China! pt. 6

June 1st:  Shopping Extravaganza

Our last full day in Beijing was thankfully spent in two silk markets.  Funny, when I heard ‘silk market’, I wondered what I would do with a bunch of fabric and couldn’t figure out what I was going to buy for Dad.  Fortunately, a silk market, while some part is devoted to fabric, is actually much more.  The very building had five or six floors, each with a different focus.  Clothes on floor one, then souvenir type things, then electronics, and so on.  I actually was a bit nervous when first entering the silk market, because you start walking down the first aisle with booth after booth and the attendants are all saying, “North Face!  We have North Face!!”.  And indeed, they had ‘North Face’, or at least something that looked exactly like North Face.  I didn’t spend time or money on clothes and headed upstairs to start bargaining for gifts for my friends and I.

I completely was taken for a ride with my first purchase-a stuffed panda for a friend.  I was trying to bargain (our tour guide trained us-we should only really pay twenty percent or so of their original asking price and it’s rude to not haggle).  I felt really nervous and didn’t know how to handle comments like, “I’m going to lose money!”.  Thankfully I did some quick math in my head, realized that I was close to spending ten American dollars on the panda, and put my foot down.

As I practiced, I became much better at bargaining.  I learned to start my bid low-usually around ten percent of the original asking price.  Second, go up slowly in increments of five or ten yuan, and don’t raise your bid until they come down some! Third, and this is the most important, go with a friend!  I am so thankful that my friend Jessica was at my side the whole time, whispering in my ear, “Tell them you don’t have any more money,” “Tell them you will look somewhere else,” “Start walking away.”  I am positive that she saved me a lot  of money.  It’s hard to think of all those things when you are in the middle of haggling for the tea set that you really want (which was my biggest bargain of the day:  they asked for seven hundred yuan originally and I only paid one hundred thirty).

That evening we ate our last dinner together, which felt very bittersweet.  Everyone was exhausted from the entire week, not just shopping, and I know I had a huge craving for Italian food.  The meal was super special, though.  We ended with a nice speech from Jay, our director, then we sang our alma mater, and “Hail Purdue”, with much Purdue Band gusto. 

We departed for the hotel to pack up and get ready for our departure.  I had every intention of staying up the entire night-it helped me sleep on the plane on the way to China, but it didn’t work.  I ended up taking a two hour nap, waking up around one in order to shower, pack, and stay awake!

June 2nd:  Back home again in Indiana

I’m glad to report that the flights home were as wonderful as the flights there.  The long flight only took ten hours since we flew from Beijing to San Francisco, and the flight from San Francisco to Chicago was long enough for a movie.  We had a rough time after arriving in Chicago.  The airport ‘misplaced’ one entire crate of our luggage, and several of the instrument cases were damaged.  Thankfully I had saltine crackers to hold me over until we finally made it back to campus.  After uniform turn in and several goodbyes, it was off to Grandma and Grandpa’s house to spend the night and then go home!

The Aftermath

In retrospect, the Beijing trip was amazing!  Sometimes I can barely believe that I actually went there and was able to do all of the things that we did!  It is definitely a very special experience and I will definitely treasure it for the rest of my life. 

It took a week to get over jet lag-no wonder-there is a twelve hour time difference.  But after several days of falling asleep at 3 am and waking up at noon, plus the use of some over the counter sleep aid, I managed to get back on track. 

I made a DVD slide show of all my photographs-it takes about thirteen minutes to go through all of the photos, but I’ve enjoyed showing them to my friends and family.  I would love to share them with you!

 

China! pt. 5

May 30th:  Working Hard

The middle of our trip was marked by a performance at a military music hall.  We woke early to leave for rehearsal at the hall, breaking for lunch at a buffet restaurant.  After lunch we returned to the hall to play through our concert once and then wait for the show to start!

I should mention that it is a great honor to have been asked to perform at this venue.  You hear about lots of school sending music groups on tours of China, but we were honored with an invitation from the Chinese government to perform, so you won’t hear of many groups actually playing at this spot.  We shared the concert with a concert band from a local college, and then took the stage ourselves.  Attendees of the performance came by invitation only, and while they weren’t quite as visibly excited about our performance, they were still very enthusiastic and supportive.

the stage

 May 31st: The Great Wall of China!

