China Trip 2011

We woke up this morning to our first significant rain while in China. If I were poetic and overly sentimental, I might say that the Chinese skies were sad to see us go; however, this is not the case as all good things must come to an end. (It was nice that our only day of rain came on our transport to the airport.) The group was to meet in front of the school by 7:30 am. We all arrived at various times between 7:00-7:30 am. Out final good-byes were brief as the Chinese students had class and we had an airport shuttle to catch. We boarded a bus which took us to the main bus station in Hangzhou. After a brief wait, we boarded an express bus bound from Shanghai's Pudong Airport. The ride was long, around three hours in total, and rather bumpy. The rainy weather did not allow for much clear viewing out of our windows, but we were able to see a numerous types of housing and the emergence of international factories and businesses outside of Shanghai. I speculate that many of these were established as part of the SEZ's, Special Economic Zones, set up by the Chinese government in order to stimulate overseas trade and business.

Check-in went smoothly and the group did a little final shopping in order to use up any remaining Yuan. I'm fairly confident that our group did its fair share to bolster the Chinese economy while abroad. The flight to Seoul was a short one hour and twenty minutes and just to show you what a small world it is and how identifiable the "Spartan" logo is, several of the students in the group ran into an AA Preschool parent, who was on his way to Vietnam, in the transfers security line. What a small world!

The first order of business was a birthday celebration at Burger King in honor of Morgan's 16th birthday. She has the distinct honor of celebrating her birthday in three different countries today. How special!

In a few more minutes we will board our flight. Next stop Atlanta!

It is difficult to imagine that our time in China is already drawing to an end. While it seams like we just arrived, we spent our last day in Hangzhou visiting several of the museums in town. Our first stop was to be a ceremics meuseum; however, the museum was closed due to a lack of electricty. When then went on to our second destination for the day, the National Silk Museum.

Hangzhou is renowned for its silk. Most of the silk made in China comes from this region. So much, in fact, that the national silk museum is located here. We spent about an hour learning about the silk making process, looking at silk samples for various historical periods, and analyzing a large map of the "Silk Road." It was interesting to look at the room which exhibited the various silk outfits worn by members of various social classes throughout the dynasties.

Since our first stop was closed we went to the National Tea Museum, which is also located inside of a tea plantation on the outskirts of Hangzhou. The museum outlined the tea-making process, the various types of tea grown in China, and the role in which tea has played in society over the years. The setting for the builing was amazing and it was interesting to learn more about tea, since China is the largest producer of this product in the world.

Lunch at a local hotel was next. The group entered the building just as a groom was carrying his new bride out to their car to leave from their wedding. It was so interedting to see the differences in wedding traditions as the hood of the car was covered in an aray of beautiful flowers. There was also a box of fireworks lit which would have put many Fourth of July celebrations in the States to shame. We ate in a private dining room and lunch was very good. The kids did a good job of trying new things. We just may return home with a few less picky eaters. (Notice I did not say everyone!) I was great to be together as a group again and enjoy a nice casual meal amonst friends.

After lunch we went to walk along one or the islands on West Lake. We crossed a causeway and got out for about an hour. The was a lovely road to stroll down and check out the scenery. Several people stopped and bought ice cream and coffee in order to sit down, relax, and take in the scenery. We walso had a few moments to check out the West Lake Museum, which featured art, gems, ceremics, and a history of the region. Some of the pieces dates back to 12 CE! Once our time was up here it was time to head back to the high school.

We arrived back on campus with a few minutes to spare before our closing ceremony. The kids took advantage of this to walk down Silk Street, which is located right next door to the school. As the name implies, the road features silk shops of every size and shape. Many in the group to advantage of this last opportunity to buy scarves and ties for family and friends.

At four o'clock, we met in the same conference room where we started our stay a few days ago. With the same formality, we had an opportunity that thank our hosts and share what we gained from our experience. The was an exchanging of gifts between the teachers and administration. Thus, our "official" good-byes have been made. There will be more to make in the morning.

This evening the students all met for a farewell kareoke party. After which, they will return hoome with their host brothers/sisters for one final evening. The group will meet at the front gates of the school at 7:30 am in order to begin our long journey home. We will trust to update of return travels once we reach Shanghai and Seoul.

Homeward Bound!

