"Hey Steve, You Won't Believe What I Found!!!"

Rows and rows of soldiers

  My friends I apologize for the blog being late this week, but I have a good reason.  I was in Xi'an coaching golf and had an extremely busy schedule.  This last week has been such a whirlwind that I haven't had time to give you an update.  So, I hope you enjoy the story of what happened this week and the culmination of a week that my family is soon not to forget.  This will be the first installment of a two part series.

SCHOOL:  Well, this week at school was rather interesting.  It was the last week for us and we had many things to do to prepare for our leave taking.  My end was rather uneventful.  I taught up until Friday and just said goodbye to my students and teacher friends.  There was much sharing of email addresses and promises of getting together sometime in the future with the teaching staff.  To be honest the feeling from the administration was more like, "Whew, thank goodness the trouble maker is leaving".  In the end, I guess I just didn't get a grasp of what teaching in China is all about.  When you are asked to help and give an opinion, they don't really expect you to answer.
  Now I don't want to leave you with a negative impression.  The experience here has been wonderful and life changing.  I also don't regret making the decision to come here for a moment.  China is wonderful and in a later edition I am going to share the things that I believe I have learned.
  Cecelia on the other hand had a great week.  She finished her assessments and then the teachers threw a party for her.  As the guest of honor she was treated to an outstanding meal and was treated like the Queen of first grade.  Her crowning glory was a string of pearls that was her parting gift.  Cecelia made quite an impression this year and was loved by the staff.  I teased her a little after her party, because she had been giving me a hard time about my easy schedule this year.  I told her that an easy schedule was my reward and a string of pearls was hers.  In all honesty, I consider my wife to be one of the best teachers I have ever met.  I am constantly inspired by her energy and creativity.  One final note, from what we understand the teachers in primary don't do this normally for leaving foreign teachers.  This just shows what kind of impact she made.
  For the girls it was a week of ups and downs.  They were up because like all school kids their school year was coming to an end.  The two of them also had an additional motivation, because with the end of school comes our return to America.  They are very excited about their homecoming.

Tay doing her best to sell Yosemite to Chinese tourists

  On the down side, this was really their first goodbye that had some sort of permanence to it.  At the end of the week there were many tears, because they were saying goodbye to teachers and friends that they may never see again.  This made a huge impact on them.  It was a realization that they have never experienced before.  Unlike living in Oakhurst and knowing that we would be returning, this had a finality to it that they didn't expect.  They were also very upset about leaving their friends the Madsens.  Even though the Madsens live in the United States, they had the feeling that they wouldn't see each other again.  We assured them that we would get together back in the States, but it still took some time to get over their sadness.  They didn't finally settle down until we were in Xi'an and they could use modern technology to Facetime each other.  They have grown to understand that the world is really a small place when you can communicate so readily.  This is unlike when my brothers and I grew up going to 19 different schools and moving from state to state.  We had snail mail and it really was difficult to communicate through the mail.  This meant as a boy I actually had to write by hand on paper.  Can you imagine?!!!!

ADVENTURES:  We began our adventure to Xi'an by rushing off to the airport right after school on Friday.  Our friend Sam dropped us off at the metro station and it took us about an hour and a half to get to the airport.  We arrived in plenty of time and met my friend James. 
  James is my friend from America that has worked with me in The First Tee at home.  He is also from Taiwan and knows China very well.  He was the reason we were making this extra trip to Xi'an.  His friends had arranged for us to teach the golf camp together.
  Anyway, after we met James and checked in my golf clubs, we were met with another delay.  It seems like common practice at the Guangzhou airport; too many people, too many planes going in all different directions.  Our two hour delay was due to air traffic congestion this time.  So, we ended up leaving Guangzhou at close to 11 pm.  We landed in Xi'an at 1 am.  It seems like a new habit for us to fly late and then arrive late at our destination.  Like I have written before, everything is an adventure in China.  Or better yet, everything is an adventure when you travel with us.  We finally got to bed around 3 am.

All 6 ft. tall

  The next morning we didn't have to be up at a particular time.  Our hosts for the week told us that we just needed to call them when we got up and were ready to go.  James had made arrangements for us to go to the site of the Terra Cotta Soldiers.  After a quick breakfast of chicken sandwiches at KFC, we met the other coach that was going to be working with us during the week.  His name is Jason and he runs a golf learning center in downtown Xi'an, but I will tell you more about him in detail during the next blog.
  The site for the Terra Cotta Soldiers is about an hour and a half outside of the city itself.  Once we arrived, we were met by an official from the site.  Apparently Jason had pulled a few strings and we were going to have a private tour in English.  The facility for the soldiers is a massive park like facility.  There are three pits that are surrounded by a beautiful courtyard that has fountains, statues and restaurants.  Outside of that there are acres and acres of walkways and paths that meander through pines and poplars.
  Our tour began in Pit 1.  Pit 1 is a massive area covered with a blimp hangar sized building.  The building covering pit one is so large that we had to have Cecelia take a panoramic picture to get it all in the frame.  Pit 1 is also the main site of the current archeological work.  This site is the one that you see in typical pictures of The Terra Cotta Soldiers.  There are soldiers standing in lines with broken soldiers behind them.  Pit one is the site in which the archeologists put the soldiers back together.  It is kind of like a real life Humpty Dumpty story.  The back of the site consists of a large flat area in which the soldiers are either standing or lying down while being put back together.  Once the archeologists get all of the pieces together for a soldier, they put them back in the pit where they were originally located.  The pit is about 9 ft. deep and has row after row of soldiers.  We learned that the soldiers in this pit were the front line of defense.  Many people believe the Chinese to be small in general, but things must have changed with time.  To be in this army you had to be a minimum of 6 ft. tall.
 

