2008 China Trip - NA & Pine Richland High Schools
July 10.
We arrived in Shanghai around 2:00 PM and low and behold I was the only one that had to open bags for inspection. I guess I don't have such a trusty face. Hoason met us at the entrance of the airport with the tour guide to escort us to the bus. The first stop on our way to the hotel was The Bonn shopping district. This is a shopping district on an incredibly large avenue. The architecture is a few hundred years old or so with European influence. The girls took off for some shopping and the adults just walked along checking things out. We were constantly hounded by street merchants to look at bags, watches and shirts. It's best to ignore them because any acknowledgment causes them to press harder.
We stood below a balcony to watch a man play a saxophone. Couples slow danced below and all enjoyed the summer jazz sounds.
In the evening we had dinner at a local restaurant. The adults handled their chopsticks quite well. We sampled and enjoyed most of the meal of rice, beef, fish, pork, an omelet, various vegetables and soup. The meal concluded with dumplings and watermelon. Most of our meals would finish with watermelon.
I checked out the girls' table to see how they were doing. Most of the rice was gone, but most everything else remained. Melissa and Austen, the two girls from Pine Richland tried most everything. It wasn't til later that I found out Caitlin is a vegetarian.
In the evening we took a boat ride on the Hoanpu River. Darkness falls early in this area of the world. They don't have day light savings and they are on the eastern end of their time zone. It was fairly dark by 7:30 PM. Shanghai was pretty well lit by neon all over. The Pearl Tower was pretty cool as well as many nice restaurants along the way. The girls were treated by a karaoke performance by Haoson. He did some sort of rap song in Mandarin. We all gave him a rousing round of applause as well as the locals. A parent of a local child asked the girls to pose for pictures. Soon after many many kids were asking to pose with them. It took nearly 30 minutes to leave the boat as at one point at least 30 kids were in some of the pictures. This was the first of many opportunities for the girls to feel special.
July 11
Just as suspected; the sun comes up early in Far East. Light started shining through the drapes at 4:00 AM. I felt rested and decided to do some investigating by taking a walk down the street. There were a few people out and about, mostly workers on bicycles on their way to work. I checked out the VW dealer next to the hotel. The cars were pretty much the same as ours, though the Passat was the car of choice. I did not see the Jetta nor SUV.
Two hours later we had a breakfast buffet which consisted of noodles that look like bread sticks, a porridge type cereal, eggs, rice and vegetables. Yes, there was coffee and some light pastries. One thing to mention; slurping is legal in China. I felt like one of Pavlov's dogs as I expected to slapted across the cheek at any moment.
After breakfast we headed to the Yu Yuan Gardens. This is an area with very old Chinese architecture, beautiful gardens and rock formations. We took several pictures of the buildings and walking bridges. The walking bridges zig zag because in ancient times it was believed monsters were in the water. It is said the monsters swim in straight lines. The zig zags thwart the monster's ability to capture those who walk the bridges.
We lost Moe somewhere in the gardens. My cell was supposed to work in China, but I couldn't place calls. It was odd that I could receive them. Moe finally called and he was standing some 20 yards away so we didn't lose or soon-to-be most revered traveler.
We did a lot of shopping and I bought a stuffed panda for a friend and a jade medallion. I'm not sure why I bought the medallion, I guess I got caught up in the bargaining ~ a national sport in China. The vendor started at 485 and I got her down to 80. That's around 12 US. The medallion symbolized long life and happiness. It turns out, everything it China symbolizes long life and happiness. A special thanks to the guy from Florida who tipped me off that he was able to get the same medallion for 80 Yuan.
Most of the students and parents were bargaining as well. Parents bought jewelry, paintings ties and dresses. I forgot to caution the players about the art students. It's a scam used quite regularly. Vendors pose as art students and sell "original" works or art, usually at a pretty high premium. A couple of the kids bought stuff, but at least they liked it and that's all that really matters. I just didn't want them wasting their money.
After a lunch of dumplings we headed to the Shanghai Museum to see ancient artifacts. Much of what was on display was from BC. There was also an exhibition of relics from the Ancient Olympics. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. We could tell that the Chinese are really excited and proud that they will host the 2008 Games. Shanghai will host soccer. God Bless the players because it's pretty hot and humid in Shanghai.
After the museum visit we headed to Nantong, the city that will host us for Volleyball competition. At the main hotel we met the families that were to host me, Moe and the girls. Most of the girls were pretty apprehensive about getting split up, but we had to do it as the hosts put a lot of effort into selecting host families. Each family that wanted to host us had to go through a series of interviews and their homes had to be inspected. I left with my host student, Spring. The girls were soon picked up. Two girls did not sign up to be hosted and stayed with their parents. Moe's host came with a television crew. This turned out pretty cool because Austen's host came about the same time and she was interviewed as well. Moe was interviewed just about every night due to his father's fame and his past experience with the NBA.
July 12:
Man that sun comes up early! I was up by 3:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. Thankfully I brought a few books to pass the time. My host mom woke up around 6:30 and started cooking breakfast. I could get used to this. We had bread, yogurt and a hot cereal consisting of rice and oatmeal. We slurped away and headed back to the hotel to gather the girls for practice.
On the way to the hotel, Spring told me that the school year consists of 2 terms of more than 100 days each. Classes are rigorous and students study very hard, even in the summer. Final exams determine where students fit into the system for the next year and their class rank determines the level of college the student will attend. Good jobs are hard to come by for graduates so they work hard to get them. Spring wants to be a computer programmer.
We arrived at the hotel and I was glad to hear that all the girls loved staying with their hosts. The two girls who did not sign up to be hosted were allowed to go with their friends so they could enjoy the same experience. This turned out to be super as some of the hosting students helped with translating and we asked them to go along with us on tours.
We headed to the school for practice and the adults were taken on a tour of the school by the Principal. The delegation presented him with presents and such while we were in one of the hottest gyms I have ever experienced. We used to take mandatory water breaks at JO tournaments in the pre-convention center national tournaments. This was worse than that. The vice principal said that this is the nature of developing countries. This area of the China is very near the 30 degree parallel.
Warm up consisted of light calisthenics, defensive floor moves, blocking at the net then ball handling. The fun part of warm ups was watching our girls do cartwheels with the other team. That something I don't see in American practices. I did some ball handling with one of the girls since we had an odd number. My shirt was soaked so I asked Coach Xia if she had a spare player to work with one of ours. She gladly sent someone. After warm up, they played team defense, 3 on 3, 4 on 4 then 6 on 6. The girls competed pretty hard in the humid gym after the stopped complaining about the conditions. I think the team should compete well even though we are a bit younger and smaller.
At the end of practice the girls tried to talk to each other, but there was a bit of language barrier. Thankfully a few student translators were available. I took a lot of pictures as well as a host parent. The male assistant coach asked to take a picture with Gretta and Logan, two of our blonds. All the Nantong girls started teasing him. It was quite funny.
