Day 9: Shanghai Days

Day 9: Shanghai Days

Hard to begin here in China when I know things are so different back home. The Missus just texted met to let me know that the closing on our house was complete. So, the chaotic move will now commence. I know she knows that I'd love to be there (I actually plied our travel service about moving my flight to join everyone else on the voyage home yesterday), but they couldn't do it with out an insane fee. For those of you keeping score at home, I have an amazing, understanding, beautiful, intelligent, cunning, lovely wife and mother. Brushstrokes aside, here I am in Shanghai having fun, enjoying the fruits of everyone else's labor!

To begin the day, I walked to one of the touristy parts of the city called "The Bund." Located right on the water, this is where the western ships (called "junks") docked themselves to do trading with Shanghai. Google Maps tried to direct me to walk through one of the underground tunnels, but with pollution and so forth, I figured that wasn't a good move on Google's part. Guess that's what happens when you outlaw their programs here.

I boarded the ferry crossing the Huangpu River, and I wished I'd arrived at this conclusion earlier; it cost a whopping 2 yuan ($0.30) to board and get to the other side, the Pudong. This neighborhood was just a bunch of random farmland like 40 years ago, and now it's home to one of the most impressive skylines in the world. My ventures with that began with some famous xiaolong bao dumplings at the Park Hyatt on the 87th floor of the World Financial Building. It cost me an arm and a leg (100 yuan for 6) of these delicious dumplings, but, when you add the price of the view (you can see the beautiful Jin Mao Tower and the love-it-or-hate-it Pearl Tower. 

It took an hour there (mostly because the service was posh and, thus, slow) before I traveled next door to the new Shanghai Tower. Holy smokes, this was an impressive building. I think I climbed to the 189th floor for the observatory of the city, and the buildings I was just at eye-level with were now dwarfed by this super-structure. The building and staff were super-clean-cut, and if you want to see the notion that the 21st Century will be China's, look no further than the 2nd tallest building in the world. More surprising to me than it only took 45 seconds to reach the top on the elevator was the utter lack of crowds. If I were at the Empire State, I'd be in line for an hour or 2. Here, I waited for one elevator car until I made it to the top. 

Next I traveled to the Pearl to view the Shanghai History Museum. Frommers and Google Maps both didn't note that this building was underneath the Pearl, so I made an entirely lap around the surrounding park until I reached the entrance to the Pearl and, thus, the Museum. It was so darn hot that I drank 2 waters just in that part of the walk (11 so far today, if you're counting), so it was nice to get inside if just for the air conditioning. The museum was fun. If you're into model buildings and recreated people in scenes, you'll love this museum. What I enjoyed is just the tale of how Shanghai was settled by the west. I noticed, and disappointingly so, that the communist recapture of the city was very absent from the museum's history. Maybe it's too taboo of a topic for Shanghainese, as they couldn't be more different than the folks in the other cities we've met.

Some of those differences are subtly noticeable to the western eye. For one, the ability to read English signs is much easier. I was greatly thankful for that! It seems to be a younger city as well. This might sound shallow, but I didn't find many of the folks attractive in the other 2 cities - in Shanghai, there are beautiful people (and by that, I mean Chinese --- like the model I snapped a pic of in mid-set) everywhere. They also dress much more professionally than the other cities. For as vast and populated a city it is here, too, I feel like it moves with more ease than Beijing or Xi'an.

My movement next took me to the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. At a clip of 50 yuan (or about $7.50), it was much pricier than the cruise. Boy do I wish I hadn't done this stupid, campy laser and sound light show that took me back to the Bund. If you ever go to China, save your money. Seriously. I thought I'd miss something. One demerit for Frommers here.

On the other side, I walked the Bund and listened to the beautiful peele of the old church bell on the Bund walkway. It was music to my ears, so I stopped to listen to it for a bit. Then I hung a right down the expansive Nanjing Rd, the shopping center of this metropolis. It's so big there were 2 different Swatch stores on both ends. Who the heck needs Swatch that much? Someone, apparently. 

All along the way, merchants selling knock-off products flocked to me like I was fresh chum. I envisioned my wife politely saying "no thank you" to each repetition of "watches, bags, jewelry." I just pushed my eyes below the brim of my white pinstriped ball cap and plodded on. One gentleman was ahead of me and earning the same attention, so I caught up to him and asked him if he spoke English (it should be no surprising that not all white people here do). His name was Marcel and he was a German engineer here on holiday. We both were looking for the same spot - the Shanghai Art Museum - so we walked and talked together. I told him the city I was looking forward to next on the bucket list was his hometown of Berlin, and we had a good discussion revolving his city and how much we hate Chinese beer. However, when we arrived there, the museum was closed, so we parted ways.

I decided to go over the the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum. At 30 yuan, it wasn't bad (but it wasn't free like the art museum). However, I would save my money and do one of the other museums. Two things that were pretty neat about the place: first, three guys sitting there and watching the welcoming museum were Chinese majors from Penn State who just arrived in Shanghai that day. They broke the ice because they saw my PSU polo. Second was the beautiful model skyline, which also included the many skyscrapers to come to Shanghai's skyline. It's got to be a bit bizarre to be a local and see that your apartment building is eventually going to be taken via eminent domain (the Chinese government does that plenty here) and have to find a new home. 

At the end of the road is the People's Park, and I went there with the intention of going to Barbarossa and getting a drink. It was closed, however, as it looked like some celebrity was arriving there. So I moved to a nearby street to find a drink and something to eat. I stumbled across a jazz and piano bar, and I saw American beer on the shelf so I plopped my tired, sweaty self down at the bar. I don't really like Goose IPA, but it never tasted better in my whole life. Complemented with a delicious lamp chop and great conversation from this fun, spunky, beautiful 19-year-old bartender named Liu Xinayng, I was replenished.