All the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put...............

Pit 2 is smaller and has a lot less excavation.  The archeologists are going slower and making new discoveries all the time.  Due to their advances in technique,  the soldiers from Pit 2 have retained their original color better.  Also this part of the tour got us up close and personal with the soldiers.  They had three soldiers displayed in glass cases.  When you get close to the soldiers you get to see the amazing detail that went into them.  Even the hairs on their head are very detailed.  At this pit, I was happy to find out that even though I wouldn't make the height requirement, I would have been considered a good guy because I have a mustache.  If you didn't have a mustache, you were either a bad person or a criminal.  Every soldier has a mustache.  By the way,  every soldier has a unique face.  So far they have found over 1500 soldiers and it is only the tip of the archeological iceberg. There are also life sized horses in the pit as well.  The horses are spectacular in their detail and facial features.  One interesting thing that they found in Pit 2 was the only soldier that was entirely whole.  It is an archer and out of the hundreds of soldiers he is the only one without even a chink in his armor.
  You may be wondering at this point why the soldiers were broken.  It is not that the mud and dirt broke them, because they were originally enclosed in an underground building.  The destruction came from the following dynasty.  The conquering generals removed all of the weapons from the statues and then set the place on fire.  The destruction came from the ceiling collapsing on top of the soldiers.  You can still see remnants of the burned structures and wagon wheel imprints where they burned into the ground.

An archeologists dream job!!!!

  One final fact that I found interesting:  even though there are hundreds of things I could share with you, this one intrigued me.  It intrigued me because of the research and things that I have learned about China.  If the dynasties had not had the practice of trying to erase all history of the previous dynasty, China would have probably been one of the most technologically advanced civilizations in the world.  They had invented many things long before any of our cultures even thought of beginning.  For example, one of the swords they found was still razor sharp and had chrome alloy on it.  Germany supposedly perfected chrome technology in 1939.  The sword that was found in the pit was dated back to 3000 BC.  Let that fact sink in a little bit.
  Finally we made our way to Pit 3.  Pit 3 was similar to the two previous pits, but much smaller.  Yet, Pit 3 has a special importance to it.  This pit is where they found all of the emperor's generals.  They also believe Pit 3 to have the entrance to passages to the emperor's tomb, but they have not discovered them as of yet.
  After Pit 3 we headed to a gift shop in which we got a special treat.  The gift shop housed replicas of the Terra Cotta Soldiers made in the same compound the original soldiers were made.  It is the only licensed and certificated place in China to purchase them, so of course we had to pick up a couple of soveniers.  But, this is not the special treat that I alluded to earlier.  The special treat came in the form of the original man that discovered the soldiers in 1974.  He found them while trying to dig a well for his farming.  Since his discovery, he has been working with the site and been given a lifetime salary by the government.  Unlike in America in which people can own whatever they find on their property, China has a policy that any archeological find belongs to the people of China.  We had our picture taken with him and he signed our souvenir book.
 

Notice the mustache.  I have one of those.

One quick fact we learned that is hard to imagine is when this site was complete over 720,000 people died to keep the secret of the tomb and soldiers.  Everyone and anyone that worked on it were included in that number.
  We then made our way over to the Jade factory.  Apparently much of the really good jade comes from this area of China.  We were given a lesson on how to tell real jade from fake.  It was very interesting and informative.  So basically if you have any jade, put it up to a light.   If the light shines through and there are mineral deposits that look like flowers, it is real.  If it doesn't it is fake.  Also we learned that people wear jade because the body absorbs the good minerals over time.  Men are supposed to wear dark jade that looks almost black and it is supposed to be good for the heart.  Women are supposed to wear a lighter green and can wear it either on their right wrist to support lung health or on the left for heart health.  Kids are supposed to wear pink.  The pink supports healthy skin and complexion.
  After buying Cecelia a jade bracelet to support her heart, we headed out to find lunch.  We had a very nice lunch with our hosts and then went to one final place for site seeing. 
  Our final stop was at a place in which the Emperor from the Tang dynasty built a spa sanctuary for his favorite concubine.  He was so in love with this concubine that when it was complete he lived there with her for 11 years.  The entire place is designed around the concept of Fengshui and Ying/Yang.  I can tell you that I can see why he was attracted to the place, other than for his concubine.  It has mineral hot springs coming out of the ground in many places.  The pools also had varying temperatures and he built many of the pools to have open roofs so that he could look at the stars while sitting in the springs.  Kind of like having a Jacuzzi tub outside in our neck of the woods.  I mean kind of, because many of the spas were swimming pool sized.  He even built one spa for the chefs so that they could sit in the pools and be inspired to create culinary master pieces.  We even took a break and sat with our feet in one of the pools.  It was very hot, but refreshing.  I really felt like I had my Ying and Yang in order then.

The concubine dancing or the Emperor

  In later years when Cheng Kai Shek was fighting chairman Mao for power, he used the facility for his offices.  There are still bullet holes in the walls from where people were trying to assassinate him.
  One final note about this site.  Other than walking around in the heat and being tired we would have thought that it was just another cool historical site in China.  But our guide was very exuberant and excited about sharing with us the love story between the Emperor and his favorite concubine.  She shared with us that after the 11 years the Emperor left and was a better ruler after that.  I am not sure I believe her, because then the Tang dynasty was conquered by the Qing dynasty.  Makes you wonder if he had his Ying and Yang in order after all.  We did learn the significance of the Dragon and the Phoenix.  The Dragon represents power and the Emperor.  The Phoenix represents the Queen and control of the concubines.  The Lotus Flower represents all the concubines.
  We ended the day with a nice dinner back at the hotel and then went to bed.  I was going to have an early start to an incredibly busy week.
 

