First off, we made some new friends today! We visited a local high school in Beijing and traded performances with the other students, as well as email addresses. They first sang this sweet song in english (that neither of us actually recognized, but we loved it all the same), and then we sang Surgere Tentamus, as well as taught them some dance moves, including the Single Ladies Dance. We got to take a look at their classroom which was definitely different from Westridge. They taught us some Chinese characters as well, and while some of us played a game of hangman, Melia, Nicole and Caitlin owned the Chinese boys in a mini-basketball game.

After saying goodbye to our new friends, we left for yet another huge lunch. FYI mom and dad, we might need some new pants. We eat fantastic amounts of food. We then set off for the Lama Temple which was so so cool ! There was the 26 meter tall statue of Buddha, acknowledged in the Guinness Book of World Records, as well as one of the sutras and many Buddhist statues.

THen we took a fourty-minute busride journey to an acrobatics show. At one point we all thought one of the acrobats would not make it because he was BLINDFOLDED walking on a SPINNING WHEEL IN THE AIR and it was terrifying, but we all survived that scare (as did he, fortunately), and then set off for yet another huge dinner, where Melia successfully asked where the bathroom is in Chinese (sounds something like "tisoah tsai naar?"). A bunch of us played a music trivia game at dinner, where Mrs. Eichelberger showed her extensive musical knowledge. Then as we exited the four-story restaurant, it began to rain, and so the bus was well received by all. We then made our way back to the hotel and we are packing our bags to prepare to embark on a train journey tomorrow to Luo Yang! (spelled something like that).

Some of the pictures posted today are from past days, but we hope you enjoy them all the same.

From Veronika: Lara I can smell you all the way from China. Go take a shower. See ya layta, skayta.

Until next time! Leronika, OUT.

Jonathan and Linz

Chillin' in the airport before takeoff

Walking in Tian'amen square

In front of the Olympics Water cube in Beijing

The "Ambitious" group on the top of one of the Great Wall towers

Hanging out with our friends at the Chinese School

- ARI

Giselle

-Jessica

By the way...THIS SCREEN IS CRAZY.. I DONT KNOW WHAT I JUST TYPED...so sorry about any typing problems

"Typing at the computer...sitting in silence..." [quote from Jonathan's 'rap' as we speak] This blog post has taken way too long to write because Jonathan has been singing random songs the entire time and apparently he is trying to write his own now. It's going to be a long 4 days...just kidding = ] I know we are all secretly going to miss everyone who has been a part of this trip. Hope all is well at home. ~Erin

Nicole

The day started off bright and early, with a 6:30am breakfast. Despite several delays we eventually got off to the trainstation where we said goodbye to our new friends James and Linda. All 20 of us boarded the rapid-transit train in 2 minutes while battling for spaces with another (Russian) tourgroup. However, once on board the trip went smoothly, giving us a nice opportunity to view the country side which has been somewhat degraded by agriculture and mining.

Then, we met our new guide, April, who is perhaps one of the most adorable people on Earth. We checked into our hotel whose entrance was in an alley, ate lunch, and got ready to tour.

Our first stop was the city wall. It is huge, and much more massive than what we saw of the great wall. We rented bikes to ride around the wall. We had some first time bike riders who faced the challenge admirably! It was a really cool experience and I learned to ride my bike without holding the handlebars! Although, I need to say this to please the parents, every single one of us wore helmets.

After that we went to the city wall, which wa pretty cool. We walked through some sub-surface walkways with a bunch of interesting ads. The Bell Tower is the center of the city of Xi'an, so on each of the four sides (North, East, South, West) we could see the central streets extend for what seemed like forever. On our way back to our bus we had our first encounter with pick pocketing (RIP Caitlyn's Camera).

Then, we went to a restaurant where we learned how to make dumplings. We sported some very sylish aprons and hats reminiscent of the french style. Those dumplings are hard to make and I've earned hightened respect for everyone who can make a non-deformed dumpling. After cooking, we had a meal which consisted of . . . dumplings! There were at least 10 courses of dumplings which included Shark fin, fesh-water turtle, pickles and many many more.

After dinner we went to get massages at a local palce. The environment was very strange, people were continuously talking, the lights were on and we were in a room with three other people (our friends). Although, I did leave the massage feeling quite refreshed.

Finally, we went back to the hotel and hit the hay. It was a long day (when are they not?), and I slept very, very well.

