China, what a trip!

China, what a trip!
Kaifeng, China

Friday, June 29, 2007

The End

This is now the end of our China journey and our blog. I hope everyone who reads it comes away with a small sense of what a wonderful opportunity and adventure this was for everyone who traveled on this trip.

This blog would not be complete if it did not thank Barb Thomases for her extraordinary efforts to help plan and manage this trip. She did a tremendous job!

A final thanks must go to Jim Kull, for whom none of us would have had this truly enlightening experience. It was through Mr. Kull's vision and dedication to each of the students on this trip that we were able to enjoy this opportunity. This trip will change the lives and will be in the memories of all who traveled, for the rest of our lives. Mr. Kull has changed our lives in a profound and meaningful way. Thanks to him and his wonderful wife Jennie and his two beautiful and fun daughters for their time and efforts for all of us!!!

Thanks for reading!

Sue

More final pictures 6/28

Our group touring the Forbidden City on our final day before leaving China.


One of the many throne rooms in one of the many buildings inside the Forbidden City.


On the plane trip home our flight path took us North of Alaska, we could see the pack ice over the artic circle as we flew at 33000 ft altitudes. I believe we were flying at about 538 mph when this photo was taken.


Upon our arrival home, we were greeted by many people, family and friends, who had gone to so much trouble to let us know we were missed. They can not know how touched we all were when we saw them and the wonderful welcome signs! Thank you all!

Final Day in China and welcome home pictures



Apartment buildings and small living compounds are how the Chinese people live. In the cities these apartment complexes dominate the skyline, like these in Beijing.



There is smog and haze during summer virtually everyday. It is not fog, but a smokey haze that sits over the landscape. We were told it is sunny with bright skies in winter.



Our group touring inside the Forbidden City.



Courtyards and buildings inside the Forbidden City. This place goes on forever!

Final student blog- THE REAL CHINA

The Real China
BY- Jeffrey LeFevre
After reading some of the posts, I’m sure you are thinking that the food and the Great Wall are well great, but you want to know the meaty stuff. What is China like? So, I am going to try to answer some of your burning questions.