We left for lunch and returned to the school's auditorium for a show. The English class put on a show similar to the Oprah Winfrey Show. The moderator was a female student who told us a bit about the history of the school and asked questions of our group about Pittsburgh and America. The purpose of the show was to break down cultural barriers. There was a game at one point where one of our students or staff was pitted against one of their students. Hate to say, they know more of our history than we know of theirs. I was pleased to see that one of students knew that Philadelphia's Ben Franklin discovered electricity. The Nantong students sang songs and performed customary dances to our applause. Our kids showed them how to dance to the song Superman and our parents and students showed them the Macarena, something we do at weddings. The last song performed by the Nantong students was a song done at the South Korean Olympics. The theme was one person at a time can change the world. There was not a dry eye in our group and we all gave a standing ovation. At the end of the show we were asked to break up into small groups for private questioning and discussions. The Nantong students were interested in our collegiate entrance procedure. As with most events we stood for group photos.
We were supposed to head to the basketball court to see a game between two student groups and then Moe Barr was to participate in a free throw shooting contest. We headed to the courts and as we were waiting for things to take place, our girls shot hoops with the general student population. Mostly boys were shooting with them. Even in China, the boys try to show off for girls. One boy dribbled hard to the hoop, jumped and slammed the ball home!
The rains came and didn't let up. We stood under an overhang for quite a long time waiting for a lapse that never came. The bus was called and we loaded for the hotel. The evening concluded with dinner and the girls, Moe and I headed to our host homes.
July 13
We started the day with a walk to the gym and posed outside the school under the tournament banner in our team uniforms. Dignitaries from China volleyball showed for opening ceremonies. Mr. Yu who is the head of youth development for the CVA arrived in the morning as well as a professional coach and manager. They gave speeches as well as the school principal.
We opened the tournament against a team from about 40 kilometers from Nantong. They looked a bit young and I thought we could take them. We opened with a fairly nice lead, but the opponents steadied themselves and took the lead around 14. We were never able to overcome the mistake I made when I switched a middle and outside in the lineup. Our serve reception patterns were a bit messed up in places. In game two the lineup mistake was corrected and we seemed to play worse; either that or the other team started to play better. We didn't give the defensive effort necessary to win. Kristin Wingrove passed well for not competing since the school year and Gretta and LeAnn Haus hit well and picked up a lot of balls on defense.
In our second match we played an even stronger team and we didn't get things going from the beginning. We couldn't get our middle attack to connect. It was merely a problem of not practicing enough together. We had 5 practices prior to leaving. We had a full squad at the last practice, but no one else showed to compete against them. We could only work on serve receive, but never defense.
Funny Story ~ Corny Galdones sat on our bench as assistant coach. He helped me keep the FIVB rules straight and generally kept me company. I've known Corny since 1992 when I started going through USAV referee training. We roomed together at many tournaments and grown to be very good friends. Prior to the match he told me that this opponent would hit all their middle attacks toward our setter. So I gather the girls together for the pre-set huddle and tell them that our crack Filipino scouting system told me the information above. We adjust our defense only to watch the opponent hit the next 5 balls the other way. I stand up, turn to Corny and tell him, "You're fired!" He just chuckled and the rest of the attacks went towards the setter. The match on the other court finished early and it was nice to see the Nantong team behind our bench cheering for us.
We had about 3 hour break for lunch and rest. All the teams headed for the cafeteria. The cooks did a great job of trying to give us an American meal. There were hamburger patties, French fries and chicken wings along with the usual Chinese fair. The girls ate lightly as they were promised lunch at the pizza hut. Patty Freyermuth, Patty Decker and Lisa Meinert took the girls while the men ran out for a quick beverage. Unfortunately the beverage was warm and we cooled off in Corny's room.
We were to head to the gym by 3:00 and I had the kids report the lobby at 2:30 for the short walk. Well it rained so hard you couldn't see out the window. Water was rushing in through a hole in the wall that no one could find the source. I did my best to help to no avail. We usually call the bus, but the driver was ill. It calmed a bit and I started flagging rikshaws and cabs for the girls. The parents and I made it to the school walking under awnings and such.
The Nantong team was the most impressive and they have a resume to fit. Last year they won the National High School Championships and the World High School Games. Teams apply to be in the World High School games and there is only one team per country. The Chinese National High School Championships usually consists of 28 teams.
Nantong did whatever they wanted. They controlled the net and dug just about anything we hit. In set two they started serving balls in the net and hitting primarily from the back row. To our girls' credit, they still tried hard and were a bit upset the opponent took it easy on them. At one point Natalie asked me if they were doing that on purpose and I said, "They do everything on purpose."
At the end of the match I was asked to divide our squad in two and place them on opposite sides of the net. Each of the other teams selected players to participate in a heterogeneous match. That was great fun as both coach Xia and I substituted players freely until we reached 25 first. Austen announced that, "We finally won one in China!"
The match was over when teams walked in single file to the stage to collect Olympic goodies as awards and Moe Barr declared Nantong the champions. We took a lot of photos and headed for the showers. Later in the evening the mayor hosted a tournament banquet with all the participants, parents and coaches.
July 14
We headed to Suzhou which was named the Venice of the Orient. Suzhou is two hours north of Nantong and is known for pearls and silk. Natalie Masters won the "most Asian" award for wearing a pretty black dress. Her brother Darren was a close second due to his slit eyes. He had a rough night out with the bus driver and tour guide in one of the local watering holes. Along the way we saw a lot of small ponds that we later learned were either fish farms or pearl farms. Debe Masters pointed out that the ponds even had scare crows in the middle of them.
We visited the Yunyan Pagoda which was an old rickety tower about 9 stories high. It was extremely hot and humid. My shirt and pants were soaked by the end of the morning. We posed in front of a statue of Buddha and headed up the tower to see the city it overlooked.
We visited a pearl museum to learn that pearls come in 4 colors. However to find out if a pearl is fake, if you scratch it, the dust will be white no matter the color of the pearl. Pearls aren't shiny, they are matte in luster. We headed to the store and everyone did a bit of damage there.
Later we headed to a silk museum to see the history of the silk making process. Later were taken to a room for a fashion show. I commented to Pat Freyermuth that the pole was missing. She told me I was sick. The funny part was her hubby Bill came to me a few seconds later and told me he forgot to bring singles. We had a great group on this trip.
There was a gift shop at the end and everything was a bit overpriced. I figured out a bit later that the tour companies take us to "museums" and there are always gift shops at the end. I assume they get a cut. I walked out with two silk-stuffed pillows due to Corny's recommendation. Many of the girls looked for prom dresses. They were less expensive than home, but they didn't like the styles. I told them to be patient as we will be heading to Beijing.
Later we took a river tour and a young girl played a traditional Chinese instrument and sang folk songs.
We headed back were surprised by an unexpected boat tour of Nantong. Nantong is a city rebuilding. There is so much construction going on there it is amazing. We passed the middle school as it is right on the river. The architecture in the city is great and very pleasing to the eye. It was really hot and we all wanted to join the man swimming breast stroke past our boat.
Dan Hubert surprised the girls this night with a visit to McDonald's. His firm owns several Mickey D's in western Pennsylvania and he arranged a special party. We were whisked upstairs to the party room. Hamburgers, French fries and all the usual fair was there (though the filet-o-fish had a wasabi sauce). Their ice cream floats were juice with ice cream. The floats were great. The big surprise came when Ronald McDonald came to put on a show. Natalie Masters was his able assistant to the balloon tricks. Later he posed for pictures with everyone and handed each of the girls' special gifts. The adults received a few things as well. It was a great way to end a very busy day.
