Shengli Primary School

The principals or their representatives came from all the schools to pick us up and take us to their school. Mr. McClintock went with a group of people to Taizhou Baiyun Primary School. This was about a 3 1/2 hours away.

Anna Marie Burrell and I went with the principal, Mr. Zhang, and a translator from his school to our partner school, Shengli Primary School.

We were warmly welcomed by the students, faculty and staff. We walked through the hallway being greeted by students smiling and waving and saying, "Hello!" We went to Mr. Zhang's office and he gave us a schedule he asked us to look over and see if there were any changes we would like to make. We were very happy doing whatever he felt comfortable allowing us to do. He had lots of experiences planned for us to participate in observing and teaching in classrooms. It sounded great to us. Anna Marie Burrell is an architect and a partner with Schmidt and Associates. It is an architecture firm based in Indianapolis. Their firm designed and oversaw the Warsaw Community High School's Performing Arts Center. She had pictures on her IPad of the building. She was interested in seeing what schools in China looked like and what they needed in their schools because her firm specialized in designing schools. We had a wonderful day. We ate in their school cafeteria and were taken out to dinner by a group of 5 English teachers to a fancy restaurant. We enjoyed it very much!

Fly to Hangzhou

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

We flew to Hangzhou. This is a beautiful town that not many Westerners visit. Many Chinese people visit this beautiful city for its beauty. This is a great vacation destination for the Chinese people. It reminded me of an East Coast resort town in the United States. Lots of expensive car dealerships and designer stores. We walked through a very crowded park at West Lake. People from the country who were visiting here may have never seen someone from the West. They were very curious and many wanted their picture taken with us. We had fun taking pictures of them taking pictures of us. Everyone was kind and we all had fun. We went on a boat ride around West Lake, too!

We got back to the hotel just in time to get dressed up in our best clothes to go to a fancy dinner at the Department of Foreign Affairs Department complete with name cards at each place, fancy dishes, a printed menu with the name of all the 10 courses we would be served, and more glasses and silverware than I knew what to use it all for. It was very lovely. We were seated at a very large round table covered with a gold colored tablecloth. We were treated like very important guests of the country of China. It was a very special experience.

Terracotta Warriors

Monday, April 9, 2012

We got to go and see the warriors today. It is an impressive sight to see! There are 5 different kinds of warriors and each one has a different face. There are horses and chariots in a building that is over 3 football fields long. The warriors are over 2,000 years old. When they dig them out of the ground many of them are painted bright colors, but as soon as the air touches them the paint crumbles off of them. They have left most of the warriors buried hoping that they will discover a technique that will allow them to preserve the beautiful colors sometime in the future.

We also went to an art museum and got a caligraphy lesson in how to paint Chinese writing. I have a lot to learn! It was a very interesting museum.

Terracotta Warriors at Xi'an

Sunday, April 8, 2012

We flew to Xi'an. This is where the Terracotta Warriors were discovered. We went to see the wall that surrounds the city and we walked on this wall, too. This one was flat on the top and much easier to walk on. It was 9 1/2 miles all the way around. Tomorrow we will go to see the warriors. They are life sized clay statues and each one is different. There are 8,000 buried at this site. They have uncovered and put back together 2,000. It is an amazing thing to see. We got to meet the man who first discovered the warriors while he and 2 friends were digging a well. He is 79 years old.

The Great Wall

Saturday, April 7, 2012

We drove to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall! We rode on a ski lift from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the wall. There are 5 sections of the Great Wall that have been restored so that you can climb it. I do mean climb! There were no flat areas. It was all stairs of different heights and sizes. You had to really watch what you were doing! The stairs were so steep that in areas people were climbing down backwards or sitting down and scooting down the steps on their bottoms! It was very hard work! It was amazing just to think you were climbing on this ancient structure that you'd heard and read so much about! Different sites have different ways of getting back down after you have climbed. This section of the wall had a metal tobaggon run that you could ride to the bottom instead of going on a ski lift. I rode the toboggan down to the bottom! Stanley was in my backpack, too! It was great fun!

Hangzhou

We flew to Hangzhou this morning we went on a boat ride around West Lake. It was very beautiful. We got quite a bit if attention because they don't see Westerners here that often. We then went to a tea plantation. It was very interesting. We got back with just enough time to get ready for a very special reception at the Department of Foreign Affairs. It was a very lovely 10 course meal and welcoming hosts. We felt very honored. We will be picked up by our host schools tomorrow morning. I'm excited to meet everyone there. I better get to bed, so that I will be ready.

Tuesday in Hangzhou

 

Dragon Boat, Flat Stanley at Summer Palace, and Oyster

Tiannamin Square and Forbidden City

Friday, April 6, 2012

We went to Tiananmen Square, the largest public square in the world. We also visited the Forbidden City, where only the Emperor and his family could enter at one time. This was the home of the Emperor. Now it is open to everyone! We also went to see the Emperor's Summer Palace. It has beautiful gardens and a lake, too! We took a ride on a dragon boat there!

Memorial to the Workers in Tiananmen Square

First Day in China

We arrived in Beijing at about 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 5. We were traveling for over 20 hours. We crossed the international dateline so we lost part of a day. We will gain that time back on our way home when we cross the international dateline again. We are 13 hours behind China back in Indiana. We met our tour guide, Helen. She is very nice. We got on a bus and drove through part of downtown Beijing. There were highrise buildings everywhere. There were some really unusual shaped buildings, too. Flat Stanley loved the big ball decorations in the lobby of our hotel. The hotel was lovely. We got cleaned up and went to walk through the local supermarket across the street. It was a much smaller version of Walmart. We then went to our first Chinese dinner! It was great! There were lots of new foods to try.

Flat Stanley getting ready to take off at the Indianapolis Airport on his way to China!

Mr. McClintock and I made it to the airport! We got up at 4:00a.m. to make it to the Indianapolis Airport by 8:00 a.m. Our son drove us to the airport and dropped us off. He said he would come back and pick us up when we return. Here's hoping that is true! :-). We will be boarding at 10:30 and taking off for Chicago and then transfer to another plane for China! We have free wi-fi at the Indianapolis Airport, but I don't know if we can connect any place else. Flat Stanley is here, too!

I'll talk to you whenever I can. Good-bye for now!

Mrs. McClintock