This was perhaps my favorite day in China.  We left the hotel in uniform that morning and rode the buses further and further into the country until our tour guide announced, “You can see the Great Wall directly ahead of us!”  We piled off of the buses and took in the sight.  Even now it is a bit hard to believe that I was actually there on the Great Wall.  We lined up for the parade and marched over to a pavilion where we played through our concert again.  It was neat to see people line up along the Great Wall above us to listen and watch us perform.  The finale, “Hail Purdue”, held particular excitement when someone released doves for us.  Wow! After the concert, we took a TON of pictures with the entire band and our individual sections.

The Block P at the Great Wall

After pictures, we returned to the buses, changed out of uniform, and proceeded back to the Great Wall.  I confess I didn’t climb very high, but I did go up a little way, and had a lot of fun hanging out with my friends and snapping pictures.  It was beautiful! 

The Great Wall

After a few hours there, we returned to the buses and headed to the Friendship Store for dinner and souvenir shopping.  I likened the place to a Chinese Cracker Barrel-one part restaurant and one part over-priced store.  I purchased a few things, but I’m glad I held back, because I paid much less for the items I wanted the next day at the Silk Market.

 

China! pt. 4

May 29th:  Let’s Get Down to Business

The morning brought us to Summer Palace, the residence built for Manchurian emperors who couldn’t take Beijing’s summer heat.  Grace, our tour guide, is Manchurian and told us that it doesn’t get nearly as hot there as it does in Beijing, which is right next to the Gobi Desert.  Summer Palace, which is just on the outskirts of Beijing, stays very cool despite the season because of the large lake that borders one side.  We felt the difference ourselves as soon as we left the bus.  I hadn’t realized how hot it actually was in Beijing (the lack of humidity makes a huge difference) until we felt how cool it it at Summer Palace.  My friends and I decided that our hotel ought to have been located there.

Summer Palace is beautiful and very expansive.  We walked around for quite a while, and even went up the mountain.  There are lots of gazebos and buildings, and the whole palace is very open and airy.  The hike led to some great views and a temple near the top.

 

One of the most impressive parts is the artwork along the walkways and in the gazebos.  There are thousands upon thousands of these paintings, and not a single one is alike.

After lunch we had a short break followed by our first performance!  We traveled to Beijing No. 4 Middle School for a marching exhibition and concert.  Everyone was a little nervous, but also excited.  We marched on a soccer field-so we had no lines!  Instead we had the Gold Dusters and Golden Silks stand across the front sideline and down the middle of the field at ten yard intervals.  Despite our apprehensions, the show went very well, and the concert portion, during which we stood in concert arcs at the front of the field, was amazing.  The students sitting at both ends of the field were on their feet almost the entire time.  They loved the Golden Girl, and particularly enjoyed the cartoon theme songs we played.  After the concert ended, we had the chance to meet some students, including one who told me that she is going to apply to come to Purdue!  Go Boilers!

 

China! pt. 3

May 28th:  Tourists R Us

First of all, I have to say that the people who created our itinerary did a great job.  Our days were certainly full, but I never felt overwhelmed, rushed, or stressed.  On our first full day in Beijing, after discovering the night before that the beds were exceedingly firm, but that we were too tired to care, we had a tourism day.  But let’s not forget breakfast.  The hotel provided a nice buffet for us every morning, and it was American food (mostly)!  My favorite part was the fried potatoes, which were actually french fries.  It made me smile every morning, because I can see so clearly in my head someone describing hashbrowns to another, and that person walking away thinking of french fries.  The coffee was excellent, although we learned that it was the creamer.  Funny extra bit-the sausage was labeled fried intestine.  Yum!

After breakfast we loaded up all our buses (I believe there were seven), and departed for Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City. I’m sorry if my facts aren’t that detailed, but it was often hard to hear Grace, our awesome tour guide. Tiananmen Square is the largest square in the world-and I don’t mean the shape-I mean large places meant to hold people for speeches and public gatherings.I can confirm that it is in fact bigger than St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, as well as any mall at Purdue. Tiananmen Square is the entry gate to Forbidden City, so we had a little time for photos, and then headed in.

Forbidden City is really an interesting place to visit. You go through the first gate from Tiananmen Square, and then through another gate, and another, and it keeps going. Thankfully our buses met us on the other side; otherwise our round trip would have been over a mile. Forbidden City was the imperial palace from1420 until 1924 (I looked up the dates) and is named such because common people were not allowed to enter. The yellow roofs meant that it was reserved for the king. The tour was mostly outdoors, although there were a few opportunities to go inside one of the many buildings and see artifacts.

