Day 10 Journal

Prompt: Compare your initial response to the article “Why We Travel”, to your response now. (6/16/2010)

My favorite quote of Iyer’s is “And precisely because we are clarified in this way, and freed of inessential labels, we have the opportunity to come into contact with more essential parts of ourselves.” I still feel travel is about getting in touch with your inner self and removing labels. I have traveled in the U.S. on several mission trips and always try to get to know the people where we are, Appalachia of Tennessee or the mountains of South Carolina.
I travel because I want to meet and see new people; and to see new sights and amazing buildings. The best part of traveling though is the history. Learning about the country, the people, and the world around me is inspiring. This makes me want to travel to see even more new places. Trying the local foods is part of the fun of traveling, but it can be challenging when some of that food looks different than what I am use to, like a seahorse on a stick. Learning about how a country’s culture and religion came to be is really exciting. To understand how everything started and changed to the current way it is today.

Day 9 Journal

Prompt: Top 10: Learning moments, experiences, funny moments, TV shows. (6/15/2010)

The top ten things I learned are:
· The Terracotta Warriors were actually destroyed and then found in shattered pieces and reconstructed. I thought they were found in good condition.
· How well the Chinese protect their history from being damaged and keeping it alive.
· How the culture is still being practiced to and is taught to everyone. And it is still probably in the same structure when it was first built in.
· Kept valuable in tombs so the wouldn’t be exposed to air
· How the buildings and statues were made
· Hong Kong was affiliated with London
· People are just “borrowing” apartment buildings
· Fresh food can be bought at any time in the market
· How much thought was put into the Chinese legends

My top ten experiences are:
· Acrobatic show
· Great Wall of China
· Victoria Peak
· David tour guide
· Wild Goose Pavilion
· Temple of Heaven
· Terracotta Warriors
· Repulse Bay
· Walking through the venders mall
· The long plane ride

My top ten funny moments are:
· Dodging in and out of traffic
· Karaoke on the bus
· Karaoke outside of Happy Valley
· Tyler making the bus stop to go to the bathroom
· Seeing Bruce Lee pictures everywhere
· Vendors grabbing people and not letting them go
· Getting a sword down to 100 Yuan from 800 but not buying it
· Seeing Jackie Chan advertizing
· Jacob getting his fingernails painted black

My top ten TV shows are:
· Cars fighting each other
· Animated animal fighting in super suits
· Something like Pokémon
· CSI in English
· HBO in English
· Game shows
· Astroboy
· Soap operas
· China news in English
· Animated sheep show

Day 8 Journal

Prompt: Bartering, sights and things in Shanghai (6/14/2010)

For me, bartering is a lot better than paying full price for a product. You can get a 200 Yuan item for only 50 Yuan. That is a good deal. I am not good at it, but I am with a group that knows how. The mall full of vendors was the perfect place to barter. We went there today to see all of the different things they were selling. It was not like the shopping malls in America. Here there are little stores, but they are so small that there are so many lined up next to each other. In this mall, there were 4 levels of shops. They had everything, from toys and hats to paintings and jewelry.

Being in Shanghai was really fun. We got to go to the YuYuan Garden, the market, the Jade Buddha Temple, and the Bund. We first went to the YuYuan Garden. We had to get on the bus and drive a little way to the entrance; and after there we had to walk a little distance to see the sites around the garden. We then had to walk through the market area and a few shops to get to the main entrance of the garden. As we entered the garden, there were so many different formations of nature and beautiful buildings to be seen there. There were rockeries, ponds, cloisters, pavilions and halls. One of the neatest things to see there was the huge hand stacked rockery. It is a popular site to climb to the top and view the entire garden, but tourists are no longer allowed to climb up it. We walked around the garden a little more seeing small waterfalls, koi fish, beautiful trees, and the building structures, walls, gates and arches, in the garden. There was a magnificent dragon-like creature sculpted along the top of the surrounding garden wall. After being amazed at the garden we left to go shop at the market we had walked through. We split up into our groups and walked around the shops as we pleased. There were a lot of people in the market buying and selling things. We even saw a Starbucks Coffee and a Baskin Robins. My group though stopped at a dumpling restaurant to eat some dumplings. Then, we went to some shops and looked around for a while. Later, it was time for us to meet back with everybody in front of the Starbucks Coffee. After we were all done at the market, we came out the same way we had entered from. We then drove to lunch at a very crowded restaurant. But we had reservations, so we had our own private room to eat in. When we finished lunch, we went to the Jade Buddha Temple. There were a lot of statues and even bigger Buddha statues than before. People were praying in front of them inside a building. Probably to pay there respects and hope for a good life. To them, this was a sacred place where their religion was being practiced for over a hundred years. We walked through the different rooms seeing all of the jade statues and artifacts. It was really neat to see everything they worship compared to what I believe in. I was not able to get a lot of pictures of the idols because they asked for no photography. When we were all done we went back to our hotel to relax and enjoy the last night in Shanghai.

