Louyang #2

The crowds were so big, it surprised us!!

The local dignitaries present Mr. Kull and the band with some beautiful artwork and awards from the Louyang community.

Louyand treated us like mini-celebrities. The local media took pictutres of every student, every parent, every instrument, from every angle!

Hope you enjoy the pictures! More tomorrow.

Louyang- Sunday June 24th

Took the buses to Louyang today. It is unlike Beijing, Zhengzhou, or Kaifeng. Every year they have a big festival celebrating the beauty of the Peony Flower. The people of Louyang greeted us as minor celebrities. When we arrived in town we learned that the concert had been rescheduled and moved due to the heat (100+ degrees), and the fact that they were expecting so many people that the park they had originally planned on using would be too small.
We arrived at the concert location around 5:15 p.m. The crowds were already big, we had no idea how enormous this would be. As we all helped in the set up, we saw the crowd grow and grow. There were an unbelievable number of people. I wouldn't even venture a guess. The pictures here show the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Workshop during their performances. After the concert, a local group that does a Peony Dance during their festival, performed for us. Their costumes and their dance was incredible.
This was our last concert in China- what a way to go out for the seniors, eh?

Huh?

By- J Bou ( Jake Boulay)
Given a holla to all my esses in St.Charles. Mom I love you and I haven’t died yet, so that’s good. Dad I hope your leparcy has ceased upon my return. Bean, thanks for the note: pigs. Steph, of course, I miss you. All the sights are nutso and the food is starting get a little greasy for my liking but its still dang deleesh. I love you all and ill bore you with my adventures at a later time. Peath Out.
-Hayabusa Breitling

Travels with Dustin

By-Dustin Leatherman
I have spent 6 days out of 10 here and so far, have had a plethora of experiences ranging from eye opening to downright weird. China’s differences from the United States are few and many( more few though). For example, going through downtown Beijing is like walking through downtown Chicago, with ads and people walking about everywhere. The only difference, is they are mainly in Chinese. Although many things in China have the English translation right above or below which is different than it is in America. The modern Chinese culture is very much influenced by our own American culture. For example, In China, there are two main fast food joints, which are KFC and McDonalds. These two are always in competition and our trusty and faithful guide Derek has proudly stated, “if you find a KFC somewhere, you will most likely find a McDonalds not far from it. What I have also noticed is that Chinese Restaurants are actually pretty .close to what real Chinese food is like. Unlike other such Americanized foods as taco bell is as of now though I’m tired of eating things I cant pronounce or can’t distinguish whats inside of it or not. Coming to China has given me the opportunity to taste different kinds of foods that I wouldn’t normally have eaten. Theres this jello stuff that ive seen a few times which is made from fish eggs and boiling the life part out of them and that becomes the jello part. Its kinda gross. Another thing about China is that the style of driving is much different than the United States. If Mr. Smerz saw this driving, he might have a heart attack. People always cut each other off and people are allowed to cross the street at any time they want to. There are lane lines on the ground but in some areas, the people create new lanes. Also, you can drive on sidewalks to park your car. Its a lot different here. Also there aren’t any rickshaws because they have been banned but there are quite a bit of pedicabs, which are like tricycles with the thing on the back to carry people. One of the most memorable things about this trip have been seeing a fight in the middle of the highway. These cars parked on the high way and started a fist fight. Thje people were throwing each other around too. It was awesome! Alotbettger than the school fights ive seen. Also next to that is making it to the top of the great wall. The view is absolutely stunning but it doesn’t come without a price. The stairs are really difficult because there are so many of them and they are very uneven. Some are even a foot high. Our band has been hailed as internationally famous which I find humorous because ive never thought of us as a famous band. The Chinese people love our concerts and come by the thousands. After we are finished performing, they try and shake your hand and many of them come and take lots of different pictures with you. Its quite funny. One thing that is frustrating though, is not being able to communicate with the Chinese people that well. Many of them know English but some can hardly speak and it makes it frustrating, especially when you’re confused about something and would like clarification. Onemore thing before log off, if you happen to travel to China and something says a full body massage, yeah, it’s a FULL body massage. Just to let you know. Even though ive gotten this chance to come here, it makes me only yearn for home more and to go where my heart is. I miss home terribly and I am excited to return. I am especially looking forward to spending time with my girlfriend because I can be no happier when im in her presence. Shes amazing and I love her more than anything in the whole entire world (831). Alright well that’s it I guess. Adios

