Teaching kids & meeting new friends

After Xi'an we took a long slow train across the countryside of Shaanxi and Shanxi and slowly made our way towards the small ancient city of Pingyao. We spent hours talking with our Chinese bunkmates in the sleeper cabin. We had interesting conversation although they asked us why we were going to Pingyao, despite the fact that the entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We took everything they said with a grain of salt considering they also told us there is nothing to see in Tibet, Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, and pretty much the entire North East of the country.

We arrived in Pingyao in the dark. We were the only ones to get off the train at this small train station, the only ones walking through the station. It was slightly eerie considering my time in China has shown the train stations to be the busiest places, filled with the most people, and with a population of 1.3 billion, I am talking a lot of people!

This should be interesting, we thought. But, it was great, the hotel sent a car to pick us up and the transition from the train station to the hotel was flawless. The best way to describe our ride to the hotel is "dark." There are barely any street lights in Pingyao and it is crazy dark! But people were still out, riding their bikes in the dark, selling fruit, playing games of cards on the side of the road.

Our hotel was in a traditional courtyard house.


View from the top looking down into the courtyard


The room had a traditional kang bed - it was huge, could easily sleep a family of 4! but it was hard, as expected, though not uncomfortable.


The bathroom was interesting because there is no separate shower... the room is very subtly tilted and the water drains even better than in a shower.


The next morning, we went with some local teachers to an English school to teach English to local elementary school children.

This says "English is the bridge to walk towards the world."


Us with the students, who were really amazing and brought smiles to our faces!




The gorgeous jewelry box our hosts gave us, as a thanks to us for helping them teach the kids English.



Afterwards, they took us to their local middle/high school and introduced us to the principal. They are very proud of their school, with good reason! The school is huge, has amazing facilities and is basically the equivalent to the campus of a community college in the U.S. Not only that, but the government doesn't fund the school -the money to build the school was obtained by loans, also, the school opened a local factory and proceeds from the factory benefit the school.


After this, our amazing hosts really took us under their wing. They told us their car is like our car, wherever we want to go, they will take us, they will show us Pingyao's famous sites and be our personal tour guides. These were the friendliest, warmest, most hospitable people I have ever met. I doubt you'd ever hear of this sort of thing happening to a foreigner visiting the U.S.!

They took also took us out to dinner twice, took us to a folk show and then to an amazing lunch where we were the guests of honor... after showing us Pingyao's most famous sites.

Ni hao from Pingyao! Shanxi Province, China

Hi everyone!! We've been having a fabulous time traveling - silly me, I forgot the USB cord to hook my camera up to the computer, so I have tons and tons of pictures I haven't been able to upload yet.. lots of pictures and posts when I return.

Yesterday we took a 9 hour train ride from Xi'an to the small, ancient town of Pingyao in Shanxi Province. On the train, our Chinese bunkmates asked us why we were going to Pingyao, and they told us there really isn't anything to see. Friends... this entire town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I don't know why they think there isn't anything to see here! The ancient city is still entirely enclosed by the wall and there are tons of old courtyard houses still intact.

Today, we had an amazing day and a very rare opportunity - we taught English to about 40 elementary school students. Last night the manager of the school came to our hotel when he found out English speakers were staying there - and he asked us if we would be willing to come to the class to teach the students about animals using English. We agreed, a little bit hesitantly because of the occasional person who tries to scam us. This morning after breakfast, they picked us up at our hotel and off we went, crossing our fingers they weren't going to kill us. LOL. Just kidding.

It was really fun, the kids were repeating us, all 35 of them saying at once "A lion has 4 legs." "I have 2 legs." At one point, my husband had them all (including himself) simultaneously quacking and flapping their arms like a duck. I have a great picture of it to embarrass him with later.

Afterwards, our new friends took us to the local middle and high school. It was huge. They have 6,000 students - but not only that, it was just BIG. A lot of students' homes are really far away in small villages, so they live at the school in dorms, like we do for college in the U.S. We met the principal, vice principal, and there was lots of picture taking. It was really funny - they really want to expose the kids to foreigners.