Today was perhaps the best weather we have experienced during our stay in China and the timing could not have been more perfect. We gathered at school earlier than normal and met a member of the English Department and an English speaking guide for our tour of the West Lake region. During our tour we took a boat ride on the lake itself, which offered wonderful panoramic views of the city, visited the Pagoda of Six Harmonies, Lingyin Temple, and finsihed the afternoon with some souvineer shopping. All in all is was a great day and the weather certainally played a vital role in all of this.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, West Lake is an extreemly popular tourist attraction. Today was no different as tour groups flocked the boats and grounds. Our guide told us about the history of the lake and the fact that it is a very shallow, rain filled lake. After a ride on the lake, we walked around the park where we got to see a peacock zoo, koi/carp pond, and many beautiful trees and flowers. After being in cities for a solid week I cannot begin to tell you how nice it was to breathe fresh air and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. It was a nice respite to say the least.

The Pagoda of Six Harmonies was built during the Song Dynasty, which occured over one thousand years ago, with the purpose of calming the tide of the nearby Qiantang River. The pavilion-style pagoda is made of brick and wood and stand 60 meters high. It has 13 stories as viewed from the outside, but only 7 are accessable. Ward and Ava climbed to the top and shouted out to those of us below, while others roamed the grounds enjoying the gardens and tranquility.

A lunch stop was next. We ate at a restuarant located in the midst of a tea plantation. It was neat to see tea plants and learn about the tea picking/making process. Only women are allowed to pick the tea by hand and each one can pick about 4 pounds of tea per day. It is highly skilled as not all leaves are picked, only the select new growth makes the cut. The time of the season in which the tea is picked also makes a difference in the quality. I never knew that so much effort went into the whole tea making process. Hangzhou, as you may or may not be aware, is well known for its famed West Lake Dragon Well Tea and perhaps some of the travellers will bring some home to sample. On another note, the group was far more adventurous in their eating habits at lunch. Perhaps they have gained a new found sense of food confidence after eating with their host families for the past three days. The group got to sample one of the famous local dishes, Beggar's Chicken, and the highlight of the meal had to have been when Houston actually ate a shrimp and Ward ate the eye out of a cooked fish. Apparently, it is quite the delicacy and typically reserved for the guest of honor. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it kept people entralled at the table and certainally signalled an end to our meal.

After lunch, we drove through a valley filled with tea farms and a little tea village on our way to the Lingyin Temple. The temple was built as early as 326 CE and is one of the few temples to have survived destruction during the Cultural Revolution. (Only a couple of hundred temples remain today of the two hundred thousand that were in found all over China prior to 1949.) Many of the statures are based on Indian Buddhism and this temple features the largest seated,wood carved stature of Buddha in China. The temple is also noted for its many carrvings, over 340 in total, on a cliff known as the Peak Flying From Afar. These limestone carvings are a sight to behold and it is interesting to see the various interpretations of Buddha, including in female form, the line the sides of this mountain. These carvings date from the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

Ou afternoon concluded with some more "retail therapy" and souvineer hunting in the downtown shopping district of Hangzhou. Students were happy to walk the streets looking for gifts and final momentos to take home from their visit. Houston, in particular, bought an interesting mouse pad which I'm sure he'll be glad to tell you about. It just goes to prove that you shoud never buy something with a foreign language written on it unless you know what it says, Let's just say we all had a great laugh over it! I'm also sure things were made even better with the close proximity of a Dairy Queen and McDonalds to the shopping street. After an hour of shopping and haggling the group headed back to campus to meet up with their host brothers/sisters.

Tomorrow will be a bittersweet day as we have our final full-day in China, Once again, we will be met by our guide at 8:00 am and visit some of the museums and sights in town. A farewell ceremony is scheduled for the afternoon, around 5:00 pm I believe, before everyone heads off for their final evening in China. It is so hard to believe that our adventure is drawing to a close as it has been a wonderful 10 days.

Today marks our first day of seeing the sights of Hangzhou. I thought it might be intersting to share a little bit of information about the city we have called home for the past four days.

Geography:

Hanghzhou is located on the southeastern coast of China along the south wing of the Yangtze River delta. It is just to the southwest of Shanghai, which is a few hours away by car or bus and 45 minuntes by bullet train.

The hilly area of the city is at the end of the Tianmu Mountains. And the highest point in the area, which is near West Lake, is Tianzhu Mountain which is about 1250 feet tall. There are several rivers in or near the city and teh Grand Canal connects Hangzhou-Beijing.