In China, Blog Represent Happiness, Family, and Longevity

By-Jimmy Pittman
First off, I should preface this blog by stating that it will not be a detailed synopsis of every leg of our journey thus far, simply because the days have started to meld together and I can’t remember whether the pearl factory was in Beijing or…uh…Other Beijing. However, I’ve been utterly enamored with every second of this trip.
Okay, so I lied, here’s your synopsis: We arrived in Beijing, played on the Great wall on day two (most surreal experience ever-amazing), went to pearl, jade and cloisonné factories (Greetings American Consumer!), Tiananmen Square (Don’t talk about “Bad Day”), the Summer Palace (Gorgeous), and a traditional Chinese teahouse, mostly in that order. Then came the bullet train to Zhengzhou, a grittier slice of the Chinese pie than the (relatively) westernized Beijing. We played one concert there a few days ago and another outside Zhengzhou at Keifeng University. The latter was the biggest performance of my life, and went great, apart from the God of Tuning banishing me to the land of Quarter-Step Flat during the final song. Apparently the audience didn’t mind, as one strapping young student insisted on carrying my bass to the bus. Being a man of extreme sloth, I obliged. This warm reception carried on to dinner, where we had some fantastic conversations with the students. From speaking with them, I realized all the inadequacies of the American school system. They can carry on a conversation for 30 minutes after 3 years of English, I can’t remember how to order dinner after 3 years of Spanish. Yesterday will be hard to top, but we’ll see.
For the most part, China is exactly the same as portrayed in every American cartoon whenever a character falls down a hole to the other side of the earth, except with more bikes and indicators of an increasingly free market society. Also, there aren’t any rickshaws, much to my dismay. My thoughts now alternate between a desire for the comforts of home (1 billion people and not one damn slice of cheese!) and my impending melancholy when I leave this socialist paradise. Really though, I just miss everyone back at home, and look forward to you all assaulting me with questions about how big the Great Wall was when I’m really jetlagged.
Love,
Jimmy

Great Food, Better People

By- Chris Billquist

It is now the morning of day seven and we are on our way to Luoyang, a three-hour bus ride from Zhengzhou. The differences between Beijing and Zhengzhou are very prominent, at least for us tourists. The people in Beijing seemed to, more than in any other city I’ve visited, want us to buy everything we saw. We visited the legendary jade factory for near about three hours and then proceeded to play forty-five minutes of music on the Great Wall and use our remaining hour to climb it. The next day we had lunch on the second floor of The Cloissone Factory and were then thoroughly encouraged to visit the gift shop on the first floor. The day we visited the pearl factory I finally got suckered in to buying a nice pearl bracelet for my dear sister. I guess the moral of the story is even those of us who are set against being persuaded to overspend will finally be suckered by “ancient relics” and “Chinese culture.”

When we arrived in Zhengzhou the trip really began to take off for me. We were warmly greeted at the train station by Derek, a very knowledgeable and humorous man. He told us that being a tour guide was a very respectable job in China and required a lot of schooling in order to understand the thousands of years of Chinese history plus be fluent in English. In Zhengzhou we played our first concert for a real audience which was one of the most exhilarating feelings I’ve ever felt. While Workshop was playing Matchell (Michelle Cox) and I talk about the fact that one of the highest dignitaries in the Henan Province was watching our concert and the fact that we were being treated so warmly here. I’m pretty sure I shook hands with some very important people after that concert and I can’t even begin to explain how privileged I felt.

Last night we played a concert at Kaifeng University and afterwards the students came up to us with prepared conversation starters and the menu for the meal we were about to eat translated into English by the students themselves. I spent the meal with some first year English students who want to teach English after they graduate. They kept commenting on how bad their English was but I understood them perfectly! We played basketball with the students and just spent a good two hours just talking. This was what I had been waiting for the entire trip!
To sum up China: great people, cheap massages, and Jackie Chan in his element (action movies actually in Chinese). Who could ask for a better way to spend ten days?!