July 15
I took my host son, Spring, along with me on the tour. He had a nice time touring with the girls and local students. This day was used to tour the city and outskirts of Nantong. The day started off in the low 80's, but that soon was the low and we were sweating as usual. I've never experienced such heat and humidity.
The day started off with a tour of Wolf Hill, a Buddhist monastery, if you will. I announced on the PA system that Wolf Hill will be known in a 1000 years from now that Dan Hubert visited the place on his tour or China. That statement would later come to be a fun part of the trip. We climbed the 150 meter hill to the top to take pictures of the temple and the city the hill overlooked. The head monk soon heard that Americans had come for a visit and he canceled his meeting to spend time with Dan Hubert. I think Corny and Dewei were there, but I was off taking photos and such. Dan was blown away by the experience as this is similar to being with the Pope. He sat in the same seat as Chairman Mao and other famous heads of state. We teased him a bit afterwards and made him sit in the tour guide's seat.
Nantong is known for textile production. We visited their local museum, similar to Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum. They had old relics, wedding dresses, dinosaurs and items related to textile production. The museum was the first free public museum in the country. We also later toured a textile factory and shop, but very little was purchased. Silk was on the mind.
Afterward we took a quick tour of Nantong University's grounds. The university is quite modern as they are consolidating local universities into one large university. The local students said the university wasn't a top level university. These students want to study in Beijing or Shanghai. They have so much pressure on them.
We were dropped off early and all of our delegation members were asked to have dinner with their host families. I asked Corny to come along with me. We met springs extended family and enjoyed a meal with many varieties of fish. I passed on the pig's feet, but Corny said he grew up on the stuff. He gladly took my share. I was very impressed with the father. He is in service sales for a CNC lathing company and travels quite a bit. When he heard I was coming he bought 3 English textbooks and handled the language quite well for a rookie. I also enjoyed our breakfasts that his wife prepared. They are a couple 42 years old and quite handsome together. She spoiled me every day with breakfast and clean clothes. We took a few pictures of which Spring and I later downloaded to his computer. Tomorrow I would be leaving a family who I greatly enjoyed spending time with them.
July 16
We headed out of town to Yangzhou (pronounced Young Joe). The kids and parents told of their dinners the night before. It turns out that staying with host families was a great idea. Many friends were made with students of the general population. Many were impressed with the level of housing stock. There are some beautiful homes along the river as well as throughout the city.
Youngzhou is famous for gardens. They are as large as many of our bigger parks and well adorned with flowers, bushes and trees. Usually they are along lakes and waterways. The first garden we visited was the He Garden. It had been in one family or another for over 1000 years. At one point I joked with Dewei and asked him if this garden had been in his family. He played the joke back with me and told me it had. So not knowing he was playing a trick on me, I let several Pat Freyermuth in on this little tid bit of information and the news spread through the group. Later on, Dewei confessed and we had a good laugh.
Lunch was awesome in Youngzhou. We stopped at a restaurant famous for dumplings. This was our favorite meal to this point in the trip. Even the girls were happy to enjoy the dumplings. We learned that there are 18 varieties of dumplings and we sampled most of them. The nice treat at the lunch was that Dewei's extended family lived in the area and we were able to visit him for lunch. His grandmother and several cousins chatted with us and that was special.
Later in the day we visited the Da Ming Si Garden or temple. This garden had a very unique temple several stories high. The temple or tower was unique to most temples I had visited. First it was very open and air flowed through quite nicely, cooling us off a little. Secondly, who ever designed it was a genius. At each floor look out area a different focal point was highlighted. Some things could be seen at one level and not at another. One floor would reveal a building or gazebo another would reveal a lake or garden. It was truly a treat.
The last place and most beautiful garden we visited was Shou Xi Lake or West Lake Gardens. There were beautiful landscaping well adorned. They had a vehicle covered in flowers that I dubbed the prom mobile and we loaded the girls for pictures. We walked along the complex through paths over bridges and around gazebos. Corny found a neat swing in the shape of a moon. So the he posed as the Old Man on the Moon for photos.
We later had a farewell dinner with our tour guide. He was truly a fun guy who took real good care of us. He purchased all the drinks that evening and we had several toasts throughout the meal. Later we gave him a few gifts and headed for the train station. We were off to Beijing on the night train!
We concocted a plan to get on the train, but didn't follow it too well. All the guys were to go on first to help put the luggage in overhead; the girls were to follow and then the mothers. Well as all good plans there was a mix up. We were told we had the beds in the first 9 rooms. As it turned out we didn't have the first two beds in room one and that screwed us up. I was given the tickets and had them in the back of the line. So it took a while to load up as the tickets made their way down to the first several folks in line. However, all worked out and we got situated for an 8 hour train ride through the night. Corny was the first to go to bed and was out immediately. Mike Decker, Jerry Masters, Bill Freyermuth (that name has to like beer); Dan Hubert and I had a few beverages while we waited for the train to start. Soon after Jerry, his son and daughter played a few hands of gin and we sat around and shot the breeze. The rooms had 6 beds; 3 on a side. Moe announced that Pat Freyermuth was the first woman he slept with since his wife passed. She got a kick out of that. Soon all were sound asleep to the sound of the train clicking over the rails.
July 18
Hello Beijing and the first of a few surprises. Most of us were awake by 6:00 AM and the train arrived shortly after 6:30. We spent the time checking out the scenery. There really isn't much, but the passing by of a bullet train or two and the new Beijing train station (at least that's what we think it's to be). The new one will be really nice. The design is almost like an arena of some sort.
As the train neared the station, Dewei asked me to look out the cabin window. The first surprise of Beijing ~ Grace. Grace and I met last year during the boys' trip. She was the translator and host for the South Korean delegation. Grace is a bundle full of energy and always so very happy. She teaches first grade at the Jingshan School and that position fits her perfectly.
Grace met us with our second tour guide and they took us through the station to our new bus. From there we headed to our new hotel. At first glance, Beijing is really different. The traffic was much more organized than last year, everything looked neat and clean and most of the construction that we saw last year was completed. The definitely will be ready for the Olympic Games.
We had a little trouble with room keys as most people hadn't checked out from the night before. They told us we could have 6 rooms to start and the rest would come later. We divided the group up for showers and such, then magically 13 tickets appeared and we had to start all over. Language barriers definitely hurt in these instances. I can't thank Patty Decker enough for handling this as it was very confusing.
We ate breakfast and headed for the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square. I visited both places last summer and the Forbidden City was a bit of a disappointment last year due to the reconstruction. Scaffolding was all over the place last year. This year, I enjoyed the fruits of the labor. The palace is regally adorned with a fresh coat of paint. The buildings gleaned with gold roofs, red walls and designs of blue, gold green and red. The girls were treated as models as so many people either wanted their picture or wanted to take pictures with them. At one point we were delayed 15 minutes. Grace taught them to say "one more time, please" in Mandarin and that helped a little.
We walked briskly through Tienanmen Square as we had a lot of area to cover. One of these days I'd like to see Chairman Mao's tomb and the People's Congress. However, I'm one up on Dewei as I have seen the raising of the National Flag as Sunrise. Dewei has never done this. He says I'm Chinese now.