I have to be honest with you.  Going to the Terra Cotta Soldiers was not a priority on my want to see list when coming to China.  The thought of going to visit a place in which a single man had people build and sculpt things so that he could continue his glory in the afterlife just didn't interest me.  But after going, I am absolutely glad that I had the opportunity to experience such an amazing place.  It is hard to describe the feelings that I felt and I don't quite understand why I got a little teary eyed at one point, but it is hard to fathom the unfathomable.  What I mean is that I have no point of reference to draw on when experiencing something 3000 years old.  I have only been around for 50 years and thinking back on what life was just like only 30 or 40 years ago is difficult.  So how are we supposed to relate to something this old and this amazing?  The only thing that comes to mind is to respectfully appreciate the craftsmanship and hard work that those 720,000 put in to this project.  Here is a link to a short video that has more photos.  Enjoy and we will see many of you soon.  By the way, the next blog won't be written from home.  It will probably come from Hong Kong tomorrow while we wait for our flight.  It will be a short story about what I did while in Xi'an for the week.  for more pictures, enjoy the video found at this link.  Terra Cotta and The Concubine.
  
 
 

Miami Vice Comes to China!!!

         Hello Everyone.  I hope you enjoyed the bonus blogs about Beijing and The Great Wall.  It is still hard to believe that it was only last week that we were there.

Sometimes we can't tell if we are in Europe or China

 As we walked our last time to church, I couldn’t help but begin to think about the things that I am going to miss about China.  I am actually going to save the retrospective for a later blog, but I have to share that I really have enjoyed our treks to church in Guangzhou.  St. Francis of Assisi has been a great church home for us while here.  The choir is excellent and the priest has an infectious joy that Cecelia and I really enjoy. 

Are we in China or Hawaii?

On top of that, how can you beat having a great service and then walking back through the meat market and seeing half a pig hanging from the back of a truck.  Like I have said many times before, the simple is just never mundane here.

This week the weather has been beautiful.  A little bit humid, but not too hot.  Lot’s of high clouds and a nice breeze.  We would also get an occasional shower here and there, but it was the kind of rain that reminded me of Hawaii. 

This week began the process of saying goodbye.  So, enjoy the activities that we did this week and we will be seeing all of you sooner than you think. 

SCHOOL:  This week at school was all about taking care of the little things needed so that we can check the girls and ourselves out.  We each had a checklist that we needed to take care of in order to complete our respective assignments.  Taylor, Claire and I have completed our lists.  Cecelia hasn’t yet, because she still is doing assessments of her students and hasn’t had as much free time to take care of it.  I know this is all boring information, but I do have a funny story that describes working here best.

Cheng Family House

            The last thing on my list was to take my Teacher’s Edition text books to the library.  I have been holding on to them as long as possible, because I still have one week of school left to teach.  This last week I am teaching basic Trigonometry, remember Cosine, Sine and Tangent.  Of course you don’t, because most of you learned it about a thousand years ago and not many of you are engineers.  So anyway, there were a couple of cool assignments that I wanted to use and I was trying to figure out what to do if I turned in my books.  I figured out a couple of internet lessons and made up an activity so that I could turn them in.  When I handed the books back to the librarian, she informed me that I wasn’t missing anymore books, but I was having six rmb taken from my paycheck.  On asking why, the library informed me that my teaching materials were over due.  Now, understand six rmb is not a lot of money.  Actually it is slightly less than one US Dollar, but I had to have a discussion with the librarian just out of principal.  I said to her, “You mean to tell me that with one week of school left, I am being fined for keeping the books I need for teaching?”.  Her reply was in the affirmative.  I then said to her, “Nobody informed me when you check out teaching materials that they need to be renewed.”  Her comment was, “I’m sorry, but they made a mistake by not letting you know.”  I then said to her, “You were the one that checked them out to me.”  Her answer was, “I’m sorry I made a mistake.”  I then asked her to change the fee and fix it in the computer.  She said that she couldn’t because it was "already in the system.”  At this point I was just done.  I walked away laughing, because this is the perfect example of how many of the staff do not know how to problem solve.  It wasn’t worth my time to continue to argue my point.

            When I turned my paperwork in to the Foreign Affairs office, I mentioned the issue to them that this might be one of the policies that they should modify.  The answer back was a sheepish grin and a I’ll make a note of it response.  Yeah right!!!!!

Now this is the way to ditch school!!!!

ADVENTURES:  After my adventure with the Librarian and the Foreign Affairs Office, we ended the week by going to the local water park again.  Earlier in the year we promised Taylor that we would go back when she was tall enough to go on all of the rides.  She has grown quite a bit and so Cecelia took the day off and we had the girls ditch school to break up our seven day work week. 

            Before we went to the water park though, we had to have one last adventure at the local bank.  It only took us an hour and fifteen minutes to send money through Western Union this time.  Thankfully this is the last time we have to go through this pain.   

She was too short for this last time.

            The water park was fantastic and the crowds were small.  The longest ride we waited on was 25 minutes.  Taylor took advantage of her new found height and promptly went on the rides that she missed in the fall.  We spent about five and a half hours that afternoon and we relished the time spent together as a family. 

            After finishing at the water park, we headed for home and prepared for the evenings activities.  Cecelia and I were going to one of the many going away parties that were being held over the next couple of weeks.  Taylor and Claire were going to go hang out with the Madsens.

