Children's Day

Children's day was on June 1st, and we celebrated all week. There were balloons and streamers all over the school. That Thursday, we had a really cool experience! For Children's Day our school donated a bunch of new supplies and books to the special education school, so we got to go and meet some of the students there. When we first got there there were a lot of students in the auditorium. There was a little boy with Down Syndrome that caught my eye once I sat down, and he pointed right at me and smiled, and I waved back. It was adorable. Most of the students left right after we got there, but some of the students with less severe disabilities stayed, and some students from our school showed up with their parents.

We played games up on the stage, and we did a performance, and then the students did a performance. Their performance was awesome! I think most of the kids that were dancing were deaf, but they had some serious rhythm. They were the coolest.

Then one of the teachers from the school taught us some Chinese sign language. Then we had a card exchange. I gave a card I made to a little boy. I'm not sure what disability he had, but he had the craziest blue eyes I've ever seen. He was awesome. he gave me a card too! It's in Chinese, but I think it says "Happy Children's Day, happy every day." SO cute.

The next day was the big Children's Day celebration. We performed a routine our kung fu teacher taught us. I was originally part of the actual kung fu part, but when we needed an extra person to wave the flags I volunteered to switch to being a flag girl. I thought it would be easier... I was wrong. Those flags are dang heavy, and we had to run around a lot. But I think it looked pretty darn cool! My favorite part of performing was seeing our students sitting in the front row cheering us on. They kept giving us the thumbs-up and encouraging us. They looked like tiny parents watching their kids at a dance recital. 

The kids' performances were far better than ours. My class is did a dance to "We Will Rock You." It was the cutest thing ever, and their costumes made them look like Lady Gaga backup dancers.

Me and Windy backstage

Pumped for Kung Fu!

Larkin and I love these outfits!

Post-performance shots with Jack and Allie

Beijing & Xi'an

So... I went to Beijing! It's been a while... but it was awesome. I loved it. I highly recommend it. Here are the things we did there!

The first day consisted of a 21-hour train ride, so that was fun. I slept for a grand total of maybe 3 or 4 hours, and the rest was spent having lots of fun conversations with my train friends, laughing until I cried, and beating Shawna at card games.

We finally arrived in Beijing, got to the hostel, and got settled in. We explored the markets and shops that were across the street. Then we headed to see the Olympic nest, where the 2008 Olympics were held.

The next day we woke up super early and headed off to see the Great Wall at 6 am. It was a long bus ride to get there, but the wall was amazing! 

We spent a few hours on the wall hiking and taking pictures. Then we ate some lunch and got back on the bus. By the time we got back to our hostel, it was dinner time! Then we walked around for a bit and checked out the area near Tienanmen Square. It was after dark, and everything was closed down, but it was cool to walk around the city!

The next day, we went to the Lama Temple first thing in the morning. It was beautiful, as most Buddhist temples are!  

Then we headed right on over to the Temple of Heaven. It was a temple-hopping sort of day. 

Then we went to the Pearl Market, which is a giant market where you can buy pretty much anything you could ever want for really cheap. I bought more random stuff than I probably should have, but bartering with those crazy people is just too much fun!

That night we went to a Chinese acrobat show. Our hostel provided transportation to the show... which turned out to mean following a stranger down a dark alley, and then getting in his sketchy van. Good news, I survived! And the acrobat show was awesome! 

There were guys balancing on poles, and girls contorting their bodies in impossible ways, and 12 people riding on one bicycle around the stage. The grand finale was a guy in a motorcycle in a circular cage. He was going around and around and upside down. Then they added another guy, and another, and another... and another! That's five motorcyles. I have never been so stressed out in my entire life.

The next day we got to explore Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City!

Tiananmen Square

Outside the Forbidden City

 

After exploring the Forbidden City and the surrounding area for much longer than we intended to (we got a little lost), we made it to the metro and headed over to the Silk Market to buy more junk.

That night we took a 13-hour sleeper train over to Xi'an. We took our time that morning getting ready at the hostel, and then we did EVEN MORE shopping in Muslim Quarters. 

After shopping, we visited the mosque that was just around the corner. It was really interesting to visit! We've seen a lot of Buddhist temples, so it was fun to explore another side of Chinese religion. 

The next day we got to see the Terracotta Warriors! It was amazing! 

                                                

We learned a lot of super cool history about the warriors and the emperor who made them. If you're ever bored, look it up. It's some crazy stuff. 

This is the first warrior they found. He is completely intact, and he even has some of his original coloring, which none of the other warriors have. They call him the Magic Archer. And we have matching hair.

This is the guy that found the warriors back in the 70's. He was just a farmer digging a well, and he stumbled across our friend the Magic Archer! He was signing books. They said no pictures, so I had to be sneaky.

After seeing the warriors, we drove over to the hill where the emperor is buried. They can't dig into the tomb because it's booby trapped with mercury and stuff. Truth is, it's not that cool looking from the outside. 

See the hill? There's an emperor in there!

That night we went out on the town!

We went to an awesome park and hung out for a while. There was a water show that we watched. Xi'an is a pretty cool place!

 

Water shows are always cooler in person.

The next day we ate ice cream and hung out at the hostel before flying back to Guangzhou! The end.