Saying “so long” to Hohhot

Well, this is going to be one bittersweet day for the group. While they are all looking forward to their final stay in Beijing before heading home Friday, they will certainly miss all the people in Hohhot with whom they have become good friends. We’re sure many of these friendships will last for many years to come.

One of those friendships is with Mr. Bai, the Director of Foreign Affairs. Tom and Ann spent an evening recently with Holden and his wife, Jufei, Mr. Bai and Ms. Han. Mr. Bai is seen here with his baby.

We have a report from Audrey and a note from Ann. Let’s get right to them:
 

REPORT 21 -- Audrey, April 21, 2002

A.M.   What a great trip!  I’m having such an amazing time, seeing and taking everything in. I don’t want to come home. I miss everyone, though! This morning we are going to a “market.” I have no idea what to expect

NOON:   The “market” was not really a market, but a department store.  We separated into small groups and got to wander around for about an hour. The candy story at the end was the most popular spot by far. 

I found the store very similar to those in the United States with appliances, clothing, electronics, except for jars of herbs and tea leaves, meat shops and other unique sights.

It’s lunchtime and we are at an American-style restaurant. Weird! I don’t want to use a fork; I haven’t used one yet, but it is what they gave us. There is country music playing and we are eating pizza. I had not been craving American food, but it tastes really good. We have free time now until 3:45.

P.M.   At 4 we met with the Inner Mongolian students in the theatre where we will perform. We rehearsed the collaborative songs and dances we will present at tomorrow afternoon’s performance. Even though we often have difficulties with the translation, we all had a great time together.

We came home at 6 for dinner and at 9 we gathered to watch a tape of the two news broadcasts about Journey East which have appeared on the Inner Mongolian Television news over the last several days.

Every day here is special and every day I learn something new.

And Ann tells us:

Tomorrow [yesterday] we will perform our show at the Inner Mongolia College of the Performing Arts, view their program and then perform the pieces we have prepared together. The collaboration process has been wonderful in many ways. We didn’t quite get to the point of collective creation, but we made giant steps toward that goal and we’re proud of all the kids’ commitment to learning each others’ songs and dances.  The process has been productive, challenging, instructive, rewarding and a blast. We’ll never forget it.  Ann

So now it’s off to Beijing. I understand “Silk Alley” is a most anticipated shopping experience. This is a market where much can be purchased for very little. That is, if you are skilled at bartering! But that is the challenge many of the kids are looking forward to. We’ll talk more about this place tomorrow.

Now that the kids will be back in Beijing, we’ll resume our collection of curious and interesting links. Tomorrow you’ll find a magnificent street map of Beijing, along with info about their final days of activities. In the meantime, here’s a pretty healthy China site for you. This site claims to have over 8,500 links to China-related web sites. Okay, who wants to verify that?
 

JOURNEY EAST II SITE QUIZ

Alrighty then, just for fun, here’s a little quiz to see if you have been paying attention for the past 4 weeks:

1. What was the United Airlines flight number the group took from Chicago to Tokyo?
2. What are the five major cities the kids have visited?
3. If it’s 6:00pm here, what time (and day) is it in China (within one hour!)
4. What Chinese man is synonymous with Qufu?
5. Using the distance link, what is the distance (in miles) from New York City to Beijing, China?
6. One day Tom (Connor) met a woman from China who knew someone back here in the U.S. Do you know who that “someone” is?
7. What color is the Chinese flag and how many stars are on it?
8. What is mutton?
9. On one of the pages there are pictures of a woman carving yellow fruit. What is the fruit?
10. What is the Chinese currency called?
11. If you have ten American dollars, how much Chinese money do you have (using the conversion rate mentioned somewhere in this site).
12. How do you say “hello” in Chinese?
13. What city was the capital of China for 11 centuries?
14. How many Terra Cotta soldiers are there?
15. What fast-food restaurant did the group visit?
16. What are the four main religions in China?
17. Someone mentions getting their hair cut on the trip. Who was that?
18. Two people wrote reports in poetry. Who were they and what style was used for one of them?
19. What’s the name of the desert the kids visited?
20. There were 29 people on this Journey East II trip. Using first names only, can you name them all?

E-mail me with your answers by Thursday morning and we’ll post results on Friday, along with the answers. Good luck!

See you tomorrow!