Beating the heat

            The girls and Madsen kids have really become good friends.  We call them the little rat pack, because the five of them get together and use the buses in our neighborhood to run all around the community.  I will tell you that one of the things that we and the girls are really going to miss is the freedom for the kids to run around with other kids in a neighborhood environment.  It reminds me of when I was a kid and we would get money from our parents, or collect bottles and trade them in so that we could go to the store and get sodas or candy.  Sometimes we would save up enough money to even go to the movies.  We just don’t have this environment where we live. The girls love it, because a typical evening with the Madsen kids is getting money, going to Little Italy for pizza and then riding the bus together to the water park.  This week they decided to forgo the water park for obvious reasons and just watched movies instead.  They also ended up having a sleep over.

            At the first of two going away/birthday parties that Cecelia and I went to, we took a bag of books and movies for people to take.  We collected many books and movies this year, because we don’t have TV.  The reason we gave them away, is because as we have begun to pack to come home and we don’t have enough room for the 50 or so pounds of souvenirs that we are bringing back with us.  So, the books and movies had to go.  Cecelia is a little remiss in getting rid of the movies, but we worry a little about copyright fines.  Also, it doesn’t look real good when you came to China with a DVD holder full of DVD’s and then you return with three times as many movies.  Can someone say Red Flag please!!!!  Anyway, we had a wonderful time at dinner and said good by to some of the staff that we probably wouldn’t see during the upcoming week.

This plaza was cool, because they kept all of the original architecture and put the shops inside

               The next day, Cecelia and I got up early and went for a walk.  The kids were not due to come home until around 9 and we figured we could get it in before they returned.  As I mentioned earlier, the weather has been great, but in the southern part of Guangdong Province there was a Typhoon warning. We didn’t think it would affect us.  As we started our walk the scenery was glorious.  The sun was shining on a crystal blue sky and you could see the large white thunderheads glimmering in the distance.  There was also a slight breeze that kept the humidity down to a bearable amount.  Little did we know or realize that the slight breeze was going to pick up and that the low clouds accompanying the thunderheads would roll our way.  We had decided to walk over to an open air market that is about an hour walk from us and then ride the bus back, but just as we arrived at the market the rain began.  It was a slight mist at first, but then quickly turned into a downpour.  I can’t tell you how often I have been caught out in the rain here in China, but after 10 months you would think we would have learned by now.  So, once again I found myself soaked all the way through my cloths and dripping on a chair in a bus.  I mentioned to Cecelia that getting caught in the rain here, has replaced my habit of running out of gas in the States.  At least she was a kind spouse and gave me some credit for the unpredictability of the weather here.

The coolest Starbucks ever!!!!

             After returning home and retrieving the girls, we headed to Foshan for the day.  Foshan is the city in which I wrote about earlier in the blog that has the Kung Fu school and was home to the Cheng Family.  It was the place that I wrote about that helped me to remember to appreciate the simple things in life. 

  We were going there to get Cecelia’s eyes check at the place where Claire and I had ordered glasses earlier in the week.  Also, Claire and I had found this really cool plaza that we wanted to share with Cecelia and Taylor.

          When we arrived at the optometrist store Cecelia got her eyes checked.  While the girls and I were waiting we were pleasantly surprised to find that the glasses that we ordered earlier in the week were ready to be picked up.  This was great because it was going to save Claire and I a trip back.  By scooter and metro it takes about two hours to get to Foshan.  Anyway, we received our glasses and Cecelia’s results were positive.  She only had a slight change in her vision and only needs reading glasses if she wants them.  It was funny, because the lady that did the eye exam showed Cecelia’s results in a book and it said “Old age vision”.  How is that for a definitive assessment.  One last thing about the eye glass store.  I told you I was going to save things about what I was going to miss, but I have to mention this one.  I will miss going to the eye glass store with Claire, getting our eyes checked, buying two pairs of glasses, and walking out spending about $120. 
 

The ladies enjoying themselves

 You may be wondering, whether the check was good or not.  Let me tell you that I have been to an eye doctor a minimum of one time per year since I was five and these people do as good of job as any I have ever experienced.  On top of that, my prescription included Transitions lenses.  Also, the frames that you get to choose from are not last years cast offs, they are actually very stylish.  I can’t even look at one pair of glasses in the States for less than two or three hundred bucks.  I have to use double insurance in order to cover the cost back home.

Had to dump Tubbs for her.  That's right she is HOT!!!!!!

          Finally, after shopping and getting lunch we returned home so that Cecelia and I could get ready for our next party.  The party that evening had an 80’s and Goonies theme.  So, if you know Cecelia and I we have to go all out.  We decided to go as characters from Miami Vice.  Cecelia dressed in a neon yellow mini skirt and a hot pink top.  To finish it off, she wore hot pink pumps, neon earrings and a neon yellow belt.  To put it simply from my point of view, “She was Hot”.  By the way, she was pretending to be an undercover narcotics agent and had a hand gun tucked in the back waste band of her mini skirt.  I of course went as Crocker from Miami Vice.  Some party revelers said I was a spot on double for Don Johnson.  Of course they had already had one too many drinks, but who am I to judge.  I wore white pants, a neon green t-shirt and a white jacket.  Of course I had my glock in my waste band as well.  To put it in a nutshell according to the Chinese we were typical Americans carrying guns.  Finally, to pull off our entrance for everyone, I downloaded the theme music from Miami Vice onto my iPad and we entered the party playing it loud and busting any suspicious party goers.  The one guy we had to frisk was Nathan.  He was playing the character of Chunk from Goonies.  He looked very suspicious indeed. 

We had a wonderful time and headed home earlier than our friends wanted, but we needed to get up early to go to church for the last time.

 I will share with you next week how we prepared to head for Xian and complete school at the same time.

Have a great week.  Only 15 days until we return!!!!

Bonus Blog II - I saw Space from The Great Wall!!!!

Welcome To The Great Wall Of China!!!

Cecelia took this panoramic photo from the west side of the wall.

