8 8 08

Eight, pronounced BAH in Mandarin and is considered lucky.
The opening games started at 8 pm tonight.
On this lucky day, we visited the summer palace.

We boarded the buses and got underway with ease. With a little practice, we can maneuver hundreds of teens onto designated buses.

In the past, we were waved past the police checks. Not today. They stopped the buses. Our delightful guide, Jessica,went out, spoke with the police, and reboarded with two uniformed men with guns. Jessica explained: "these men just wanted to say hello".

Jessica has us all well trained. We smiled at the guards and loudly exclaimed "NIHAO!" (hello).
They smiled faintly. Do you suppose the police were glad to have a bus full of tourists shouting hello?

The summer palace was gorgeous. Although it was another sticky hot day, and overcast as well, the palace has a large lake. The breeze was nice. At the entrance there is a table with helpful information people.

By the gate, not only were there the usual pair of lions,
but also a giganormous DRAGON topiary.
The Chinese believe that they are descended from dragons.

Joseph and Kett make quite a pair.


Although MIT has the "infinite corridor", the summer palace has the world's longest corridor. It is open on the sides, with the lake on one side.

At the end of the corridor, we arrived at the marble boat. The marble boat once housed important political events, and later, under the Dowager Emperess Ci Xi, or "dragon lady", it was a spot for banquets.
Everywhere one looked, there was a breath taking scene.

By now, almost everyone in the group has started to carry a fan,

even Spencer.
This man was writing Chinese characters on the path.

There was more topiary.

After the summer palace, we went to the pearl factory. Lunch was held upstairs.

Tonight, we enjoyed a banquet of Peking Duck. A huge screen was placed in the dining area, and they showed a video of our escapades, including Tiananmen and the Great Wall. The video was made by Chinese International Tourism Agency. This was followed by the opening ceremonies as aired on Chinese Television.

Tomorrow we have lunch downtown, shop, and then board trains. We will have an all night train ride to Shanghai.

August 7th in the Forbidden City

Today is Gina's Birthday!

The performances are over, so now we are tourists.

After a late night last night, we staggered to breakfast. No surprises there. Then we boarded the buses. The hubs have different schedules, so it wasn't the commotion we had yesterday. Rather than open streets that were blocked to other traffic, we went into Beijing and hit bumper to bumper congestion.

Our delightful tour guide, Jessica, has been on the same bus with us all week. She taught us how to sing Happy Birthday to Gina in Mandarin.

Rachel was kind enough to delight us with further bus-ride entertainment.

We arrived at the Forbidden City.

The first stop was an opportunity to visit the "Happy Room".

We were delighted to find that this was a Star-Rated Toilet. It was indeed the cleanest Squatty Potty that I have encountered.

The Forbidden City was fascinating. We learned that the Emperor was carried over the intricate carvings on the center bridge. The Emperor's bridge has pillars that are carved with dragons. Two flanking bridges are plain.

The Gates are guarded by a pair of lions. For that matter, most buildings have a pair of lions at the door. The female lion is at the left, with a cub under her paw. The male lion stands on the right, with a ball under his paw.

While most gates are guarded by stone lions, these are golden. I think the female is almost as gorgeous as my dog, Cee Cee Bah.

Gina and Destie felt compelled to recognize the historic environment with their usual posture.

The Five Sisters posed.

And then they posed again.

This is a room I want to add to my house. In fact, I think we all should have a Hall of Mental Cultivations in our homes.

Spencer gets brownie points for offering to help me down from a wall. What a polite young man!

This is, indeed, a delightful group of teens.

The Forbidden City is steeped in history- hundreds of years of history.

Next, we walked back to our bus. Security is evident.

We had a short bus ride and then FREE TIME! LUNCH ON OUR OWN!

We enjoyed a Hot Pot- with lamb, beef and ... Jelly Fish. Yummy.

For desert, we visited a chain you might recognize.

We enjoyed the option of a Green Tea Blizzard, a Green Tea Almond Blizzard, or a Black Sesame Almond Blizzard.

After a successful day of shopping, we were taken to a restaurant with the entire group. Most of us were still stuffed from lunch. It was a shame to leave so much food behind.

Back to Epoch City for a good night's sleep.

Performance in Tianjin

A HUGE RED BANNER WELCOMED THE INTERNATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA TO TIANJIN!

The show at Tianjin had VIPs attending. While the rest of us had little seats and plastic umbrellas, the VIPs had different party favors: a hat, water, an umbrella (for shade from the sun, not rain) and cigarettes!

Major highways were blocked to allow for the convoy of 57 buses.