Back out on the street, I started to make my way back to the Campanile Hotel. That decision was cemented by the fact that sundown had already begun (it's dark here by 7:30p) and a slow drizzle morphed into an open pour. I also wanted to try to talk to Devin before she went off for the home closing (at 8:30a).

Tomorrow I'm back out there. I'm joining my buddy Lippy's cousin Eric, who's a business owner and has lived in Shanghai for nearly 20 years. Very much looking forward to some camaraderie again and my last full day in this foreign land.

Day 8: To Shanghai

Day 8: Journey to Shanghai

After saying goodbye to all my friends, I jumped into a cab and traveled to the Beijing Railway Station. The cab ride - which took about 25 minutes and cost an equal amount of Yuan - was a bit overwhelming. Everything I see and hear for much of the remainder of the trip will be, for lack of a better word, entirely foreign. The cab driver spoke no English (let's face it, many in America barely speak it, too), and, when I got to the station, I thought it'd be easier to navigate. There were huge hordes of people, and I traveled around looking for G3, as it was the only thing I had on my confirmation email. Turns out that was the name of the train I was to board, and, thanks to a bit of English knowledge from the Info Desk. I hopped in Ticket Line 41 because, as Jun confirmed in a text, that was the manager's line and he knew English. I wouldn't have known that any other way. 

I waited with the masses for about 45 minutes to get my ticket. I was about 3 hours early, so that was good! After a quick bathroom usage and a stop to a different Info Desk, I figured out that I had to board one of these 28 ticket check locations. It's pretty amazing and overwhelming in the same breath. Amid the sea of probably 5,000 faces, I didn't see one non-Chinese face except for a German dude who was running late and asked to cut in front of me at the ticket booth. Almost as soon as I wrote this, I saw a young man and 3 girls of different ancestry that were traveling together but not Han. They didn't make eye contact, so I didn't engage with them.

When I boarded that train car, I was a bit confused. I looked at my ticket "02A" and walked past the second row, which was filled with a family. I walked to the back, deposited my now very heavy piece of luggage, and then approached a woman about my age, pointing to my ticket and then to my row. She nodded her head, and when I showed the family, their young child of about 4 hopped up out of my window seat and, in cultural fashion, the mother who would've sat with me moved to the outside as the dad then moved next to me. It's just these small things to observe that just often tell us of others' cultures.

The train ride itself was very, very smooth. I didn't feel one blip in the track, and the ride itself was an express shot straight to Shanghai. However, I feel duped by false advertising, as this train is supposed to be insanely world class. However, the air conditioning was hardly on (and I was sweating from a warm brew of the heat and general ignorance of what's going on when I first sat down), no wifi, and no plug in for my phone / iPad, which is a far more important component of my ride now that the Chinese TSA confiscated my phone charger.

As you can ascertain above, I was pretty out of my element and felt quite uncomfortable when I first grabbed my seat. I tried to ignite an inner-calmness by watching a few videos on my iPad and then listening to music, but it wasn't until I listened to a podcast from home where they gave me props (so strange to hear my name when I'm 7,000 miles away) and also my new seat friend dumped gravy from his food on me not once, but twice. Christening by pork juice!

Now settled in a bit, I was able to really take in the sights of this journey. Having the window seat was the best part about it. As we left Beijing, I looked out to a vast forest of apartment complexes and many more being built. The fencing around the train coupled with the speed of the train almost out the gate made it seem like I was looking at a flip book of these massive buildings. Within 10 minutes of leaving Beijing (30ish miles) was the vast agricultural landscape that Mao tapped when he came to power just 68 years ago. Throughout all this countryside were nascent crops just entering their growth stages. Instead of sprinklers, they probably had decades' or hundreds' years old canals and irrigation systems. In a field of many acres, one could see the rare farmer and his or her wide brimmed hat tending to those crops with just the old hoe or shovel, or doing the more modern thing of walking and spraying for insects. The only "farm equipment" beyond that would be a motorcycle parked on the side of the road. No John Deeres here. 

Almost as rare as finding the farmer in all this land was the occasional grave site. When we first hit those open lands 10 minutes out, I didn't even know what I was looking at - a cemetery - as it looked like a bunch of walls adorned with colorful Easter eggs. As we continued on the journey, the grave sites lessened and became more rudimentary; those upright tombstones gave way to padded, grassless hills. Still, each one was always decorated with flowers (whether real or fake I couldn't tell) and always well kept, even when they were in the middle of a rice field.

Occasionally from time-to-time, a road would emerge with shops around it. However, these old villages were quite rare. What was more commonplace was just massive apartment complexes that seemed to rise for little reason other than their construction. When we travel the countrysides of America, those who live on the open fields would take the dozens of cranes constructing buildings at the same speed to be an affront on their way of life. But in China, that type of protest is both smited and possibly not even innate. 

Eventually I got to "talking" to the man next to me. His name was Wang Wie Qiang. He was there with his wife and grandson, who was about 6, and they were traveling to Shanghai to visit his family. By "talking," what I mean is I'd type rudimentary stuff into my Google Translate and then he'd motion or say the little English he knew in response. He showed me his trip to New York where he visited the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, and 9/11 Memorial. He also went to the Grand Canyon. I told him I hand't been to the latter 2 spots, and he laughed. Then it got a bit weird when he showed me a cross-dressing beauty pageant in Thailand. How or why I know not, but I think he wanted to get a laugh out of me!