--Lizzee

Mother Earth decided to give us some rain today which was pretty awsome...to be able to see China through a rainy day. Umbrellas and hoods ready we took on another day full of unbelievable experiences.

First stop, Terra-cotta warrior making. At first it seem pretty simple to make a mini warrior but it turns out its harder than it looks! We paired up and added local clay to the models and then waited for the clay to harden a bit so we could take them out of the model. After a few minutes we each took out our warriors which turned out to look a lot different from the perfesionals...suprise suprise. Although our warriors had a few holes and extra clay everyone seemed to enjoy the outcome. After we finished the mini tour of the world of making Terra-cotta warrior replicas we made our way to the exit, which ofcourse was after about 7 different gift shops. Sellers desperate to sell and a few Westridge girls ready to bargain.

Next we took our anxious hearts to the Terrra-cotta Warrior Museum. Walking in and seeing the exact same image we have all seen a billion times in school, movies, books was absolutely surreal. After a wonderful presentation about the Terra-cotta warriors by Clare (without her notes might I add) we roamed the different pits filled with soldiers and horses. Overwhelmed by the amazing life sized, detailed warriors we were all ready for lunch. Lunch was delicious...as usual.

After lunch we drove to the Starfish Children's Foster Home. Everyone was really excited and anxious to give their love to the babies and toddlers. I knew 52 babies was a lot and it was going to be difficult but I had no idea how much work it really was until I walked in an saw about 6 nannies and 26 babies all in a little apartment. I expected to be really rough when the founder of the foste home, Amanda de Lange, said the "yuckiest" case was a baby boy who was born with its bladder exposed, so from his belly button to his waist there was a hole that exposed this bladder. Although I was a little frightened by this I tried to go in completely open minded and willing. "My" baby, as everyone called the baby they were paired with, was Antonia and she was SUPER ADORABLE (as all asian babies are, but mine was extra cute!). When I got there she was drinking a bottle and she was really shy. We played a little game of hide and seek in the kitchen while she started to warm up to me. After a couple of minutes she went to the little car and finally she let me pick her up and help her get on the car. I was so excited the first time I made her laugh because I was afraid she would be too shy. Unfortunately Antonia and many other babies had to take baths but there were plenty of babies to play with. While Antonia was bathing I sat down to play with this cute little baby boy that was playing by himself. I played with him for about an hour while Antonia was bathing and eating some solid food. After about an hour of playing with this boy I realized that I didn't know his name so I asked one of the nannies and she said Thomas. I was so suprised and excited that I was able to make Thomas giggle and smile and have fun even though he had "the yuckiest" (as Amanda said) case. Having his bladder exposed didn't stop him from having fun like all the other kids which was really reassuring. After Antonia finished eating I played with her (and Thomas off and on) for the rest of the time. While we were all getting ready to go and saying bye to "our" babies I noted that there was a piece of paper taped to the front door that said Antonia, mom (and a picture of a woman), dad (and a picture of a man), brothers (and a picture of two young boys), and Canada. I quickly asked Jonathan if he knew if that was "my" Antonia and he asked Amanda and she said that "my" Antonia was getting adopted. It was SO EXCITING to hear that Antonia was being adopted...my face got hot and I got the chill I was so excited! Sadly we had to leave and I said bye to Antonia and Thomas. It was a really cool experience to give our love to the babies at the foster home! As many Westridge girls says (and I totally agree)...asian babies are the cutest ever!

After a tiring yet super fun 3 hours of playing with babies we went back to the hotel to eat dinner. Dinner was different than usual because a bunch of raw food was layed out and we each had our own mini pots with fire and we all added whatever we wanted into our soap. It was fun! The table I sat at had almost 3 plates of bread rolls with condense milk..so yummy! And we also had watermelon with condense milk which Ari discovered and is also really good! Meal times are always really fun because we all make jokes and laugh and bond...plus food is always good.

Now some of us end the day by visiting the internet cafe which is filled with people. Gamers and smokers are the majority of the people who come here. The guy next to me smokes. Who knew internet cafes could also be part of the many experiences in China!

Good night, don't let the bed bugs bite!

-Metzli

p.s. HI DAVID! i miss you! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!!

IT RAINED.
IN Xian, today. Drizzled really, but who cares. IT WAS AWESOME! Atleast for rain-lovers like myself.

