Summer Palace

This morning we had a lecture by Dr. Jian who spoke on the Chinese system for developing top athletes (appropriate for the start of the Olympic Games where China really wants to beat the USA in the medal count, and especially the gold medal count). One interesting note is that the man who has been acting as our interpreter, ... who produced the Opening Ceremonies, was wearing his WKU polo shirt that we had given him as a gift the previous time we met. It turns out that he had worn it to the Opening Ceremonies and had a lot of people ask him ... what is WKU? He told them it stands for "We Keep Understanding, We Keep United" ... and then went on to explain to them about our group and the students who are here from Western Kentucky University.

In the afternoon we spent a few hours at the Summer Palace. It is a place where the Emporers went to essentially vacation, a beautiful location surrounding a lake that seems to go on forever. I could see why these rulers chose the location and wish we had more time to take it all in (as with everything else we have done, it's hard to understand and appreciate thousands of years of culture in a couple of hours). A side note, they had a giant projection unit set up on the grounds playing the China vs Spain women's basketball game ... funny to see a spanish couple surrounded by hundreds of chinese and watch the reactions of everyone.

Great Wall & Mongolian BBQ

*Editor's Note: James couldn't access Blogger to post his happenings. I'm assuming this is a country-wide block and not targeted at James. Hopefully, the Chinese Government will not decide that email is too risky/dangerous/empowering to block that, too. I don't know about you, but I'll be a little more grateful next July 4! On with the news!


So yesterday was an interesting day. We started out heading to the Great Wall. We had to go to a different point than last year because the other entrance was closed due to the upcoming cycle race that runs right by. This section had a steep incline to get up (there were many, many people who were huffing and puffing on the climb - including me). The top was great because there was a little breeze, however the pictures all have a great deal of "haze" (or whatever you want to call it). It was interesting to look at all of the different people up at the top and try to guess where they came from (there were Brazilians - easy to tell because they all wore the same shirts, Australians, French, Indian, and of course Chinese). Afterwards, we had to take a circuitous route back due to other road closings (we heard an NBC employee who was at the Wall say that they all had to be out of their hotels by 3:00 pm and to the stadium because their section of the city would be blocked off). For lunch we ate at an authentic Mongolian restaurant. We each had an individual pot in front of us that we brought to a boil, and then put various spices and vegetables in to add to the flavoring. Next, a plate of thinly sliced beef was brought out, and we cooked it in our "hot pot" as some of our group was calling it. It was really good once we figured out what we were supposed to be doing. We had the afternoon off --- actually the students did, while the leaders tried to figure out what to do for the Opening Ceremonies (we thought about taking the whole group on the subway to a bar district, but decided against it due to the logistics, were going to check out the local restaurants but didn't because so many were closed so they could watch the opening, and ended up ordering Dominos and watching on a big screen that our hotel put up ... I think this was our best option both from a food standpoint as well as a relaxing standpoint for our group). The opening was amazing and I hope you had a chance to watch. One side note, our interpreter for the lecture the other day was one of the major producers for the Opening (so that's pretty cool) - he asked us to give him our opinions of it. Please feel free to share your impressions!

A day at the museum (among other things)

We started out the day with a lecture from Dr. Wu, who is a foremost authority on Chinese philosophy (as far back as the roots of Confucius, Daoism, and Buddaism) as it relates to the need to take care of the body. This has lead to the Chinese desire to care for the body in forms such as Kung fu, etc. It was a really informative lesson that our students enjoyed.

After lunch we headed to the Chinese Museum, which housed 6 or 7 floors of selected artifacts from various dynasties and eras. We entered the museum as official guests of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) , and had an hour to try to take as much in as possible. There were some great cultural items to view (above are the Terra cotta warriors), as well as a floor dedicated to the ancient Olympic games and Greece.

The faculty on the trip ended the day over dinner with the Vice President at the Capital Institute for Physical Education, furthering our relationship toward a student/faculty exchange program. It is exciting to think about the long term possibilities that a relationship with a Chinese school could have.

