In my Senior year of high school, I had the privilege of going to China as a part of a local vocational school's program. I was in a two year Business Professionals of America business class and in the final weeks of my Junior year, the announcement for this trip to China was made. I was critical of it and though "Oh yeah, mom and dad will go for that!". When I told them about it they were excited and basically said "Why wouldn't you go on it?!". So long story short, I applied and was accepted! Then began the daunting process of learning about the trip and packing for it, updating the necessary vaccinations; and there were even visits to a local Chinese restaurant and General Electric plant. This trip was a mixture of sightseeing, and experiencing Chinese school & business.
Now that the boring backstory is out of the way, on to the trip. I will spread this out over a series of entries, as I have 3 weeks to cover. There will be times I will break into the story for some present day look-back commentary as this trip was over a decade ago. And finally, all names will be changed to respect privacy. With out further ado...
March 28 & 29
There were two schools going, mine referred to as "F" and the other I'll refer to as "E". We all gathered together at the airport in Cincinnati and ended up being delayed an hour for our flight to Chicago due to the weather. Then once we switched over in Chicago, we were bound for Beijing. The flight was around 13.5 hours long and it was on a double decker plane; to which a teacher joked about there was still no leg room. Outside talking, playing games, sleeping, or whatever we could find to pass the time, we took in some good scenic views of the ice around the Arctic Circle, Russia & Mongolia.
Finally, we landed in Beijing and upon leaving the airport, I experienced the surreal sensation of stepping on to foreign soil for the first time; I could not believe I was in another country. We met our tour guide Adam and gave us the background of Beijing as we rode in the tour bus. Our tour guide name was Adam because the Chinese will adopt Western names to help Westerners.
We arrived at our first stop, the Quanjude Peking Duck restaurant. It was a neat place, and we sat down at circular tables. There was a lazy susan in the middle of the table with other dishes on it, and you spin it around to get what you want instead of having to ask someone to pass it. We ate duck and other dishes that I can't remember what they were. The chefs actually stood table side and would carve the duck in front of you.
After we ate, Adam led us through the streets to a tea house where we watched a kind of variety show. There were musical groups, rappers, battle dancers, shadow puppeteers, and a kung fu show. It was the end of a long day and we finally checked into our 5-star hotel, the Xi Yuan Hotel. I was paired up a classmate Charlie; we ended up rooming together the entire trip.
COMMENTARY: It was funny. I had never flown before this trip except for a small trip around the area I lived. My parents were planning a vacation to Arizona to be my real first flight. However, I came home from school that one day after our vacation was planned and announced I was going to China. My mom thought it was funny how it worked out that my first real flight was going to be overseas.
Next entry: Tiananmen Square, The Imperial & Forbidden City, the Beijing Zoo and the Silk Market