Anyways, so today we did three things, not necessarily in this order: See the magnificent terra-cotta warriors, MAKE our own miniature statues, and go to a foster care home with app. 50-something babies all waiting to be cooed and awed over by teenage girls.

Our own miniature warrior creation were made in a greenhouse-type building, where we picked out a split rock carved out inside to shape a warrior, handed two pieces of clay, and molded each into a side of the carved rock. While some kind of...did not stick to the other side to make a warrior with a hollow body, we were able to wrestle them into something resembling a human figure. After that it was off to the terra-cottas.

The rain made the day foggy and very very cold, especially on the go-cart ride to the terracota warrior museum, but it was worth it. We saw an 18 minute film on the history of the warriors in a surround-screen room, if that makes any sense, and then headed off to see 4 of the pits housing the warriors. IT WAS AMAZING. Some of them weren't escavated yet, as we must leave some for future generations of archaelogists, AND because the color had completely worn off the ones already dug out (You would never have imagined those brown terracottas had actually been painted colors of the rainbow).

After that, we headed off to a near restaurant (very hungry after all the walking) and ate a yummy lunch. Lastly we headed off to a foster care home on the outskirts of Xian, in a new residential neighborhood. We were divided into two groups (there were two apartments housing them). There we met the little kiddos.

THE BABIES/TODDLERS. WERE. ADORABLE.
You wouldn't believe how hard it was to let go of them after three hours of spending time with them. Some girls like Veronica and Giselle held their babies (we were assigned a baby, but you didn't have to stick strictly with them all the time) practically the whole time, and they had a hard time letting go at the end. That was the hardest part. When everyone was leaving, we didn't know where to place the babies or what to do. I saw one baby lying on a baby rocker, holding his arms out, just staring at me. It was so heartbreaking.

BUT luckily the foster care has a great adoption rate, and I know several of the babies/toddlers were already set for adoption.
The thing is, if anyone wants to adopt a baby from China:
1. You cannot be single
2. Must not be overweight.
3. Must have over 80,000 in assets saved.

YAH, kinda way out there, but okay. AND, here's a dispeller to a very common rumor among abandoned babies.
More boys are in foster care/orphanages than girls. Why? Because girls are usually (cruel as it is) aborted before they are ever born, with the whole male as heir/stronger thing. When boys are born with illnesses or other "weak" causes, they are left to fend for themselves.

Mkay, so last thing, we had a hotpot-style dinner at La Pinata, the restaurant in the second floor of our hotel. It was, needless to say, a very new experience for most of us. The food to be cooked in the boiling water ranged from egg and noodles to lettuce and tofu. The best part though, was the sweet bread dipped into condensed milk. Ohmigod, that was delicious.

So, we must pack today because tomorrow we fly back on a (small) plane back to Beijing, for one last day there for shopping and whatnot before heading back to dear ol' California.

再见!
(Goodbye!)

-Nayely

See you soon,
Caitlyn

Anyways, as I said, we just got back to Beijing, our flight from Xian leaving at about 4:15. We LEAVE FOR L.A. AND HOME TOMORROW (SORRY ABOUT THE CAPSLOCK I'M OUT OF TIME AND THE COMPUTER'S ACTING UP). I SUPPORSE I HAVE MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT GOING HOME. I KNOW SOME PEOPLE HAVE BEEN MAKING LISTS ABOUT WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO DO IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING LANDING :) BUT I THINK EVERYBODY'S REALLY ENJOYED THE EXPERIENCE HER E IN CHINA. FOR MYSELF, I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO BEING HOME IN MY OWN (SOFT!) BED AND LIVING AGAIN IN A FAMILIAR WORLD. HOWEVER, I'VE HAD A REALLY REALLY REALLY AMAZING TIME IN CHINA. HERE, I REALIZED THAT I TAKE A LOT OF THINGS FOR GRANTED AT HOME. FOR EXAMPLE, AN ENTIRE STYLE OF TOILET AS WELL AS THE "SAFETY" OF TAP WATER :) FOR ALL THAT, THIS HAS BEEN A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE AND I'VE REALLY ENJOYED 'BREATHING' THIS ENTIRELY DIFFERENT CULTURE. :)

~CLARE

To view a mass quantity of photos from our recent China trip (including from the orphanage), please refer to the following page:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105480209487860&ref=ts

Thank you!