History:

Hangzhou is one of the eight ancient capitals in Ancient Chinese history and is considered a very historical and cultural city as its history dates back over 8,000 years. Hangzhou City was officially founded in 1927. Hanghzhou's People's Government was established in 1949. The city is now the capitol of the Zhejiang Province

The total population by the end of 2009 of the city was 6,833,800.

Food:
Hangzhou has long been considered a city of gourmet food with a long history of cuisine and culture. The food feature freash ingrediants, elaborate presentation, and wonderful flavors. All of the food attends to the details of: color, smell, taste, and shape. The names of dishes usually comes from stories or legends and are know in China and abroad. Some famous dishes are Dongpo Prok, West Lake Carp in Sweet & Sour Sauce, and Beggar's Chicken. There are over 9,700 restaurants in the city itself.

Some Interesting Facts:

There are over 2,00 different ares where residents can rent 40,000 bicycles for as little as 1 yaun per hour. These rental stands can be found all over the city.

The West Lake Area is considered a National AAAAA tourist attraction. The scenic area covers over 100 square miles, which includes a lake over 10 square miles in size and the green hills that surround it.

Hanzhou boasts the only mational-level meseum specilizing in tea in China. It also has the largest silk museum in the world.

This morning, Mrs. Chuboff and I arrived to school after the students. We entered Room #109 to find everyone hard at work at Chinese Paper Cutting. For the mostpart, the group did an excellent job following the instruction of their teacher. Many interesting and complecated designs were created during the class which lasted for about an hour and a half. The teacher dismissed the class shortly before 10:00 am. According to our schedule the group was free until lunch at 11:30 am. Many of the students wanted to go to the supermarket to pick up some snacks. Accompanied by their Chinese guides we asked them to back back in an hour. I did not realized that there was a potential international incident in the making, well actually not, but it makes for interesting reading.

Shortly after the kids left, a Chinese math teacher ran into the room asking where the students had gone. We said that they had gone shopping an would be back in a hour. Well, this caused some panic or alarm as another art teacher was apparently waiting for them in their classroom. The problem was that neither Mrs. Chuboff nor myself had a printed schedule of events. The students had a schedule mostly written in Chinese, which did not indicate another comittment. (Shane's host mother had translated his for him, so we were relying on his copy as the "Official Schedule of Events.") The math teacher kept apoligizing for her poor English and I tried to assure her that her English was much better than my Chinese. The next thing you know the Office Manager and Mr. Lu all arrived in our room. The conversation seamed annimated and lively, but then again I can never tell if someone is upset or excited when listening to Chinese. After a few moments, Mr. Lu assured us that everything was alright. He then asked us if we wanted to do anything else and we assured him that we were fine. Crisis averted, I hope.

Lunch was very good and plentyful. The portions on our trays were huge. After finishing lunch, we all went to the front garden where "English Corner" was taking place. Mrs. Chuboff spoke with a girl named Sarah who is going to attend boarding school in Massachusetts next year. Her Enlish was very good. I was approched by a shy girl sent by one of her friends to find out what type of camera I had. After telling her a Nikon she ran back to her huddle of friends. They soon approached me and we talked about all differnt kinds of things until the end of the lunch period. It was nice to see so many students wanting to learn and practice our language.

The afternoon class was extremely entertaining from a spectator's viewpoint. The group had a Chinese Kung Fu class, and I must admit we are not a coordinated group. Sadly to say our kung fu skills were kind of spastic. Ward was the star pupil and even recived some one-on-one attention from the teacher. After kung fu, several students gravitated toward the badmitton courts. Badmitton is an extremely popular sport in China. On our walk home from the school this afternoon Mrs. Chuboff and I spotted several sporting goods stores which featured quality badmitton apperal and gear. Houston made the mistake of challenging the Chinese PE teacher to a match. Neesless to day, Houston was taken behind the woodshed by him. The teacher made it look effortlessly, while Houston was all over the place in an effort to keep up with him.

Similar to Athens Academy, student clubs meet on Wednesday afternoons at Hangzhou High School for about 45 minutes starting at 4:00 pm. One of the Englih teachers, named Derrick, invited Mrs. Chuboff and myself to attend the meetings of the English Club and give additional information about home, school, or basically answer any questions. One girl, when she found out that I was the Dean of Students, asked me what happens to students where they are late to class. I find it hard to believe discipline is an issue in any of the Chinese schools. The highlight of the day was when Derick invited Mrs. Chuboff and myself over to his apartment for dessert. (Today was his birthday.) We gladly accepted and set a meeting time of 7:30 pm.