It was a crowd scene getting the kids, in full "tutti" uniform, from the buses down the stairs to the show.

The crowd cheered our conductors after the successful show.

Everyone cheered for soccer!

Tianjin Performance and Soccer Match

August 6th started with a short, but hot, practice. Lunch happened at 10:30 and then we loaded the buses.

This time, the convoy included all three hubs- red, yellow, green- and the shadow tour. That added up to 57 buses!

The security was tight- with major highways blocked to allow us to pass.

We traveled three hours via bus to Tianjin. In a beautiful outdoor stadium, in front of a large banner announcing the "International Youth Orchestra", the orchestra performed their final show.

The audience was provided with little plastic blue seats, and umbrellas. I had a pink barbie umbrella; my husband a purple spider man umbrella.

The show was awesome.

Next, the kids were "treated" to a box lunch from McDonalds- Big Macs. Then a 15 minute ride to the Tianjin Stadium. We watched OLYMPIC SOCCER! China vs Sweden!

The crowd was animated. Lots of "the wave", lots of stomping and noise makers.

We arrived back at Epoch City at 1 am.

Grand Epoch City Aug 5th 2008

Today we remained encamped at Grand Epoch City.
We had a standard breakfast with rice, noodles, watermelon. Today they had the bread with red bean paste inside- yummy. The rice was warm and was mixed with eggs.

While the milk was in a pan the first day, with bowls nearby, now they have it figured out. The milk is in pitchers by black coffee.

The schedule wasn't as tight this morning and allowed for the kids to go back to their rooms before the morning practice.

The elevators before the practice remain somewhat problematic. Some instruments take up more space than others.

I had an opportunity to visit with the doctor on call at the clinic at the hotel. One of the chaperones needed some medication.

This clinic did not have the medication that we needed. They did offer us some Chinese herbs.

Ultimately, we hired a cab and went to a nearby hospital with a translator. Unlike the hotel clinic, this place was clean. There was a smashed cigarette butt in the stairwell. The walls were a military green. There was no wait for the doctor- a real cute girl who could pass for eighteen.

The picture on the wall was interesting.

We were able to get the medication for 3 yuan- or about a sixty cents.

The pharmacy filled a prescription for the other patient there- eight grocery sized bags full of something that smelled like eucalyptus. Our translator told us that this was primarily a respiratory hospital.

All in all, the visit was a pleasant surprise, with no waiting. The physician did not require an exam, and let us get the appropriate medication.

We made it back to Grand Epoch City in time for pictures.

Many of the Modesto High School gang gathered for a group shot.

After dinner, there was a social period with an exchange of pins. This was followed by a show from the Chinese. There were the flying hat dancers. It looked like sports acrobatics done while juggling hats. Next was Kung Fu Fighters, and this was followed by a magician. The magician was rather anticlimactic.

Our World Projects host, Kirk, then thanked all the schools, and handed Olympic Orchestra pins to our directors for distribution. Then the kids were allowed thirty minutes of "free style dancing".

They should be done by now- so it's time for a bed check.

The Olympic Orchestra on the Great Wall

After the Red Band had finished their wonderful show, they had time to climb the wall.


This section of the wall is the longest section still standing- over 30 miles.


The task of getting up to the top of this section involved steps. Lots and lots of steps. Some steps shallow, some very very very steep. The path not only involved steps, but the steps were on an incline, and uneven. The sun was beating down, and the humidity high.


Many declined the inviting outpost atop the wall.


I made the climb, bolstered by the promise of a vendor at the top selling coke for ten yuan. Yes, the coke was five yuan at the bottom of the climb. I poured water over my head, and rested every five or ten steps.


It was hot.


The pictures do not do justice to how STEEP this booger was.


It was HOT HOT HOT.



Once at the top, there was an enclosed room. The openings in the wall made for a natural air conditioning. Emerging from this room, everyone smiled. The promised vendor was there! And, for those who chose to explore further, it was almost flat.

Kellie Courtney made it to the cool room.

Cody and Catherine made it without a problem.

Beyer's Band Director, Brandon Price, allowed me to take his picture, but did comment that it was a picture of the director having a heart attack. I thought he looked pretty fit, if a bit red in the face.

My children celebrated the top with a hand stand. First Destie on Gina's shoes; then Gina on Destie's shoes.

I thought my kids were crazy until I saw this nut case from Washington who toted his TUBA to the top.

I have no idea who this is, but he was glad to be there.


This lovely happy lady is 70. She put many of us sloths to shame as she grinned at the top.
This was a pair of happy Canadians.

The view was breathtaking.

Coming down was significantly easier...

The Drum line descends.