, and a dessert bar. So naturally we all headed straight for the free cake.
Then we went outside, where there was a tent set up for the performances. We were told we weren't performing until after lunch, so we sat back at relaxed. There was another magician, some underwear models in wings, some Latin dancers... it was the weirdest show ever. Then we were informed that we were performing "The Cha-Cha Slide"... um, okay? So like 8 of us got up on the stage and did the dance for the audience. Finally, all my years of going to stake dances have paid off!
Then we went to lunch at a random cafe. They brought us fried rice, beef soup, and fried eggplant and green beans. It was delicious. Then we went back to the party to perform!
When we went back, it had started raining pretty hard, so the majority of the audience had left. I'm really bad at estimating numbers of people, but there were only maybe 50 people there. Which is good, because our performances were really not the best. First, 6 of us girls sang "LOVE" by Nat King Cole. The music was turned up really loud, so no one could hear us, and we had to hold the microphones, which got awkward. Then we performed a dance to "We Got the Beat", which we had already performed at the banquet before our Sanya trip, and that was a little rusty, but whatever. Then we did a dance to "Weight of Living", which went pretty well considering the fact that we choreographed the whole thing last week. The Kaiyin group also did some performances. I think we were all pretty excited when that was over.
That night after a nap and dinner, we went shopping! We finally got to see some of the sights in Changsha, and I really loved it! We went to a shopping street with a bunch of traditional shops where you can get scarves, dresses, jewelry, fans... pretty much anything your heart could desire. It was a very Chinese place. I loved it.
The next day we visited Hunan University. We hiked up a mountain there to the Buddhist College, where I guess monks go to study? It was a beautiful temple with amazing statues and shrines, and the 2 oldest trees in Hunan, which, according to the plaque next to them, survived a bombing in the 30's. So that's cool.
Then we hiked back down, rode the bus to McDonald's for lunch, and headed back to the train station. When we got back to Zhongshan, Sparky was waiting for us with the party bus, and I was actually glad to see my apartment again, even though I will always miss my hotel room!
Alright. That was a little rambly. Sorry. But I'm going to Beijing tomorrow! Woohoo! Wish me luck!
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