Chinese New Year Parade

The trip to China Town in Chicago was a great experience. The train ride was nice and smooth, although this wasn’t my first time taking the train to Chicago. I have gone every year with my parents for our annual holiday trip to visit the city. For most of this ride, we had our own train car there and back. This was my first trip to China Town and it was a great place to go and see. I enjoyed seeing all the different buildings and people that were in the streets watching the parade. I was impressed by the Wall of Nine Dragons at the entrance to China Town. The parade was awesome to see. There were a lot of tigers in the parade in honor of 2010 being the year of the tiger. There were many different kinds of dragons and even a puppet show in the parade. I have seen this puppet show in Chicago before and it is very entertaining. I was really surprised when I saw the Bag Piper’s marching in the parade. I don’t think we would see them in a New Year’s Parade in China. There were all types of people in the crowd and in the parade, from firemen and Ronald McDonald to school bands, many who were not even Chinese. This field trip and spending time with my classmates made me more excited to be going on the trip to China.

I read about the history of the Chinese New Year at <http://www.history.com/topics/chinese-new-year>. The Chinese New Year was originally tied to the lunar-solar Chinese calendar; the holiday was a time to honor household and heavenly deities as well as ancestors. It was also a time to bring family together for feasting and relaxing. Most Chinese people now call it the Spring Festival.

This experience will better prepare me for our trip to China, by learning about the different celebrations they celebrate. I now have a better knowledge of some of the different customs they have and the importance of bringing their family together.

Adventures in cooking

The dish that I had prepared for dinner one night was Chinese stir-fry. I put chicken, carrots, water chestnuts, pea pods, soy sauce, garlic and green onions in it. I also made rice to go with the stir-fry and started it first, puting the rice and water in a pot and cooking for 15 minutes while I prepared the other ingredients.

First I cut the carrots into small pieces and then boiled them in a pot of water for 3 minutes. Next I cut the garlic into very small pieces, cut the stems off of the pea pods, and sliced up the green onions. After that, I cut the chicken up into 1-inch pieces. Then I opened the can of sliced water chestnuts. Now all of my ingredients were ready.

I then got out a wok pan to put the cooking oil and garlic in and turned the stove on. Then I added the green onions and cooked them for 1 minute and removed them to a bowl.

I then added the water chestnuts and carrots to the pan and stir-fried them for several minutes. Then these were removed to a bowl and the chicken was put into the pan, one half at a time. Each half of the chicken was stir-fried for 3 minutes. I had to add more oil and it was popping up at me.

All of the ingredients were now put into the pan with the soy sauce and mixed well. The pan was covered and cooked for 4 minutes. It was starting to smell good now. The rice was also finished now.

My mom and I had the stir-fry for dinner. I put some rice and the stir-fry on each plate. It looked pretty good and tasted good too.

This is Nicholas’ mom. I ate the stir-fry that he made for dinner. It was very good and the vegetables were all nicely done. I love spicy Thai food, so next time I would want to use a spicier sauce, maybe some ginger.

China's One Policy

It is horrible thing to hear. Kids are being abducted right off the street without it even being known they’re gone. The police say they have to have a 24 hour waiting period before they can go looking for someone who is missing. But by the time that period has passed, it is already too late to find the missing child. Though it is good to see the parents doing something about their missing children instead of just sitting at home hoping something will happen. They are putting up flyers and going to other preschools to see if their child might now go to school there. Unfortunately, many families never find their child and are devastated for the rest of their life.
I found this web site, www.angelfire.com/pop2/china/OneChild.html on the one child policy. The one child policy limits many families in china to one child. Many families always want a boy to carry on the family name and traditions, but sometimes they get a girl. Because of the one child policy, they can not try again for a boy. The pros of the one child policy are it leaves a less over populated area in china. The cons are that many families are killing their new born daughters because they wanted a son, either by drowning them or even abandoning them on the street.
I understand China’s reason for this policy is to limit the population so they will be able to feed everyone. The policy is working to limit the population but it is not fair to those families whose sons are stolen. The policy now allows two only children who marry to have two children of their own, which gives them a better chance at getting a son.

I will make the most of this experience to China by learning about the culture, the food, and taking lots of pictures. Their culture will be very different from ours over here. The way their buildings are not skyscrapers, reaching over hundred feet tall, but rather being designed to look spectacular and one of a kind instead of being just tall. The food will be really different in China. One way to get the most out of this experience is to try new things. I will have to try some new food to get the full experience of what people eat in China and how they eat the food. The best way to get the most out of this great experience is to take lots and lots of pictures. They say a picture says a thousand words, and then I am going to have over a million words to say for my photos. There will be so many things that I can not wait to take pictures of over there, like the Great Wall of China, different amazing buildings and the beautiful landscapes that covers China. I also want to learn more about the people that I am going to China with and the people there.

“Why We Travel”

I travel because I want to see new sites and see new places. I want to see how different it is there compared to where I live now. When Iyer says, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new places, but in seeing with new eyes.” he is saying that it is not about where you go, but about who you meet there. I would like to at least make 5 new friends on this trip. Iyer says, “What gives value to travel is fear.” This means it is exciting to go to a place that you may be unsure of or even afraid of, but that is what makes it an adventure. China can be a very different place, though that is why we are going there. I believe that travelers have a responsibility to share their knowledge and experience with all of those they visit and those they return to. My favorite quote from “Why We Travel” by Pico Iyer 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 (which may begin to explain why we may feel most alive when far from home).” I choose this quote because it’s about how traveling allows you to get in touch with your inner self and remove labels.

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I want to take part in this experience because it would be a great adventure and opportunity to look at other cultures and I may never have this privilege again. One part of this experience I am looking forward to is the Forbidden City. So issues that I hope to discuss or learn about in the class leading up to our trip is why they built the Great Wall of China. Some fears I have about traveling to the other side of the world or traveling in general is that the food will be very different there and I am sort of a picky eater, but I will have to eat what they have or I will starve.