When we got to Shanghai Railway Station, I got off and became disoriented. I tried to go to an automated teller machine to buy a ticket, but didn't see an English version. Frommers, in my mind, lied! I waltzed around a bit and then my anxiety took me upstairs to the airport to try and move my flight up earlier. It's only domestic flights there, so then I felt like a fish out of water. However, when I came back downstairs, I saw the subway line Google Maps told me to look for AND a machine in English. I was back in business, baby!

The subway station and trains are crowded and gorgeous, massive and modern. I've never been on a system that was so nice! Apparently it's already the world's largest (shouldn't be a surprise in a city of this size), but it glided like a dream. On the train I saw a much more fashionable lot of people, young and old. One girl who came on had this beautiful dress, straw hat, and a fun lipstick purse. I pointed to it and gave her the thumbs up. She laughed when I jumped off at the wrong station and then jumped back on.

As soon as I hopped out the subway, I had a great view of the skyline. It was already going on 9p, so I just wanted to get to the hotel and unwind. The hotel is as advertised: chic, French, modern. It's much smaller than the other 2 I've stayed in, but everything here is crisp, beautiful, and well-kept. I was happy to plop my head down on the pillow.

And eat! I hadn't noticed the anxiety made me not even hungry. I took a quick stop at a convenience mart to get some food and water, then back to the hotel to eat the like 8 lbs of snacks that Lori (teacher from OH) gave me before they all left. 

Finally fell asleep  after having the staff mess with my A/C for a bit (we're spoiled in the US when it comes to AC). I fell asleep before midnight and slept past 8a - a first great night sleep here in China, despite the warmth.

As I write this, I can't help but think of my heart back home. Devin, my wife, is doing a last walk through with our Realtor before closing tomorrow morning (late this evening our time). I'm very excited for us and her, and hope everything goes well in the venture to our new home! 

As for me, I'm going to spend the day walking the streets of Shanghai. I plan to go towards those massive skyscrapers first for some breakfast. Hopefully I can meet up with my buddy Lippy's cousin who lives here sometime tomorrow.

Day 7: Art Museum, Beijing, Group Departs

Day 7: Rounding 3rd Base

This is my first time giving an update starting with the previous day's activities, but we hadn't a huge break in the day to post like I had yesterday. So let's cap off last night first.

GREAT MOSQUE AND MUSLIM STREET

We began the evening by traveling to the Great Mosque in Xi'an, which was built by one of the emperors as a gift for the Muslims there who defended him against a coup. The most interesting part of the mosque was the notion that there was NO Islamic architecture except for the mihrab. Additionally, there was hardly any Arabic script in there. After traveling in Turkey and seeing the script everywhere (for those of you keeping score, their language uses Latin-based script rather than Arabic spelling). However, in all the mosques (primarily Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia), the Arabic is everywhere. Here - hardly at all. The place was pretty difficult to take photos, so I'll try and see if anybody got a good one of the group and post it here.

Muslim Street was quite fun. Think of the experience of a street fair, and multiply it many fold. It took a good 45 minutes to travel through the place at a solid pace - of course, the occasional stop to purchase some shish kebab or another snack (I bought yogurt, candy, and a lovely phyllo-dough-like veggie sandwich as well). I think I spent 50 Yuan (or about $7) on all the things for the evening, so that was quite a steal - as is most of the food.

DEBRIEFING

After breakfast, we started off the morning with a debriefing in one of the conference rooms in the hotel. I sat with RIch (Minnesota), Stephanie (South Carolina), Lori (Ohio), Sandy (Delaware), and Maryann (New Jersey, NEA Foundation Board Member), and Gerald (our token teenager on the trip). We had a really thorough conversation, and after a bit of ice breaking, I really got to know each of these Fellows a strong bit more. That was really powerful to learn that they felt their race was celebrated here, they didn't intend to enter teaching, they didn't know they'd be bilingual, and so on. Oftentimes I looks these types of "discussions" with fret, but I could sit down with any of these educators and discuss just about any topic in depth and detail, jest and confess. 

Maryann and Kristen (our NEA Liaison) asked us to consider the following questions:

1. How we're going to bring this back to others? Rich (and all of us, for that matter) had fun asking Gerald this question and listening to his answer. He's your typical, close-to-the-chest teen, so it took some scaffolded questions to get him to reveal his thoughts on this. It's not a surprise that bartering made him feel uncomfortable, but he still needed time to reflect on what were the positives - but he did say that there was something to consider. Some of the other groups mentioned how it's difficult to bottle this experience, and I like that analogy. What goes in? What, if added, would dilute it? That's very much been the point of this blog, so I hope years later that, when I read this, I hope that I both didn't leave anything out or put too much in.
2. How we're going to change? It's pretty intimidating with the idea of going to a country where you can't read a sign, ask for the bathroom, count to 5, or order a beer. Add to that the idea it's a communist, big-brother state, and I'd say many more than the average person would find some difficulty here. But in all adversity is a true testament of character and community, and I think this shared experience here - and being in a collective, social, family-first society, we relied on one another to not just endure, but flourish.

They also asked for three recommendations for global learning to our students:

1. Get out of your comfort zone
2. Talk to someone you don't know every day
3. Build a community by finding commonalities in our relationships

Sharon (NEAF Board Chair) shared a great, heartfelt, heart-warming connection to the Foundation's mission that tickled my heart. She asked us to not just focus on what we saw, but really dig into how we felt. That was really meaningful. Similar words of wisdom came from Robert. He made the analogy that this experience is very much like when we enter places of imperial importance. For each of those thresholds, there's an uncomfortable step for the average westerner, where each is about 1 foot high. But after that initial discomfort entering the room, life - and the experience - goes on. Secondly, he said that after looking at all these ancient, mythological Terra Cotta Warriors, he realized he was standing around 37 teachers who are fierce warriors of education. How great is that?!