After our buses picked us up, we ate lunch, went shopping at a pearl market (ooh, pearls!), then left for a tour of Temple of Heaven. The link does a good job of explaining what we saw-it was very lovely, but my favorite part was the garden behind Temple of Heaven. Many people gather there every day, bringing cards, musical instruments, microphones, and speakers for recreation. We even spotted people dancing. I really enjoyed wandering around the garden, listening to people play, and trying to get pictures of the birds (which never really worked out). After we left, we went to dinner and then back to the hotel to go to bed!

 

            

 

China! pt. 2

May 26th:  Travel Day

At the bright, shining hour of 2:45 am, my friends and I picked up our uniforms and passports on the stage of Elliot Hall, loaded up our luggage, and boarded the Chicago-bound bus.  Fast-forward through the bus ride and a really long line to check in at the airport, and I was on a plane headed for Dulles (that’s in Washington DC, and the only reason I know that is because I’ve had a layover there before).  For a layover, it was pretty good.  I’ve had some frightful ones (think five hours in the Frankfurt airport with out being able to sleep), but this was only two hours, which gave enough time to get to our next terminal, but we weren’t waiting for ever.  The moment the plane took off, I began thinking in terms of Beijing time, so…

May 27th: Travel Day

The plane takes off from Dulles at 12:00 in the morning!  Typically, I’m not a big fan of flying, but the flight went very well.  I watched 27 Dresses until dinner ended, took a sleep aid, and woke up four hours later.  At that time we were over the North Pole.  I didn’t get up to look because I was groggy.  They served noodles at that time, then I fell asleep for four hours and woke up with 90 minutes of the flight to go plus another meal.  Hands down, it was the quickest, smoothest flight I’ve ever taken.  13 hours and three minutes after take off, we landed in Beijing, ready to go!

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur-but it was very exciting! We picked up our luggage and boarded buses for the hotel, check in went very quickly, and an hour later we headed out for the first meal.  Eating Chinese meals is very fun, and I’m proud to say that I am much better at using chopsticks now than I was when I left.  The restaurants are decorated very nicely, and you sit down with nine other people and a huge lazy susan in the middle of the table.  You have a little plate, two little cups (one for tea and one for pop), chopsticks, and a small bowl and ladle for soup.  When you sit down the food starts to appear (some of the waiters are so sneaky!), the lazy susan starts spinning, and you start eating.  It’s much less commitment than American dining. If you don’t care for something, you didn’t order a whole plate of it, and you can help yourself to other things.

I’ve been asked what my favorite food was.  The problem with this question is that usually the most specific identification of the food was, “This is pork”, “This is chicken”, or “This is fish”.  We didn’t really know what kind of sauce was on the food (although I did pick out sweet and sour sometimes).  But at this restaurant, they served us peking duck that was very tasty. 

After dinner, we returned to the hotel and went to bed almost immediately, happy to finally get some rest that didn’t involve an airplane!

 

China!

It’s hard for me to believe that I am home from China already! I’ve had quite the whirlwind adventure.  I’m going to take a few posts to tell everything that happened, starting before I stepped foot on the plane.

May 24th:  Katie’s graduation-hurrah! 

Graduation took place at 1:00 pm, so the morning was spent decorating, touching up the house, and get everything ready for her reception.  Everything was beautiful-from the cake to the tent in the backyard to the photo collages.  After the ceremony, I had quite a bit of fun talking to Katie’s guests, a lot of whom are family or are former teachers.  At six the ‘formal’ reception ended and Dad fired up the grill and the party died down around 9, which is when Mom’s cousin Lisa drove me to Indy to meet up with the marching band who had performed in the Indy 500 parade that day (I had received a reprieve because of Katie’s graduation).  I made it to bed around midnight, exhausted from the busy day.

May 25th: Indy 500

Around 4:00 am, the percussion director went through the halls blowing a whistle to wake us all up.  Breakfast happened, then the bus ride to the racetrack, then we waited…and waited…  Finally we got off the bus, waited a bit more, warmed up as an ensemble, walked to the race track, entered at the fourth turn and marched to the starting line.  We played a bit, then went off the side of the track.  We played…and waited…and played…and waited.  Then I saw my dad, brothers, and uncle.  Let’s just say my dad is my hero for many reasons, but most recently it’s because he brought me a sandwich.  And I was so hungry.  Plus, when we finally went back to the buses after we’d played Back Home Again in Indiana, and the race had started, the boxed lunch provided was kind of gross.  Good job, Dad!  You rock!