  If you don't know, The Great Wall of China was said to be the only man made object that could be seen from the moon, but this has been proven to be untrue, thus the play on words for this bonus blog.  This will complete the adventure we had in Beijing.  If you can believe it, we did all of this in two and a half days.  When you read this blog and you feel your heart start pounding and you get short of breath it is OK, because that is how we felt.  The incline of the stairs was steep and unfortunately the pollution was so bad that we had a hard time breathing.  What, you think we got tired from just the exertion of our activity?  Come on, we are finely tuned athletes that spent the previous day at the Olympic Village pretending to win gold medals.  Granted we visualized winning them in Golf, but Golfers are athletes too.  Besides we live near Yosemite and climbing the stairs was like going up and down the Mist Trail twice.  No Problem!!!!!!

Getting ready to climb

SCHOOL:  Once again no school because of Dragon Boat Festival.  By now you are probably wondering if we ever really work.  Of course we do, I had to even work on Father's Day.  Man, talk about a surreal experience.

ADVENTURE:  After the previous day of tromping around Beijing, we woke up and headed out to find The Great Wall of China.  As always the research and planning of an Oetinger adventure is not always executed in the manner in which it was supposed happen.  This trip was no different.  The beginning of our excursion went well.  We rode the metro to the stop that we were supposed to get off on and began searching for the bus we were supposed to catch.  This is where it began to get interesting.  I had read two separate internet articles that gave the same clear details about riding the metro, getting off at a certain stop and then looking for bus number 68.  So, when we arrived at the area in which we were supposed to get on bus 68, guess what?  You probably already guessed it, there was no bus 68.  The four of us then wandered up and down the street for about 15 minutes before I finally stopped into the police station on the corner.  The police looked dumbfounded and didn't have any idea about bus 68.  I then wandered back up the street a little more and spotted a bus with the number 58 on it.  Now, at this point you are probably saying to yourself that he is lost and had the wrong bus number.  My own children said the same thing to me at this point and I promptly pulled out my trusty iPad and showed them the article that gave me the directions.  In bright red numbers the number 68 blazed out to silence them.  Same for you critics out there.  Besides, I had already asked the police rather than be a stupid father and husband that just drives around in circles without asking for help.  So, at this point I went to the number 58 bus and asked them where bus 68 was located.  Through my broken communication in Chinese I found out that we needed to ride the number 58 bus to the stop to pick the number 68 bus up that would finally take us to The Great Wall. 

We're going up there?!!!

Cecelia then asked me if I was sure I knew where we going.  I answered in a confident manner and said yes, despite the underlying trepidation that I didn't just ask them to take us to a really big Chinese restaurant.  My fears were increased after about 45 minutes on the bus.  We pulled up on the side of the road out in the middle of the country, and the driver told everyone to get off.  Fortunately there was a nice young lady that spoke some English and she told us to just wait for bus 68.  It was going to be coming in about a half an hour.  The nice thing was that bus 68 came about 15 minutes into our wait.  When we hopped on I met a mother and son from San Francisco that were going to The Great Wall as well.  They spoke not only excellent English, but fluent Chinese as well.  The mom's family lives in Beijing and here son that was with her was a freshman this year at Berkeley.  We had a nice chat as we made our way to The Great Wall.  This was actually their first visit to Beijing as well.
  About 20 minutes into our ride the driver announced that we were approaching The Great Wall.  Just some quick facts about The Great Wall.  It was actually built and rebuilt a number of times.  It originally was begun in the 7th Century before Christ was born.  It grew over many years and finally was considered one wall in 220 BC.  The current wall was seriously refurbished during the Ming Dynasty and has been maintained periodically since then.  The actual wall length is 3,889 miles.  That would be roughly as long as two thirds of the United States.  The part of The Great Wall that we visited is called, Juyongguan "The North Pass".  This section of the wall was used to protect the capital city of Beijing.  I don't know why they needed a wall here, because as you can see in the pictures, the terrain is very steep.  If I was a Mongol and just marched up through the valley to the base of this section I would have just turned around and been happy with conquering most of China.  This portion had never been breached by any army.

Seriously Sarge, we're going to attack that???

  We chose this portion of the wall because it is the steepest and the least crowded.  After hiking the wall loop, I can understand why.  The loop that includes a village with The Great Wall is roughly 4500 meters long, which is about three miles. When you add in the one climb, which I already mentioned was like going up the granite steps, and two descents that are like going down the cables on Half Dome, it feels like 10 miles.
  Our hike began at the valley floor.  We then progressed up the West side to the highest point of The Great Wall.  The steps are very steep and it reminded us of hiking up the granite blocks to the base of Half Dome.  After arriving at the top, we headed down the loop that headed back toward the valley and East Side.  Like I said earlier most of this has been refurbished, but let me tell you the steps that they decided to redo must have been made based on the original specs to keep it authentic.  Most of them are very uneven in height and width.  Some sections going down are as steep as leaving the top of Half Dome by way of the cables.  There was more than once that my vertigo attempted to kick in.  I had to do my best Jimmy Stewart impression and fight it off.

It goes on for Miles and Miles

  One section of the wall has a dead end at the top of the East Ridge.  Looking out over the dead end there is a section of the original wall that has not been refurbished, it is really cool.

The highest watch tower in all of The Great Wall

At the finish.  Another Christmas Photo??