CALLIGRAPHY and PEASANT ART

We then boarded our bus for our last official education component of our tour. It feels strange to see these words being typed from my hands, as we've had such an amazing, action-packed assemblage of workshops and visits.

This final stop was at a local art gallery. Here, we were greeted by a museum tour guide with a real great sense of humor. She walked us through the history of the art movement in the area, which is in rooted in the farmers who took up these part-time jobs once their wheat was harvests were said and done for the year. When they needed something to do, they took to creating beautiful art that completely lacked perspective. The pieces were as different as the composers and the periods in which they painted. We learned that the plum tree represents the woman as being beautiful, simple, and scattered among the brush, while the man represents the bamboo since he is hollow for learning humility and advice, grows upright strong, and performs his duty. We practiced our calligraphy script, at my table it was Maria (Arizona), Laticia (Colorado), Al (California), Robert, and Kristen. Probably the best person at the calligraphy we learned was Maria. Her symbols - both new and old - for man, woman, pig, earth, and horse were great. When the guide placed the script for horse up there, I yelled out "Ma," just because it's the only vocabulary word I learned on this trip. She said to me in Mandarin, "Oh, you know Chinese?" And I shrugged my shoulders. Gave us all a good laugh.

The gallery there held a pretty peppering of communist propaganda posters, but there was also a strong focus on the calligraphy as art. From the latter, there's been an art program launched that is now an institute, one of the best in China. As patrons, we weren't just welcome to view the gallery, we were asked to be buyers and sellers in it. That same guide was all up on my grill as I glanced through the decorative pieces. I wasn't sure I was going to buy one or not, but I then purchased one from one of the top students at the university who specialized in drawing little kittens. This particular feline is chasing a butterfly under the guidance of a plum blossom. I really think Devin's going to like it - at 600 Yuan, what I think is a steal, I hope I'm right! I also picked up a few book marks for just 20 Yuan ($3) each.  I waited in a line where one of the artists was going to write our names in Chinese script for 100 Yuan ($15), so Jonah would be able to keep both of these matching pieces as an heirloom. Jun, however, tapped me on the shoulder and said it was time to board the bus and travel to the airport.

I enjoyed sitting with Mandy (Washington) and Lori (Ohio) on our 40 minute rides to and from the museum, as I got to learn more about them, their families, and what they're most passionate about. Many of the group - these two especially included - are excited to go home to replenish their well with the family that makes them that much better. I can certainly empathize, but I'm trying not to dwell on that so much. Otherwise, my 3 days alone are going to be so lonely it makes Tom Hanks in Castaway look like a disco party.

I've enjoyed people watching plenty while here, but never more than our ride to and from the art spot today. Just so those of you who never come here know, the roads here look like chaos compared to those we have back home. Since the government controls where people drive (and most have only learned how to drive less than 5 years), many resort to using a motor scooter or bike. Both are mainstays on the road, but neither are regulated. So, say goodbye to helmets, crossing looking both ways, and, well, lanes for that matter. Still, while the commute certainly has its bumps and bruises, slowness to our cruises, the people just have enough patience to make it work. To what many looks like a complete lack of direction or following the road signs, this, to me, is freedom and community at work hand-in-hand. I've never seen anything like it - and I say that in a good way.

One other thing I wanted to note (in a not so positive way) was that this place is known for noodles, and the electric wiring on the streets looks like noodles itself. We received a letter on our hotel desks yesterday that the hotel was going to be shut down for about 2 hours in order to fix and check some of the electric, and when you look at the birds nest of wires (it's seriously nothing short of 60 wires coalescing in a ball on the pole), I'm surprised they could 1.) figure out what wire they're looking at and 2.) getting it done in that time. In comparison to the United States, I think we might have - as a maximum - 3 lines (phone, cable, and electric) using our telephone poles everywhere. 

RETURN FLIGHT TO BEIJING

On our bus ride over, Li June gave us the opportunity and guidance to purchase some of the things that many people look towards when here in China. I'm not going to go through this thorough, comprehensive list for several reasons, but let's just say that I was one willing to partake in what Li Jun calls "The Final Shopping Party." I'll get to pick up these items in addition to the personalized stamps for Jonah and his grandparents. 

As most of the crew here was happy to see and purchase food from either a Burger King or Subway, I wasn't ready to give up yet. So Rich (Minnesota), Maryann (New Jersey), Kathy (Tennessee Teacher of the Year), and Linda G. (Missouri TOY) stopped at the only authentic Chinese food place we saw in there. I ordered this huge beef brisket noodle soup. It was spicy, filling, and delicious - definitely better than a Whopper, no doubt!

If someone wants to check the character of this group, look no further than Linda G. She and I haven't sat together for an extended amount of time on the trip, but she tends to always be at my table during meals. She's as selfless as they come (and representative of that selflessness most of this group blasts from their veins), and she really is as interested in learning about the Fellows here as anybody, myself and my zany interview questions included. Her careful consideration for others was evident in how she was concerned that Dana didn't make it through customs for whatever reason. So she went to Subway and ordered food for her. I accompanied her because I didn't want her to be alone.

Once we hopped out he plane, I sat with David once more. I wasn't as much the conversationalist because I doped up my bloodstream with some Benadryl and Lorazepam. We also sat with Crystal (Louisiana) who's as kind as smile-filled as she is blonde and Cajun-twangy. When I finally came to from my really long nap (I didn't even realize an hour passed as we waited on the tarmac), I got to laugh at David who was watching some comedy showing on the plane. Though he didn't have any grasp of the language, he enjoyed just watching the non-verbal component of the film. I thought plenty of it was fun, too. We have much the same sense of humor, and I wonder if we'd be fired if we were on the same staff.