After another good meal we headed to the Temple of Heaven. I've been to the TOH twice before and again was very happy to revisit. All of the construction that took place last year was complete. I could see areas that were blocked from view by construction barriers and grounds and buildings were beautifully repaired.
One neat thing done for the Olympics is that giant TV screens were placed at historic sites. The screens are there to broadcast the games. We passed by as China and Russia were playing a women's match. We almost sat down to watch, but we had to press on. We had to finish the tour to get to our own match at one of the sport schools.
We boarded the bus to our match and Mike & Patty Decker and I chatted along the way. Now I need to set up this story. Several days ago in Nantong we had a dish called Stinky Tofu. When the dish arrived in the room, I immediately started checking my armpits and other possible sources of the terrible odor. I couldn't place its source. Finally Haoson told us that it's the dish on the table called "stinky tofu." He said it tasted better than it smelled. A few of us sampled it and literally spit it out of our mouths. Hoason took a taste and did the same. He said that's unusual. I'm telling you, it smelled like something out of a sewage plant. I know this is bad pool to tease someone about bad B.O. but we did get a kick out of this.
I mentioned to Mike and Patty how glad I was to take that shower in the morning. We toured a complete day and traveled by train through the night and were all feeling dingy. Patty said, "I'm just glad Moe finally took a shower. Mike quipped, "Ya, he was starting to smell like stinky moe fu." I told him congratulations; you made an entry in tonight's journal.
We had perfect weather as the temperature was in the mid 80's and there was little humidity. The skies were fairly blue as well. Something we didn't see much of last year was blue skies. It turns out, each day had blue skies.
We arrived at the school for our match. The players looked a good bit younger than those on the teams we faced before. We found out that this was their 15 and under team. Finally, Kassie would be up against players her own age. Austen took one look and asked if they had to be 6 foot tall to be on the team. Several were much taller than me. We had a nice gift exchange, played a 3 game set which we won games 1 & 3. The girls staved off 4 match points and finally won two real points for the victory. The last point was a stuff block by Melissa Morgan. We could tell that this team is going to be very good in short time. Their setter was unstoppable. Corny teased Natalie when the setter would dump in the front row. I decided that Natalie had her own personal coach for the trip. Grace really helped the girls at the match. They were told to take showers, but they didn't have towels. Grace came to the rescue and appeared with 9 new towels.
We headed for a special Peking Duck Dinner with Principal Fan of the Jingshan School. Principal Fan hosted our delegation last year and agreed to meet with us this year. The restaurant was super. Nixon and Carter had their pictures on the wall. A former student of the Jingshan School was the manager and several of the waitresses were students. They told us the history of Peking Duck in English which was nice treat. Everything about this meal was great. Every appetizer, soup and vegetable was tasty and we were comfortable eating everything. So we figured the food was getting better or we were getting used to it. We agreed the food was getting better.
In the evening usual suspects sat in the lobby to toast a few libations and recap the day's events. These little social gatherings are nice way to end a day. It was truly nice being in Beijing.
July 18
We woke up at 6, headed to McDonald's for takeout breakfast then headed for the Great Wall of Badaling. We wanted to get there early to beat the heat and crowds. We arrived and took a few pictures in front of the "One World, One Dream" sign that the Great Wall overlooked, then proceeded to walk as far as we could. Corny was pretty quick to the finish. Melissa and Austen made it to the end and soon, Mike, Patty, Susan and I made it as well. We took several pictures at the last gate and I posed with a few young kids. Austen and Melissa did something neat. They hiked down outside the wall. They told me at one point they were under the "One World, One Dream" sign. That's pretty cool. It's really tough walking the wall. It's steep; there are ramps to go up the short hills and steps to climb the steep hills. The steps are very uneven. However, they are great for building leg strength, as my heart was racing while climbing. The scenery is awe inspiring. Go visit because it cannot be adequately described.
We headed for the Summer Palace which is another venue I saw last year, but this year we were able to see more. The Summer Palace was built for an Empress called the Dragon Lady. She isn't adored because she treated her subjects very poorly. She also controlled who was to be the Emperor for some period of time. The Summer Palace is very very beautiful. There is a manmade lake and our treat was to take a boat ride across. From the middle of the lake one could see all the buildings in full regalia.
July 19
The big surprise.
Last year the NA Girls volleyball team hosted the Qiqihar volleyball team. Qiqihar is in a Province east of Mongolia. Our teams became great friends and the coach helped host our boy's on the second leg of last year's tour. Qiqihar played in the national championships while we were in Nantong.
I woke up Saturday and headed downstairs for breakfast. When I walked out of the elevator I saw a group of very tall girls, but didn't take a good look. All the sudden one says good morning Gerry and I immediately welled up. It was the girls from last fall. We took them downstairs for breakfast and called our girls out of their rooms. They ate together, laughed and had a really good time. The coach surprised us by getting a later transfer in Beijing so we could meet. All posed for pictures. We exchanged gifts and headed for the bus as both teams had to get on their ways. I broke down when one girl yelled to Darren Masters, "Goodbye my American brother!"
Off we went to see the Olympic Stadium (Birds Nest) and Natatorium (Water Cube). Then off to the airport. Grace helped us check our bags and we walked to customs. She gave me a big hug and we kissed goodbye. I'll truly miss Beijing.
The Travelers:
- Dewei Tang - Chinese National Referee and USAV Junior National Referee from Philadelphia.
- Hoason Tang - Dewei's son, who served as our interpreter. He will start is sophomore year at Villanova University this fall.
- Moe Barr - USAV Regional Referee, National Federation Referee, Former member of the NBA's Cincinnati Royals. His father was a WWII Pilot who fought in China with the Flying Tigers. The Chinese consider the Flying Tigers National Heroes.
- Dan and Sue Hubert - Dan is the CFO of a Regional McDonald's franchise and is the Vice President of the NA School Board. He served as Head of Delegation.
- Mike and Patty Decker - Mike was the team physician and Patty was instrumental in organizing the trip both at home and in China. Their daughter Caitlin was team captain and setter.
- Lisa Meinert - First grade teacher and did tireless fund-raising for gifts for our trip. She brought her son Eric who will be a freshman at Kent State. Her daughter Logan is a junior setter for NA.
- The Masters - Jerry & Debe with son Darren and daughter Natalie who hit outside and opposite.
- The Freyermuth's - Bill and Patty with daughters Gretta and Kassie. Gretta will be a senior outside hitter at NA and her sister Kassie will be a sophomore middle for NA
- Gerry Durishan - USAV Retired Referee who served as head coach
- Corny Galdones - USAV National Referee who served as USAV representative and assistant coach
- Austen Ashworth - junior libero from Pine Richland
- Leanne Haus - will be a senior outside hitter for NA
- Melissa Morgan - will be a senior middle hitter for Pine Richland
- Kristin Wingrove - a recently graduated libero from NA
July 9
The day started a bit slowly as Moe Barr called me from 3:00 to 3:30 AM to wake me up. I finally started to Moe's house at 4:00 after finishing some last minute packing. Can we ever remember everything? I finally made it to Moe's, but couldn't find his house and started calling him. I finally caught him standing outside his house after 3 passes.
