The Past Few Weeks

I know it's been a while, but I finally had time to write this, a.k.a. I couldn't sleep. So two weekends ago we went out into the country side, I was thinking to myself that'd it'd be cool to see it, so I was excited. When we got there, however, it wasn't your normal country side; it was a giant park with a huge lake created by a dam. We took a boat to one side of the park and then walked around. We, by we I mean my family and family friends and I, came across a mine of some sort. We were adventurous so we went in, and it was pitch black. I mean, you couldn't even see your hand in front of you pitch black. Then somebody had the bright idea to use a camera flash to blind everyone, cough cough me cough, to try and see the way. We eventually made it out and kept exploring. We walked 5 or so minutes and we came upon a beach, where we decided to hang out for a while. My host sister, the family friend's son and I rented a paddle boat and I had them paddle for a while. To get back though, I had to take over. We got back and went out to lunch where I tried some more interesting food. I tried a chicken's foot and lower leg and also goose meat. I also got to try the goose's lower bill and tongue. Delicious! lol We then went to a mountain, great like I hadn't seen a hundred of them before; but this one was different. It was a resort mountain. While I was there I rode a horse, played outdoor laser tag, and drove a go cart! I could have even flown this parachute-go cart contraption, but I decided to wait until a different day for that where I couldn't get in trouble for it. The go cart was awesome! It was an off road one and it went pretty fast. My host sister actually managed to flip hers, but don't worry, she was fine. Afterwards, we went back to Nanjing and had dinner. I had my first steak in months! I couldn't remember my last steak before that. It came with mashed potatoes, hash browns, and spaghetti! It was sooooooo goood. I never liked mashed potatoes before, but I loved them that night.

The following Saturday, my friends and I got on a plane to go to Xi'An for 5 days. In case you don't know why Xi'An is important, it's where the terracotta warriors are!!! Not only did I get to see them, I was also got to see some old friends from Beijing, Carlos from Costa Rica and Samantha from New Zealand, and also made some new friends, Jacob from Germany who spoke like 8 languages fluently, Elizabetta from Italy, Swantjie from Germany, Baerbel from Germany, Mary from Denmark, Arne from Germany, Emile from Germany, Moritz from Germany, and Marcus from Brazil. The first day, we checked in and went out to dinner. I shared a room with Sam, one of the Americans from Nanjing. The 2nd day was the big day, we went to see the Terracotta Warriors!!! They were sooooo cool. It was so weird to see them in person after seeing them for years on t.v. I got some cool presents there, I think you'll like them. After that we went to an orphanage to see what life is like there. The kids were nice enough, but the conditions were far too poor. I used a sink and brown water came out, and everything was covered in dust in that area. It was kind of sad really. We went back and had a dinner show. We had a lot of different dumplings while we watched one of the coolest ancient shows ever. The show was just breath takingly good. I wish you all could have seen it. The third day we went to a peasant farmer village, but they were all artists. We only saw one woman's art and it was sooo cool. I actually bought some of it, it was that good and that cool. You'll have to look at the pictures as soon as I put them up. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but her art is worth more than that, and much more than I can describe. Then we went to a different city but stopped in the most beautiful mountain range I have ever seen, and it looked so green in the rain. Once again, you'll just have to see the pictures. We finally made it to the other city where we went to an all you can eat western buffet. It wasn't that great, but hey, it was all you could eat western food. On the fourth day, we went to a museum and an old palace of the king who ruled it hundreds of years ago. It was kind of cool, not all that great really. we then took the 4 hour bus trip back to Xi'an, but after an all you can eat buffet for lunch. We got back to Xi'an and went to another buffet, so much food in so little time. We soon discovered that our new room opened up to a roof on the 2nd floor for the air condintioning and such. We, being the enterprising and fun loving teens we are, decided to throw a frisbee on top of it. When we came back later that night from exploring the city, we decided to go out and try again. It was really dark so it didn't work well, but we had fun and listened to some music and such. Soon there after, guards opened windows from a different room and told it was a bad idea to be out there, so we promptly ran to avoid them. We got away, and avoided trouble. On our last day we went to the Xi'an city wall where we rode bikes on top of it! It was soo much fun, and our group of 20 only crashed and broke one bike! after that, we went to this market bazaar sort of thing that was outside of a mosque. We stayed up all night watching horror movies because our flight home was really early. It was me, Molly, Sam, Sam from New Zealand, Elisabetta from Italy, and Jacob from Germany. We watched the Ring and the Eye, not all that scary, but what can you do? We came home on Thursday and now it's Monday morning at 1:23 am, and I'm writing a long overdue blog post. Keep on reading, and leave me a message down at the bottom! I'll be sure to put up the new pictures ASAP!
-Trey

A Wonderful Saturday and Easter Plans

Today was a great day. I started with going to Purple Mountain for a school function. It was to acknowledge the students who are 18 years old as adults. After that was over, we climbed the mountain, and there were parts where I actually go to climb!! I was excited for that. After that, we went to this sandwich shop and got lunch. Afterwards, we hung out in our classroom until 3, then we went and painted Easter Eggs!! Afterwards we went to the local lake and layed in the grass. We then decided to rent a boat for an hour and had some fun there! afterwards we went and got some fried noodles and ate them in the classroom. We finally went home after that so we can have fun tomorrow on Easter! Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Just when I thought the food couldn't get any weirder....

Before I begin, I just want to let everyone know I've added a few things to the blog so scroll down to the bottom and sign in to the guest book and leave a message!

SO if you thought that dinner I described was weird, then wait till you read this. First thing I try is the root of a water lily, not my cup of tea but it wasn't horrible. Then came the duck tongue. I thought it was a scorpion without a shell or something like that, but no, it was a duck tongue; actually a plate stacked high with them. Its this weird grey miniature of a human tongue except that it has two giant antenea like things that stick out like the part that connects your lower jaw to your upper jaw. It wasn't bad, but I couldn't eat more than one bite of it, i just couldn't get past the fact that it was a duck tongue. Then i had shrimp on a stick. Now the way they prepare seafood in China slightly differs than the fish fillet or the shrimp we know. In America it's all nicely prepared and de-boned and not looking at you as you eat it. In China however, they catch it, sell it at a market, while it's alive sometimes, and just cook it as is. So at dinner you have to feel guilty while your picking the bones out of your mouth while the fish looks at you. Its the same with shrimp, you have to rip the head, legs and shell off before you eat it. Then I tried duck palms, thats right, they actually eat those. Then some beef and pork that was what I was used to, yumm, and then with a baked duck soup. The way they roast a bird is also different here, they leave the head and neck on, so once again you feel guilty as you eat the animal while it watches you. To the Rainey family though, the soup tasted a lot like our slop, except there wasn't as much in there. All in all, the lunch was interesting, but it would have been better with grasshoppers, haha. If you think this is weird, one of the Americans in my group ate duck tongue a while ago, as well as rabbit head. They take a rabbit, remove the fur, and they cooked nothing but the heads. He says they were pretty spicy. In China, everyone thinks that everyone eats cats and dogs. We figured that was too main-stream because we know of a place where they take it up a notch. We haven't been there yet, but before we go we are all going to eat wolf and tiger meat!

I've got to go do my homework, enjoy the blog!