Off the plane, it was a straight shot to our hotel, a quick check-in, and then dinner at the Mongolian hot pot. That was a bunch of fun - I'd never done a hot pot before. Our room was quiet because I'm sure everyone was tired from the flight (apparently many got a good photo of me mouth agape, passed out), hungry, and probably ready to go home. But we enjoyed adding lamb, chicken, prawns, veggies, and noodles to our boiling pot of water. Jun told us the myth regarding this type of cuisine stems from the fast Mongolian army rolling through territory on horseback, pausing for camp and a meal by flipping their helmet, gathering water, and then adding meats once the water reached a boil. After he visited Ulanbaatar (the capital of Mongolia), he seemed disappointed that it was a Chinese (and not Mongolian) invention. I'm sure most of my Chinese-food-loving friends will be equally disappointed to learn that General Tso's are an equally mythical invention.

When we returned back to the hotel, it was like Christmas in Beijing with all of us lined up to gather our new belongings. Some of the teachers really went to town, but I was happy with my catch. The electronics I gathered were gifts for me, while I also picked up some Chinese stampers for Jonah and his grandpas.

When I woke up this morning, I got up with Bob and the others who were on the 7:30a bus to the airport. I wanted to have the chance to say goodbye to everybody whom I could, and they were more than 1/2 the group. While I've loved LOVED visiting this land, it wouldn't have been so magical without these people. I didn't open up the eye-faucets, but I felt a twinge in my heart as we waived to them on the bus. You'll notice all of today's pics are nothing but the folks, and, for those who are still keeping up with the blog or just traveling home from the Middle Kingdom, I plan on doing a brief bio of each of the people here, if just for my own keepsake.

As for now, it's 8:30a here in Beijing (8:30p for y'all on the East Coast on the previous day). In about 2-3 hours, I'll hop in a taxi, get to the train station, and board the famous Beijing-Shanghai Bullet Train. I'll cover nearly 1,000 miles in just under 5 hours and be in "the Paris of the East" by dinner time, just in time to walk around the amazing skyline at night. To say I'm a bit nervous is an understatement - same can be said about seeing my family and wanting to go home. However, the mantra of this trip is to live without regrets, and I'm going to drink up every minute of Shanghai that I can.

Day 6: Terra Cotta Warriors & Culinary School

Day 6: Terra Cotta & School Visit

GRAND DYNASTY CULTURE HOTEL

The hotel we're staying at in Xi'an puts our previous hotel to shame in so many ways. I talked about it a bit before, but we really are spoiled here. Pumping A/C, multiple pillows, a refrigerator, a pool, a fish pond with sculpture around it, and a breakfast of champions. Best of all - the dumplings from last night were available again today as part of a spread that makes every continental breakfast I've ever seen look more like a sad island. I sat and ate with Logan (Hawai'i) and Melissa (Georgia) until I went and FaceTimed with Devin and Jonah a bit outside at the pond before it got too hot and before we had to leave.

TERRA COTTA WARRIORS

Come 8a, we boarded the bus. I hadn't talked much to Jason (Oklahoma), so I sat with him on the bus for our conversation. He's an interesting dude, as are many of the folks here. I'm hoping to have a quick bio of all of them, probably on my train ride to Shanghai. But he's a calculus teacher and TOY 2015 who just left the classroom to finish working on his dissertation.

When we finally arrived at the Terra Cotta site, we were greeted with a rather new, old phenomenon. Certainly the age of such a marvel - dubbed the "8th Wonder of the World" by President Clinton in 1998 - is older than Christ himself. But the ruins weren't discovered until 1974, and this building wasn't opened until 1979. So, without a doubt, this a young find of an ancient order. It's estimated there will be upwards of 20 buildings, but so far archaeologists have only opened 3 - and 1 of them is hardly excavated at all. 

In total, they estimate there are 6,000 terra cotta warriors. Of those warriors, you can tell the different ranks or castes of them based upon a few different characteristics: their location in the defenses (the poor farmers are up front, probably with no weaponry), their hair or hat, and then the size of their bellies. Yes, in China they call a "belly" a "general." The most amazing thing about them, to me, is the minute detail. It's hard to see in the textbook photos we see of the Warriors, but the intricacies of how the hair is tied up all the way down to the BUTTONS UNDER THE SANDALS are as ornate as they are numerous. I couldn't imagine how many people worked out his thing to get it done in the 5-10 years it's estimated it took to construct, place, and finalize upon the emperor's death. Equally impressive is the fact that they colored the warriors with chalk and paint after firing them in the kiln. So far, it's been difficult to keep that upon excavation, but some have a slight stain of color as they unearth them month by month.

For the Chinese, the special thing there is two bronze carts that have been reassembled over the course of 7 years from 3,000 pieces each. They are gorgeous, and they were probably constructed to carry the emperor's concubines to the next world with him. For my younger readers or those not in the know, these are the emperor's "girlfriends." That's as PC as I'll go here.

One thing I enjoyed doing was speaking with several of the people I saw there. After seeing Chinese Han and other minorities time and time again, I was able to pick out more white faces in this crowd than others. Two I struck up a conversation with was an older couple who are from Arkansas and are over here as teachers at an international Christian school. They've been living in Chengdu for 3 years now, and the husband was the elementary principal while the wife was the director of counseling there. Their son married a local Chinese woman and they had the most adorable kids, including a girl of about 6 years old who was on my side and listening to my every word for a good 30 minutes. Coupled with the notion that I was thinking about Devin when I bought some ice cream here (chocolate = good, green tea = bad) and buying a miniature set of Terra Cotta Warriors and thinking where Devin and I could put them in the new house, I had some serious homesickness for my family the first time this trip.

