Ni-Hao from Beijing! read more after the pictures...
We landed just a few hours ago and it's hard to believe that our adventure is nearly over.We have done, seen, and eaten so many things it's hard to believe we have been here only 8 days. We are so thankful to all our wonderful hosts along the way that have made us feel like celebrities. We flew here form Chengdu which we have declared to be over favorite city. Chengdu is located in the Sichuan Providence, Chengdu is a lot like Oklahoma: centrally located, good food, and the friendliest people anywhere.
We were greeted by our hosts from Southwest Jiaotong University and taken to our wonderful hotel called the California Garden. Abby says that is nothing like California but it was very lovely. After a good night's rest we loaded up and headed to Southwest Jiaotong University for a formal meeting and Dr. Bird and Dr. Ehlers lectures. While they were presenting, the grads got to see the sights with some students that recently studied at OSU. They told us that they miss Eskimo Joe's Cheese Fries and Dr. Pepper which we are beginning to miss too. We took a tour of their student services including residence halls and counseling services.
SWJTU has impressive facilities and wonderful staff. After our tour we went to our most formal meal yet hosted by SWJTU and tasted some of the Sichuan cuisine which is known for it's hot flavor. We also learned that when toasting someone of a higher rank than you that you should put your glass lower theirs, this can be tricky because our hosts always lower their glasses first.
After lunch we headed to the hotel for a quick change and finally went were on our way to see the PANDAS!!!! Once inside we immediately took the tram to the top of the park and saw about four panda's playing and wrestling which caused a lot of oohs and aahs from the crowd. We also saw four baby pandas which have to be the cutest babies on earth.
We landed just a few hours ago and it's hard to believe that our adventure is nearly over.We have done, seen, and eaten so many things it's hard to believe we have been here only 8 days. We are so thankful to all our wonderful hosts along the way that have made us feel like celebrities. We flew here form Chengdu which we have declared to be over favorite city. Chengdu is located in the Sichuan Providence, Chengdu is a lot like Oklahoma: centrally located, good food, and the friendliest people anywhere.
SWJTU has impressive facilities and wonderful staff. After our tour we went to our most formal meal yet hosted by SWJTU and tasted some of the Sichuan cuisine which is known for it's hot flavor. We also learned that when toasting someone of a higher rank than you that you should put your glass lower theirs, this can be tricky because our hosts always lower their glasses first.
After lunch we headed to the hotel for a quick change and finally went were on our way to see the PANDAS!!!! Once inside we immediately took the tram to the top of the park and saw about four panda's playing and wrestling which caused a lot of oohs and aahs from the crowd. We also saw four baby pandas which have to be the cutest babies on earth.
We were not able to hold the panda like Jackie Chan, unless you count the panda that Lena held at the gift shop for photo opt. We also saw some red panda's which are actually from the raccoon family. Before dinner we hit the mall to do a little shopping and didn't make it inside because of all the people selling their wears outside of the mall. We met a lovely woman from Tibet (Chengdu is the gateway to Tibet) whom is currently living in Chengdu because her son is attending school there and she was selling jewelry to help pay his tuition. Dinner was at a Tea House and yet again the food was amazing. Ally and Lena drank Peanut Juice also known as peanut milk.
We were way too full and had the opportunity to attend a Sichuan Opera complete with fire breathing, masking juggling, shadow puppets, and the main event mask changing, We are so grateful for our dear friends at SWJTU for making this happen, it was a high light of our trip.
This morning we had a early wake up call and went to the US Consulate Office in Chengdu. We met with a couple commerce officers to talk about the purpose of our visit and the business climate in Chengdu. Starbucks was the next stop and Abby says tastes like Starbucks in Seattle: thank you global markets!
Chengdu University was our next where we saw old friends from the summer symposium and had a very attentive and interactive audience that made us feel like pop stars. We had another lunch with the most beautiful table that had goldfish bowl in the middle. The food again was amazing. After a short meeting we headed to the airport for Beijing. Dr. Ehlers made through security without incident for the first time and hadn't been put probation until she lost Dr. Bird for a short time. (By lost I mean that Dr. Bird told her where she was going, and when the rest of us asked where she went - because we needed to board - she sent search party in the wrong direction)
Beijing is beautiful so far and we have an early morning to go see the flag raising at Tienanmen Square and then it's off to Great Wall. Signing off from China for now.
Good Night....or Good Morning.
- Abby, Lena, & Ally
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