Xi'an

I tried McDonald's for the first time in 9 years. And now I'm addicted to it. I had 4 large fries and 3 ice cream cones. And it didn't smell like grease and diapers. After McDonald's we went back up to the street and saw a side street market. They had so many cute puppies. Alex was so close to taking one back to America. We have gotten pretty used to the crazy driving. It's fun to wave at the people in the buses next to us. I got 27 people to wave back. It was fun. Kym says hi to Mr. Runyon. I say HI, too. And everyone else is alright. Sorry for not calling, mom. I hope Aspen, Remi and Manny, are doing okay without me. So, in I'll say bye in Japanese since I don't know Chinese. Saiyonara. (Ande)

Chimento Blogs: Xi'an

Chimento here... Wanted to share some experiences on this portion of the trip before we left for Shanghai. Coming to Xi'an yielded some unforgettable memories that will long leave a burning impression on my mind. Xi'an, China's original capital through a multitude of dynasties, is the source of ancient Chinese history. It's a city completely surrounded by a very thick wall, with 4 major gates (N,S,E,W) that provide the threshold for entrance to and egress from the city. In some ways you can't help but feel safe, and become part of the city when you enter, no matter your culture. It's a city with a beautiful mixture of old world history, splashed with the “vibe” of a modern Manhattan. Although Xi'an sports a hurried culture, its people clearly take the time to nod and smile, or graciously help a few American visitors as guests in their city.

The Terracotta Warrior Soldiers were an incredible surprise for me, as I was largely (actually embarrassingly) unaware of what they were all about. A farmer who was digging a well in 1974 found a few pieces of pottery and bronze weapons, and from that point on, the rest was as they say, “history.” Little did he know that he had discovered what is now deemed the eighth wonder of the modern world-- a myriad of life size soldiers buried underneath acres of land. My take on it is that these were crafted for two reasons, one being pride, in an emperor's attempt to continue to rule with power in the afterlife with this army of terracotta warriors, and second, he was an emperor who liked to play with warrior dolls, and commissioned any number of workers to craft them life size for him. (That's quite a bottle cap collection!) Despite the issues of pride, or even a child like want for life size ceramic toys, I couldn't help but feel I was standing on absolute hallowed ground Check out the pics that I hope will give you a sense of how grandiose this world wonder is.

The Hot Pot Dinner was like Fondue on steroids, and the kids described me as a “freight train” not stopping eating the ENTIRE meal, boiling every thing they put in my reach like shaved meats, mushrooms, and fabulous noodles, in a wonderful stock pot of assorted vegetables, and herbs, and heaven knows what else. Anytime I had had fondue, it was the fried kind, rather than the healthier boiled kind. (apparently my arteries are not hard enough) Nevertheless, I was on a mission to try it ALL. When it was time to go, they had to pull me away, as I was still groping for more boiled artifacts in my pot. Perhaps after seeing the terracotta warriors, I was inspired to be on my own archeological dig to find where that last noodle was lost in my own pot of boiled mess. The kids were floored that our server needed to fill up my pot with more water, as I depleted all of my natural resources before dinner was over.

After the hot pot dinner, we had the chance to walk home from the middle of the city to the North Gate, where the Jinyuanfurun Hotel lies. What a tremendous exposure to their culture, with a few familiarities along the way. (a couple of stops at McDonalds, Baskin Robbins and Starbucks). Beautiful trees, buildings and gates, electronically dressed in lights. Xi'an is a city that I could honestly say would be on my list to visit again. - MC²

Your Kids

Mr. Chimento and I are enjoying the students. They have been great to travel with and we are thankful each day. Thanks so much for sharing them with us. These kids come with a burning desire to learn and are spirited with a powerful sense of adventure, without recklessness. It's refreshing to be with this caliber of a student.

Mikayla is happy each day she is here.

Alex cracks us up with his sense of humor.

Amanda is so mature for her age and is our interpreter for the deaf.

Ande' makes sure we are on scheduled each day keeping us on track.

Travis has these famous one liners that also crack us up.

Erica, too cracks us up, and is our Asian “eye candy” detector.