1. What are the people like?
Everyone in China is extremely nice and friendly. They have big banners with “Welcome St. Charles East” at every hotel and performance; they give the soloists and directors huge bouquets of flowers after every concert, and people swarm around you for pictures. The Chinese people do everything they can to make you feel welcomed, and you feel like a famous movie star when you walk through the streets. Then they have twice as many employees at every restaurant and shop than in America, so there is always someone following your every move. It is a little weird at first, but after awhile you become used to it.
2. What do the people look like?
I know what you are thinking, “Duh, they look Asian,” but there is actually a lot of things about their general appearance that are quite different from America and the rest of the world. First of all, 100% of the population looks Asian. I thought that maybe I would see some Europeans living there or something, but everyone was rail-thin, without any facial hair, and dressed in modern clothes (at least in Beijing). On the trip, I only saw two African-Americans, two groups of European tourists, and three slightly overweight Chinese men. In China, it is considered beautiful to have pale skin and big eyes, so you will see people walking with umbrellas on a sunny day. Some even go to the point of having plastic surgery on their eyes.
3. Then there is the infamous question that every one of you parents has: did you feel safe?
Actually, I found that in China I felt very safe. No one can have guns except some police and military men, and the people are so no nice that I did not feel threatened by any means. The closest thing to crime was counterfeit money. I know one person got some fake money at the hotel and I think some vender tried to give me some fake bills, but I caught it beforehand. People are really paranoid about it though, and almost everyone checks your bills to make sure they are legitimate. Then there is apparently a big credit card theft scare in China. Of course, we did not know about it until someone’s card got shredded in the ATM machine, but otherwise China’s all good.
4. What is China like?
Most of the cities (other than maybe Beijing) are not as glamorous as Chicago or New York, but there is a lot of new buildings and shops on the streets similar to the US. Especially in Beijing, there are a lot of tall, modern apartment buildings and towers. I guess you need a lot space for 15 million people. The highways and schools are especially nice in China. Transportation and education are high priorities in the country, and a lot of buildings and national relics are being restored and renovated for the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics. Although China is evolving and changing, there is still a lot of poverty. As we drove though the cities and the countryside, we saw people living under highways and homes that looked like ruins, but I think there is poverty wherever you go.
5. What were the performances like?
The performances were in a variety of places including the Great Wall, a concert hall, a university gym, and a city square. There were each unique with different audiences, and even some press at the last concert (we were on TV and on the front page of the city paper), but perhaps the most enjoyable concert was at the university. Although it was not the best in regards to acoustics, the audience was absolutely wonderful. They responded well to our music, offered us huge flowers and a large scenic painting as gifts, and absolutely roared in applause after hearing Diana Yu (our student announcer) speak perfect Chinese (I guess an American speaking Chinese is a rarity there). Then afterwards, we were bombarded with the many Chinese college students with cameras and we shared a great dinner with them. It was very interesting to see how immersed they were in our American culture, and they could talk for hours. It was very hard to leave, but we plan to keep in touch with e-mail.
6. Was the language barrier difficult?
Actually, more people in China speak English than in the US, and the college students in particular have really good English. In fact, they are required to learn and study in English, and half of their textbooks are in English. Most of their signs are in English and Chinese too, but there is a little of odd spellings for things (we got plenty of pictures of them, no worries). Of course, there are many Chinese who do not speak any English beyond “hello” and “clothes in there” (see my previous posting), but luckily we had our tour guides to help us out.
7. Are things expensive in China?
Most things are very inexpensive in China compared to the US. For instance, three bottled waters are $1, and ice cream bars are $0.40, and the average car is $4000. With such inexpensive merchandise, it may seem like everyone should be living in grand, luxurious homes with fancy cars, but when people are making $100 a month, everything does not seem so cheap. In fact, the only real homes in China are owned by farmers with lots of land or millionaires who own villas in the cities. The majority of the population living in China lives in small apartments.
8. How is the food in China?
Generally, the meals are in restaurants are setup like banquet halls with round tables. Then you have a small glass for Coke or Sprite (no refills), a smaller cup for tea, a bowl and spoon ( like a small ladle) for soup, a small plate for food, and chopsticks (yes, we were able to eat without forks and knives). Then you have a big Lazy Susan in the middle of the table, and they bring out various dishes throughout the meal. It usually starts with nuts or light food, and then proceeds with several kinds of meat and weird vegetables that I have never heard of, and then it ends with soup and fruit (in other words watermelon). I cannot say that I liked all the food, but everyone tries it and finds something they like. Each meal certainly fills you up.
9. How was drinking out of bottled water?
As you know, we cannot drink the water from China unless you want to be sick, so we have to drink bottled water. It is annoying at times, but the hotels normally give complimentary water and you can get them cheap from the bus. Nevertheless, we had quite a few people who got sick in the trip for one reason or another. Luckily, we had Dr. Nelson to save us all from 10 days of diarrhea.
10. What is your least favorite thing about China?
Of course, there is the language factor, but my least favorite thing about China is the stairs. You think I am joking, but I am not. Everywhere you go there is huge numbers of stairs in certain increments, like nine for emperors. In other words almost everything affiliated with emperors has stairs in sets of nine. With all of the temples, buildings and the Great Wall, stairs are endless in China. Then at every ancient Chinese relic, they have this step thing at the door so you have to bow and show respect to the owner. Anyways, I am totally exhausted from the stairs, so I am going to try to wrap this up with one final question before you fall asleep.
11. What is your favorite thing about China?
There were some great thing about China that I really enjoyed on the trip like bargaining at the market, visiting the small factories and seeing the amazing stunts from the acrobatics show, but I think everyone on this trip would agree that the best part of China is its people. They are truly the nicest people you will ever meet. The Chinese are so warm and inviting, and they appreciated our work and music. From the welcome banners to the pictures to the deep conversations, they showed how truly generous and kind the Chinese people are. We have befriended a lot of wonderful people, and have many unforgettable experiences. It has been the best ten days of my life, and the fact that I could share them with my friends and classmates made it even better. This experience, as corny as it may sound, has changed my views on life and made me appreciate America. We are so special in that we are the “melting pot” and we are exposed to so many cultures, people, religions and food. Every day we live freely and we are capable of surpassing any obstacle, to follow our dreams. This opportunity allowed me to see that, and I hope I was able to give you a sense of the real China.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Back in St. Charles!!