Checking bags and such was an uneventful event in Pittsburgh. We all gathered together to head to the gate and everyone expressed their excitement. The transfer in Chicago went much more quickly than anticipated, though we had to have several girls paged in order to begin boarding. The plane was a huge 747-400 that had two decks. The upper deck had beds of some sort and the lower deck was the normal seating one sees on a plane. Since it was a weekend, there were plenty of open seats and many of us moved around to get comfortable for our pending 14 hour flight to Shanghai . We won't be so lucky on the way back as we will be returning on a Saturday. Weekend flights home from China are notoriously full.
A mother is holding her infant son. I've been playing with him a bit and enjoying his laughter. Mike Decker and I tried to explain that we were headed to Nantong with the girls to play volleyball (pai choe). His daughter chuckled when I said Pai Qio n'at (Pittsburgh accent). Mike told me to be careful; "N'at may be a curse phrase in Chinese!"
The day started a bit slowly as Moe Barr called me from 3:00 to 3:30 AM to wake me up. I finally started to Moe's house at 4:00 after finishing some last minute packing. Can we ever remember everything? I finally made it to Moe's, but couldn't find his house and started calling him. I finally caught him standing outside his house after 3 passes.
Checking bags and such was an uneventful event in Pittsburgh. We all gathered together to head to the gate and everyone expressed their excitement. The transfer in Chicago went much more quickly than anticipated, though we had to have several girls paged in order to begin boarding. The plane was a huge 747-400 that had two decks. The upper deck had beds of some sort and the lower deck was the normal seating one sees on a plane. Since it was a weekend, there were plenty of open seats and many of us moved around to get comfortable for our pending 14 hour flight to Shanghai . We won't be so lucky on the way back as we will be returning on a Saturday. Weekend flights home from China are notoriously full.
A mother is holding her infant son. I've been playing with him a bit and enjoying his laughter. Mike Decker and I tried to explain that we were headed to Nantong with the girls to play volleyball (pai choe). His daughter chuckled when I said Pai Qio n'at (Pittsburgh accent). Mike told me to be careful; "N'at may be a curse phrase in Chinese!"
July 10.
We arrived in Shanghai around 2:00 PM and low and behold I was the only one that had to open bags for inspection. I guess I don't have such a trusty face. Hoason met us at the entrance of the airport with the tour guide to escort us to the bus. The first stop on our way to the hotel was The Bonn shopping district. This is a shopping district on an incredibly large avenue. The architecture is a few hundred years old or so with European influence. The girls took off for some shopping and the adults just walked along checking things out. We were constantly hounded by street merchants to look at bags, watches and shirts. It's best to ignore them because any acknowledgment causes them to press harder.
We stood below a balcony to watch a man play a saxophone. Couples slow danced below and all enjoyed the summer jazz sounds.
In the evening we had dinner at a local restaurant. The adults handled their chopsticks quite well. We sampled and enjoyed most of the meal of rice, beef, fish, pork, an omelet, various vegetables and soup. The meal concluded with dumplings and watermelon. Most of our meals would finish with watermelon.
I checked out the girls' table to see how they were doing. Most of the rice was gone, but most everything else remained. Melissa and Austen, the two girls from Pine Richland tried most everything. It wasn't til later that I found out Caitlin is a vegetarian.
In the evening we took a boat ride on the Hoanpu River. Darkness falls early in this area of the world. They don't have day light savings and they are on the eastern end of their time zone. It was fairly dark by 7:30 PM. Shanghai was pretty well lit by neon all over. The Pearl Tower was pretty cool as well as many nice restaurants along the way. The girls were treated by a karaoke performance by Haoson. He did some sort of rap song in Mandarin. We all gave him a rousing round of applause as well as the locals. A parent of a local child asked the girls to pose for pictures. Soon after many many kids were asking to pose with them. It took nearly 30 minutes to leave the boat as at one point at least 30 kids were in some of the pictures. This was the first of many opportunities for the girls to feel special.
July 11
Just as suspected; the sun comes up early in Far East. Light started shining through the drapes at 4:00 AM. I felt rested and decided to do some investigating by taking a walk down the street. There were a few people out and about, mostly workers on bicycles on their way to work. I checked out the VW dealer next to the hotel. The cars were pretty much the same as ours, though the Passat was the car of choice. I did not see the Jetta nor SUV.
Two hours later we had a breakfast buffet which consisted of noodles that look like bread sticks, a porridge type cereal, eggs, rice and vegetables. Yes, there was coffee and some light pastries. One thing to mention; slurping is legal in China. I felt like one of Pavlov's dogs as I expected to slapted across the cheek at any moment.
After breakfast we headed to the Yu Yuan Gardens. This is an area with very old Chinese architecture, beautiful gardens and rock formations. We took several pictures of the buildings and walking bridges. The walking bridges zig zag because in ancient times it was believed monsters were in the water. It is said the monsters swim in straight lines. The zig zags thwart the monster's ability to capture those who walk the bridges.
We lost Moe somewhere in the gardens. My cell was supposed to work in China, but I couldn't place calls. It was odd that I could receive them. Moe finally called and he was standing some 20 yards away so we didn't lose or soon-to-be most revered traveler.
We did a lot of shopping and I bought a stuffed panda for a friend and a jade medallion. I'm not sure why I bought the medallion, I guess I got caught up in the bargaining ~ a national sport in China. The vendor started at 485 and I got her down to 80. That's around 12 US. The medallion symbolized long life and happiness. It turns out, everything it China symbolizes long life and happiness. A special thanks to the guy from Florida who tipped me off that he was able to get the same medallion for 80 Yuan.
Most of the students and parents were bargaining as well. Parents bought jewelry, paintings ties and dresses. I forgot to caution the players about the art students. It's a scam used quite regularly. Vendors pose as art students and sell "original" works or art, usually at a pretty high premium. A couple of the kids bought stuff, but at least they liked it and that's all that really matters. I just didn't want them wasting their money.
After a lunch of dumplings we headed to the Shanghai Museum to see ancient artifacts. Much of what was on display was from BC. There was also an exhibition of relics from the Ancient Olympics. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. We could tell that the Chinese are really excited and proud that they will host the 2008 Games. Shanghai will host soccer. God Bless the players because it's pretty hot and humid in Shanghai.
After the museum visit we headed to Nantong, the city that will host us for Volleyball competition. At the main hotel we met the families that were to host me, Moe and the girls. Most of the girls were pretty apprehensive about getting split up, but we had to do it as the hosts put a lot of effort into selecting host families. Each family that wanted to host us had to go through a series of interviews and their homes had to be inspected. I left with my host student, Spring. The girls were soon picked up. Two girls did not sign up to be hosted and stayed with their parents. Moe's host came with a television crew. This turned out pretty cool because Austen's host came about the same time and she was interviewed as well. Moe was interviewed just about every night due to his father's fame and his past experience with the NBA.
July 12:
Man that sun comes up early! I was up by 3:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. Thankfully I brought a few books to pass the time. My host mom woke up around 6:30 and started cooking breakfast. I could get used to this. We had bread, yogurt and a hot cereal consisting of rice and oatmeal. We slurped away and headed back to the hotel to gather the girls for practice.
