Drama In Zhengzhou

Jason Chow 5/31/08

We arrived in Zhengzhou by train; arriving at the station, nervous, we slowly left the train platform, to meet our students. As we rounded the corner, a large group of Chinese students noticed us and excitedly pointed in our direction. ‘Good luck’s were exchanged around our group, and, slowly, we exited through the turnstile to find our students.
At least we were all able to recognize our students. I found my student, Curtis, or 李想, and he looked excited about our arrival. As a large group, everyone moved to the right to claim our luggage. However, the luggage was extremely late in getting off the train. Therefore, we were stranded in the train station for at least 1 hour, plenty of time to catch up with our students. Seems like there wasn’t much to catch up on with Curtis; we had only met each other 3 ½ months ago. Although I was a bit worried about our luggage until it arrived.
After the arrival of our luggage, we all said our goodbyes, and split up to go with our families. I met Curtis’ parents, and followed them to their car, a nice SUV. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, since it was 11:30 PM, but there were significantly more cars than in Cary at this time of night, and the neon lights were amazing. Everywhere I looked, the city was brightly lit with neon or street lights, etc. Curtis’ parents had quite a few questions for me, and I answered as best I could mostly in Chinese.
We stopped at a small restaurant, which was mostly deserted, since it was about 11:45 by this point. I had made the slight mistake saying that I was a little hungry, and they ordered about 4 large dishes for me to eat. It seemed like the food I ate then was much better than the Chinese food I had eaten before during this trip, but even I couldn’t eat all of it. Around 12:00, we left the restaurant and drove about 5 minutes to Curtis’ apartment. At the point, the streets we were traveling on had almost no cars, but the store lights were all still brightly lit.
Arriving in Curtis’ apartment, I found out that he lived on the 4th floor of his apartment building, with no elevator. Although it looked a bit shabby on the outside, it was really nice on the inside. I found out, apparently, that they had prepared an entire room for me, a change of clothes, and a table full of snacks. After cleaning up, I presented my family with a few gifts that I had brought with me. It seemed like they liked them a lot, and afterwards, I went to sleep.
I woke up at about 9:00 the next day; good thing it was a Saturday and we didn’t have to get up early. At around 9:30, I had finished my morning routines, and exited my room for breakfast. They had prepared a few bowls of soup and some youtiao for me and Curtis to eat. Although the soup was really good, I didn’t get to try any youtiao because they presented me with a very nice cake. I was polite and had one slice, even though I didn’t want to start my day with mostly sugar.
We didn’t have anything planned, so Curtis showed me how to play World of Warcraft. Evidently, he had spent a lot of time on his computer, playing that game. For about an hour or two, I watched him play WoW, and he even let me create a new character, and play for a while. However, at 11:30, we departed for lunch.
The streets during the daytime were much different from last night. Not only was everything in a different lighting, there were a lot more cars and various two-wheeled vehicles crowding the roads. Not only was the constant weaving in and out of traffic amazing, I saw several sights that I haven’t seen before, such as a large brown chicken walking down the street, etc. After about 15 minutes, we arrived at a very tall building, where we were going to eat lunch.
It turns out that Chinese people are very impatient when taking the elevator. The restaurant was on the second floor, and I wanted to take the stairs, but as a group, Curtis, me and his dad decided to take the elevator. Forgetting to press floor two before it was too late, we ended up taking the elevator to floors 15, 22, 25, 31, and 16 before arriving at the second floor. Every time, people in the elevator, including Curtis, would mash the ‘close door’ button, even while people were entering/exiting the car.
Lunch was an amazing affair, at a nicely decorated restaurant, with a large-window view of…the parking lot. Oh well. The food was very good, and I got to try many new foods, including a spicy soup dish and a nice bowl of baked Chinese buns. There were also foods that I’ve already eaten before, but cooked differently, such as doufu and spare ribs. Overall, I was nicely full by the end of lunch, with some food left over.
Hopping in the car, we traveled to school, again weaving through traffic. Arriving at Curtis’ school, I was amazed at the size; I had never been to a school larger than about 2,500 people, let alone a school comprised of all Chinese students. Not only were all the buildings the same size, if not larger, than the buildings at CA, they were also about 3-4 times as tall! Apparently, we were going to view a school drama production that their classes had put together. We arrived at 12:30 for the 2:30 performance, and for the longest time, no one showed up except for Therice, Camden and Nathaniel.
At around 2:30, the performance started, although we decided not to start their show with our ‘dancing’. Everyone had arrived, and we were prepared to enjoy the show. It was comprised of many small skits, including some acts of music, dancing, and small plays.

