Riding In A Commie Paddy-Wagon (5-25-08)

So yeah, last night I was escorted back to the hotel in the back of a Chinese police vehicle.  Here’s the story.  Yesterday was fine, we went to a Chinese lake/park to kill time, then had a rehearsal after lunch.  The concert was fantastic, the Huazhong Normal University Girl’s Chorus did a joint concert with us, and they were so incredible.  They used no vibrato whatsoever and they all were gorgeous.  They sang a number of pieces but ended with Ivory’s “Go Where I Send Thee”.  And other than Bezleham, Gosper, and Isrear, their pronunciation was incredible.  Afterward we were invited by their group to go outside for a party of  “Cokes and Beer”.  Needless to say none of us touched the beer.  Then I came back to the hotel just to leave for Starbucks, I’m proud of myself, it’s the first American food that I have bought while in China, but I have a weakness for Starbucks.  Anyway on the way back John Pounders, Mandy Finch, the Gould sisters, and I took a wrong turn getting back to the hotel.  John and I knew where we were going, but the girls kept complaining and whining, typical.   Finally we found a cop and since Mandy speaks Mandrin, he told us where the hotel was, but at that time a police van pulls up and they offer to take us back to the hotel.  It was one of the greatest adventures EVER!

Ps. We leave Wuhan today for Changsha

Ping the Duck Was Here (5-23-08)

Sorry haven’t updated in a while, traveling and lots of stuff to do makes for not the best blogging time.  We are currently in Wuhan, China which is South of where we have been.  We met with a few Harding grads that are currently working in China here as English professors.  We had a concert at their university, it was good, but we had no air conditioning whatsoever, I don’t think I’ve ever sweated so much in my life.  I saw Dr. Myers my bible teacher this past year in the audience, he’s in China for a month.  We then had a cultural exchange with some of the students last night and got to know a bit more about their culture. Then they had a karaoke party, it was amusing.  We traveled across town today and are now at a different hotel, and we’re singing at the University on this side of town.  We went to a museum today that had an ancient (2400 year old) set of bells that could play two pitches at once.  It was the coolest thing ever.  We also have seen the Yangtze River which is the third longest in the world.  And yes, it is yellowish.  Alright, well I think that’s enough for the night.  Goodnight.

Markets and Such… (5-20-08)

I haven’t much to say on this entry because there’s not much to say.  Yesterday we went shopping in Qingdao, it was incredible.  We saw the Qingdao Wal-Mart which was three stories tall (and oddly enough, all the stuff that was inside was made in the country that in which it was located.)  I had some of the most fantastic ice cream, it was 5 flavors in one: coconut, coffee, kiwi, melon, and something else I didn’t know.  But it was delicious.  Last night we went to a factory that is run by a brother of ours who is Korean and ran a rehearsal.  This rehearsal included the students from Korean Christian University and a skit by what I dubbed Korea-tron.  It was a great experience.  Today I awoke tired, and ate a smallish breakfast, I then took at 15 minute Chinese taxi ride across town to the pearl market where they sold real pearls for fractions of what they cost in America.  There were also many other shops in this upscale flee-market of cheap prices and quality goods.  Then we went to Qingdao International School where we gave a concert.  During the middle of it there was a three-minute moment of silence for the victims of the earthquake.  After the concert we came back to the hotel and had dinner and rehearsal.  Afterward we had a bit of free time which I occupied by playing cards because I was so tired, which I still am, and therefore am getting ready to sign off and go to bed.  Talk to you soon.

By The Sea Side, Qing-dao, By the Beautiful Sea (5-19-08)

Today is gorgeous, I haven’t filled you in since before the train so here goes.  The train wasn’t bad, it was a sleeper and I was on the top bunk of three.  The train station however…. Horrible.  There were thousands of people and it was crazy.  They don’t believe in lines in China, it’s look out for numero uno.  We finally did get on the train however without anyone losing a limb or without anything being stolen.  The train ride was fun I slept most of the way (‘cause that’s what I was supposed to do.)  We arrived in Qingdao which is a sea-side city and the host of the sailing events for the Olympics in August.  I haven’t seen much of it since all we’ve done here is eat and sing so far.  Food is still good.  Not as good as in Beijing, but still very tasty.  The concert last night went well, we were about three quarters full in the auditorium, which meant like 700-800 people.  It was nice.  We shared the concert with the Korean Christian University from Seoul, S. Korea.  They were pretty good.  Today I spent the morning on the beach, I have now touched both sides of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.  It was rocky and the water was cold, but it was still neat.  We found out today that because of the horrible earthquake that happened a week ago in Chengdu the country is in a national state of mourning for three days, which means that our concerts tonight and tomorrow are cancelled.  Oh well.  We’re trying to work on alternatives.  So we’re actually going shopping here in a few minutes, I figured I’d let people know what was up.  Lata yo.