On the way to the hotel, Spring told me that the school year consists of 2 terms of more than 100 days each. Classes are rigorous and students study very hard, even in the summer. Final exams determine where students fit into the system for the next year and their class rank determines the level of college the student will attend. Good jobs are hard to come by for graduates so they work hard to get them. Spring wants to be a computer programmer.
We arrived at the hotel and I was glad to hear that all the girls loved staying with their hosts. The two girls who did not sign up to be hosted were allowed to go with their friends so they could enjoy the same experience. This turned out to be super as some of the hosting students helped with translating and we asked them to go along with us on tours.
We headed to the school for practice and the adults were taken on a tour of the school by the Principal. The delegation presented him with presents and such while we were in one of the hottest gyms I have ever experienced. We used to take mandatory water breaks at JO tournaments in the pre-convention center national tournaments. This was worse than that. The vice principal said that this is the nature of developing countries. This area of the China is very near the 30 degree parallel.
Warm up consisted of light calisthenics, defensive floor moves, blocking at the net then ball handling. The fun part of warm ups was watching our girls do cartwheels with the other team. That something I don't see in American practices. I did some ball handling with one of the girls since we had an odd number. My shirt was soaked so I asked Coach Xia if she had a spare player to work with one of ours. She gladly sent someone. After warm up, they played team defense, 3 on 3, 4 on 4 then 6 on 6. The girls competed pretty hard in the humid gym after the stopped complaining about the conditions. I think the team should compete well even though we are a bit younger and smaller.
At the end of practice the girls tried to talk to each other, but there was a bit of language barrier. Thankfully a few student translators were available. I took a lot of pictures as well as a host parent. The male assistant coach asked to take a picture with Gretta and Logan, two of our blonds. All the Nantong girls started teasing him. It was quite funny.
We left for lunch and returned to the school's auditorium for a show. The English class put on a show similar to the Oprah Winfrey Show. The moderator was a female student who told us a bit about the history of the school and asked questions of our group about Pittsburgh and America. The purpose of the show was to break down cultural barriers. There was a game at one point where one of our students or staff was pitted against one of their students. Hate to say, they know more of our history than we know of theirs. I was pleased to see that one of students knew that Philadelphia's Ben Franklin discovered electricity. The Nantong students sang songs and performed customary dances to our applause. Our kids showed them how to dance to the song Superman and our parents and students showed them the Macarena, something we do at weddings. The last song performed by the Nantong students was a song done at the South Korean Olympics. The theme was one person at a time can change the world. There was not a dry eye in our group and we all gave a standing ovation. At the end of the show we were asked to break up into small groups for private questioning and discussions. The Nantong students were interested in our collegiate entrance procedure. As with most events we stood for group photos.
We were supposed to head to the basketball court to see a game between two student groups and then Moe Barr was to participate in a free throw shooting contest. We headed to the courts and as we were waiting for things to take place, our girls shot hoops with the general student population. Mostly boys were shooting with them. Even in China, the boys try to show off for girls. One boy dribbled hard to the hoop, jumped and slammed the ball home!
The rains came and didn't let up. We stood under an overhang for quite a long time waiting for a lapse that never came. The bus was called and we loaded for the hotel. The evening concluded with dinner and the girls, Moe and I headed to our host homes.
July 13
We started the day with a walk to the gym and posed outside the school under the tournament banner in our team uniforms. Dignitaries from China volleyball showed for opening ceremonies. Mr. Yu who is the head of youth development for the CVA arrived in the morning as well as a professional coach and manager. They gave speeches as well as the school principal.
We opened the tournament against a team from about 40 kilometers from Nantong. They looked a bit young and I thought we could take them. We opened with a fairly nice lead, but the opponents steadied themselves and took the lead around 14. We were never able to overcome the mistake I made when I switched a middle and outside in the lineup. Our serve reception patterns were a bit messed up in places. In game two the lineup mistake was corrected and we seemed to play worse; either that or the other team started to play better. We didn't give the defensive effort necessary to win. Kristin Wingrove passed well for not competing since the school year and Gretta and LeAnn Haus hit well and picked up a lot of balls on defense.
In our second match we played an even stronger team and we didn't get things going from the beginning. We couldn't get our middle attack to connect. It was merely a problem of not practicing enough together. We had 5 practices prior to leaving. We had a full squad at the last practice, but no one else showed to compete against them. We could only work on serve receive, but never defense.
Funny Story ~ Corny Galdones sat on our bench as assistant coach. He helped me keep the FIVB rules straight and generally kept me company. I've known Corny since 1992 when I started going through USAV referee training. We roomed together at many tournaments and grown to be very good friends. Prior to the match he told me that this opponent would hit all their middle attacks toward our setter. So I gather the girls together for the pre-set huddle and tell them that our crack Filipino scouting system told me the information above. We adjust our defense only to watch the opponent hit the next 5 balls the other way. I stand up, turn to Corny and tell him, "You're fired!" He just chuckled and the rest of the attacks went towards the setter. The match on the other court finished early and it was nice to see the Nantong team behind our bench cheering for us.
We had about 3 hour break for lunch and rest. All the teams headed for the cafeteria. The cooks did a great job of trying to give us an American meal. There were hamburger patties, French fries and chicken wings along with the usual Chinese fair. The girls ate lightly as they were promised lunch at the pizza hut. Patty Freyermuth, Patty Decker and Lisa Meinert took the girls while the men ran out for a quick beverage. Unfortunately the beverage was warm and we cooled off in Corny's room.
We were to head to the gym by 3:00 and I had the kids report the lobby at 2:30 for the short walk. Well it rained so hard you couldn't see out the window. Water was rushing in through a hole in the wall that no one could find the source. I did my best to help to no avail. We usually call the bus, but the driver was ill. It calmed a bit and I started flagging rikshaws and cabs for the girls. The parents and I made it to the school walking under awnings and such.
The Nantong team was the most impressive and they have a resume to fit. Last year they won the National High School Championships and the World High School Games. Teams apply to be in the World High School games and there is only one team per country. The Chinese National High School Championships usually consists of 28 teams.
Nantong did whatever they wanted. They controlled the net and dug just about anything we hit. In set two they started serving balls in the net and hitting primarily from the back row. To our girls' credit, they still tried hard and were a bit upset the opponent took it easy on them. At one point Natalie asked me if they were doing that on purpose and I said, "They do everything on purpose."
At the end of the match I was asked to divide our squad in two and place them on opposite sides of the net. Each of the other teams selected players to participate in a heterogeneous match. That was great fun as both coach Xia and I substituted players freely until we reached 25 first. Austen announced that, "We finally won one in China!"
The match was over when teams walked in single file to the stage to collect Olympic goodies as awards and Moe Barr declared Nantong the champions. We took a lot of photos and headed for the showers. Later in the evening the mayor hosted a tournament banquet with all the participants, parents and coaches.
July 14
We headed to Suzhou which was named the Venice of the Orient. Suzhou is two hours north of Nantong and is known for pearls and silk. Natalie Masters won the "most Asian" award for wearing a pretty black dress. Her brother Darren was a close second due to his slit eyes. He had a rough night out with the bus driver and tour guide in one of the local watering holes. Along the way we saw a lot of small ponds that we later learned were either fish farms or pearl farms. Debe Masters pointed out that the ponds even had scare crows in the middle of them.
