Chengdu, China

We're home, our brains full of memories and amazement from experiencing another culture. Jim had an amazing time with his classmates and others from around the globe, there to study more about acupuncture and oriental medicine. It was busy, one thing after another and we saw so much in such a short period of time. I'll start with the first picture. This is the massive plane that flew us from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. It took 14 hours. I wasn't comfortable at all, so it was hard to rest. Every time I would fall asleep, I would wake up hurting badly, so it was easier for me to stay awake and get up and down. I did watch a few movies on the screen on the back of the seat in front of me, so that helped some to distract me. I was pretty wiped out when we arrived, but snoozed a bit on an airport bench during our layover in Hong Kong. Next we flew on a smaller plane from Hong Kong to Chengdu. For the entire 2 1/2 hour flight, the cloud cover was so thick. Most days, while we were in Chengdu, the cloud cover was thick like this, which was nice because the days when the sun shone through, it was really hot.

After we checked into our hotel, we went walking around our area with Sarah, our translator that was assigned to help us out. It was about 2 in the afternoon and we wanted to get a little oriented before going to bed. We walked the entire afternoon, feeling a tad like zombies, but thoroughly enjoying seeing such a different culture.

Sunday, May 31st, we were invited to a Children's Day celebration at Dufu's Cottage.

The children gave the visitors gifts.

Sunday evening we went to the Foreign Affairs office. Jim, Becky and Ann got their lab coats to start at the hospital the next morning.

The three of them got to work and observe at the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It has the program that allows foreign students to study for a certain amount of time and to work in the hospital.After eating dinner Sunday evening, we walked around and ran across some people on a street corner dancing in big groups. There were three different groups. It was exercise type dancing and they were having so much fun!

Monday morning, I washed our clothes. I had to wash in the sink and hang them in the bathroom. We packed light, so we only brought 5 pairs of clothes. I am so thankful for a washing machine and dryer here at my home!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 The foreign students were invited to participate in this festival type program with the students from the University. I was invited to come along too. It was a cultural event celebrating Chinese medicine.

The foreign students joined the students of the University to do Tai Chi to some music.

After the Tai Chi, a soldier approached Jim and wanted to show him a few pointers about Tai Chi.

He was then approached by some reporters wanting to ask him some questions like "What do you think of Chinese Medicine?" He loved the attention.....

As I was not a part of the program, I was on the sidelines and taking most of the pictures of the program. A man kept taking my picture so I moved away from him several times. It took me taking his picture to get him to leave me alone.

We enjoyed watching a calligraphy master painting a sign while doing Tai Chi to some music. It was quite the exhibit to watch. He was a very skilled man.

When the show was over, they asked everyone to come sign a poster to show your support for Chinese Medicine. So we did.

Afterward, we visited the Wenshu Temple which was right down the street.

While walking around, we saw a little boys buns sticking out of his pants. This is what the pants look like for the little toddlers. No diapers folks......just cute buns.

Thursday evening, June 4, 2009 Some of the students from the University invited us to join them at a restaurant downtown called the Hot Pot. As you can see, there is a big pot in the middle of the table and everyone adds vegetables and meats to the pot and then you all eat from the pot. Quite the experience!

After dinner, we went outside and found a huge outdoor mall around the corner. We thought the sign on an Adidas shop wall was pretty funny.

Friday, June 5, 2009. At the Children's Day celebration, I met one of the teachers who taught the English class. She invited me to come and sit in on one of her classes. So Friday afternoon, I went to the school and to her classroom to just observe. I didn't take any pictures, but it was so much fun! She had four rows of 14 children. That's 56 children in one class! And the children were so well behaved. They respected the teacher and the teacher respected them. It was fabulous. The kids were so excited to have me in the classroom. They crowded around me to practice their English, which they were very good at, and to look at my blue eyes until the teacher called the class to order. Class begun with some massaging themselves on their faces and necks. It was a review class, so they reviewed things they had learned. I was very impressed. After class was over, many of the children came to me again wanting me to sign my name on their notebooks. It was so cute! I had brought some children's books from home to give away, so I gave some of them a book. I felt bad that I didn't have 56! It really was such a great afternoon for me. That evening after dinner, Jim and I went to a park called Peoples Park. We just strolled around the park and also saw more people dancing.

Saturday, June 6, 2009 We set out for the day at 7:30 in the morning. Between ourselves, Becky and Ann, we split the cost of hiring a driver to take us to the Panda Preserve and then two hours away to Leshan to climb the mountain the the Giant Buddha is carved in to. We wanted to take Sarah, our translater student, with us since she had never been to the Panda Preserve before. She agreed to come along. So our first stop was at the Pandas. Aren't they just so cute?

My favorite was watching the young ones. They were about 1 1/2 and just full of energy.

The Red Pandas were pretty too.

After eating some lunch, we set out to climb. Most of the way up was like this.

There is an active Temple at the top of the mountain. There were monks were chanting and there was a lot of food offerings in front of statues and things.

The Giant Buddha is 235 feet tall, just huge! The pictures don't do it justice, of course.

What a Saturday!

Sunday, June 7, 2009 We walked to a place people were calling the Antique Market.

After the Antique Market, we walked up the street to Green Ram Temple.

Near the back of the Temple, Jim was able to get some pointers from a Tai Chi master. He loved it!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 Jim didn't have a lecture in the afternoon this day, so we headed downtown to see the Mao statue and some surrounding things.

We went into a mall building across the street and rode the glass elevator to the top, the 11th floor, to take some pictures.

That evening we went to dinner with 8 other students and had a really nice time.

Thursday, June 11, 2009 There was no lecture again this afternoon, so a trip was arranged for a group of us to be driven to a huge herb market. We spent about 1 1/2 hours there. Tons of very interesting herbs to see.

Friday, June 12, 2009 This was the last day for some of the students. I was handed 7 or 8 cameras to take pictures. You should have seen me try to finagle that one! Jim received a certificate saying that he worked 67 hours, which I believe will go toward his internship hours.

In the afternoon, Jim and I went back down to the street called Jin Li street to buy a few things to bring back to some of our family and friends since it was our last afternoon there.

Early Saturday morning we went to the Chengdu airport and flew back to Hong Kong, then to Los Angeles. After about 32 hours of traveling, we arrived exhausted. It was wonderful and busy. So much to remember. What a trip!