Where Are They?

LGUHS

ASOP

FREEMAN

They Never Can Say “Goodbye!”

This is the only moment of the journey no one was looking forward to. The moment when the group had to say goodbye to all of their Hohhot friends. These are more than friends, they are now family.

Here’s the scoop from Tom:

The final banquet was fun. Kids had the opportunity to spend time with most of the Chinese/Mongolian students who came to the U.S. in October. Parting is no easier here than it was in Vermont back in November. I know that many of our kids are deeply moved by this experience and I expect that more than a handful will return to China at some point. [Tom]

Let’s take a look:
 

Here’s to Hohhot!

Let’s read what Maddy has to say about the events of the day:
 

April 22, 2007 -- Maddy Conley

Right now, I’m sitting on the windowsill of our room and, though it’s perfectly quiet in the hotel, the city of Hohhot is very much awake. Directly across from my window flashes a sign advertising some sort of beer, lighting up first the Chinese characters, then its translation in Mongolian. The entire city is lit bright by signs like these and by colorful lights that line the main roads. It seems that even at night the traffic moves terrifyingly fast. I’m sad to realize that this is the last time I’ll be sitting here, that this is our last night in Inner Mongolia. We spent our last day here shopping at a massive shopping center downtown filled with every possible item one could ever want, all at an unreasonably low price. We returned to the hotel for lunch and to relax for several hours before the final banquet which proved to be as bittersweet as our teachers had predicted. We put on our formal clothing for the last time and meandered down to the restaurant on the fourth floor where we were greeted by many students and teachers from the arts college. We sat down at perfectly set tables with pristine red cloths and glasses filled with jasmine tea and waited for speeches to be made by President Li and Tom. They each expressed gratitude for being able to participate in this exchange and expressed how important the exchange has been. Tom said that we were leaving as different people; that we would not view things in the same way. Though I’ve heard this countless times, I think this time I really understood it.

After speeches were made, plates of steaming food were piled on to the “lazy Susan.” Several students played horse head fiddle, danced and sang. My favorite was the boy who throat sang for us. Even though I’ve probably heard throat singing ten or fifteen times, I’m always incredibly impressed. The deep resonating sound is just as beautiful each time. Our group sang “For the longest time” and “Oh Yini” for the last time in China. We’ve exhausted these two songs which have served as our banquet songs, our encore performance, and our pre-show vocal warm-up. The former was the song we taught the arts college students to sing with us in the final performance.

The rest of the banquet went by quickly. There was a brief exchanging of gifts and a few final remarks. Saying goodbye was hard for a lot of us. Many have made very close friends during our stay here.

It’s now 11:30 and tomorrow we have to wake at five to catch an early flight to Beijing. We’re coming to our last few days in China which is both exciting and incredibly sad. This has been the most amazing experience of my life and I’m sure I’ll always value the time I’ve spent here. It’s time to go home, though, and I think we’re all looking forward to stepping off the airplane in three days. Until then, I’ll be careful to take everything in and to enjoy my last days in China to their fullest.

-- Maddy

Maddy expresses that dilemma of wanting to stay, because she has grown with the place and the people, but she is also ready to be home again with her family and friends.

Let’s hear more from Tom:

Today was great. Shopping this morning downtown; two McDonalds, a Pizza Hut and some pretty upscale stores. There clearly are [Mongolian] people who can afford to buy. The stores were crowded and people were walking around with shopping bags. Four and six lane highway down the center of the city and goods being moved by cart on the sides of the road. There certainly does seem to be growing prosperity in the cities, including Hohhot. There is still a long way to go in terms of spreading the wealth into the countryside. It is a challenge facing the Central Government and one of which they are well aware. There are articles in Chinese newspapers addressing the issues every day.

Claire, Nicole, Ann, Matt and I were invited to lunch by Baohong, a young woman who I first met 7 years ago. Baohong is now dancing with a very prominent dance troupe, which will be touring the US in June. Baohong is an old friend of our family. She stayed with us during one of her two visits with the delegation [Tom]

The “city” of Hohhot

As you read this, the gang will have just one more day in Beijing before coming home. A final day of shopping, packing, and accepting the fact that “this is it.” This is the end of the physical journey, but the mental journey continues on forever.

Seems like we were just looking at pictures of the Great Wall, talking about Confucius, and hearing about the time spent with Mongolian students.

I told you throughout this journey that you had better pay attention as we rolled along ‘cause there was going to be a quiz, and I am not about to let you down.

Below, you’ll find your JE 2007 quiz. This is an “open site” test, so you are allowed to go back and look through the journey for the answers. I will post the answers on Thursday, when we bring this journey to a safe and sound conclusion.

Before I let you loose on this challenging test of “were you paying attention?” , we’ll say goodbye for today and look forward to seeing you all back here tomorrow. We’re almost there everybody.

Now that we are just about finished here, the journey may not seem like it lasted a month. But once you begin searching back through the site, looking for answers to the quiz, I think you’ll be reminded how huge this journey really was, is, and will be for the rest of (yours and) your child’s life.

Enjoy the day!

Okay, you may turn your papers over and begin . . .
 

Journey East 2007 Quiz

• How many hours difference is China from us? Ahead or behind?
• What is the name of the show being performed by the Journey East 2007 troupe?
• Name the five major cities the group visited in China and Inner Mongolia
• Can you name (first name only) all the kids, and the adults of this Journey East group?
• Early on in the trip, they visited a square and a special city. What were the names of these places?
• What is “Hot pot?”
• How many, and who celebrated birthdays during the journey?
• They visit one of the five sacred mountains in China. What is the name of this mountain?
• What was the name of the song Li Haiqing, Director of the International Exchange Programs here in Qufu, taught the students
• At the time of this trip, what is the name of the Chinese currency and how many of these equal one American dollar?
• During a calligraphy class, Ryan doodled a picture of a man. What did Ryan call this man
• There is reference to one of the five most beautiful women in Chinese history. What is her name?
• How many group (the whole gang) photos are shown in the web site?
• What was the name of the desert the group visited?
• While at this desert, the group rode on something they can ride here on the ski slopes. What was it?
• How many rooms does the Imperial Palace have?
• What is the name of the director of ASOP that has played an instrumental role in the success of the Journey East program?
• The group meets up with two former Journey east students. What are their names?
• What major event will take place in Beijing in 2008?
• Qufu is the birthplace of whom?
• For the four journeys east, there have been a total of ten chaperones, How many were there on this journey and what are their names?
• Two girls “flip” on this trip. Who are they and where did their flips take place?
• How many official nationalities are there in China
• What is the majority people group in China?
• Can you name three sports/activities the group engaged in during their stay in Qufu?
• What Chinese year (name of the animal) is 2007?
• They visit a river of a different color. What color is the river and in what city did they see it?
• In one of the photos you can see a food place familiar to all of us here back home. What is it? Where is it?
• What is the official language of China?
• Hohhot is known as the “what” city? ?
• The students take care of some trees on the trip. Where did they do this?

Bonus question worth a million points:

• In 10,000 words or more, tell us about your favorite part of the 2007 Journey East.

Good luck!