Nicole is our guidebook to all things Asian, and our “back-up eye candy” detector, in case Erica misses someone.

Kim is our battery, our “Energizer Bunny,” on the tour.

Wes is our practical joker and April Fool, yet never misses a chance to show his kindness to others.

We couldn't ask for a better group!

In Shanghai

I just spoke to my wife via Skype from Shanghai not long after the group arrived. It's very late there, and they're tired, so don't expect any updates about how wonderful Xi'an was until they've rested up.

- Zeb

Radio Silence

While the group is in Xi'an there will be no updates. Unfortunately, they have no internet access there. Updates will resume when they get to the next stop on the trip.

- Zeb

Xi'an Day 1

Hello all!

Today was great! This morning we flew to Xi'an. The flight was super nice, the lunch was really good and the flight felt fast. We got to meet our local guide too, his English name is Tony. After he gave us some info on the bus, we went to the Wild Goose Pagoda. It was beautiful and we got to see Buddhist monks. The surrounding temples were really beautiful too, but unfortunately we couldn't take any pictures on the inside. Nicole made up for it though by taking lots of dynamic photos. Next we went to a museum. There were lots of different types of art. The paintings were gorgeous and so life like that even our cameras recognized them in smile mode. After getting to see masks, paper art, and learning about the Chinese zodiac we got to practice calligraphy. That was really fun, and some people did really well, like Mikayla and Ande, theirs were really neat. A little later we asked the guide to write our names. They look so cool and sound cool too, for example Mikayla's translated to “plum OK happy”. After a short trip, we went to dinner. It was a vegetarian restaurant, I liked the food. Some were brave enough to try the new interesting food, and generosity to let us know what it tasted like. For example Alex was trying the an edible bowl, and Mr. Chimento asked what it tasted like. Alex decided to use his descriptive intelligence and say “It has a crunchy crunch feel.” And Mr. Chimento, after trying the edible bowl, replied, “It's like edible air!” After dinner, everyone was happy to get to the hotel. It's better than our last hotel, it's so roomy and smells nice, Mrs. Archer's room is awesome and huge. We had a pow wow then agreed to meet back later. Travis went back to his room to chill. Amanda went to the massage thing, while Kym, Wes, and Alex walked around downtown Xi'an. They walked from gate to gate! Nicole and I chilled in our room while Ande, Mikayla, and Erica went to the convenience store across the street. Erica had a very epic fail. At the convenient store, she wanted to buy a bottle of water. So Erica picked it up and started walking away so the convenient store workers started yelling at her in Chinese. Everyone could definitely tell that she was a tourist. We're just hanging out now, until 10 (curfew time). Well, I hope you enjoyed our blog. Good night or morning or afternoon or whatever, let's just stick with goodbye. Bye! ~Olivia & Mikayla

Wes Blogs: Beijing Day 2

Today we did a bunch of things. Just to name a few to keep us on track we went to the Great Wall, tea ceremony, and temple of heaven.

Early this morning we woke up around 7:00ish to eat breakfast and prepare ourselves for the Great Wall. At 7:30 we were all piled into the bus and on our way. After an hour and a half drive we found ourselves very close to our destination, but something was very similar that showed up on our right, but in an incomplete way. To the right of our bus were blue and pink buildings of a disneyland in construction. Later we found out that this was called "Wonderland" and was built several years ago only to run out of funding, so construction was never completed.

Less than 20min later we found our bus at the Great Wall. The weather was great and visibility perfect! We all quickly got on our way to the wall for group photographs. After the picture, we all began on our way or on our attempt to get as far as possible in our short time. The trek was no easy task with many steep steps and steep hills. When we reached the highpoint of the Great Wall we were surrounded by many Chinese. Many of them asking to take a picture with us and others waiting for something spectacular to occur. Mr. Chimento, Alex, Kim, Amanda and I sat enjoying the attention until suddenly a golden voice could be heard faintly. We all looked about and realized quickly that Mr. Chimento had burst into song of "Amazing Grace". The roaring crowd at the Great Wall became instantly silent to listen to our talented teacher sing at their Wonder of the World. Upon completion of the song, clapping was heard and even more Chinese people asked for a photo with us.