Tomorrow we have a trip to the Great Wall, and are trying to get into the USA house for viewing of the Opening Ceremonies (we'll see).

The long ride to Beijing

Instead of going to the basketball game on Tuesday night, a small group of us went to Old Shanghai to a famous restaurant (apparently Bill Clinton has eaten there, if you call that famous). It was really nice and made for some great pictures.





On Wednesday, there really wasn't much of a story to tell. We woke up, ate, and boarded the bus to the Shanghai Train Station. There, we were a specticle to behold ... at least to the Chinese locals who might have thought that we were an Olympic team of some sort ... they kept taking pictures and video of our group (some even asked to pose with us!). We told them were the team USA mixed synchronized swimming team...

After a 10 hour train ride we are safe and sound in Beijing. It was a long day of not doing much, but we are here and ready for the Games to begin.

A day in Shanghai

Started the morning out with a group breakfast at the hotel. At the buffet were a variety of pastry-type items, fried rice, sausages, and ... chicken feet. I had to try the chicken feet, because how often do you get to say that you had them for breakfast? Before we left on our tour bus, our Chinese leader, Jenny, had me leave the baby blankets Bess made at the hotel desk for Lady Gao to pick up. Bess (and sisters from church) made baby blankets that are being donated to an orphanage here in Shanghai. All of the people in our group, when they hear what the box I was toting around the airport was for, thought that it was something special. One of the adult ladies, when hearing that Bess made them exclaimed "Wow, that woman is a saint!" I also think that she is pretty special, and feel terrible to leave her alone with the children for two weeks, so please give her a call later today (or sometime soon) and often.

Our tour today was at a city about an hour and a half outside of Shanghai called Zhouzhuang. It made me think of what Venice would be like with canals and bridges. It would have been a nice tour, except the heat and humidity made it very uncomfortable. Oh well, a few pictures are below. As part of the pre-Olympic warm up, team USA basketball is taking on Australia here in Shanghai tonight. A large number of our group are going, but at $130.00 (US) a pop, I have elected to spend my time (and money) elsewhere. We are taking a train across the Chinese countryside to Beijing tomorrow.

Getting all of the difficulties out of the way?

Landed in Shanghai, but had a fun trip getting here … woke up late (4:35 am – told the kids to be there at 4:50 to leave at 5:00 am sharp) put in my contacts, brushed my teeth, applied a layer of deodorant, and kissed Bess on the way out the door. Drove a little fast on the way there, and got pulled over as I was pulling into the parking lot … I was the last one to arrive, so provided the rest of the group with a nice pre-parting show … the good news is that I got off with a warning for having a headlight out. Made it to the airport and see a big red CANCELLED next to our flight from Nashville to Chicago …“mechanical difficulties.” American Airlines ended up bringing in a plane from Arkansas for our group, and holding the flight from Chicago to Shanghai until we arrived. Once on board, we ran into more mechanical difficulties which caused us to be delayed for another hour. The 14 hour flight to Shanghai was the easy part. On the ground, after getting all of our stuff we were lead on a circular 3-mile hike in the heat and humidity to get to our bus (we ended up across the street from the same place where we started). Then it turned out that the bus company sent the wrong sized tour bus … so we didn’t have enough room for our luggage and had to put a number of bags in seats and in the aisle. Finally got to the hotel, had a traditional Chinese dinner at the restaurant, and am ready to sack out. Hope tomorrow goes a little smoother (I might even add some pictures).

Setting up the Blog

I am setting up a Blog to record daily events of the Western Kentucky University study abroad trip to China and the 2008 Olympics (if anyone is interested). I figure that this would be easier than clogging up your in-boxes with large picture attachment e-mails (plus it'll be easier, I hope!).

We leave August 3rd, and arrive in Shanghai on August 4th ... look for a new post then!