We visited the Yunyan Pagoda which was an old rickety tower about 9 stories high. It was extremely hot and humid. My shirt and pants were soaked by the end of the morning. We posed in front of a statue of Buddha and headed up the tower to see the city it overlooked.
We visited a pearl museum to learn that pearls come in 4 colors. However to find out if a pearl is fake, if you scratch it, the dust will be white no matter the color of the pearl. Pearls aren't shiny, they are matte in luster. We headed to the store and everyone did a bit of damage there.
Later we headed to a silk museum to see the history of the silk making process. Later were taken to a room for a fashion show. I commented to Pat Freyermuth that the pole was missing. She told me I was sick. The funny part was her hubby Bill came to me a few seconds later and told me he forgot to bring singles. We had a great group on this trip.
There was a gift shop at the end and everything was a bit overpriced. I figured out a bit later that the tour companies take us to "museums" and there are always gift shops at the end. I assume they get a cut. I walked out with two silk-stuffed pillows due to Corny's recommendation. Many of the girls looked for prom dresses. They were less expensive than home, but they didn't like the styles. I told them to be patient as we will be heading to Beijing.
Later we took a river tour and a young girl played a traditional Chinese instrument and sang folk songs.
We headed back were surprised by an unexpected boat tour of Nantong. Nantong is a city rebuilding. There is so much construction going on there it is amazing. We passed the middle school as it is right on the river. The architecture in the city is great and very pleasing to the eye. It was really hot and we all wanted to join the man swimming breast stroke past our boat.
Dan Hubert surprised the girls this night with a visit to McDonald's. His firm owns several Mickey D's in western Pennsylvania and he arranged a special party. We were whisked upstairs to the party room. Hamburgers, French fries and all the usual fair was there (though the filet-o-fish had a wasabi sauce). Their ice cream floats were juice with ice cream. The floats were great. The big surprise came when Ronald McDonald came to put on a show. Natalie Masters was his able assistant to the balloon tricks. Later he posed for pictures with everyone and handed each of the girls' special gifts. The adults received a few things as well. It was a great way to end a very busy day.
July 15
I took my host son, Spring, along with me on the tour. He had a nice time touring with the girls and local students. This day was used to tour the city and outskirts of Nantong. The day started off in the low 80's, but that soon was the low and we were sweating as usual. I've never experienced such heat and humidity.
The day started off with a tour of Wolf Hill, a Buddhist monastery, if you will. I announced on the PA system that Wolf Hill will be known in a 1000 years from now that Dan Hubert visited the place on his tour or China. That statement would later come to be a fun part of the trip. We climbed the 150 meter hill to the top to take pictures of the temple and the city the hill overlooked. The head monk soon heard that Americans had come for a visit and he canceled his meeting to spend time with Dan Hubert. I think Corny and Dewei were there, but I was off taking photos and such. Dan was blown away by the experience as this is similar to being with the Pope. He sat in the same seat as Chairman Mao and other famous heads of state. We teased him a bit afterwards and made him sit in the tour guide's seat.
Nantong is known for textile production. We visited their local museum, similar to Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum. They had old relics, wedding dresses, dinosaurs and items related to textile production. The museum was the first free public museum in the country. We also later toured a textile factory and shop, but very little was purchased. Silk was on the mind.
Afterward we took a quick tour of Nantong University's grounds. The university is quite modern as they are consolidating local universities into one large university. The local students said the university wasn't a top level university. These students want to study in Beijing or Shanghai. They have so much pressure on them.
We were dropped off early and all of our delegation members were asked to have dinner with their host families. I asked Corny to come along with me. We met springs extended family and enjoyed a meal with many varieties of fish. I passed on the pig's feet, but Corny said he grew up on the stuff. He gladly took my share. I was very impressed with the father. He is in service sales for a CNC lathing company and travels quite a bit. When he heard I was coming he bought 3 English textbooks and handled the language quite well for a rookie. I also enjoyed our breakfasts that his wife prepared. They are a couple 42 years old and quite handsome together. She spoiled me every day with breakfast and clean clothes. We took a few pictures of which Spring and I later downloaded to his computer. Tomorrow I would be leaving a family who I greatly enjoyed spending time with them.
July 16
We headed out of town to Yangzhou (pronounced Young Joe). The kids and parents told of their dinners the night before. It turns out that staying with host families was a great idea. Many friends were made with students of the general population. Many were impressed with the level of housing stock. There are some beautiful homes along the river as well as throughout the city.
Youngzhou is famous for gardens. They are as large as many of our bigger parks and well adorned with flowers, bushes and trees. Usually they are along lakes and waterways. The first garden we visited was the He Garden. It had been in one family or another for over 1000 years. At one point I joked with Dewei and asked him if this garden had been in his family. He played the joke back with me and told me it had. So not knowing he was playing a trick on me, I let several Pat Freyermuth in on this little tid bit of information and the news spread through the group. Later on, Dewei confessed and we had a good laugh.
Lunch was awesome in Youngzhou. We stopped at a restaurant famous for dumplings. This was our favorite meal to this point in the trip. Even the girls were happy to enjoy the dumplings. We learned that there are 18 varieties of dumplings and we sampled most of them. The nice treat at the lunch was that Dewei's extended family lived in the area and we were able to visit him for lunch. His grandmother and several cousins chatted with us and that was special.
Later in the day we visited the Da Ming Si Garden or temple. This garden had a very unique temple several stories high. The temple or tower was unique to most temples I had visited. First it was very open and air flowed through quite nicely, cooling us off a little. Secondly, who ever designed it was a genius. At each floor look out area a different focal point was highlighted. Some things could be seen at one level and not at another. One floor would reveal a building or gazebo another would reveal a lake or garden. It was truly a treat.
The last place and most beautiful garden we visited was Shou Xi Lake or West Lake Gardens. There were beautiful landscaping well adorned. They had a vehicle covered in flowers that I dubbed the prom mobile and we loaded the girls for pictures. We walked along the complex through paths over bridges and around gazebos. Corny found a neat swing in the shape of a moon. So the he posed as the Old Man on the Moon for photos.
We later had a farewell dinner with our tour guide. He was truly a fun guy who took real good care of us. He purchased all the drinks that evening and we had several toasts throughout the meal. Later we gave him a few gifts and headed for the train station. We were off to Beijing on the night train!
We concocted a plan to get on the train, but didn't follow it too well. All the guys were to go on first to help put the luggage in overhead; the girls were to follow and then the mothers. Well as all good plans there was a mix up. We were told we had the beds in the first 9 rooms. As it turned out we didn't have the first two beds in room one and that screwed us up. I was given the tickets and had them in the back of the line. So it took a while to load up as the tickets made their way down to the first several folks in line. However, all worked out and we got situated for an 8 hour train ride through the night. Corny was the first to go to bed and was out immediately. Mike Decker, Jerry Masters, Bill Freyermuth (that name has to like beer); Dan Hubert and I had a few beverages while we waited for the train to start. Soon after Jerry, his son and daughter played a few hands of gin and we sat around and shot the breeze. The rooms had 6 beds; 3 on a side. Moe announced that Pat Freyermuth was the first woman he slept with since his wife passed. She got a kick out of that. Soon all were sound asleep to the sound of the train clicking over the rails.
