Guest Blogger: Matt Erion

What an amazing couple of weeks it has been here in China with Shannon. The 4 of us along with some students of Shannon have been trooping around this beautiful country and have seen so many amazing sites. Our first couple of days were in Beijing and we saw acrobatics, the Forbidden City, Tian 'anmen Square, and did shopping galore. We meet Zoe, a former student of Shannon's and caught a sleeper train to Xi 'an, the capital of the the Ancient Chinese civilization. We arrived in the morning and strolled on over to the city wall which surrounded the entire old city and rented some bicycles to ride around the 9 miles of wall, it was a blast. The following day we traveled to the terracotta warriors. On the way we saw the burial mound of the first Chinese Emperor and also a gorgeous bath and summer home of one of the empresses of China. The warriors were simply amazing, each of the 6,000 statues were hand sculpted and unique to each soldier. Horses, weaponry, and anything thing else the emperor would need in his afterlife were either buried or sculpted to be ready for his return. It was truly one of the greatest monuments to a person we had ever seen.


Another train ride and 18 hours later we arrived in Tian Jin. The whole city seemed new and the entire skyline was filled with construction cranes and gleaming new buildings. The city was a world away from the older more industrial Xi'an. The next few days we got to experience the day to day activities and also got to visit one of Shannon's oral English classes. She was a great teacher and it was fun being interviewed along with getting to talk to her students later that evening during supper. They were so excited to practice their speaking with us along with sharing our cultures with each other. For me visiting with people, though usually very difficult without our wonderful tour guide, was one of the most endearing parts of the whole experience. The generosity, curiosity, and genuine kindness that was shown to us during our visit was heartwarming and unforgettable. Our last full day was a spectacular visit to a remote part of the Great Wall of China. The hills and valleys that the wall meandered around were gorgeous as we hiked up and down each step of the wall. It was a great way to end our wonderful journey. We had such a great time and thank Shannon so much for all her hard work to help make this trip so memorable for us. Thank you for keeping our tummies full with great food, your wonderful insight into this wonderful country and for the wonderful company you provided throughout this trip.


Love
Emily Kathy Matthew