I also enjoyed getting to chat with Dana, TOY from NY. There are many happy folks here, but she's always smiling. She's a beautiful, intelligent lady, and I didn't know she had kids older than me. She said she's the "token granny" on the trip, and we shared a few good stories from the classroom.

There's a lot of mystery regarding Emperor Qin, the man who built this tomb for himself. Though he was only Emperor from age 38 to age 50 (when he died of a heart attack, probably because he regularly consumed mercury thinking it'd give him eternal life), he did good by being the first to unify this vast land. However, he did so by conquering and then dominating the neighboring kingdoms, and the oral history of his iron fist is almost as renown as the name we use for his country (Qin is pronounced "Chin," and from there we derive the name "China."). That's because the historian who told his history was a man who was castrated by the emperor for defending a general who the emperor was trying to prosecute. So, no "manliness" led to a deity becoming a dictator. 

That's not to sugarcoat Qin's reign. The dude made his enemies his slaves (as many did at that time and, let's face it, some still do), but most of all he buried all the people who designed the Terra Cotta Warriors alive with him when he died, just so nobody would know how to do this again or, possibly, its location either. Still, Jun reminded us that historians have bias in how they report - or fail to report the facts. This lesson was compounded when I had a quick aside with Chris. While I recalled that we westerners name this land for the dominating unifier, they call their land "Zhonguo," or "Middle Country." In contrast, the Chinese call the United States "Maiguo," or "Beautiful Country." Makes them look a heckuva lot better than us, doesn't it?

The mystery of Terra Cotta extends to today in many other forms. Chris told us that it's going to take "many lifetimes" to completely unearth this magical find. I was immediately drawn to a comparison of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, which is currently (and remains) the longest running continued construction project in the world. The church, which began in the late 1800s, is still being built to this day, and will take at least another dozen years to complete (Devin and I saw this for our honeymoon). But that was an intentional build with an end in mind. The Chinese don't even know what they're going to find as they keep digging at this site. Heck, they haven't even opened up Emperor Qin's tomb.

But one really great thing about this is the excavation is a universal finding for all. We saw a group of middle school students from DC there on a language immersion camp, and they were given brushes and plastic wands and told to dust off and even glue one of the warriors together. Talk about an icebreaker! For those of you keeping score, do you think that we'd ever let Xi'an residents go to Mt. Vernon and dust off a new stable of George Washington's? Me thinks not.

Lunch, like any other meal here in Xi'an, was a treat. These noodles are amazing, and the dumplings are even better. For how hot it was outside, however, I decided to have a salad. I didn't even think about it then, but that may have been a mistake here. Hopefully I don't have to go in too much detail as to why my body would be telling me such.

That stomach brew only worsened when we reached our next (and final official) stop of the day - the Xi'an Taoli Tourism & Culinary Institute. It was fun to watch one chef dice a Chinese radish into a rose and a cucumber into a crane, while another made the delicious noodles (and Rich of Minnesota did a pretty bang-up job replicating it, if I might add), and, best of all we got to make some DUMPLINGS (and then eat them afterward, of course!). Yet the thing I'll remember this place for most of all is the bathroom. 

Here's a quick side note on the Chinese bathroom. Many - especially the more rural Chinese - think that the toilet seat is a gross Western construct. If you think about it, a toilet seat is touched by many butts in a day, so, yes, I get their point. But I want you to think of the grossest public bathroom you've ever been in. Then think about what the porta-Johns look like after huge concerts like Firefly. Be Mendelev, cross-pollinate those two bad boys, and then this bathroom - and many public Chinese bathrooms - are much worse. If I got into the detail of it, I'd gross you out. So I'll stop there. But let's just say the difference in hygiene doesn't stop there. We read about how some kids don't wear diapers and just have slits in their pants to bend over and poop or pee through the slit. I didn't believe it until I saw a kid (about 3 years old) with those pants on. I was tempted to take a photo of it just because of how foreign it was to me, but the teacher in me kicked in and said "you cannot take a photo of a kid's bum." So I didn't. But worst of all was the kitchen we were in at the culinary institute. This gross bathroom was between 2 kitchens. Flies were traveling all over the place, and then I noticed that when the chefs wash their hands, it's like how 5th graders do it. They give a quick spritz of water and they don't use soap. God, my stomach is grumbling just typing about this, literally and figuratively.

Thankfully Shelly, a very thoughtful elementary teacher from South Dakota who reminds me in many a way of my own mother, was kind enough to place some peppermint oil on me to alleviate the stomach pain. So far it's working splendidly.

For now (6:10p our time as I write), our day is officially over. We headed to the Muslim Quarter of the town, where we can hopefully enter the Grand Mosque and then do some shopping and eating on the street side. It was such a hot day (it topped 100 today and many of us are feeling the effects of heat exhaustion), Jun decided to kick this can down the schedule. We'll see how many of the 43 of us make it out on the town for the evening.

Tomorrow we view the Wild Goose Pagoda and then fly back to Beijing, stay the night, and then most of my new friends depart back for the States while this guy's trip continues on.

