A Renaissance Man That Knows Chinese Opera!!!!!

Christmas in July!!

My blog reading friends, I apologize for being a little behind but my plan to write on the way home didn't turn out so well.  I couldn't find wifi and my Chinese computer battery only lasted about 30 minutes at a time (You really do get what you pay for, and since I only paid a couple hundred bucks it definitely isn't an Apple.)
  As I sit in the Starbucks in Oakhurst writing and recovering from jet lag, I am going to share with you the last episode of our Xi'an saga.  We are also done with school so that section will disappear for now.  I was going to end the blog after summer, but I had a couple of friends suggest I at least write through the first week of school.  I am also very close to 10,000 reads and am privately excited about reaching that number.

To finish up our time in China, Cecelia and I divided and conquered.  Cecelia and the girls spent the first two days of the week exploring other areas of Xi’an city itself, while I began work coaching golf with my friends James and Jason. 

                The first place that they started with was the old city wall.  During the Tang
Dynasty, the Emperor built the wall around the city.  It is about 8 miles long and the girls spent the day riding bicycles on top of it.  It was a hot day and the bricks on top made it very bumpy.  When we met in the evening, Cecelia told me she needed a massage just to work the kinks out in her neck.  They also went to visit the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, and the Muslim Quarter for lunch and shopping.

The Girls and a new friend

                That same day, I went with my friends to a very remote golf course located in the nearby mountains.  We drove about an hour and a half to a village that looked more like a Swiss ski area than a golf resort.  I thought we were there to do a golf clinic, but it turned out we were doing a photo shoot for a new driving range that was opening in September.  On the way, we also drove through the longest tunnel I have ever been in during my lifetime.  It was 18 km. long, which is about 10 miles.  It was an amazing feat of engineering.  In order to break up the monotony of the tunnel, the engineers break it up with sections that are lit up by black light.  In the black light areas, they have fake pine trees that look like they are real.  It is rather eerie and creepy.  I had images of Bilbo wandering around looking for a way through and greeting Shelob along the way. 

                In the evening we met up and were treated to a very nice dinner with our friends from Xi’an.

                The next day I began coaching at the golf camp, while Cecelia and the girls went back into Xi’an to explore more of the history of China.  To stay out of the heat, their guide tried to take them to the history museum but it was closed.  They ended up going to the tablet museum and the Wild Goose Pagoda instead.  The tablet museum is an amazing place in which patrons are exposed to the actual writings of famous poets and philosophers of China, which include samples from Confucious himself.

                The Wild Goose Pagoda area is surrounded by gardens that are full of sculptures that tell about the history of China.  It is also home to the largest fountain in China.  That evening Cecelia and the girls stole me away to go watch the fountain show.  In the evenings, the fountain bursts into a colorful light show that is accompanied by symphonic music.
   But before we went to the Pagoda, we got together with our hosts for a special culinary treat.  The culinary treat for dinner was Peking Duck.  Now, this was not the first time we had duck in China and none of us had really had a good experience with it.  We were asked if we liked duck, but we told our host Kei that it wasn’t our favorite dish.  He then educated us on what real duck should be like, so we decided to give it a try.  We were soon to find that we had not experienced such an amazing dish.  When cooked properly and served by a chef in the correct manner, Peking Duck is absolutely amazing.  We all enjoyed it immensely, even the pickiest member of our family.  (That isn’t Claire, Cecelia or I.) 

On Tuesday morning, Cecelia and the girls left for Guilin, while I stayed in Xi’an to finish camp the rest of the week.  She really wanted to see Guilin and Yang Shuo.  Yang Shuo is an area of China that has multiple limestone outcroppings that have been the basis for quite a bit of Chinese art.  The outcroppings are like giant pointed rocks that have dropped out of the sky.  Many of them are very steep and are dotted with caves and crevices.  Cecelia and the girls had an outstanding time exploring caves, floating on the river that runs through the area, having natural spa treatments and just enjoying the beautiful surroundings.  Most of the pictures from the blog this week were taken by Cecelia.  They spent about a day and a half exploring the area.  Cecelia would have liked more time, but she had to get back and prepare for our departure.

While Cecelia and the girls were exploring more of China, I continued to work.  I have kept the real purpose for why I was coaching in Xi’an a secret until now.  Well, I will let the cat out of the bag.  The reason we had the photo shoot earlier in the week and been coaching at the camp is because I have been asked to be a partners with a couple of Chinese friends to be one of the directors of golf at a brand new driving range facility in Xi’an.  No, it does not mean that I will be quitting my job and moving to China permanently.  It means that I will have a great probability to return to China next summer to train staff and develop a complete instruction program for golfers in Northwest China.  They want my skills as a coach, because I don’t teach in a traditional way.  My instruction is project based and teaches people how to practice with a purpose.  Our program teaches people how to work on their games in an efficient manner, rather than just hitting balls without a purpose on the driving range.

So, anyway it wasn’t all work for me.  On Friday, the last day of camp we played golf with our students at Xi’an International Golf Course in the morning. (That was still part of work.)  After that, I had the opportunity to visit a place in Xi’an called South Lake.  South Lake is an outstanding area in which I learned about some Chinese Opera.  One area of South Lake is dedicated to Love and Lovers.

Yang Shuo, Simply Beautiful

Spa Treatments already!!!!

 The reason is because of a place called Cool Cave.  Cool Cave is an actual cave that is the inspiration for the Chinese Opera called the Cool Cave.  The story behind the cave is that a young woman that was part of royalty tossed a silk ball into the air to find her husband.  It was caught inadvertently by a poor man.  The woman’s family was not happy about the results because the man was below their class, but the woman honored the tradition.  Because she honored the tradition, her family separated themselves from her.  To add insult to injury the woman’s husband then went off to join the army to improve his status.  So, what the woman did was begin digging her way into the side of a cliff face and created a very comfortable home for herself.  She was so determined that when her family realized that they had made a mistake and began sending her rice she refused it.  In the end, she survived and then her husband returned as a hero.  Rather than live in a traditional house, they decided to live happily ever after in the Cool Cave.  It was a very romantic place, but I was glad that Cecelia and the girls didn’t find it.  Many of the statues in the park were rather racy.  I don’t think Cecelia would have enjoyed having the birds and bees talk by herself when the girls asked what they statues were doing. 

Anyway, in the end I can honestly say that I understand at least one Chinese Opera, despite the fact that I can’t stand to listen to it.  It sounds like fingernails grating on a chalkboard to me.   I just consider it a feather in the cap of a Renaissance Man like myself!!!!!!
  Here is the link for the Pictures that Cecelia took during here trip.  Xi'an and Yang Shuo, China