Day 7 Journal

Prompt: How does the East culture meet the West culture in Shanghai? Reactions to the home visit; and reaction to the Acrobatic show. (6/13/2010)

The influence of the Western culture is seen in the buildings along the Bund. The buildings reminded me of looking at Chicago’s lakefront. The visits to the homes in the apartments were good. We met a woman who had one son, a husband and a senior citizen, probably her mom. We asked many questions about her life. She has a small room about 900 square feet. They lived on the bottom floor of the apartment building we were in. Her husband is a taxi driver, so he was not there. Her son was at school then, so we could not talk to him. She was really nice and friendly. She also told us about her life. It was very interesting to hear. We then went to the market. That was exactly what I was looking for, when we arrived in China. Tonight we went and saw an Acrobatic Show. It was not all acrobatics though. They had magic, bike riding, plate spinning, rope spinning, chair balancing, body balancing, hat juggling, and umbrella spinning. It was all very impressive and I loved it. They must have practiced for such a long time to get every thing perfect.

Day 6 Journal

Prompt: Compare and contrast for Xi’an and Beijing: food and culture. (6/12/10)

Xian and Beijing may be in the same country but are two very different places. Xian is where the beginning of the Chinese civilization started and is more important than Beijing in the overall history of China. Beijing though is a larger city than Xian and has more people living there. It is the capital of China, making it a very important part of China. It is where the later emperors, especially the Ming Dynasty, lived in the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is huge and full of historical items. The throne rooms and sculptures are very well preserved. I was surprised to see huge brass fire bowls that were 1,000s of years old. Another difference in the two cities is that Xian is the center of a farming area and Beijing is basically a large city with skyscrapers. The two cities have the same religion, Buddhism, with statues of Buddhas everywhere in the cities.

Day 5 Journal

Prompt: Free Write (6/11/10)

Today was a very tiring day. We had to wake up at 4:00 in the morning, just so we could catch our flight to go to Xian. Everyone was tired when they got up in the morning. As we got on the bus that would take us to the airport, many kids were sleeping. When we got to the airport to check our bags in, there was a very long line. People kept on cutting us in line. It was so annoying, but we were finally able to get through the crowd to load our bags. We then walked to our gate to get onto our plane. We did not have to wait very long before the plane arrived. It only took one and a half hours to get to Xian. When we got off the plane, it was hotter than in Beijing. When we got outside, we loaded our bags on a bus that would take them to the hotel, but we did not go straight to the hotel. First, we did some sight seeing at the Ancient City Wall. It was really long and big. You could even rent a bike and ride on the top of the wall. Some of the other guys and me went into a tower that used to be a lookout tower when the wall was built. The view was great. You could see the whole city from where we were. After that we went to eat lunch. It was very delicious there. Then we went to a jade shop, to see how they craft jade. Later we headed out to the Wild Goose Pagoda where we sight saw and climbed to the top of the Pagoda. Finally, by that time, everyone was tired and ready for bed, but we had one more thing to do. We went and saw the Tang Dynasty Singing and Dancing Show. It was well performed for everyone. They were really good dancers and their costumes were very elaborate. Now we were able to go to the hotel. I was so tired by the end of the day; I could not wait to lie in bed.

Day 4 Journal

Prompt: Overall impression of Beijing; Did China do a good job of protecting their history? Are the people proud of their history? Most memorable in Beijing: food, moment, cultural thing. What are you most excited for in Xian?(6/10/2010)

Beijing was a great city to explore from the market stands to the Great Wall of China. To be in the capital of China was an amazing experience. Being able to see what life is like in a completely different city is incredible. China’s history was well preserved everywhere we went. The best part is that they know not to keep digging in the tombs with valuables, because if they did, all of the valuables, like pots or vases, would turn to dust after being in contact with the air. Most of the artifacts that were uncovered are behind glass in museums that we went and saw. They also have many statues of important people in history. Our tour guide said that everybody knows most of the statues and heroes and legends of China. The most memorable food in Beijing was the starfish on a stick. I have never seen anything like that before. My most memorable moment was being on the Great Wall of China and climbing the steps toward the top. My most memorable cultural experience was how they make the different types of tea in the tea shop we went to. The one thing I am most excited to see in Xian is the Terracotta Warriors. I can not wait to see them all. To think they were all carved by hand and painted at one time.