  I have mentioned before how I felt at some other monuments during this crazy adventure, but while at The Great Wall it was different.  It was hard to get a handle on what I was feeling.  It took the first hike to the highest watch tower to clarify what I was feeling.  I think my initial feeling was one of disbelief.  I stood there at the very top of highest watch tower thinking to myself, "Never in my wildest dreams as a kid or a young adult did I ever think I would ever do anything like this."  You know, I am a very goal oriented person and I believe that it is important to have goals to reach your dreams and to be successful, but I can honestly say that standing on The Great Wall was never on my list until I got to China.  The next thing I felt was grateful. I then closed my eyes and said a prayer of thanks.  I thanked God for giving me the opportunity to stand on one of the greatest man made objects ever produced in human history.  I then felt joy, because not only was I standing on the highest point of The Great Wall, but my family was with me as well.  How could it get much better than that?  Even the bad Beijing pollution couldn't ruin the experience for us.  Let's see now, that is two of the eight Modern Day Wonders of The World Down.  Where should we go next?  Claire says, "Brazil to see Christ The Redeemer and to watch her play on the 2016 Olympic Women's Golf Team."  I like her thinking, a daughter after her old man's heart.
  After buying many cheesy souvenirs, like hats and t-shirts, we headed back to Beijing by bus and metro.  Our trip back wasn't nearly as exciting.  We returned to the hotel, had dinner and then Cecelia and I promptly had massages together.  Come on, even fine tuned athletes get massages after competing!!!
  By the way, remember the missing number 68 bus.  Apparently they have stopped service from the metro station.  They had changed within the last month.  So, ha I wasn't lost.
   Now, we will be frantically packing up, going to good bye parties and taking care of the little things that need to be done before we head for Xian.
  Enjoy the rest of the story in pictures and have a great week!!!  The Great Wall of China - Juyongguan Section

 

Bonus Blog - Inspiration From A Nest!

This is The Birds Nest. It is totally amazing and awe inspiring.

This is the first bonus blog for the week.  I guess I could have just called this week's blog Beijing Part 1, 2 and 3.  Naw, that is just too boring.  But this blog is a follow up to the blog I wrote for Father's Day and the Dragon Boat Festival this week.  This blog is going to focus on what we did the first day in Beijing, which encompassed Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the 2008 Olympic Facility.
  One final note.  My editor told me to try and keep to the point.  She felt like I rambled a bit in regards to creating my analogy of Dads and Dragons.  So, I will do my best but I won't promise anything.  I mentioned to her that I didn't want to be confined by the rules of good writing, so I will just keep on writing poorly.

SCHOOL:  Once again no school due to The Dragon Boat Festival.

ADVENTURE:  So to sum up from the previous blog, we arrived early in the morning and slept until about 8:30.  The delay the day before was caused by rain and thunderstorms.  So even though it was a hassle getting to Beijing, at least the notorious air was relatively clean.  We headed out after a quick breakfast at, you guessed it, Starbucks.  Man I just can't get the kids away from the place anymore.

Monolith dedicated to the People

  One note before I describe our day.  Wednesday is the one day in which the country takes the day off for the Dragon Festival.  So I want you to visualize in your head 1.8 billion people all having the same day off.  We actually chose this day to do the things in the city because when we went to the Great Wall we didn't want to deal with the crowds there.  Living in China you just have to pick your poison sometimes.
  We rode the metro to our first destination, which was Tiananmen Square.  By the way, we have become quite the subway navigators, so if you need some help wherever you go let us know.  Anyway, we arrived at Tiananmen Square and it definitely did not disappoint.  When exiting the subway tunnel, we arrived on the corner closest to the Forbidden City.  From this vantage point the square sprawls out for what seems like miles and miles.  It reminded us very much of the mall in Washington DC, except without grass and fountains.  Even without those things that help to make the mall so beautiful, the square has magnificent sculptures, monoliths and buildings that create a vastness that is overwhelming.  Cecelia and I were trying to compare the two and we came to the determination that they are just different.  They are as different as our governments.  Where our White House is at the middle of the mall, The Forbidden City, which was home to the Emperor was at the end.  We found both to be magnificent.
  As we stood in the Square, I was thinking back to the images I saw as a young man in 1989.  The image that has been burned into many of our memories is of a lone man standing in front of a column of tanks to protest the killing of college students and their parents the day before.  What was sad about my thinking, was that it is the only knowledge that I had about Tiananmen Square.  As I stood there looking at the beautiful buildings and admiring the size of The Chinese National Art Museum, I thought about how little we in the west really know about these people.  All we hear or see about in the west are negative images, when there are so many more positive things that we can learn.  Even so, those images only add to the mystique of where we were.  Even though there is no official documentation about what happened on that day, there are many Chinese that believe that the incident that we all witnessed on TV has changed this country forever.  Maybe someday the truth will be told and those brave students and parents will be immortalized with a monument in their memory.

This is the famous view of the entrance to Forbidden City from Tiananmen Square

  One thing I do have to mention is that if you are a blonde person, be prepared to be a celebrity for a day.  In the Square alone, before we entered The Forbidden City, the girls were asked at least eight times in twenty minutes to have their picture taken with new Chinese friends.  Also, of all the places that tourists tend to gather this was the most touristy.  What I mean by that is that there were guides that were approaching me regularly hawking their services, as well as the cheesy souvenir vendors.  The guides were actually very aggressive and are not typical for Chinese people, that tend to be rather shy and mild mannered.  They kept telling us that the ticket line to get in was going to take an hour and that they could get them faster.  So, just a pointer for you.  Don't believe them.  Cecelia got in line with the girls and it maybe took 15 minutes at the most.
  Now don't get me wrong, if you want to see special parts of The Forbidden City or have a need to hear about all 4000 square meters of the place then by all means hire a guide.  Their services are not expensive and I am sure you can learn a lot of history from them, but if you haven't learned by now Cecelia and I tend to go our own way.  We only had one day and already had a plan and were not going to be deterred by a guide.

