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Day 7 - Today was not what I supposed it would be. I thought we would spend the majority of our day at PuJi High School learning about the National and Provincial tests the students are taking this weekend. We spent all of 10 minutes at the school and spoke 2 sentences about the tests. A deep and meaningful conversation on assessment it was not.
Instead, we drove to an hour east to Baoji to meet Ms. Joae's (Joe) two sisters and their children. Tom (13 year old boy) and Sky (14 year old girl) are their "English" names. They told me their Chinese names and I quickly chose to call them Tom and Sky. They are very nice kids. Tom is fun, carefree and humble. Sky is funny, bossy and like the spotlight. Two very normal teenagers.
We started at the tomb of Hao Cheng, the best farmer in the history of China and walked the steepest stairs I have ever walked. (See blog picture.) We got to do an ancient ceremony of making your body healthier by rubbing and hugging a stone…Don't say it…C'mon people, when in China… J
We then went to a Bronze Museum. Chinese began making things out of bronze in 3000 BC, a little before everyone else. J They have unearthed many ornate examples of bronze items. We looked at every freakin' one of them for four hours. My feet were killing me. It was cool for the 1st 3 minutes, after that a bit tedious. They seemed to be having a good time, so I played along.
We ate some good food. It is all beginning to taste the same, but it is fairly good for me…so ZI play along. J
After lunch we went back to walking. We walked around a cool square, up some more flights of stairs and stood on the top of a great Chinese tower. The views were spectacular. Then we looked at Chinese scrolls and writing for another hour…they were having fun…so yes, I sucked it up.
By this time it was 6:00pm. Everyone was exhausted. We said our goodbyes and started our hour long ride home. After another nice, but small meal (talked them into a small meal) I arrived back to my hotel. They came into the hotel to help me find out why the wifi was not working. Come to find out, they do not have wifi. They guessed that a guest had a personal wifi on my floor and I was able to tap into it. The front desk pointed us toward an Apple store where I could purchase some headphone/mic combo, so I could skype my family. When I pulled out my money, the Ma's freaked out and would not let me pay. After arguing for literally 5 minutes, I decided to withdraw my protest and tried to be gracious as they paid for my headphones. I felt terrible, but I could tell they felt great…so yes, I sucked it up again.
Weary and sunburnt, I sit in my hotel room looking forward to the sleep ahead of me. My 8:30 pick up is not far away. Day 8 eight, and hump day, here I come!
Shi' Shi'!
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