Mrs. Chuboff and I went to dinner for the first time by ourselves at our hotel. No one, and I mean not a single person, spoke English in the restuarant and it made for an interesting meal. The saving grace was that our meal was pre-ordered for us and we recognized everthing in the four dishes. Diner was brief, but not without some comedic events.

Dereck came and got us and his timing could not have been more perfect. He made sure the bill was taken care of properly as we had no clue as to how their system works. After a very short drive we arrived at Derrick's apartment complex. We parked and went up to his apartment on the third floor. We were greated by Derrick's wife Susan (also a teacher), his mother, his aunt, and their four month old son "Tiger." His aunt and mother were helping take care of Tiger, who is a cute little guy. It was such a treat to be invited in his home. We sat around and chatted over some tea, oranges, and chocolate. Susan then revealed a beautiful birthday cake topped with different types of fruit and an interesting candle shaped like a rose was lit. We sang happy birthday and Derrick made his wish. The cake was absolutely beautiful and tasted wonderful. After our cake Derrick put on the only English speaking tv channel, a news station, for us to watch as we chatted a little bit more. He then gave us a tour of his apartment, which was very nice. There were two bedrooms with a balcony, a bathroom, living/dining room, a galley kitchen, and a study. I think he was very proud of his home and had every right to be. Shortly after our tour it was time to go home. We have a full day visiting West Lake in the morning and it was getting late.

Continue reading "- We May Be Crafty, But We Are Not a Coordinated Group-Day #7" »

Following our two-hour plane ride and hour long bus ride, we met our host families yesterday afternoon. Here is a snippet of my adventure:

We took a few pictures with the entire group and then had an hour long ride to my host's apartment. The ride involved lots of questioning and introductory words. I discovered my host brother knew a good deal of English, while the parents did not know any. After arriving to the apartment complex, I noticed it seemed a little weathered, but once inside things looked much nicer. They live on the sixth floor so it was quite a trudge to get all my baggage upstairs. Once inside though, we took all my stuff to a room, which has a bed and desk—I think it is my host brother's room, but I am not sure.

Living in his apartment is him, his mom and dad and also his grandmother. The grandmother knew no English, either. But they are all very friendly and accommodating, even though at times things got a little awkward because there are clear differences in our cultural backgrounds.

Shortly after getting in the house, we ate dinner and the adventure began. (FYI- I am very, very, VERY picky.) I tried to eat some things and avoided others, but generally I was able to eat. The mystery meat was good, but I didn’t go for the vegetables: I relied on meat and rice. I felt bad about not eating some of the things, but I am just a really bad eater. I got a laugh or two from my chop-sticking. And I found interesting how none of them had plates or anything to drink, though they did get water for me.

Following this, the grandmother offered me a bowl of strawberries and chocolate- a deed that I would welcome every night. My host brother studied while I used his computer to email and check the web (discovering, much to my joy, that UGA got into the NCAA tournament). Following his studies, he came in my room and we talked about our two different worlds- he asked lots of questions as did I.

I went to bed early around 10 last night, but had to wake up at 5:30 this morning. We, well actually he, ate breakfast. When offered a fully intact boiled egg, I declined and just said I don’t eat breakfast. But I did have some good bread. Then I walked to the bus stop and we hopped on #131. It was the most interesting riding experience of my life, and I feel very lucky to be able to recount it. Somehow I made it to school.

Mid-morning today I had lunch, which was pretty good. I think most of us enjoyed it. Before lunch we made wooden weapons using a laser cutter. Following our meal, we had a class on calligraphy- something that I did not excel at.

-Houston Gaines

Yesterday marked our first day on the campus of Hangzhou High School. As I mentioned in a previous post, I thought we were having a welcome assembly followed by paper cutting and language classes, and a banquet for all to end the day. Perhaps my inderstanding was slighly off.

