The big red couch

This is a photo of the children's last day here in China.  They try to make it a little more formal, but that is really hard because our group is so large and the kids do not want to sit well. There are about 60 adults staring at them too!  We are off to the US tomorrow morning (which is your Wednesday 1-27-10 afternoon).  We fly to Shanghai, then Chicago, then to Harrisburg airport arriving around 10pm Thursday.  Remember we are actually flying back in time - Leola students do you know why that happens?

SEE YOU SOON!!!

Boats and bright lights

Every day there are a lot of boats that pass our hotel. They are moving things like sand, boxes, trash, ferries for people,  etc.  There is a photo below of what they look like. They are not very glamorous but they are getting some jobs done!  At night when it turns dark there are much more colorful boats that pass our hotel as you can see in the pictures. They are beautiful boats that are lit up very brightly.  The boats even have huge video screens playing commercials that we can see all the way up in our hotel room.  When they are out on the river they also play very loud and festive music with lots of spotlights all over the place.

Interesting things

We went out exploring and found a local playground and the local school (notice in the window the old computers they use).  These places don't look too different than our playground and schools.  The playground is also used by the local adults for exercise!  The woman in the photo with her hands up by her head is slowly jogging and tapping her head with her hands at the same time.  Takes coordination! The other adult is stretching, which we saw adults doing quite a bit.  Check out how the mail is delivered -- I don't think our mailman would like that much!

The town of Guangzhou on the Pearl river

Here are some photos of the town of Guangzhou. You can see that it kind of looks like Florida and in one of the photos the building is wrapped in green. Behind the green wrap is scaffolding so that they can refinish and paint the buildings. They are having the Asian games here in November 2010.  The city is on the river.

Lucy's American Dining

We tried a lot of "traditional" Chinese meals here in China and they were pretty much OK.  I like Chinese food so most of the items were good.  My least favorite was seaweed and my favorite was some of the spicy dishes that had chicken and pork in it.  We went to an American Grill here and it really does have the closest food to American food.  I had an "All American Cheeseburger" and it was wonderful!  The kids like to fold paper while they wait for their meals (origami).  We went to dinner with our new friends from Mechanicsburg, PA and our two new friends (families) from Tennesee. 

First airplane ride

Hope's first airplane ride was on Air China from Shanghai to Guangzhou (pronounced gwan-jo) .  It is like flying to Florida in the US.  It is a very nice little town. So far it is my favorite place!  Hope has been keeping Mickey Mouse close by because she loves him.  We have learned that she also loves to write, draw, play word games, fold paper into shapes, fold clothes (yes!), organize (yes!), and she seems to be a little like my daughter Cayla as well. We went to the toy store and she didn't prefer the Disney princesses she more preferred Mickey and friends.  Too cute!

Xin TIan Di

This is our visit to a shopping area and it was really neat. Can you see Starbucks?  Can you see in one of the other photos something old and something new? Do you see the zig zag bridge?  The big animal type statue is made of cans!
Xintiandi is a car-free shopping, eating and entertainment district of Shanghai, China. It is composed of an area of restored traditional shikumen ("stone gate") houses on narrow alleys, some adjoining houses which now serve as book stores, cafes and restaurants, and shopping malls. Most of the cafes and restaurants feature both indoor and outdoor seatings. Xintiandi has an active nightlife on weekdays as well as weekends.  In China, romantic settings are more common than loud music and dance places. Xintiandi means "New Heaven and Earth", and is considered one of the first lifestyle centers in China.  The zig zag bridge was built like this because the zigzag makes it more difficult for 'bad spirits' to cross.