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Night of the stars!
We have lots to share with you today. And it looks there will be more photos for tomorrow as well. But before we get into today’s activities and
reports, let me suggest that anyone needing rides (home from the airport) for their kids next Saturday, please let me know. I can post those needs on the web site
and those that can help can get in touch with you. I’m sure we have plenty of people willing to bring kids home. In fact, if you simply want to let us know if you are going, not going, have room for
others, etc., we’ll take it from there.
Okay, so another day in Inner Mongolia. Here’s what Tom had to say about the last three days:
I'm sending an assortment of photos from the last three days. There will be some of
our performance at the Foreign Language and Economics and Trade Institute as well as audience shots, etc.
Things seem to be going very well. Although long, yesterday's experiences were fairly
incredible. The Daqing Mountains, the Gobi, the thousands of coal trucks that we encountered on the road to the desert and crossing the miles of flood plain of the Huang He (Yellow River) and then crossing the river on a floating bridge were experiences that virtually no Americans ever have. It's nice not to be a tourist. We are
definitely settled in to Inner Mongolia. Many tears will be shed on the 23rd, both by our students and adults and by the Mongolian/Chinese, as well. Tom
Sounds like they are all anticipating the end of this marvelous exerience in
Hohhot. The pictures tell a story of strong companionships between our kids and the Mongolians. Now, without missing a beat, let’s move right on with our next report from Rachel:
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REPORT 18 -- Rachel, April 18, 2002
HOHHOT Wow. Today we had a busy schedule. In the mid-morning we went to the Inner
Mongolian College for the Performing Arts where we practiced the scarf dance that the students had taught us and the square dance that we had taught them, a Mongolian song and our new song, “By
the Waters of Babylon.” The way we pronounce some words in the Mongolian song is wrong, which is also the case with the way they pronounce the words in Babylon, but we’re working on it.
We left the school around 11:40, had lunch at our hotel and then two hours of free time. Some people went to a local internet café and checked their e-mail. No one called home because it
was 2 o’clock in the morning Vermont time. After that, we went with our hosts and 35+ dancers, vocalists and horse head fiddle players—to a milk factory out in Helin country, an economic
development zone, where they produce a lot of milk and certain dairy products such as ice cream and yogurt. After the tour, we got samples of the ice cream which was a lot like frozen
yogurt. Then we went to a cashmere factory where there were countless machines with young women (many who looked like girls) at them making different parts of cashmere shirts and
sweaters. Some were making sleeves, others weaving patterns into fronts, etc., while others were in separate rooms hand sewing, blocking, etc. It was a very interesting experience. Then we went
to a park on the top of a hill with stone sculptures of coins from different periods of China’s past. We got back on the bus and headed for a restaurant in an hotel in Helin county. We had
so much good food there. Then the student horse head fiddle players performed for us all including many important people from our college and the county
government. Then our group and the arts academy students sang the two songs we’ve worked on together “Babylon” and “Grasslands, my home” (in Mongolian) The fiddle players
and singers performed two more numbers beautifully. And then we headed back to the hotel… It was a fun, busy and productive day.
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According to Tom, the kids have another performance tonight at the Hong de School. Three more days in Hohhot and three days after that in
Beijing. We will have more photos tomorrow and am hoping for 2-3 more reports as well. Keep ‘em coming!
On March 28th, this day seemed so far away -- and now, less than one week to go. Watching the number of day links grow on the left of these pages
shows just how far we have gone.
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Neimenggu (Inner Mongolia)
Before we say goodbye for the day, here’s another Chinese writing lesson for
you. Click on the characters above to learn how to draw, in Chinese, the name Inner Mongolia. Again, pretty cool! Are you impressing your friends
and neighbors yet? Well, then maybe you just need more practice, or a good opening joke, or maybe offer some snacks during your show . . .
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