Halfway to Christmas in China

Ni hao. Goodness knows how you really spell that in Chinese... that means "hello" by the way. China has been amazing, but I'm sure everyone has figured that out by now! It's beautiful, wonderful people, and exquisite food. The sights are breathtaking! Not to mention, our performances were so much fun.

The Chinese people we've encountered were so kind - especially those at the Universities in Zhengzhou and Kaifeng. At Kaifeng, Kevin Mueller, Emma Maupin and I met a 20 year old student named Forrest - "like Run Forrest, Run" (direct quote). He was very interesting and we shared many laughs after he sang Backstreet Boys and The Beatles for us.

I'll focus on today, though. Woke up to a morning of Tai Chi. We did everything from intense tai bo like exercising to relaxing meditation. It was so much fun to see hundreds of men and women up at 6:00 AM to practice tai chi. The dedication in this country is unbelievable. We ate a great breakfast on the rotating tower (the hotel we're in has the 25th floor rotating in a circle, taking 60 minutes to make a full rotation). It happened to be my 18th birthday today, so I was serenaded and presented with a slice of (birthday) cake by Chris Billquist. I've found that everyone in the band has meshed quite well. Everyone can have a good laugh with other random people.

We took a 2 hour bus trip to Shaolin Temple. We were fortunate enough to take golf carts to the Temple. Instead, we would have had to walk 3 km. (I wouldn't have minded except for the 104 degree heat.) The Temple was amazing - there were "seven layers" (a building with a courtyard = one layer) and a Buddha or some sort of monument in each. We saw monks, and they seemed very kind. Didn't talk much, but still interesting to see.

Lunch, of course, was fantastic. I love eating off of a lazy susan with a small plate. The foods are so interesting - I can't pronounce half of the food names. I found a gorgeous horse painting on a silk tapestry (happy birthday to me) and I got to barter the price. As akward as it is (seeing as how we never do it at home), it was really fun. You get to propose ridiculously low prices and watch the vendors' faces drop. Rather humorous actually...

Next was Kung Fu! It was SO AWESOME!!! These young men were incredibly flexible - moreso than our drill teamers! A little boy about 8 years old was fantastic - he was jumping and bending and flipping all over the place. They were breaking metal and sticks on others' appendages. Emma and I were a little scared when they held one Kung Fu student up with knives.

Our last stop before returning to Luoyang was the Sword Shop (it deserves capital letters). The swords were amazing - very well crafted and excellent attention to detail. Of course all the guys were entranced - most of the females stayed inside to avoid the heat. The view was great on the way home - it was mostly farmland, but you could see farmers working in the fields, deep crevices in the land, and huge mountains in the distance.

Our dinner was great - the restaurant we ate in was beautiful and the food, of course, was different from anything I've ever eaten. I ate sea cucumber. It was disgusting - it jiggled. Enough said. But Diana Yu talked me into doing it. We received a painting from a man who was at the concert yesterday at Luoyang; he was so touched by our performance, he went home and painted until early this morning, and rode his bike 45 minutes to give us the painting. It was a beautiful peony - I can't wait to see it in the band room!

After dinner, Kevin Mueller, Liz Chadwick, Diana Yu, Jeffrey Paul LeFevre, Bus B's tour guide Derek, and I got a massage/accupressure. It was very low key (we got to keep all of our clothes on, thank goodness)- they pounded our arms and legs pretty well. We laughed and talked a lot - it was nice to relax after a long day.

China is such an amazing country. I'll never take toilet paper, ice, and cool weather for granted anymore. Oh, and they have squat toilets. Enough said. Everything has a story and some sort of history - I love hearing about it. The locals watch you as you pass - it's like we're famous. I wish I could describe all the wonders I've seen, funny experiences I've witnessed, and people I've met. Especially with the threat of having my piccolo almost burst into flame due to the fireworks seven inches from the poor thing - just to spice things up a bit.

So I think it's safe to say that with TaiChi, monks, more chicken I could ever ask for (which is a good thing!), Kung Fu, swords, and accupressure - I've had an excellent 18th birthday!

Miss and Love you Mom, Jonathan, Dad, Jennifer, Trev, Sean, & Chase!

-Alex White