Meseum and Zheng Zhou

Today we began with a 7:30 wakeup call; Not very different from previous mornings. There was no set time for breakfast, so people went down to go eat whenever. Eventually we gathered in the lobby at around 9:00. It was then that we were an alerted that we should get locks for our bags. Honestly it worried me that we should need to purchase locks for our bags. If someone can’t get into our bags, what will stop them from stealing it and opening it later? Nevertheless, about 15 of us went around the corner to buy locks while the others waited. After a fine display of organization and bargaining we all had a sufficient number of locks and were on our way back to the hotel. On the way back the oblivious Dorian Crawford was almost pick pocketed. Fortunately he was able to make it back safely with his iPod still in hand.

We then left our luggage in the hotel and hopped on a bus to head to a museum in Xi’an. I personally was worried that someone, who I did not know, was supposed to get our luggage checked in preparation for our train ride to Zhengzhou. Anyways we arrived at the museum, after receiving a brief introduction to Chinese history from Francis, our tour guide. I was still too tired from our mountain climb to form any cohesive thoughts and as a result anything Francis said was simply ignored by me and about half the students on the bus.

When arriving to the museum I expected it to be boring, but it was. My suspicions were correct. The museum was composed of five exhibits. The first was about… um… nothing interesting. I completely forgot what was in the second, so there probably was anything interesting in there either. The third had a film crew filming what looked like a documentary, so some of the better artifacts on display could not be enjoyed by the public. On a positive note, the third exhibit had a large Buddha and a recreation of some terracotta warriors. I think the warriors would have been pretty cool if hadn’t seen the real ones a couple of days ago. The fourth and fifth exhibits seemed unfinished. They seemed very bare and empty. That may have been because there were more security guards than people viewing the artifacts or maybe it was just me. Overall I would have to say I was disappointed by the museum, but others may have enjoyed.

Once we all got back together we had to do perhaps one of the most important things we would ever need to do on the trip. Group pictures. We took a couple standing on some benches and then a few sitting on the steps of the museum. After pictures we headed off to a monastery/tourist attraction. I enjoyed the monastery more than I enjoyed the museum. Inside the monastery was Asia’s largest fountain. Unfortunately the fountain only turned on in the evening and we were there around 1:00, but the fountain still looked epic even if it wasn’t on. There was also a pagoda, which was supposed to represent the remains of the founder of Buddhism, after he turned himself into a goose so that he could feed his starving followers. Anyways on there were like little pieces of art and gardens surrounding the massive fountain.
On the outskirts of the monastery there were some stalls where you could buy jewelry, instruments, food and other things. After looking at the stalls I headed back to the bus and we went off to eat. When we arrived at the restaurant I was happy to see that it was a buffet. Man, I really feel like a glutton. But at least I was a happy glutton. After eating we were dropped off at the hotel.

After being dropped off at the hotel, it was time to head to the train station so we could head over to Zheng Zhou. Everyone was excited to meet their host families and stay with them for a few days. Unfortunately the station was a few blocks away from the hotel and was inaccessible by car. All twenty-four of us had to walk three blocks to the enormous train station that was almost as wide as the walk itself. I (Camden) also had the burden of carrying my twenty-five pound terracotta warrior and fifteen pound sword along with the rest of my luggage. After trudging along the streets for a few minutes we arrived at the train station and passed through security. It was a little weak considering there was only a single security belt which the guards paid almost no attention to. I don’t know if letting a sword through security is normal procedure, but it sure seemed a little strange to me.

After getting into the station at 3:00 for a 3:30 departure time, we headed over to the luxury room. It actually seemed more like typical waiting station that one would find in America, but I guess it could be considered luxurious in China. The station had a small snack bar but none of it interested me. It was mainly Chinese snacks and a few drinks. Everyone else bought a couple of snacks and walked around the station for a bit, but I took the half hour to rest considering we climbed to the top of a two-thousand meter mountain yesterday.

I woke up and we headed to the train that would take us to Zheng Zhou over a seven hour period. Luckily we had an entire car to ourselves and were able to move along the cabin. First we had figure out what we were going to do for the ‘talent’ show that we were supposed to do for exchange students. With the help of a couple others, we convinced Li Laoshi to let us perform ‘Crank That.’ For half the trip, we were practicing our dance routine while Li Laoshi meditated, but we knew that would hold up for long so we broke out the portable DVD players too. Seven hours later though, we finally arrived in Zheng Zhou to meet our host students.

See us meet our host families upon arriving to Zheng Zhou: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ericmooreca/CAMeetsChineseHostFamilies2008

Camden and Ryan

Alotta Terracotta

Terracotta army, flirtatious college girls and amazing massages- who knew how much there was to do in china?

