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Oh the places they’ll go!
Greetings everyone. It was three weeks ago today we watched United Airlines flight 1579 disappear into the clear blue sky. The
adventure that lay ahead has slowly unfolded into a magnificent journey of time and culture. We are expecting more photos and reports sometime today. But we do have a fascinating and lengthy report from
Tom. Let’s get right to it:
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NOTE TO PARENTS:
Parents of Journey East II students will NOT receive report cards before the students return.
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Hi there!
You'll be getting reports from Ann and students and I don't want to preempt that so
will just fill you in on some recent happenings.
We were on television two nights ago! The ten o'clock news and, according to Mr. Bai, it was televised nationwide. I'm not sure if that is accurate
but it was a pretty healthy chunk of time on the tape that I watched. Kestrel was interviewed and filmed dancing with bowls on her head. The other students were seen dancing with their Chinese/Mongolian
counterparts. We'll get a copy of the tape, in a format that we'll need to transer as well as a copy of the tape of our final performance with the host school.
Yesterday was an adventure.
Accompanied by the President of the College, Mr. Wen; the Vice President, Mr. Yi; the former VP, Mr. Wei; the Director of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Bai; the Communist Party Sec., Mr. Liu and another Party
dignitary; plus three translators, fifty Chinese/Mongolian kids, our kids and a few stray dogs and cats, we boarded two busses and headed for Menggu Niu in Helin County.
Menggu Niu is one of the
largest dairies in all of China; a completely modern, mechanized facility with 3,500 employees that processes 400 tons of milk every day. The machinery is from Sweden and it was impressive in a major
way. The dairy runs 24 hours per day and the workers work 8 hour shifts. Interesting to see work squadrons walking in single file to their stations. Quite an operation. They produce milk, yogurt,and good
ice cream that we all tried. Very, very impressive plant in an economic zone about an hour from Hohhot.
We then went to the Zhao Jun Cashmere factory. The first room we entered had 20
computerized German machines, each worth about $100,000, turning thread into fabric (cloth). We then went through the plant and had the opportunity to see hundreds of young, mostly women, workers at
various stages in the production of cashmere sweaters, etc. Again, very impressive. Lots of European machinery. Very clean, listening to "Titanic" in the background. Young women mostly between
17 and 23. Keep in mind that there were about 80 or so of us going through these plants. I expect that it was the first visit for our student hosts to those places. Our kids sat with one another on the
bus ride out.
We were met in Helin County by the leader of the whole county; a very powerful, fun-loving and interesting guy with whom I felt an instant connection. We then went to a three star
hotel in Helingeer. Quite a place. Lots of marble; very spacious and very clean.
We had some kids who needed a break so are taking the better part of the morning off. Kids slept in. At 10:30 we'll visit the Inner Mongolia Museum and see some dinosaurs and some great photos of the anti-Japanese War and Liberation. (World War II and the Communist Revolution)
Kids are really enjoying interactions with the Chinese/Mongolians and many will be reluctant to leave, although I'm sure they would like to see Mom and Dad! Tom
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Wow. That was a fantastic update. These guys are busy! There seems to be no end to the varied and diverse activities and experiences. Hey, that ice cream sure sounds good
right about now!
If you haven’t lately, I suggest going back to the first few days of the journey to get a real sense of how much these kids have experienced. Each day is like a mini-trip,
woven together to create this enormous adventure.
The kids are to perform tonight at the Foreign Language Academy of Economics and Trade. They are expecting an audience in excess of 1,500 people! We are hoping for more
reports and photos so check back throughout the day for updates. In the meantime, check out a couple of interesting sites:
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