China — Day 5: June 2019

Friday, June 21, 2019

This was a fun day! Wet, but fun.

We started with a trip to the Terra Cotta Warrior museum / factory. The kids (meaning – anyone who’s not a parent!) got to make their own warrior (though they couldn’t keep it, since it takes a few days for them to dry, be fired in the kiln, etc). We took a tour and learned more about how the warrior figurines are made, along with other crafts like laquered furniture and bronze statues. Then, of course — time in the gift shop! We picked up a figurine for the house and the kids each got a small trinket.

Then, on to the main attraction — the site where the warriors were unearthed! It was super crowded and a bit of mayhem in the rain, but we got to see some of the “pits” where the warrior statues were unearthed and learn more about the history. Lunch onsite included “bang bang noodles” (made for the sound that the noodles make when they hit the counter when the noodle chef stretches them out).

In the afternoon, we visited a local school and got to see what a bit of a typical day is like for kids. They gave us a performance of a traditional Chinese poem; we got to see an art class (more like an art club) and got a demonstration by a local artist/teacher; and, probably the coolest part of all, was just to see the kids being kids.

Then we went to the nearby “village” (more like a suburb) for the evening. Each of us was assigned a host family to stay with. Ours included the mom and dad and a very cute 3 year old girl (her clothing said “Jeff” on it — it took a few minutes of rough translating to explain to them that was Dad’s name), plus the dad’s older brother and his wife, and then the dad’s aunt and her daughter and her daughter were there too (we couldn’t figure out if they lived together or were just visiting). We helped make dumplings for dinner — some turned out better than others — and then had a fantastic meal.

After dinner, the rain finally held up long enough to go to the square/playground for dancing. The women do this every night for exercise; today they mixed their standard dances with some USA favorites (YMCA, Chicken Dance) which the kids loved. We were all pretty tired from a great day so it was just a short walk back to the house to bed.

You can always go to the SmugMug gallery to view or download all of the pictures and video or order prints directly from SmugMug.