Our "Welcome Meeting" was not with the entire school, or with any students for that matter, as I thought it would be. Instead, we were taken into a conference room which had the Chinese and American flags placed in the center of the table. We were all offered coffee or tea to drink. Principal Shang, the Vice Pricipal, and William,a translator, sat accross the table from out group. The rest of the adimistration sat in chairs around the room. The Vice Principal led the meeting, which felt in my mind to be somewhat like a United Nations discussion/negociation. We were introduced to the entire adminstrative staff of the school, about 15 different people, before being welcomed by Pricipal Shang. After he spoke, Mrs Chuboff and I were asked if we would care to make some remarks, which we did. The students were then asked if they would like to "speak freely" about thier stay so far. There were a few awkward moments of silence before Ward spoke up and shared his love for try new in different foods in an effort to learn more about the Chinese culture. He did a fine job. Shortly after this our meeting was concluded with a wish that we enjoy our stay in Hangzhou despite the cooler weather that we are experiencing. As surreal as the event was, I left feeling like the school was generally happy to entertain us and wants to do everything that they can in order to make our stay an enjoyable one.

Paper cutting class was actually more high tech. We were introduced to our teach for the morning, Mr. Wang. Mr. Wang teaches several art classes at the high school. Each of us was issued a piece of paper and a pencil and ask to select and draw a Chinese weapon from a board in the front of the room. Choices ranged from simple knives, spears, tridents, and machince guns. After we had completed our picture, Mr. Wang scanned the images in the computer and helped out edit out lines. When the was completed, we changed classrooms and went into on that had a laser cutter in it. (Dr. Stueck would be jealous!) The images we drew were cut out into precise, tiny minatures of what we had drawn. We were then able to add out names in the smallest fonts size I think I have ever seen. It was quite impressive. Once complete, class was dismissed.

A liesurely lunch was served into the classroom that has been set aside from us. Toward the end of luch the students went to participate in the "English Corner" along with three students from Dover-Sherborn High School who are here for an eight-week exchange. The "English Corner" is an opportunity for Chinese students to come speak English with native speakers during their lunch break. It is a great way for the kids to interact with each other. After this was over at 1:10 pm, we had our second class for the day. Once again, I was mistaken. Language class turned out to be a class on calligraphy and Chinese culture.

Our teacher was very kind and patient with us. She was able to explain how to hold the brush and work on the various strokes with the aid of two student interprators, one of whom hosted David Millard two years ago. In speaking with our interprators, they are both studying for the SAT and plan to attend college in the US next fall. After about an hour of calligraphy we hard a brief break. We then watched a short movie and some excerpts from opera before returning to calligraphy. Everyone learned how to write their name in Chinese characters. If was a fun and entertaing class and I can tell you from first-hand knowledge, Chinese calligraphy is much harder than it looks. It is a true art from!

Following our final class for the day, the students were picked up by there host students to attend class meetings. During this time Mrs. Chuboff and I were given a breif tour of the campy led by the Office Manager and one of our student guides. We we show the oustide of several buildings and taken into the school's museum. It contained the history of the school as well as a model for the new campus which is currently under construction. It looks rather nice. The final part of our tour was visting several of the class meetings, which take place once per week. Several our our students were featured in skits or asked to participate. Kat had to sing and dance, Mark and Mrs. Chuboff recited tounge twisters in English, and Lucy was involved in a skit. Everyone looked like they were having a great time with lots of smiling and laughing going taking place.

After classes were dismissed for the day, the students left campus with their host brothers/sisters. Mrs. Chuboff and I met with Madame Miao, the former principal of the school for a few moments before being taken back to our hotel with a van full of faculty members. The "banquet" as I believed it to be was actually a dinner for us and a table of faculty members in a private room at the hotel. It was a wonderful meal filled with new cuisines and edible suprizes. We were even introduced to "corn juice" and yes, it is just which is sounds like. A yellowish drink, which is about the same consistancy as milk or perhaps a little thicker with a slightly sweet taste. At the end of the meal I presented the Vice Principal with several books on Georgia and Athens with the hope that they would help the students and faculty of Hangzhou High prepare for a trip to vist Athens Academy so the we could reciprocate the hospitality shown to us here in Hangzhou. It was a nice end to the evening.

Wednesday will be our last full day on campus before experiencing the local sight of Hangzhou. It should be another fun and eventful day.