We arrived back in St. Charles this evening (Thursday June 28th) at 7:30 p.m. The flight was pretty much uneventful. When we arrived at St. Charles East High School there was a contingent of family and friends to greet us.

To the people that met us with signs, cheers and hugs--
thank you, thank you, thank you. We were all so tired and exhausted from our trip, but to see everyone there with smiles and waves and the great signs made us all feel so refreshed. Knowing that people went to that amount of trouble was heartwarming, I for one, was very touched.

To Julie Hepfer,who was my right hand gal here in the U.S., thanks for all your help throughout the week keeping people aware of where we were and what we were doing when we could not blog (Thank you also for the lovely basket upon our return, you are so thoughtful!), it helped so much having a contact here in the states!

To Connie Szorc- Thanks for the lovely card. I will place it in our album with all our China trip memorabilia, it meant alot to be remembered by the parents and to know everyone enjoyed the blog!

I will post some final trip pictures tomorrow from the last day of our visit.

Sue

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Final Day in China


Well we have been very busy since leaving Louyang.

The sleeper car was an experience we will all remember. We had the best accommodations (in fact there are 108 berths on this sleeper train and we had 96 of them, so we had all accommodations) and few Chinese are able to either purchase or afford this type of travel. Every thing we do requires us to remember this.

Upon arriving in Beijing we had breakfast and then off to the Temple of Heaven. This was beautiful and very interesting. Many elderly Chinese who are retired gather at this temple to exercise, play music, socialize, enjoy life. It is a great slice of Chinese life to see, along with this gorgeous temple.

We then went to a silk factory. I believe most of us had no idea how silk fabric is made. Incredible and amazing is the only way to describe how they take the fine silk threads from a silk worm and spool it, weave it on a loom or open and stretch it onto a form, and create various soft and beautiful items. Impressive!

After lunch we broke into 2 groups, those that wanted to visit a shopping market, and those that wanted to go back to our hotel and shower and rest abit.

We met up again at a restaurant for dinner. The stories from the Marketplace were so fun and many enjoyed their time there. It was an adventure, at least from the stories! It apparently wasn't just the purchasing, but the whole show of what was the Marketplace that made it such a fun time for those that went.

After Dinner we went to the Chinese acrobat show. Everyone was astounded by this show. We were told later that the people in this show start training at 6 to 7 and must step down from performing at 22. They can then be directors, teachers, or show workers in various capacities. If a show like this visits the U.S. and you have a chance to see it, GO! Words can not describe this performance.

It is now Thursday morning and we will visit the Forbidden City today. From that location we will go to the airport for our flight home. We leave at 4:20 p.m. on United flight 850. We are expected to arrive at 4:17 p.m. in O'Hare, so we will arrive earlier than we leave. Good trick, eh? I'm sure we will all be tired, but we will never forget the cities, the sites, the shows, the friends we have met here in China. It has been all we thought it would be and so much more!!!

One more blog to go- detailing our final leg and arrival home.... Sue

2nd series of pictures from 6/26 & 6/27





Description of pictures above-

Boarding the sleeper car for Beijing.

Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

Silk Factory Tour, Beijing.