Tang Paradise

October 21, 2007

This is the beginning of week three, the last week of our Xi’an adventure.

We have not seen any churches while we have been here. Saturday and Sunday seem to be like any other day of the week. Students go to school on Saturday and it’s business as usual on Sundays. Sunday and no school to teach, we headed out for Tang Paradise. It was one of the attractions recommended by our leader and internet travel advisories. For comparison sake, this is like Epcot except all about the Tang Dynasty. This 160 acre park is dedicated to recreating the glories of the Tang Dynasty. The buildings and gardens are beautifully built. We saw costumes of the era, paintings, music concert with the Chinese instruments, a puppet show, and a spectacular lion dance/acrobat show with young boys. We spent the whole day slowly taking in the culture. We rented an English audio set but it didn’t tell us more that what was on the few signs in English. If you want the run down about this place, check the internet on the Tang Paradise Xian.

At lunch we chose a small restaurant that had outdoor seating. Unfortunately, the wait staff did not speak English so we pointed to the pictures that were posted outside. With hand language we tried to ask if the food was spicy hot. The waitress called someone from inside who spoke a little English but he got tongue tied. He then ran off to find someone else. A young lady from another restaurant came and she spoke enough English to tell us what kind of meat was in the food and understood that we wanted to share the meal family style as there were three of us (Rob, Rich & me). The dishes finally came and were very tasty. We enjoyed the whole experience.

Tonight’s dinner was with the remaining group of 13 volunteers who are now like a family. They all love Rich’s jokes and even request a joke at meals. His puns come so fast that they are now attuned to listening closely to pick up on them. We all now know each other quite well so it was a very pleasant evening sharing stories and gearing up for the coming week. Those of us at Rainbow School will be joined by John (taking Gladys’ place) teaching grades 4 5 6. Rich and I went to the GV office today to get ideas and materials for this age group. Luckily for me, I can sing songs all day long with young students. The others don’t have the experience so they are more apprehensive. Ah, another adventure coming up.