After a great deal of time our little trio choose to get back to the bus as we only had 30min to reach the big bug. As we galloped down the Great Wall it soon became apparent that there was one among us who possessed superior speed. It was none other than Alex, who in his bright yellow shirt was booking it down the Great Wall rushing to the entrance but not to reach the bus. No instead simply for the bathroom. Haha.

Our journey from there took us to a tea store, where we took part in a tea ceremony full of wondrous scents and tastes. A demonstration was given of the importance and wonders of tea. Magic was amongst the demonstration, which was evident by the color changing tea cups. The magic captivated many of the group and gave them an absolute look of amazement. The shop in the tea store held products from the demonstration available for purchase and I must admit that it was a very popular purchase hotspot. With our day slowly coming to an end we had one final destination for the day. The temple of heaven which surprisingly is not to be confused with the Temple of Helen. See our tour guide was very witty and cheesy by introducing the temple to us in that way. The temple was okay with very little to offer and soon the group was in the bus ready for the hotel. -Wes

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Random Moments to Remember

• Picture Amanda buying a sour dough bear in San Francisco. Now picture Amanda in Beijing getting sniffed by a drug dog at the airport. Mr. Chimento and I had not seen the interaction so we heard about it later via Travis who humorously stated, "Turns out the dog was just wanting her sour dough bear."
• Kim, Alex and Amanda playing volleyball on The Great Wall.
• Feeling like movie stars but realizing that the anomaly was facial hair, leg hair, blond hair and the like. The Chinese tourists enjoyed taking pictures with us as much as the historic places they were visiting. Kim's last count was 45.
• Erica, Nicole, Ande and Olivia who have discovered that China's scenery apparently also  includes humans. :)
• Wes who is dreaming about our trip getting interrupted and being told he needs to get back on the plan for another 15 hour journey home.

A Great Day (get it...Great Wall...lol); Beijing Day 2

We are paired with three other school groups on this tour. It is fun to meet other people from across the United States. One of the schools consists of deaf students from Maryland. Fortunately they have interpreters but Amanda and I both know sign language so we can communicate when needed. We have a group from New York and also one from San Francisco for a bus full of 44 people. Helen is our tour guide is she is just great. She speaks in third person a lot - "Helen will be here for you." Don't forget to talk to Helen first." Having breakfast with Helen we found out that she choose her American name to be Helen because of Helen Keller. When she told me that goose bumps went up my arm (yes, I'm a sap).

We are off to the Great Wall today. Helen shared a number of stories but I found it interesting that she explained that the Chinese built the wall for peace purposes and not for purposes of war. It was build to protect the people within China and that there was little interest in moving outside to attack others. While the wall is made of dirt and stone, it is clear they want us to know that for every brick within the wall there is a person who died building it.     ......

Mr. Chimento here...We set out on the Great Wall, with great determination to get as far as we could go. The kids and I felt it a no brainer to get to the top... I'm afraid I did slow the group down wanting to make some photographs along the way. Every once in a while, there would be a Chinese visitor with a wonderful hat, or a little child dressed so charming, that I couldn't pass up a shot to record the memory. Never have I seen a bigger witness of pure flattery, as the Chinese people seem so impressed that someone would want to photograph them.

But then there's another aspect of wonder on their part. Some of these people have never seen Americans before, so they think Americans as movie stars. And so at any given moment,the boys and I felt like Mel Gibson, or Brad Pitt, and the girls like Hannah Montana, or Kelly Clarkson! Swarms of Chinese tourists come flying out of nowhere, as if a beehive had been disturbed, smiling, laughing, wonder, amazement... Friendly people wanting to hug you, be in a picture with you, with their arm around you... Thoughts of being in pictures with Americans... Who would have thought we would be celebrities for a day?