Today started out with a 7 am wake up call, this was welcomed after our 4 am wake up call yesterday. We started off at a local medicine market, where we got a chance to experience some traditional Chinese medicine. Bags of dried plants, roots, and even animals emanated exotic smells, tantalizing both our eyes and noses. A few of us purchased bags of tea leaves or bottles of green ointment, which are supposed to banish all kinds of aches of the body. But, we had a long trip ahead of us, so we headed back onto the bus and got back onto the road.

The bus ride to the terracotta army took us about an hour away from Xi an. Terracotta simply means earth or clay, but the terracotta army anything but simple. First discovered in 1974 by peasants well drilling, the terracotta army is arranged in three pits. All of the pits are still being excavated, but the first pit had been cleared the most. Lines of terracotta infantry, cavalry, and charioteers stood imposingly across a massive chamber. The 8th wonder of the world and a world cultural heritage, the terracotta army stands in defense of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb. Individually crafted, each soldier is a different, but unfortunately, we were told that only important figures like Bill Clinton were allowed down into the pit and that “Cary Academy exchange trip” wasn’t important enough. But that wasn’t to say we didn’t receive the star treatment in other venues. A few members of the group were getting special attention from a few of the local girls conducting a “survey” for the museum. The trip to see the ancient warriors was overall a good experience but the sight that got everyone jumping for joy was the sighting of a familiar food: the French fry. This simple fried food was enough to set the entire group into a frenzy as everyone ran to be able to get a plateful of it.

After an enjoyable lunch we had some free time to go around shop. But walking around we felt as if we were being sold the same thing just in different shops. They all sold the same terracotta warrior box set, the same small kite, and the same post cards just one store apart. After shopping we gathered once again on the bus and made our way to our hotel.

After the two and a half hour bus ride we finally arrived at our hotel. Walking into the Hua Shang Hotel, we weren’t all that impressed by it from the outside. Looking at the hotel from the outside isn't much in the way of looks but what it lacks in exterior is made up by the inside -completely different story. I have never been so wrong in judging a book by its cover as in the moment I walked into the hotel. Other than the rather warm rooms, the only downfall I could amass was the lack of hotel internet connections. So, sorry mom and dad, but you'll have to wait a day or two until we can get all caught up with a working connection... photos to follow.

However, that did not stop us from getting around in the city a bit to shop for snacks after checking in. The night concluded with reflective conversation and with many of our travelers getting awesome massages in preparation for the "Big Climb" on the Hua mountain range that overshadowed the villege-like town we were in.

Miguel and Nathaniel

Hua Mountains

Greetings all! This is the great and mighty all powerful all Chinese knowing student, Joshua Rowsey. I have been held prisoner against my will, and have been forced to entertain you by providing literary illustration on what has happened today in the mystical land of China. So what can I tell you? I could tell you that I climbed a mountain, but it is the journey that this mountain brought that you may find most interesting. While taking a quick bus ride up to the base of the mountain I was presented with a cable car as a form of transportation up the mountain. While climbing up this mountain in this luxurious cable car I was thinking to myself, “Getting up to this mountain is easy”. Then the cable car stopped and I had an excellent view of the GLORIOUS Hua Mountains. With this GLORIOUS view I presented with a task: to climb this GLORIOUS Mountain all the way to the top. Let me sum of my experience of climbing this mountain in as few sentences as I can.

Climbing this mountain was a horror that can only be related to sticking a giant hot needle within your thigh and pushing it even more within you skin with ever step you take. Overall this experience was one to remember, the view that you take in while on top of the mountain is one of breath taking proportion. I was impressed with the beauty that nature has brought on this trip. Climbing this mountain can not be the only experience that I can give you, because my Chinese teacher does not believe in short journal entries. Is there more to tell? Of Course there is. As many of you may know I am a violin playing, Chinese learning, national swimming African American. But in China the citizens view black men like big foot: a very big myth. So you can expect the huge reaction when a Chinese citizen comes across one the 9th wonder of the world: the black man.

I have been stopped, looked at, pointed, and laughed at so many times that there is not enough time to describe each incident. In America I am just another student, but in China I am viewed as a celebrity higher than that of Denziel Washington, Will Smith, and Chris Rock combined. With this swarm of praise between my very diverse (not really) admirers I am part way not wanting to return home where I am just a normal student. On that note I am going to sign out, hopefully my roommate Cameron Setzer can provide you with some more insight on the magical journey we call China. A quick shout out to my parents: Yes I am still alive, and have not yet been arrested. I hope all that are reading this appreciate all the things that they have such as clean air and water.