 The First Square of The Forbidden City is so large Cecelia had to use her panoramic feature on her camera to get it all in the picture

  After meandering around the square a bit we headed for The Forbidden City.  With the crowds growing by the second we didn't want to get caught in a big crush trying to get in the gate.  When you are in Tiananmen Square you don't realize how big the picture is of Chairman Mao until you are entering the gate of The Forbidden City.  It is actually huge;  probably the largest picture of an individual person I have ever seen.
  How to describe The Forbidden City?  I would venture to guess that from all that has been written about The Forbidden City, that there are no more words left that haven't been used to describe it.  Being a moderately descriptive scribe, I am going to offer a stream of descriptors for a place that really needs to be experienced.  The Forbidden City, with its vast open courtyards and palaces is Superb, Extraordinary, Glorious and a place in which you expect a King or Emperor to come strolling along at any moment.  I know that as Americans we don't ever consider ourselves to be the common people, but I will tell you that I had a feeling that if the Emperor came strolling out, every knee would be bent in respect to him and I would have been one of them kneeling.  It is the kind of place that makes you feel like you should walk quietly and with reverence.  On top of that, you feel like you would be happy with your status, whatever it may be.  You would be grateful, just for the experience of being here.

The view from the other side

 Also, despite the crowds the courtyards are so big that people are dispersed and it seems like there is plenty of room.  You have to remember that the Chinese armies used to fill the courtyards at certain times in history.  So, tens of thousands of people can fit in the place comfortably.  We spent about three hours in The Forbidden City and then began to get hungry so we headed out to get some lunch.
  Again, we hopped on the metro and headed to the Olympic village.  After arriving, we stopped for a quick bite of lunch.  The one thing that struck us about the Olympic village is that it was actually being used.  I have been to a couple of venues and I would say this one is unique in that it was designed to be available for the people after all the athletes and the world went home.  The others just seemed like they were used and then almost forgotten about.  Granted, places like LA and Atlanta utilize already existing facilities, rather than creating something from scratch.

Part of the Olympic River Walk.  This runs to a lake in the shape of a Dragon

 We began by walking along the lake that held the rowing and outdoor aquatic events.  It was a very festive environment and people were picnicking, napping and playing games.  We then made our way back to the center walkway and started toward the much anticipated Birds Nest Stadium.  Along the way, we saw some new construction for a building that looks like something out of a Jody Foster or Star Trek Movie.  The building is absolutely massive and looks like something that you would use to slip from one dimension to another.  There is also quite a variety of sculptures that we caught glimpses of down hidden paths.  There is something for every art lovers taste.  My favorite sculpture was one that reminded me of MC Escher.  One of the things that is very striking about walking down the Olympic center court is that as you get closer and closer the Birds Nest becomes more and more prominent.  The other thing is that as you are walking through all of the art, the Birds Nest fits in with all of it and punctuates the end of the enjoyable walk.  I know this is a stretch to say this, but it is like walking on a trail in Yosemite, seeing the typical rock formations and then turning a corner and the Valley Floor is spread out before you.

  The Birds Nest was very inspiring to us in many ways.  First of all, the architecture is amazing.  Taylor and Claire both mentioned that it would be cool to become Architects and make something like it.  I am not quite sure why when, we entered the stadium we just sat down quietly and admired the view without saying anything.  I will tell you that during the Olympics there probably wasn't a bad seat in the house.  The stadium is quite large, but the way that it is built makes it feel rather intimate.

Enjoying some of the cool fountains in the Olympic Village

  Cecelia and I will be honest with you.  For some reason it just seems a little disrespectful getting teary eyed watching highlights of the 2008 Olympic and Para-Olympic games, but not getting misty at any temples or ancient sites. Maybe it is because we have been athletes all of our lives, or maybe we have just seen so many temples and old Chinese history, but we actually were in awe of the Birds Nest and the aura of the Olympic memories that still lingered in the building.  We also thought that maybe our reaction was because we value the Olympic spirit and the hard work that goes along with becoming an Olympian.  We realized how much we value this spirit over government workings and old history. 
  I am adding in this last item, because it is part of the city and The Great Wall needs a blog just for itself.  So, I am jumping a little ahead to Thursday.  On Thursday before we left we wanted to see one more piece of history.  This last site is called the Heavenly Paradise.  It was the spiritual home to the Emperor and his staff.  It was used for storing food from the harvest and also the place where the Emperor would go to pray and give burnt offerings to ensure a bountiful harvest.  The place was massive and had an incredible park that surrounded it.  Much of the architecture is identical to The Forbidden City.
 

Heavenly Paradise

We spent a few hours here and then it was time for us to go get on the metro to head to the airport for our flight home.  On the way to the metro we had our first bad experience with a Rickshaw driver.  The first two that we rode with to The Heavenly Paradise were great, but the two that took us back to the metro were trying to rip us off.  I can proudly say that I know enough Chinese to tell a guy that I am not paying him more than what I was quoted.  After haggling for about 10 minutes we came to a compromise and we settled up.  So, a quick note to those of you that want to take a cute Rickshaw ride.  Make sure the guy is clear on what he is going to charge you, or just take a metered cab.
  Anyway, despite our encounter with the Rickshaw drivers we had a great time.  Have a great week and look for THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA, coming later in the week.  Video for the week.  The Magnificence of Beijing

Fathers are Dragons in China!!!

A Dragon with My People!!

This weeks blog as you can guess is dedicated to all those fathers that are doing their best for their kids each day. Thus the meaning of the title for this week.  Despite the bad rap that Dragons have gotten over the years, Dragons are revered in China.  The only person that could have the Dragon for their crest was the Emperor.  So men, you really are the kings of your own castles and it is great that our wives let us believe so most of the time.  Anyway, as I was saying  Dragons are respected here.  Another aspect about them is that despite their frightful look they are kind and compassionate.  With that being said, remember Dragons, that even when we make tough decisions regarding our families don't forget to be loving and compassionate.  DRAGONS TAKE CARE OF YOUR PEOPLE!!!!!! 
 