 The band left the track before the race ended, and headed back to the dorms to get our stuff and check out.  This is where the China trip really started, because we had just enough time to drive back to Purdue, grab some fast food, and rest for about 30 minutes before we reported to the indoor practice field for the football team to have one more rehearsal before we went to China.  The rehearsal was nuts-not in the fact that there was too much or that it was overwhelming, but that we all had been up since four that morning, had spent a remarkable amount of time in uniform, and were pretty tired. 

Rehearsal ended at 9 and at that point four of the girls in my section and I headed to my grandparents house to take showers and hang out until it was time for our 2:45 am call time the next morning.  Some how we manage not to sleep-it rather hard though.  Special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for their hospitality and all of the food!

 

 

Countdown to China!

I am officially a graduate of Purdue University!  I now have a BS in Applied Mathematics.  I’m still not sure where that will take me, but it’s nice to have a diploma in hand as the culmination of a lot of hard work.  I will be living at home for my extremely long summer vacation (about five months!) and hopefully temping as a secretary/receptionist type when I get home from China.  For right now, my family is working really hard to get ready for my sister’s graduation from high school.  I am a very proud big sister and can’t wait to see her start her career at Purdue. 

I’m also trying to get ready for China.  I have a huge pile of music that I’ll need to have memorized for our concerts. It’s a little overwhelming, but I’m reminding myself that at one point I had it all in my head, and now I just have to get it back (somehow).  Our concerts are pretty well put together.  We’re trying to perform some iconic marching band pieces, (we’re playing most of our Mel Brooks half-time show) as well as some classical pieces that hopeful the crowd will recognize (arrangements of 1812 Overture, William Tell, and Stars and Stripes).  I’m really looking forward to our parade and performance on the Great Wall of China. 

 

Spring Break 08

Spring break took place several weeks ago, but one notable event that I haven’t been able to post about yet (oh, college), is the tour I took of Rotary International Headquarters in Evanston, IL.  Mom and I went up the night before for a night on the town, then we met up with Suzann, Knowledge (Ambassadorial Scholar to Purdue from Zimbabwe), and a group of people from Missouri, including an Ambassadorial Scholar from Kenya named Patience, her husband, and members of her hosting club. 

The tour itself was really interesting.  We were able to meet lots of people and eat lunch with several scholarship coordinators.  We even met the current president of Rotary, and had tons of pictures taken.  My favorite part, hands down, was meeting with my scholarship counselor.  I’m glad to have had the chance to meet him, and ask him all sorts of questions about my trip.  Most importantly, he helped me prioritize everything I need to be doing for the scholarship.  It’s very comforting to know that I don’t have to fill out any more papers to send in until after school is out!

The tour made for a very long day, and I came back really tired, but it really gave me a whole new perspective on Rotary.  I had no idea how many people Rotary employs, and their jobs are all pretty neat, like helping students who are traveling all over the world with Rotary, or coordinating matching grants to support things like water sanitation and poverty relief. 

On a non-Rotary note, rehearsals have begun for the marching band trip to China!  It’s super great to be back with the band, playing some of the best songs from the past two seasons.  I’m pretty sure I didn’t stop smiling through the entire practice on Sunday.  The atmosphere is electric from everyone’s anticipation.  Next Sunday we will have a culture briefing.  Jay and Max (our directors) went to Beijing around Spring Break and will be sharing with us some travel tips and etiquette.  I’m looking forward to everything except the flight. 

They shared the schedule with us, and it’s pretty crazy.  People begin reporting to the Indy 500 for practice and a parade on Saturday, May 24th.  Breakfast on the 25th starts at 5am then we are out the door by 6am for the race.  When we get home to West Lafayette that night we’ll have a three hour marching rehearsal for China, then maybe some sleep.  Depending on the flight I’m on, I’ll be on a bus to Chicago at 3 or at 6, then all of the airport stuff and finally the plane.  I’m tired just thinking about it, but hopefully it means I’ll be able to sleep during the flight.

All in all, it’s pretty exciting.  I only have about two weeks of class left, and only four weeks until I officially graduate.  It’s sad and amazing all at the same time!