July 18
Hello Beijing and the first of a few surprises. Most of us were awake by 6:00 AM and the train arrived shortly after 6:30. We spent the time checking out the scenery. There really isn't much, but the passing by of a bullet train or two and the new Beijing train station (at least that's what we think it's to be). The new one will be really nice. The design is almost like an arena of some sort.
As the train neared the station, Dewei asked me to look out the cabin window. The first surprise of Beijing ~ Grace. Grace and I met last year during the boys' trip. She was the translator and host for the South Korean delegation. Grace is a bundle full of energy and always so very happy. She teaches first grade at the Jingshan School and that position fits her perfectly.
Grace met us with our second tour guide and they took us through the station to our new bus. From there we headed to our new hotel. At first glance, Beijing is really different. The traffic was much more organized than last year, everything looked neat and clean and most of the construction that we saw last year was completed. The definitely will be ready for the Olympic Games.
We had a little trouble with room keys as most people hadn't checked out from the night before. They told us we could have 6 rooms to start and the rest would come later. We divided the group up for showers and such, then magically 13 tickets appeared and we had to start all over. Language barriers definitely hurt in these instances. I can't thank Patty Decker enough for handling this as it was very confusing.
We ate breakfast and headed for the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square. I visited both places last summer and the Forbidden City was a bit of a disappointment last year due to the reconstruction. Scaffolding was all over the place last year. This year, I enjoyed the fruits of the labor. The palace is regally adorned with a fresh coat of paint. The buildings gleaned with gold roofs, red walls and designs of blue, gold green and red. The girls were treated as models as so many people either wanted their picture or wanted to take pictures with them. At one point we were delayed 15 minutes. Grace taught them to say "one more time, please" in Mandarin and that helped a little.
We walked briskly through Tienanmen Square as we had a lot of area to cover. One of these days I'd like to see Chairman Mao's tomb and the People's Congress. However, I'm one up on Dewei as I have seen the raising of the National Flag as Sunrise. Dewei has never done this. He says I'm Chinese now.
After another good meal we headed to the Temple of Heaven. I've been to the TOH twice before and again was very happy to revisit. All of the construction that took place last year was complete. I could see areas that were blocked from view by construction barriers and grounds and buildings were beautifully repaired.
One neat thing done for the Olympics is that giant TV screens were placed at historic sites. The screens are there to broadcast the games. We passed by as China and Russia were playing a women's match. We almost sat down to watch, but we had to press on. We had to finish the tour to get to our own match at one of the sport schools.
We boarded the bus to our match and Mike & Patty Decker and I chatted along the way. Now I need to set up this story. Several days ago in Nantong we had a dish called Stinky Tofu. When the dish arrived in the room, I immediately started checking my armpits and other possible sources of the terrible odor. I couldn't place its source. Finally Haoson told us that it's the dish on the table called "stinky tofu." He said it tasted better than it smelled. A few of us sampled it and literally spit it out of our mouths. Hoason took a taste and did the same. He said that's unusual. I'm telling you, it smelled like something out of a sewage plant. I know this is bad pool to tease someone about bad B.O. but we did get a kick out of this.
I mentioned to Mike and Patty how glad I was to take that shower in the morning. We toured a complete day and traveled by train through the night and were all feeling dingy. Patty said, "I'm just glad Moe finally took a shower. Mike quipped, "Ya, he was starting to smell like stinky moe fu." I told him congratulations; you made an entry in tonight's journal.
We had perfect weather as the temperature was in the mid 80's and there was little humidity. The skies were fairly blue as well. Something we didn't see much of last year was blue skies. It turns out, each day had blue skies.
We arrived at the school for our match. The players looked a good bit younger than those on the teams we faced before. We found out that this was their 15 and under team. Finally, Kassie would be up against players her own age. Austen took one look and asked if they had to be 6 foot tall to be on the team. Several were much taller than me. We had a nice gift exchange, played a 3 game set which we won games 1 & 3. The girls staved off 4 match points and finally won two real points for the victory. The last point was a stuff block by Melissa Morgan. We could tell that this team is going to be very good in short time. Their setter was unstoppable. Corny teased Natalie when the setter would dump in the front row. I decided that Natalie had her own personal coach for the trip. Grace really helped the girls at the match. They were told to take showers, but they didn't have towels. Grace came to the rescue and appeared with 9 new towels.
We headed for a special Peking Duck Dinner with Principal Fan of the Jingshan School. Principal Fan hosted our delegation last year and agreed to meet with us this year. The restaurant was super. Nixon and Carter had their pictures on the wall. A former student of the Jingshan School was the manager and several of the waitresses were students. They told us the history of Peking Duck in English which was nice treat. Everything about this meal was great. Every appetizer, soup and vegetable was tasty and we were comfortable eating everything. So we figured the food was getting better or we were getting used to it. We agreed the food was getting better.
In the evening usual suspects sat in the lobby to toast a few libations and recap the day's events. These little social gatherings are nice way to end a day. It was truly nice being in Beijing.
July 18
We woke up at 6, headed to McDonald's for takeout breakfast then headed for the Great Wall of Badaling. We wanted to get there early to beat the heat and crowds. We arrived and took a few pictures in front of the "One World, One Dream" sign that the Great Wall overlooked, then proceeded to walk as far as we could. Corny was pretty quick to the finish. Melissa and Austen made it to the end and soon, Mike, Patty, Susan and I made it as well. We took several pictures at the last gate and I posed with a few young kids. Austen and Melissa did something neat. They hiked down outside the wall. They told me at one point they were under the "One World, One Dream" sign. That's pretty cool. It's really tough walking the wall. It's steep; there are ramps to go up the short hills and steps to climb the steep hills. The steps are very uneven. However, they are great for building leg strength, as my heart was racing while climbing. The scenery is awe inspiring. Go visit because it cannot be adequately described.
We headed for the Summer Palace which is another venue I saw last year, but this year we were able to see more. The Summer Palace was built for an Empress called the Dragon Lady. She isn't adored because she treated her subjects very poorly. She also controlled who was to be the Emperor for some period of time. The Summer Palace is very very beautiful. There is a manmade lake and our treat was to take a boat ride across. From the middle of the lake one could see all the buildings in full regalia.
July 19
The big surprise.
Last year the NA Girls volleyball team hosted the Qiqihar volleyball team. Qiqihar is in a Province east of Mongolia. Our teams became great friends and the coach helped host our boy's on the second leg of last year's tour. Qiqihar played in the national championships while we were in Nantong.
I woke up Saturday and headed downstairs for breakfast. When I walked out of the elevator I saw a group of very tall girls, but didn't take a good look. All the sudden one says good morning Gerry and I immediately welled up. It was the girls from last fall. We took them downstairs for breakfast and called our girls out of their rooms. They ate together, laughed and had a really good time. The coach surprised us by getting a later transfer in Beijing so we could meet. All posed for pictures. We exchanged gifts and headed for the bus as both teams had to get on their ways. I broke down when one girl yelled to Darren Masters, "Goodbye my American brother!"
Off we went to see the Olympic Stadium (Birds Nest) and Natatorium (Water Cube). Then off to the airport. Grace helped us check our bags and we walked to customs. She gave me a big hug and we kissed goodbye. I'll truly miss Beijing.