  I want to take a moment to send a LARGE brotherly hug out to my brothers.  This is our first Father's Day without our Dad.  I know each of us will have fond memories of him and spend some time thinking about what he meant to each of us.  I know I will cherish the relationship that we had, just before he passed away.  He had the opportunity to share a little of his life with my daughters and they really enjoyed the time being coached by him.  I got to see one last time the coaching fire flicker in his eyes that.  With that fire burning in him, it demonstrated why he is a Dragon to me.
    The video is at the beginning this week because the song for this video is my toast to all of you Dragons out there.  Here is the link.  Dragon's Day Video

SCHOOL:  No School this week because we were off for the Dragon Festival!!!

ADVENTURES:  After last weeks slow week because of the seven day work week, we started off on a rather calm note.  Monday was all about resting and taking care of some of the little things we needed to do before we headed to Beijing.
  Tuesday dawned with wet rainy conditions, which are not a surprise here in Southeast China. 
  Before we caught our flight later in the day, Cecelia and I decided to get some exercise.  She chose to stay dry and do some yoga, while I was stupid enough to go out into the drizzling rain.  I figured that if it was just a mild drizzle and that it would probably stop or be intermittent.  Obviously if you have been reading the blog over this past year, you know my luck with the rain.  So, this time wasn't any different.  As a matter of fact as I headed out I thought I saw some clearing skies near the metro station, so I decided to ride in that direction to avoid the rain.  Unfortunately, my mistake was not feeling the wind as it was blocked out by the high rise apartments.  With that error, rather than riding away from the oncoming storm, you guessed it I rode directly into the storm.  So, the drizzle that I began my ride in, turned into something a lot more substantial a few miles into my ride.  After being pelted by heavy rain for a mile or so I decided to cut back through a village that I knew and take a short cut back.  It really was a shortcut, the story doesn't get worse.  Quit thinking the worst for me will ya, geez!!!  Anyway, as I was heading back I came across some of the really long Dragon Boats.  This group had the Dragon heads on them and were prepared for the Dragon Boat Festival the next day.

Local villagers in Dragon Boats

  Now I know that I have mentioned the Dragon Boat Festival and this weeks blog definitely has the Dragon theme to it, but I really don't want to focus so much on the meaning of the Festival itself.  In short the Dragon Boat Festival is an excuse to party for a few days at the beginning of June.  It started roughly 2000 years ago and has something to do with a poet from some village that committed suicide because of some problem that he had with the local government.  The people of the village loved the poet so much, that when they started searching for his body in the river in which he drowned himself, they threw food to the fish so that they wouldn't eat his body.  I apologize for the less than meaningful description, but that is the story Cecelia and I both got from some local Chinese people.
  During the festival, people eat these triangle shaped rice balls stuffed with either chicken or pork.  Then are then wrapped in some kind of leaf and then steamed to a gooy perfection.  The best I have had were made by my friend David's mom.  Also, while eating most people watch boat races.  The boats are adorned with Dragon Heads and then the Dragons are fed herbs and graced with scarves to give the boats luck.  There are serious races, that we watched on TV by the way, but the local area just seemed to be prepared to enjoy a day off in the middle of the week to party.
  So the previous information was given to you so that you will understand that my semi-disasterous bike ride turned into another outstanding local adventure.  As I stopped to admire the decorated boats that were parked under a bridge, and give myself a little break from the rain, I happened to hear drums and cymbals beating in the distance.  With my curiosity piqued from the sound, I ventured forth back out into the rain and rode a little further into the local village.  As I turned the last corner to enter the village I was astounded to see a group of people paddling two Dragon Boats up a canal to the beat of the cymbal and drum.  The people were rowing in the rain and having a joyous time.  When I came abreast of the two boats on my bike, the drummer increased his beat and waved to me to race them down the walkway. 

Of course I obliged and we had some fun in the rain together.  When I reached the end of the path, they waved to me to turn around and race again.  This time, I pulled out Taylor's iPod, set my bike aside and raced them down the path on foot so that I could get some photos and video.  Thus the video and photos you experienced earlier in the blog.  We then raced back once again to the end, they docked their boats and asked me if I would like to get in and paddle.  I know at this point I probably should have taken them up on their offer, but I thought I would go back and get the girls and then give it a go.  So, I waved goodbye and headed home to dry off and shower. 
  After my ride, we were going to pack up and head to the airport for our flight later that day to Beijing.  To know avail, after picking up Cecelia and the girls we made it back but everyone had gone in to have lunch, so it was just the two boats docked side by side when we arrived.
 After leaving the Dragon Boats behind we headed for the airport to catch our flight to Beijing.  When we arrived at the airport to check in, I was informed that our flight was delayed until much later.  I was told that we could get on an earlier flight, so we took the opportunity.  The new flight was going to be leaving in a half an hour, so the ticket agent got us the tickets, but then we had to run through the airport to get to our new gate.  We arrived breathless to a new flight that was delayed as we arrived.  The delay lasted around four hours, but we finally boarded our flight and made it to Beijing at 2 am.  After checking in, we decided to sleep in and start the next day at Tienanmen Square.  So, just as we had to wait for the next morning, you are going to have to wait for the Bonus Blogs this week.  The bonus blogs are going to focus on our exploration of Beijing and finally our amazing day at The Great Wall.  I also don't want the blogs to be as long as the Great Wall, so you will have to wait for them later.  I promise not to delay too long.