Day 3 Journal

Prompt: Compare U.S. and China education; Compare aspects of historical impact to China and U.S. (6/9/2010)

The educational system between China and the U.S. are very different. While in the U.S, we have only five eight hour days of school per week and the summers are off. In China they have school six days per week for nine hours each day and they attend all year long. The Chinese system also has different activities than the US does. When it is time for their P.E., they go outside and just do exercises, while we do sports or cardio. They do not have most of the technology that we have in our class rooms, like projectors and computers. China’s history is well known by many people in China. Though, after I hear it, I can start to understand the history. How important it is to the people here. They like to preserve their history so they can show other people; and their race so they can have a better understanding for the future. In the US we don’t have as many areas dedicated to history as the Chinese do. Sure we have museums, but China keeps everything the way they first built it.

Day 1 & 2 Journal

Prompt: Is China how you expected it to be? (6/7 & 8/2010)

Today was a long and exhausting day. But there were some good sides to the day. First I had to get up at 5:00am so I would have enough time to get ready to head over at the school on time. When I arrived at the school with my mom and dad, there were already a lot of kids at the school. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, Principal Klocke was there and nice enough to bring us all donuts to snack on. As soon as everybody arrived, the teachers went over some things about what we would be doing today. When they were done talking, everyone said their good byes and we all boarded the bus to the airport. The drive there was good, hardly any traffic. We had to circle around the airport gates a few times to find a spot to get off. After we left the bus, we went to get our tickets at the ticket counter. The wait for the tickets did not take long. Soon it was finally time to move through the security gates. I was a little nervous because of all the stuff I had with me. But they did not ask me to stop. Then, we walked to our gate, which was a long walk from where we were. So we got to use the moving sidewalk underneath the airport road. When we all got to the gate, we still had three hours before our plane arrived. Most of the kids went and got food in the terminal while I stayed with the bags. A little while later, my group, the porcupines, played some Uno that I had brought with me. We played that for an hour and by then, more people started to arrive at the gate. The plane had finally arrived and it was almost time to board. We then got in line to board the plane. I could not believe that we were about to board the plane that would take us to China! 13 hours later, we arrived in Beijing, China. We got off the plane and walked through the airport to the outside. We found our bus and we drove off. China is not exactly what I thought it would be, because it reminded me of Chicago. There were lots of cars on the roads and tall skyscrapers everywhere. There were also new buildings being built all over the city, which I did not expect. When we got closer to the hotel, I was surprised to see that they had a Pizza Hut, McDonalds, and a KFC. I did not think they would have fast food restraints, but those were big franchises. After dinner, we went to the market for some shopping and sight seeing. They had many different shops and food stands. One store had candy everywhere on the shelves. Another stand was selling fried insects to eat. China will be full of surprises and I can not wait to see what will be in store for me.

This video changed the views I had of China by showing how bad life can actually be for some people in China compared to my life in the US. I use to think China was just a very large country that had such a big population that they had to have ‘the one child rule’, but that otherwise the people were very similar to us in the US. The movie showed how many problems in China today are similar to the problems in the US after the industrial revolution. Such as women’s rights and poor educational opportunities; low pay; and working 11 hours, 7 days a week. Migrant workers and others having to be separated from their families to work is a hard life. The rapidly growing economy and expanding industry is also causing environmental, social and medical issues that did not exist before.

The differences in social classes in China seemed to be related to if you were from a rural or city life. Those who were rural believed in old traditions and Chinese myths. Women’s education was not important, and marrying into a fixed marriage just to be married was the important thing. Those who were from a city life all seemed to have opportunity for an education and were freer to choose who they wanted to marry. Both social classes, rural and city, had to work long hard hours and many times be separated from their families in order to have work and a career.

I thought Wei Zhanyan, the migrant factory worker, was the most interesting in this film because she wanted to make her own decisions and would rather be happy and not married, than be unhappy in an arranged marriage. She wanted to become a modern woman and was afraid of the old Chinese traditions. Even though her family was calling her home to meet the match maker for an arranged marriage, she did not want to go. Yet she did go because of her obligation to her family. In the end though she followed her heart and broke off the engagement, even though it would be bad in the village to break her word.