We get to the top, and I couldn't help but break into song... Amazing Grace felt appropriate, and it was an amazing experience to feel like I captivated a foreign audience for a couple of minutes. But perhaps the bigger idea, is that we shared in the spirit of a very special, even spiritual moment. As I sang, everyone turned and sort of stopped talking, and after, there were big cheers and again the swarm of people wanting to be in pictures with me and the kids. It took us almost a ½ hour to get down from the top, from the line of people wanting to be in pictures with us. Nice to be famous for a day. As we walked down, there were numbers of people pointing at us, conversing with one another in Chinese, and in the midst of their conversation, I heard the English words, "Amazing Grace." Some things are just universal, I guess.

The Great Wall of China was an amazing piece of history. When I think of 2000 years ago, how it all began, and continued to be built through any number of dynasties, 6000 miles of wall, the length of a round trip from New York City to San Francisco, an architectural structure that can be seen from the moon, I can't help but feel a part of that greatness when you are standing on it.

We brought our own sense of Americanism to it, as I broke into song, and the kids brought a volley ball just to be able to say, "I played Volley Ball on THE WALL." T-shirt anyone?

Wow! Beijing Day 1

Wow! We had an amazing first day! The day started out with breakfast at the hotel with a mix of Chinese and American foods. We got to meet the other two groups this morning at breakfast as well which was fun. After breakfast we went to the Imperial Gardens. There were temples all over the place with a lot of different shades of reds, blues and greens! I thought the gardens were beautiful. I really felt like I was in China! After the gardens, we went to a pearl shop and learned about pearls. We learned about the black, pink, lavender and white pearls, which was really interesting. We got to look around the store and buy some pearl jewelry, I personally loved it! After that we went to lunch and had a buffet lunch. Then we went to the Forbidden City. Everyone stared at us Americans because we are so different looking! They were taking pictures of us and laughing at what we were doing! Kym and I were very amused! The Forbidden City was really cool because we learned a lot about  it's history and got to see what life was like! After the Forbidden City we went to have a rickshaw tour and ate at a local Chinese families house for dinner! The rickshaws are 3 wheeled bikes with a 2 person carriage on the back. The drivers were all really competitive to arrive and the house first which was really fun the experience! The dinner was amazing! It was all home cooked and nothing I have ever tasted before! Once we arrived back at the hotel, our group traveled to the local grocery store and found out what craziness the grocery stores here are like! We got birthday cake to celebrate my birthday, a day late! I am having a wonderful time and can't wait to see what the rest of the week brings! (Amanda)

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Quick Update

Hello,

Not much time to post info but wanted to let you know we are all here safe and sound. Ate a good breakfast and we are getting ready for our first day of touring. Alex has been up since 4 am. Wes is awesome he says. Kim is going back to bed and Amanda only got to celebrate a partial birthday due to the time change. Others are getting their money changed and getting ready to go on the bus.


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Very Sleepy Update...zzzzz

We are here. We are tired. We ate. We came back to the motel. We tried to post pictures but are having issues and we are too tired to figure them out. All is well until they found out there was no pool in the hotel. I'm afraid many of them had moved on to la la land anyway as I am. zzzzzzzzz......

We're on our way!

Landed in San Francisco and we are already tired. Thirteen more hours to go.Everybody is ready to try and sleep on the plane. We'll update this as we can but we are about to board. Mikayla says "hi". Ande is OK. Nikki is still alive and got her letter and she hearts you. Travis is watching Family Guy. Olivia's cookies are a big hit. Kim and Amanda ran through the airport and bought a sour dough teddy bear. Mr. Chimento's hair is caddawumpus. Mrs. Archer ate an awesome hot dog. Hugs to all.

Pictures

Thanks to our Supporters!

A big thank you to the parents of these students and to those who purchased grocery cards, jewelery or tupperware and made this trip a possibility for some of our students.  We appreciate your support.

Pre-Trip Thoughts from our Travelers

As you reflect back on the last year, please share your thoughts regarding the China trip.

Possible questions to respond to:
What made you want to go?
Have you ever traveled before?
What do you currently think about China?
What do you hope to get out of this experience?
How are you feeling about this now that we are less than a month away?

The Time is Near

We've been meeting. We've been planning. We've saved our money. And with less than 24 days to go, we are getting ready for our journey to China. There is lots to be done and lots to think about but we are excited and anxious to leave the city of Aurora and experience the beauty of Asia.