Finally - our new friends invited us out to dinner tonight! And before they dropped us back off at our hotel, they gave us 2 small gifts as their way of thanking us. I was given a beautiful jewelry box - it is the "techan" here - hmm... how to say it in English... the "special product" of the local area - what its known for. Its beautiful! Everyone was so warm and kind to us - we have met amazing hospitable Chinese friends on this trip.

Since I don't have any real pictures to show you because of the USB cord mishap - I did try to take a couple pictures - using my Macbook - of the really cool guesthouse we are staying at. It is in a traditional courtyard house that was built in the 1700s. Its gorgeous, a great mixture of the old and the new!

And trying to give you a view of the room - its a traditional style kang bed - its huge. It could fit a family of 5 on it, really. Its a lot harder than we are used to though. Anyway, I love the furnishings in the room... you'll see it a lot better when I get my real pictures upload.


I'm laughing because my husband asked what I was doing, and I told him I was trying to get a picture of the room for the blog - and he told me maybe I should move my big head out of the way, ha ha ha! That guy.

OK, off to explore the city! Hope you all are having a great time wherever you are. I promise I will be back and commenting on all your blogs soon enough - I so desperately want to catch up! But my internet is shoddy at best - right now I am using the wifi in the guesthouse restaurant.

Until then!

Steph

Where Should We Go for Our First Trip in China? Help me decide!

So, hubby and I are planning our first trip within China! We have a few choices we are choosing between for our first trip.. and I'd love your help in deciding where our first trip should be to! Now its important to remember we will eventually see ALL of these places, its just a matter of "when." All of these choices are extremely different, too, so its a hard decision. They each offer a completely different experience.

Choice # 1: Pingyao (平遥）
Pingyao is one of China's many UNESCO World Heritage sites. It is located in Central Shanxi Province. The city is really unique because it is still surrounded by an ancient wall that was built in 1370 during the third year of the Hongwu Emperor (thank you Chinese class... and Wiki!) Its also really unique because its a blend of the ancient and modern. The city right outside the ancient city walls is extremely modern, whereas inside the walls is a completely preserved ancient city.






As you can tell, there would be a lot of great history to learn & amazing historical sites to see.

Choice # 2: Shanghai （上海）
Everyone has heard of Shanghai. Its China's most populated and most modern city. Its a very cosmopolitan city and much of the old has been replaced with the new. Its the hub of fashion in China! There are endless choices for shopping and amazing and unique culinary experiences, and countless opportunities to mingle with Shanghai's young & elite. Think of Shanghai as China's New York City, except more rapidly developing at this point.




The 2010 World Expo is taking place in Shanghai and will be going on when we visit. Over 190 countries are joining this year's World Expo, and there are a ton of amazing events & shows to see. If you don't know what the World Expo is, you can find information about it here. Its pretty amazing!

Choice # 3: Hainan （海南）
Hainan is a totally different experience because its an island in the South of China. Its known as "The Hawaii of China." It has gorgeous beaches & beautiful ocean! Great hotels! At a 5 star Sofitel you can expect to pay just $95 USD a night. There are also ethnic minorities exclusive to Hainan, so those who want a cultural experience can definitely still find one! The Li minority group compromise about 91% of Hainan Island.





In Hainan, you can enjoy the tropical beaches, read in the sun, relax, get a massage (my personal favorite!), visit the authentic Li minority villages, or hike in the tropical rain forests.

This trip will be taken around my husband's birthday, and he IS partial to history and anything old (we like to joke about the fact that while in Ireland, we stopped every single time there was "something old and stone and decrepit" along the side of the road... yeah, in Ireland, we were stopping quite often!)

So, what do you think? What are your first and second choices for my first trip within China? Thanks for the help!

Remember, even if we don't go right away, these places are on our short list of must-see places.

Thanks for the perspective!

Steph

P.S. ...when I type in Chinese characters, can you see them?

Disclaimer: the pictures in these posts are NOT mine & I am not claiming then as such! They are courtesy of "Google Image."