Good evening everyone! or, Good Morning to you!Today we had a rather relaxing day -- not as stressful or busy as the previous days. We woke up bright and early (5am) to leave for the airport for our flight to Qingdao. Our flight was delayed about 45 minutes, but we made it to Qingdao safe and sound. Qingdao is very, very different from both Beijing and Xi'an. At only 120 years old, Qingdao has an almost European feel ... in fact, today Lauren said, "It doesn't feel like we're in China anymore." Qingdao was a colony of Germany in the years after the Opium War, through the end of World War I, when it was taken by the Japanese as part of the agreement in the Treaty of Versailles (allllll of these terms better sound familiar to all my students reading this!!!) Therefore, Qingdao's architecture and altogether structure of the city (the streets, the buildings, etc.) appear more European than Asian.
The weather today was not at all what we've been used to -- it was rainy and cold, as you can see in the pictures. The students had to huddle together to conserve warmth (ahem, spoiled from the 80 degrees we had in Xi'an yesterday). Our new guide, William, recognized that we were a bit tired and cold, so he ended our day a bit early. But before he did, he took us to a fantastically posh place for lunch (there was a cat walk down the middle of the restaurant, used for actual runway fashion shows) and a terrific seafood restaurant for dinner. The seafood was so fresh and so healthy -- according to Mrs. Carter and myself, it was the best dinner so far!!
Tomorrow, we're going to do some sightseeing in Qingdao, before heading to our sister school on Monday!
Until tomorrow :)
What a different day than all that you have previously experienced. It looks pretty dreary! Is that your guide with my girl? She looks really happy and by the look and sound of everyone else they are too! I hope that you all have a wonderful Easter and have an equally good meal then as well. Looking forward to tomorrow's post!
ReplyDeleteFinally....you are "enjoying" the same weather as we have here in CT! At least the weather held up for all the major sightseeing excursions you've done. Tell Jess we got her e-mail and we're glad she's having such an exciting trip. We miss her (Stewart and Nana are also in Canton this weekend and say Hi)
ReplyDeleteHello Ms. Gembala,
ReplyDeleteThe blog has been wonderful to follow. It sound like you are having a great time! Things appear to be going smoothly here so enjoy. We need to get you in a picture soon. ;-) Take care.
i was reading this and i was like yup...yup...yup i remember that haha. i love how u cant even see the tops of most buildings
ReplyDelete-Brooke Coffey
All I can say is "what an amazing experience"! Thank you for taking the time to blog your trip. I almost feel like I was there with you : )
ReplyDelete-Maria Grabowski