The day of the Great Wall visit

So its hard to remember how long we have already been here after a crazy 13 hour plane ride and the major time difference. The time difference is probably the strangest thing so far, the day of the plane trip most of us were awake for eh say 30 hours-ish. A few of us got some nap time in on the plane ride (mostly those of us in Economy-PLUS!) who had extra leg room.

This morning we were supposed to wake up around 6:30 but Barrett and I ended up waking up at 5:30 Chinese time without realizing we set our clocks to the wrong time. We just wandered around the hotel at like 6 in the morning and ate our early breakfast.

The Chinese food here is AMAZING! I was a little worried it wouldn't be as good as the Americanized Chinese food we all love at Panda Express back at home. At all the restaurants we basically sit down at giant circular tables, about 10 people to a table, and we are served by about 3 of 4 waiters at a time. They bring dish after dish of delicious Chinese food that is served family style on a round center tray that spins around. The first food I tried the first day we got here was duck. It was actually very very good. We have all tried so many new things already, its been great! Using chop sticks has been a challenge for some people... including myself.

Our first performance was on the Great Wall today. It was very exciting for all of us. There was a small crowd but I really think they enjoyed our music. After playing, most of us began our hour journey up the wall. There were so many steps! For those of you back in America who never really had the chance to learn or appretieate the Great Wall (like myself, until today), it is so beautiful and can stretch from New York to LA. Just looking at it is jaw-dropping! It was another very smogy day so it was hard to get some good pictures, but it was still really great.

Well you already heard the mention of our massages tonight from Dave above. He made the huge mistake of not getting one. Barrett and I did and it was amazing. It was a one hour body massage for 200 chinese moneys (Yuan) which is about 25 US dollars. Talk about a great deal. It included lots of pounding, stretching, chopping, foot soaking in tea, and other stuff. I have never had a massage before so I dont know if what they were doing was some cool Chinese thing or just a normal massage.

Well that's all for now,
Written by Kevin Mueller, (edited by Barrett Abraham)

So Hey!

so hey whats up parents
this is not from the actual person that this blog is being sent out from
today we did some wacky and crazy things
first off we went off to the great wall and all got tattoos of our names in Chinese symbols
it was awesome
the girls mostly got it on their rear ends
the guys pretty much got them on their biceps.
we went to a vase shop where we where forced to make copper vases to be sold at high prices
the worst part was the scorching heat in the rooms used to melt the copper
before we became partial slaves
we went to a jade factory where large pieces of jade where thrown at us till we would dance like little monkeys for the Chinese people
well off to bed
we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow
full of harsh punishments.
POSTED BY CHASE SZORC

Group Photo from the ju yong guan Great Wall access point

Great Wall of China Concert June 20, 2007

The First REAL Day

So...we finally got a real day in China. What I mean by that is that we weren't flying for 13 hours straight, and we weren't so tired that we acted like 5 year-olds and did a lot of really strange, unfocused things. We got to wake up today at 6:30, which, for you Central Time Zoners is actually 5:30 at night. So, you ate, and we were waking up. Anyway,. we had breakfast in the hotel, which featured these really good rolls that we dubbed "cloud" rolls, because they tasted all light and fluffy.

After that, we shipped out on ther bus and went to a jade factory. We saw the construction of the 2008 Olympic stadiums on the way! (Honestly, not THAT interesting. It was just your everyday construction site.) So, we got to the jade factory, and got a short tour, followed by some time to shop in the store. I bought a little jade turtle. I saw that it cost 160 yuan. Well, that was the product number or something. It cost 300 instead. Oops...

Then we drove off and went to a factory that makes copper vases. It was pretty amazing, and EXTREMELY detailed. We ate lunch at the factory too. While we were in the shop afterward, there were a lot of odd things. For example, a copper horse. 2,678,000 yuan. Divide that by 7.5, and that's how much it costs in US dollars. I think that would cover all 4 years of college for me...There were also some Chinese health bells, which have a special place in my heart. Anyone reading this that went to Scotland last summer? Sorry...had to ask. Also, there were some fancy looking silk pajamas that Chase bought and almost wore to dinner tonight. More on Chase later.

We left the second factory, and bussed over to the Badaling section of the Great Wall (of China, that is). We played our concerts, which we were told were good, but come on, you don't want to hear about that, you want to hear about the wall. We climbed (those of us who have youthful energy that is, which excludes my mother) hundreds of steps up a mountain on the wall, and got some awesome pictures. I'm sure you'll see those eventually.

We returned to the hotel for a short break, and then went to dinner, which featured dancing and singing entertainment. Chase fully enjoyed that, which was kind of creepy. At the end, most people (except for Russ, because he's boring) got up and jumped over some bamboo sticks to a beat. By the way, there's still more on Chase. Next paragraph.

We came back to the hotel, and now have some time to hang out before we go to bed. Some people (including Chase) ordered massages. Mostly, it was the guys...Russ and I are going to knock on their room doors after I finish this. As for what else we'll do, we don't know, but we're having a good time. Tomorrow, we take the bullet train!

- David Thomases