This is Joshua Rowsey signing out,
Have a good day.

Day 4: The Temple Mosque and City Wall

Today our Chinese tour group woke up bright and early, receiving wake-up calls around 4:30 AM. We then headed to the airport to catch an 8 o’clock plane Pudong (Shanghai airport) to Xi-An. The plane was slightly delayed, but we were finally able to board around 8:30. The plane ride lasted about two hours, and we arrived in the Xi-An airport around 12:00.

After claiming our luggage, we headed outside to meet our tour guide-- Francais. Francais taught us about the history of Xi-An and other areas of China, during the one hour bus ride to Xi-An. We were welcomed into Xi-An with another traditional Chinese meal. Most of us felt this meal was better than the vegetarian meal the previous day. After this we headed out to the South part of the Xi-An city wall. The wall was built around 600 years ago, and was originally designed to keep enemies out. At the wall we were able to rent bicycles to ride along the wall, or buy ice cream and cold drinks.

By this point in the day, most of us began to feel tired, so we decided to head to a more leisurely place, a Chinese mosque. There were several old relics, and patterns in both the floors and walls which dated back to ancient times. After this we proceeded to do a little shopping in the market of Xi-An. The vendors were friendlier and less aggressive than Shanghai. There also seemed to be a better selection of goods and the prices were slightly cheaper than those in Shanghai. Our bargaining skills appeared as if they had improved, because almost everyone ended up buying more items than all the previous shopping expeditions.

After our shopping adventures, we checked in to the Xi-An Diamond Hotel and took a little break. We then headed towards dinner at a Tang Dynasty Musical performance where we were served dumplings of all different types. Our group is very tired and still a little disturbed by the jet-lag. More than half of the group fell asleep during the performance, and two stayed in the hotel to catch up on sleep.

Tomorrow we plan to visit the Terracotta warriors.

Bryan Apperson with Daniel Miller and Jason Sigmon

Photos to Go Second Day

Yu-Yuan Garden - Group Photo


Yu-Yuan Garden II


Chinese Acrobat Performance I


Chinese Acrobat Performance II

Buddhist Temple

Monday 5/26 - Yu-Yuan Garden; Buddhist temple; GENBAND; Acrobats

The day began bright and early; "sunrise" (as we never actually saw the sun through the smog) was about 5:00 am. The humidity and the heat kicked in early, with students and chaperones attiring themselves appropriately in shorts and t-thirts. We broke fast as a group at the hotel's breakfast buffet where, apparently, spaghetti was considered a breakfast food and the dim sum tasted more like french toast than the french toast. At 8:30, we left the hotel to stock up on water, gatorade and other knockabout items before our long day in the heat (it's amazing when you can actually get a bottled water for like 40 American cents).



Our first destination was the traditional (and historical) Yu-Yuan Garden in Shanghai. During our traffic-distended busride there, we got a full guided tour of the famous Bund (Wai Tan) waterfront on the Huangpu River. The Bund was the most Western-developed area in Shanghai through a good portion of the 19th and 20th centuries (mostly a result of British imperialism as a result of the Opium Wars). The trip to the Yu-Yuan Garden consisted of walking past numerous and ravenous street vendors hawking wares varying from Olympic t-shirts to knock-off Mont-Blanc pens. In contrast to the commericial hustle of the immediately surrounding area (there was a Starbucks coffee no less than 20 meters from the entrance), the garden was tranquil and historical. Our tour guide, Angela, introduced us to a myriad of ancient Chinese superstitions, most of them involving evil ghosts (which apparently can only move in straight lines and horizontally). She showed us the many features of traditional Chinese architecture to ward off these spirits including raised threshholds, zig-zag bridges and mirrors facing the entrance. We also surveyed an amazing rock garden filled with koi, manicured trees and dragon rooves (look it up...).



After exiting the actual garden, we opened our first shopping experience of the trip in the tourist trap that surrounded the Yu-Yuan garden. Many of us were relatively trepidatious in our purchasing, but some, like Li Laoshi pushed the envelope with an 85% percent off bargain. Needless to say, the rest of us did not fare quite as well and turned to Starbucks and bubble (milk) tea for comfort as we left. Miguel made his "big" purchase on the way back to the bus: two faux Mont-Blanc pens from one of those ravenous vendors I mentioned. Coach Moore was an instant celebrity amongst the crowd which were entranced by his rippling ebony physique.