Day 5: Bye Beijing, Hello Xi'an

Day 5: Bye-Beijing, Hello Xi'an

CHECKOUT

Another day, another 4a natural wake-up. You'd think I'd be more tired than I am, but I think the energy here is just an effervescent burst. It's part the sights and sounds, but it's mostly the people I'm here with that provide that extra ounce of steam. Best of all today I was able to get a bit more of a burst from back home, as I was packed and ready early enough to go down and FaceTime Devin and Jonah for a good 30 minutes. That felt good just to see their face through a constant, unadulterated wifi connection. That woman is my rock, and while many of us complain as to how technology has divided us and made us less vested with one another, having the power to FaceTime - something I didn't have when we went to Turkey 5 years ago - is pretty superb. Side note: I was reading a Wall Street Journal article on what the iPhone (10 years old today) will look like 10 years from now. My question is: will it even be around? If you don't believe me, pull out your Nokia and look it up on Alta Vista.

Anyway... back to China...

TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

After another tasty breakfast and a 7:30a checkout, we boarded the bus and visited the Temple of Heaven. This little (470 hectare) slice of "heaven" was where the emperor visited a few days a year to pray to the deity for a good harvest. As an American who's lived in nothing but a republic (quick lesson: we don't live in a democracy), it seems so nonsensical to see the man in power use such a large space in such a sprawling city for just SIX DAYS A YEAR. It reminds me of when I took 4 girls from Poland and Czech Republic and showed them the White House. The temporary home to the "most powerful man in the world," regardless who has the title, lives in a small home compared to other culture's standards. That holds true for the girls who grew up around the castle and estates of the previous pontificates of their Eastern European past, and probably can be similarly said of our Sino friends. Once they see all these amazing palaces and pristine pastures of land dedicated to the (albeit little) usage of so much by those in power, it must be beyond foreign. That's how I feel. The people power we are all too familiar with in our nation would topple such a regal relationship. For the Chinese, this isn't just commonplace, it's a proud history.

PEOPLE'S PARK

A large part of the land at the Temple of Heaven is dedicated to something called "The People's Park." For those of you keeping score at home, yes, this is another homage to the new communist regime. To give it comparative credit to the emperors, it was certainly well-used by the people. We started off by practicing Tai Chi with an instructor who taught us some moves. I'd heard it's a quality, quiet workout, and I wasn't disappointed. Many of us are not fluid enough to do the slow, sloping arm, leg, and hip movements - me most of all - but it was fun to do. I believe that, when I get home, I'll probably find a few YouTube videos to help me clear my mind after unpacking a whole home.

Also in the park there were plenty of outdoor gymnastics to do. Being a fatty with some muscle, I decided to do what I'm used to at the gym - some dips, monkey bars, ab workouts, and some pull-ups. For the lack of sleep I did pretty well with the latter, so one Chinese dude of about 50 years old came over and motioned me to compete with him. I'm proud to say I represented American well in the 2017 Olympics and kicked his butt. The guys around him gave me a great round of applause. However, I didn't know this was a multiple sport event, and he started doing some fancy flips around the bars. When he got down, we all gave him an applause. Not knowing my lack of physical flexibility, I took to the bars and pretended to begin doing what he just did, but I jumped off and landed with an Olympic wave instead. We all got a good laugh (non-verbal humor I think is the key to Israeli-Palestinian peace, Mr. President), and I made sure to give such a deep kowtow as a form of concession that even President Trump would make fun of me on Twitter. Overall, I enjoyed going to the guys and gals working out there and asking them their age. In comparison to this taboo topic in the States, this is something these folks proudly presented. They wanted you to know that they were 70 and could do back flips. Heck, I think I would, too!

Probably the best part was hacky-sacking with complete strangers there. For those of you at home, you're familiar with the knit, seed- or bean-filled bags that us Skater Punks held omnipresently in our 1990s JNCO pockets. These hacky-sacks, by comparison, are constructed of small, foam-like coins and have a fake feather atop. It's amazing the physics behind it, but it helps to slow down the hack and really help beginners or rusty old former-skaters get into the game. I hacked with 2 different groups, first a couple of guys who invited Brandon (Arkansas), Bob, and me -- and then later I joined an older group of folks. I tried to get all fancy with my kicks and balances and bounces on the brim of my hat, which worked well enough until I stumbled a bit and accidentally busted a feather tail a tad. It was still good enough to play with, but I felt bad so I asked Li Jun to come over and help me offer to buy them a new one. They wouldn't accept the payment (he told me 99% of them would never do such a thing), but he said a good concession would be to buy one of the hacks from the guys. So, even though I already bought one, I gladly did.

BYE ALEX and MR. MA

When we loaded up on the bus, we said our first goodbyes of the trip. Alex was our leader from EF since the beginning in February, and he's a really great dude to chat with. A German by birth and a world traveler by choice, he's the head of EF's tour wing. Despite me making fun of him for his previous day's beverage choice (in what world does Gatorade come before German beer to any national, let alone one from the Deutschland?!), he's a "pretty solid dude," to borrow his own language. He's been on enough trips with enough teens and fellow Americans from the Boston wing he leads that he's like talking with one of the dudes. I hope to come across him sometime in the future, and he's got such unique features (tall and lanky and a deep, determined voice) that I could pick him out of any crowd. 

We also said goodbye to Mr. Ma, our Beijing driver. For those of you keeping score, Ma is one of those words with 4 definitions. His means horse, and dang if he didn't drive this bus like a bad-you-know-what. Even though he doesn't know English, we made a handshake that we used every day. Plus Bob taught him how to thumb wrestle. So I think that makes us friends.

BEIJING AIRPORT

We quickly made our way to the Beijing Airport, and it was a really quick and efficient process. So efficient that they flagged me to security, inspecting my $100 jackery phone charger to see if it had the ampage on there. It didn't. So they confiscated it. This has been the sourest part of my trip, and I was pretty heated about it from the get-go. However, now YOU know. If you're keeping score, check that your phone charger has ampage, weight, height, zodiac sign, and birthday on it when passing Chinese customs. 

