Saturday in Xi'An

We have been out of touch for a few days because Mrs. Donovan and I are Mac people, and this is a Windows kind of place. Mr. Baker arrived, and now we are in business again. The teachers at the school offered the use of their computers, but the keyboards are all in Chinese...

So, now for an update

We arrived in Xi'An on Wednesday after a two hour plane ride. We were driven to the school where we met up with the host families. The students left, and we did not see them again until this morning. The students are on the New Year's break, so class is not in session until Monday. We met up with the students this morning at the school, and received hugs and lots of information about what they've been doing- karaoke, visits to the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower, walks through the Muslim quarter, visit to a Chinese Amusement Park- an in-depth report on one host parent, who, after going on a ride with the kids, threw up in the cab, played basketball, ate pizza with very unusual toppings, and so forth!

Today we boarded a bus together and headed to the country. We visited a small village of 800 people and visited with an artist who paints village life. He gave us a demonstration of his technique, and then served us lunch. After lunch we looked through many paintings and selected ones to buy. After that we enjoyed drum music in the courtyard, followed by dragon dancing with our students.

We bid farewell to the village and headed back into the city. We visited the Xi'An history museum and saw relics over three thousand years old. Xi'An was the original capitol of China, and it's history is rich, and deep. There were a few terra cotta warriors on display, a taste of what we will see when we visit the site on Monday.

After the museum we went to a Tang Dynasty Plaza. The place was hoppin'! Thousands upon thousands of people enjoying food, dancing, acrobats, and the day. We saw people eating fish on a stick, coconut juice out of green outer husks of coconuts, roasted squid on a stick, and Tobias and Henry's personal favorite, scorpions on a stick!

Jan Baker