This morning's entry will be short and sweet, but I did want to share a few of the details regarding our stay in Hangzhou. Today we are back in school, although not the one on Spartan Lane. Our new campus is located several thousand miles east of Athens in Hangzhou. After a special assembly where Princapal Shang will wecolme the group, we will be treated to a class on the art of Chinese papercutting. We will then have lunch on campus which will be followed by a much needed Chinese language class. Dinner this evening is a welcoming banquet for, I believe, the enire group and their host families. It should be a wonderful event as we have already been shown such wonder hospitality. Additional classes on calligraphy and kung fu are Scheduled to be offered tomorrow as well as time to visit traditional classes and the observatory, where we will spen a few minutes with members of the astronomy club on campus. Much of Thursday and Friday have been set side for seeing the beautiful sites in and near Hangzhou. This includes West Lake, whose beauty attracts international and Chinese visitors alike. It's sad to think how quickly our time is going to go in Hangzhou, but I'm thinking that several last friendship will be forged.

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry earlier this morning, we had the opportunity to visit a local hutong in Beijing this morning. It was located in an older section of town along on of the large lakes that occupies the city. When we arrived at the hutong we had to change from our bus to a rickshaw bicycle. (I felt sorry for the driver who had to shuttle myself and Mrs. Chuboff arounf the nieghborhood. In fact, I tipped hom 5 yuan extra for his effort at the end of our tour.) The roads were narrow and bicycles or walking were the prefered methods of transportation.
As it was early in the morning, the neighborhood was quite quiet. There were numerous bars and coffee shops, as well as little shops. I think it would have been so much fun to spend a few hours wandering in and out of the shops on a nice warm day. We stopped and walked to a Bell Tower which dated back to the Ming Dynasty. After climbing 73 steep steps we were rewarded with a wonderful, yet windy, panoramic view of the city. We also saw "the largest and most heaviest bell in China." It is still rung twelve times once a year during the Spring Fesitival.
We then boarded our rishaws for a short ride to a local house. In ancient times the courtyard area of the house would be a sigle family dwelling. Nowadays, due to the population of the city, the space is shared by ten families. We entered a modest home and were invited into a living/dining room by the lady of the house, Mrs. Fang. The decor was simple, yet practical with the only thing that appeared out of place was a 52" flat screen tv set. Mrs. Fand and Anita then proceeded to teach us how to make traditional dumplings. This was followed by a wonderful homecooked meal.
Once our early lunch was over we boarded our rickshaws for a final ride back to the start of the neighborhood. We boarded our bus and headed to the airport. Anita helped us check in and pointed us in the right direction of security and our gate. We said our good-byes to our faithful guide and headed off for the second half of our China adventure.

We had a two hour flight to Hangzhou. We we greeted at the airport by Mr. Naichaun Lu, the head of the English Depatment, and two other faculty members. The Hangzhou airport is about 15 miles from downtown. The big thing we did not realize is how big of a city Hangzhou is. The city has around 8 million people living in it, and we arrived at rush hour. Needless to say, we ran into some traffic and it took about an hour to reach the school, which is located in the center of town. When we pulled up the host students and families were waiting for us. It was so neat to see how everyone was so excited for our arrival. Our kids were treated as rock stars. After meeting the host students and families a few pictures were taken. The kids disappeared quickly to spend time with their new friends. Mrs. Chuboff and I were taken by several members of the Hangzhou faculty to our accomadations. We had dinner with Mr. Lu and the Business Manager at our our hotel. They showed us wonderful hospitality as well as many of the local dishes. It was, by far, our best meal in China. There is a distinct difference between the cuisine of northern China and the south. After diiner, we said our good-byes and will meet the kids at school at 8:30 am tomorrow morning.

I think everyone will love the time they spend in Hangzhou!

Today was our last day in Beijing and about to be our first in Hangzhou. Most of us are apprehensive about staying with our host families because we have no idea what their lifestyle is like, but I also think it is mainly just fear of them not liking us. I'm going to miss the hotel, and the three English tekevision channels that I have grown attached to over that past few days. The constant buzz of people everywhere and the rush of crossing the street and trying to to not get hit by a car, a bus, or a bike may or may not be the same. But I do think that it will be an amazing experience getting to live with a family; however, I think we are all going to dread the flight home especially during the day, which means it will be impossible for most of us to sleep. The long day of flying also happens to be my birthday so it is definitely going to be a long one, but I think were all going to enjoy getting home and it being the same day as we left and finally getting to reunite with our families which I all know we miss.

-Morgan Anderson