The Great Wall or How I My Knees Will Go Bad By Age 30 (5-17-08)

The day today opened with rain.  I was not excited in the least about it but it did.  They had fried eggs and fried chicken at breakfast it was quite amusing.  We loaded the bus and headed to the Great Wall, which was an hour and a half to two hours away.  I saw today the China that I halfway expected to see before I got here.  There were not a lot of tall buildings.  There were farms and little shops and vendors on the streets.  I know that’s a terrible vision to have of China before you know anything about it, but hey it was my vision.  Anywho,  The Great Wall is long and up on the ridge of a mountain range.  We had to take a lift to get to the wall.  It was in pretty good condition.  You can walk 10 people shoulder to shoulder across the wall and they all will fit.  Now, how you would do that up the really steep inclines that made up the wall I do not know.  The group I was part of decided to climb to the highest point of the wall that we could get to.  I now have calves, thighs, and ankle muscles of steel.  No, really, they’re made of steel.  It climbed more stairs and up and down more 20+ degree inclines today than I can safely say I ever have before.  It was beautiful though.  Because of the rain this morning, it was misty over the mountains, which made for some gorgeous scenery.  The Wall is very impressive I enjoyed it.  I also bought some things around the vendors (all 20 million of them) at the base of the climb area.  They’re very pushy here in China about selling you stuff.  You can haggle with them for things but they’re very in your face and take it that if you are looking at their stuff you are going to buy it.  Very strange.  We took the bus back to BIPT and are now waiting for dinner.  After that we’re packing and heading to the Beijing train station for our train which is overnight to Qingdao [ching-dow].  Well, I’m gonna finish packing.  Peace.

Beijing…The Bluest Skies You’ll Ever See? (5-16-08)

False.  The past two days we have been in Beijing, it looks like a normal Westernized city with lots and lots of people.  Oh yeah, and Chinese characters all over the place.  WARNING: NEVER DRIVE IN CHINA, you will die.  The Chinese use their car horns more than any place else I’ve ever heard.  They use them to pass, to say watch out for me biker, to say don’t cross the road or I’ll eat you with my grill, all sorts of things.  Beijing is pretty normal from what I can tell other than the constant smog.  It’s trying to get prettied up for the Olympics in August, but I think they’re not going to be able to do anything about the smog.  (Unless they take a giant vacuum cleaner to it, but I don’t think they’re going to do that.)  Yesterday we didn’t really go into Beijing we arrived at the Institute of Petrochemical Technology and had lunch (all the meals by the way have been wonderful, full of vegetables and meats and breads, most really good.)  Then we collapsed in our rooms for a while, took a short tour of campus, ate dinner, and then the English majors from BIPT threw us a party where they practiced their spoken English and let us know about their culture a little bit.  Today, we went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.  We saw the giant picture of Chairman Mao and the outside of his mausoleum.  Inside the City was gigantic with lots of Ornamentation and pagodas and buildings everywhere.  It was built over 4 centuries I think they said and only stopped in about 1900.  We didn’t have a tour guide and I wish that there had been more writing so that I could understand exactly what I was seeing but it was still very impressive.  Hopefully some of the pictures will load.  Interesting side notes about the day: Chinese people will take random pictures of Americans just because.  It’s really quite funny and the little Chinese children look at you like you’re a strange wild being (especially if you have a beard.)  After the Forbidden City was dinner (also good) and the concert. It went as well as it could I suppose due to the deadness of the space we were in.  And then their choir performed for us…. Let’s just say I’m glad they only had 3 songs, but they were lovely people.  Ok, I need sleep because tomorrow is the Great Wall, and then an overnight train ride to our next destination.  So yeah… that’s it.  Over and out.

Worse Than Your Eight Grade Algebra Class (5-15-08)

Well today we got to China… after the longest plane ride of my life.  Fifteen hours scrunched in a small seat with no air vent was kinda a long time.  After five I was ready to get off the plane, after ten I was going stir crazy and after fourteen I had gone in to a vegetable-like state.  Yeah, not looking forward to the trip home.  Anyway.  We did get to see some pretty cool things while up in the air like Siberia and Alaska and different parts of mountainous China.  Once we landed in Guangzhou, our stopping point for the night, we deplaned and all but one of us got our luggage. (No, I did get mine)  We then spent the next 3 hours trying to get to the hotel/checked in.  It was a long and boring process join with me as I recount every detail I won’t bore you with that story.  I thought, since the hotel we were at was run by the airlines that it would have interwebs access, but alas it did not.  My impressions of China so far is that it’s not that different from America.  (I haven’t seen it in the daylight yet)  Other than the Chinese guard patrolling the airport with their big green hats (which I want one) and the whole different language and ethnicity thing it seems pretty similar.  Side note: our beds in the hotel were low to the ground and firm as all get out.  But I slept okay in them.  Okay, well we need to leave in 10 so I guess I’ll finish packing.  Ciao (That’s Italian, but it’ll have to do until I figure out the Chinese.)

The China Blog (That Almost Wasn’t)

Hey everybody, I had started this blog to let everyone know what was going on in China.  Unfortunately when I got over there, not only was the Internet sporadic (and usually in a smoke filled Internet cafe) but the wonderful Chinese government blocks most major blogging sites I found out.  So that is my excuse.  I did however keep a running “blog” on a word document while I was there, so I’ll post each of those with their own headings.  Thanks for checking in.  Lata.

Oh Where, Oh Where Can I Find a Power Adapter!?!?!?

Just so everyone knows, apparently trying to find a power adapter that will work with a laptop overseas is like trying to pull teeth…. UGH!  After finding what I thought would work in China last night, I discovered after I bought it that it doesn’t work for compys or things of that nature.  So going to Best Buy today I discovered that one has to ask no less than four workers to get someone who knows anything.  Finally after a 25-30 minute ordeal I got an adapter and explanation about how it works with lappys so I should be good.  I’ll update later to give you a rundown of what to pack for China, decide ye ever to go.

Blog Purposes

Hey everyone out in the wide world of blogness.  This is the first post of the new blog.  The current purpose of this blog is to inform everyone family and friends about my trip and experiances in China with the Harding University Chorus.  Eventually I would like this blog to become my own personal blogging site with all that a blog entails.  YAY!  Ok, so now that that is done I’ll get off this website I’ll start updating it now and then.  Probably tonight when I begin thinking about packing.  Tata for now.