FLYING TO XI'AN

The flight to Xi'an was very brief. It was supposed to be just 2 hours, but we were there in 75 minutes. We arrived so quickly, our tour guide Chris had to hurry to meet us at the airport, so we had 10 minutes built-in for coffee and candy and such. I took the time to tell y'all of my misfortune on the flight. 

That misfortune was offset by the fact that I sat next to David, Teacher of the Year in New Mexico. Most of the time - a large majority of the time - I'm the class clown of the group. He had that scepter the minute he joined us. We were given our tickets blind and, after steaming over the "situation which we will no longer name," I saw that I was sitting next to David and said "I needed you in my life." We had a good bro-hug and had fun with the stewardesses and joked around like 12-year-olds while eating our meal (yeah, they feed you on a 1 hour, 15 minute flight). I took plenty of time to catch up on the day and blog above. 

BIKING THE XI'AN CITY WALLS

When we arrived in Xi'an, our guide Chris started to take over the lessons of the city from Jun. In doing so, he mapped out an extensive history of this ancient city serving as the epicenter of China's growth in the world, as he said it's the first city to eclipse 1 million people in our history, even before Rome or other major ancient urban areas. That's because the Silk Road began here, and, in seeing its importance tucked in the valley of several natural-defense-making mountain ranges and also having 8 tributaries for drinking water and navigation, its geographic importance cannot be understated. Today, however, his tone softened. It sounds like a city trying to figure out its future. While it's a sprawling 8 million people large (and its sister city just 5 miles away has another 5 million), it's not even in the top 20 largest cities in China. For those of you keeping score, yes, that's the same population as New York City, our nation's largest by lots. It's also the coal and oil center in China, and both of those resources are on a decline here and in the U.S. No matter what each of those respective nation's leaders or the dudes in my hometown say, that's the cold economic truth. 

Anywho, this sub post is on biking the city walls which is quite awesome. The walls are about 30 feet high and about 30 feet wide, so they're like little roadways perched atop the fences of this ancient city. While most of the population lives outside of this former shell, it's great to have such a treasure still so well-maintained and accessible to the public. Best of all is our hotel is in the Old City. But Lucinda (Kansas) and I buddies up on a tandem and road that alongside David and Laticia - well, for as long as they could keep up at least. 

While the walls expanses travel a solid 9 miles in a rectangular fashion, part of the wall was closed, so we couldn't ride the whole thing. Coupled with the fact that the Chinese shopkeepers rent you practically the crappiest bikes you could put your hands on, we weren't doing 9 miles. We probably did 5 in total. Since the weather was much warmer and the sun was beating down on us with 96 degree ferocity, we sweat a good bit but replenished ourselves with plenty of h2o and ice cream. By the way, I'm really starting to dig the Chinese version of Good Humor bars, if not because they're a tasty, fruity concoction of flavors, but in that there's almost no added sugar, at least in comparison to our portable ice cream.

HOTEL, DINNER, MASSAGE

When we finished biking, we checked in to our hotel. I still find it very, very odd that we leave our passports with the hotel - I mean, I can make it home missing just about anything, which includes my dang Jackery or my entire suitcase - except when it comes to the passport. I hate leaving its well-being in the hands of others, but, hey, I'm a guest in a communist country, so I shouldn't expect much less.

Our dinner was probably one of the best of our trip. For those keeping score at home, Xi'an, in the northwest corner of the country, is very much a wheat-based cuisine - very different from the sea, meat, and major rice portions of Beijing. I'm not much of a pasta guy, but I LOVED their noodles. The fact that they also make more than 300 kinds of dumplings - which I've learned is my absolute favorite Chinese food while on this trip - probably has helped me already supplant their tastes for the Szechuan I've come to know and love. 

Following a wonderful shower (nothing like rinsing the sweat of continuous 90-degree-days from your sore saddle) and that great meal, we suited up in our comfy pants to go to a Chinese massage. Here, we had the choice to go for the traditional and well-known foot bath and massage, or to go hard-core with accu-pressure. As I'm sure you can guess, I chose the latter. David, Bob, Al (California), Kevin (EF staff), and I all went into our own VIP room, and it was a mixture of fun (you'll have to check out our costumes! Hahahaha!), laughter, pain, and relief. I think what I'll always remember is David farting near his massage therapist while she's twisting around his hips, Bob (who's a pretty big dude) literally being mounted by his therapist as she "dug her steel-coated knees into my side" (his words, not mine), Al being yelled at for not relaxing, and my massage therapist making me feel like my calves were meat in a crock pot, ready to just come off the bone. While they still hurt, it was well worth the $25. I'd do it again tomorrow if I could.

We came back and went down to the bar. While we're staying in a much swankier hotel this time (no paint chipping on the floor, more than one pillow, and a wash cloth all indicate such), the bar prices greatly matched the luxuriousness of our hotel. I looked at the menu and saw most of the stuff was 60 yuan or more (that's about $9), so I ordered a Scotch on the rocks. Jason (Oklahoma) and Sandy (Delaware) were among the non-drinkers in our group; they ordered Evian, and that alone was 35 yuan (or about $5.50). For comparison's sake, they could get 10 bottles of local water which are each 2 times as large as that bottle of Evian.

Oh, capitalism. Even in communist China.

After my one and only drink (which, at that price, was better than American prices) and headed upstairs here. I was tired but, after blogging a bit, I've hit another second-wind. Time to start counting sheep and do it again tomorrow, where we'll visit the famous Terra Cotta Warriors and go to The Great Mosque and famous Muslim district here in the town. 

Lots of great photos today, but none by me! Tried keeping my phone away so it wouldn't sneak up and die on me again. I'll try to attach some from others later.