Our next visit was to a Buddhist temple. Upon arriving, we experienced the pungent odor of incense. Buddhists praying for dead family members were the source of the aroma as they burned ritual incense. Additionally, the temple was having a donation drive for those affected by the earthquake. We took a less odiferous excursion into the temple complex that was punctuated with two amazing jade Buddhas. We then concluded our trip to the temple with a meal at a completely vegetarian restaurant that both satisified and nourished (i.e. it was the first fiber we had had in like three days). Again Miguel, and this time Mrs. Harron were the center of attention on the way back to the bus as we almost left them stranded next to the Buddhist temple on the sidewalk.



Our next destination was the Genband corporation's "China Overseas Development Center." Happily, we were allowed to dress more liberally on this occasion as all but a small portion of the office was off on a company retreat in the mountains. At Genband, we learned probably more in ten minutes about media gateway networking than we probably would have without studying telecommunications engineering. Mr. Ping, our presenter at Genband, was a lively and engaging character, who, in the midst of his presentation, had a contest among the students for a 100 Yuan note (about 14 bucks American). We were introduced to both a birds eye view of one of Shanghai's industrial districts via Genband's roof and a micro-view of some the world's most state of the art hardware.



After a rushed supper, we then proceeded to our final event of the night: an acrobatic performance. The show was quite entertaining despite our cramped leg conditions and extreme exhuastion. The performance included FLEXIBLE and balanced contortionists, amazing high-flying shoulder stands and a particularly hilarious section involving knife throwing (the highlight of that act was when a baloon was placed between an audience members legs, he was blind-folded and, instead of having the knife thrown at him, simply had the baloon stabbed while he contorted in fear and the audience in laughter). For some, the sleep-deprivation of the trip thus far took its toll; in a mirror of the bus-rides throughout the day, some people surrendered to the sleepy mists of dreams (or it might have been smog) during the show.


All in all, our first full day in China was one marked by a hectic pace, loads of pollution and a mountain of fun and humor. Mom and Dad, I just want you to know I haven't totally forgotten about you, I just haven't had time to call at a reasonable hour (this is Izaak by the way).

Videos from Day One

Here they are...

Chinese Trip Day One

We were all able to make it safely to China, allthough it was a close call with Daniel, who made it to RDU an hour or so late. Luckily everything turned out ok. Today we were on the plane for most of the time. We went from Raleigh to Chicago to San Francisco to Shang Hai, making a total of 20 hours of being on a plane. Being on the plane was very boring. It was hard to go to sleep, despite the fact that we were exhausted, and the entertainment offered by the airline (Jumper, 27 Dresses) was not particularly good or entertaining. Some were able to kill the boredom will conversation, while others read books or listened to music. Personally I do not know how the food on the plane was because I was asleep, but I got the idea that it was pretty bad.

When we got on the bus we learned many things about the city. For example, the Huang river, also refered to as the mother river of shanghai, cuts the city of 20 million people into 2 halves. The 400 meter wide river is spanned by a suspeneded bridge. Notably the first suspeneded bridge ever constructed in China. We also learned about the many methods of transportations, suich as trains buses and elevated roads. This creates 'layers' of Shanghai. Transportation has also improved dramatically through the upgrading of the train system. A train used to take aprproxamatly 19 hours to travel from Shanghai to Beijing. Now, the same trip takes only 9 hours. There are also many diferent types of architechture in Shanghai, you can look into the street and see a classical chinese building standing next to a tall western skyscraper. Some of the most famous architecture is found at the center of Shanghai. For example, the rotating resturant on top of the raddison building. There is also a strong push by the government to replace old buildings. Shanghai is known as both the shopping and business center of China. There are many different marketplaces and apartment stores all over Shanghai, some even refer to Shanghai as a paradise for shoppers. The thriving and diversity of domestic and foreign business working side by side in Shanghai can be traced back to opportunists or foreign adventureers who began coming to Shanghai on a large scale about 100 years ago. Besides being a center for shopping and business it also is a city that has an exciting night life. Our tour guide mentioned many things that make the city feel more alive at night, such as teenagers going out on the town (of course, we would never consider such a thing).

We ate at a place called The minority resturaunt. Interstingly enough in China minority does not have a negative conotation, it is just said as a matter-of-fact statement. at dinner we saw a variety of entertainment coupled with a plethora of food. However, when we firstg showed up at the redstruant there were already 3 tour buses present in the parking lot because clearly the place was catering to tourists. Hopefully we will imerse ourselves more in everday Chinese life in days to come.

We are all so excited to be here and look foward to a good trip.

Its really late, and we are very tired, please excuse the spelling and grammar mistakes.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Ms. Lee's number is 0118615002184550