We're back...

Monday, JULY 30, 2007 Location: Xi'an, Beijing, Chicago (Newark-Chicago) After a long day of travel--some delays that seemed bad at the time, but ended up not that bad at all--we are home!!  Keep checking this blog page because we will continue to add photos and provide updates about the trip.  I think Nick Dolan said it best.  He said he did not want to lose touch with all of the wonderful friends he had made on this trip once we got back to the States.  Don't forget the Beijing and Beyond Get-Together at the Dolan's on August 12th!  More info to come.  If you had a MYSO camera on the tour, please make sure to get it back to the MYSO office as soon as possible.  We need to return those to the company.  Also if you still have a bus journal, please return that to the MYSO office too. Please take care of any reimbursements (within your chaperone group or with MYSO) as soon as possible.

Sunday, JULY 29, 2007 Location: Xi'an, China Today is our last day in China, and it is bittersweet.  We are happy to be heading home, but we are still having such a wonderful time creating memories.  Oh the things we saw today!  Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Xi'an Jade Carving Work Shop (and gift shop, of course!), Stone Tablet Museum, Chinese Musical Instrument Stores, and more shopping at the Drum Tower Shopping Street!!!  Today was the perfect day to use up any extra Yuan. To wrap up the trip, we had a great party on the 15th floor of a nearby hotel, complete with some final thank yous, a great Beijing and Beyond song by Margery Deutsch (to the tune of Jasmine Flower), and lots of karaoke!  Then, it was time to head back to our hotel and pack up for the long day of travel on Monday.  Anonymous: "This trip has been one of the most spectacular experiences of my life.  I'm happy we're almost home though; I miss my mom." Marissa Reinholz: "I'm getting quite good at using chopsticks." Laura Meyer: "Word of the day: Man an (goodnight)."

 

Saturday, JULY 28, 2007 Location: Xi'an, China This morning began with a visit to the Martial Arts School for a demonstration by the students and Taichi exercise for everyone. After a short rest at the hotel, we had a rehearsal at the Xi'an Grand Hotel Theater (a change of venue from your tourbooks--a lovely hall!).  After dinner, we performed our final concert in China.  And what a concert it was!!  A full house, an extremely appreciative audience, and a strong performance by the orchestra. Carol Brod: "At the Martial Arts School, I was amazed at how well disciplined all the kids were.  They were so focused.  When we had a chance to shake their hands afterward though they seemed to be happy to meet us and amused at our attempts at Taichi and KungFu."  Scott Sutton: "Hi all!  Only a couple days left!  Here's an idea--y'all come here, instead of us coming back!  Just kidding...well, kinda..." Anonymous: "Wow!  What an amazing final concert!  The audience actually wanted us to play encores.  They loved us!  I got three autographs--wait--I mean I signed three autographs.  The constant snapping of cameras was like paparazzi!  I now have enough happiness to last three years at least!"

 

Friday, JULY 27, 2007 Location: Xi'an, China It just keeps getting better!! A much anticipated trip to see the Terra-cotta warriors was well worth the wait (many students have been waiting the whole trip for this visit).  A short stop back at the hotel was followed by a full evening of very special surprises.  Xi'an rolled out the red carpet for MYSO with a Royal Welcome Ceremony in front of the main gate that leads into the ancient city--modern day Xi'an now extends well beyond the boundaries of the old city walls.  City officials presented Fran Richman, Margery Deutsch, Carter Simmons, and Susan Wernecke with a key to the Xi'an city gate.  Following the presentation, MYSO students were welcomed into the gated city by musicians and dancers, and then lead into another part of the city for more music and dance!  Dinner tonight was a delicious dumpling feast, and by feast, we do mean feast.  Every kind of dumpling imaginable: beef, pork, chicken, walnut, tomato, vegetable, green bean, bean curd, pumpkin, and more!!  To top off the evening, we attended the Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Performance, and only pictures can really show you how spectacular the show was.  We wil share soon! Anonymous: "Ellegy to Dumplings: A reflective memoir.  You entice me so, Your insides are never known.  You’re presented in a perfect basket, made of bamboo—and then you are attacked by every chopstick brutally, curtly and fast.  Some beastly dumplings put up a fight and take forever to be chewed.  Chicken, veggie, walnut, pork, fire, and shrimp.  All so beautiful and tasty.  All sit together reunited at last—in my tummy.” Laurel Bobrowich (Chaperone): “As a parent/ chaperone, it is so gratifying to see the faces of our audiences as our children play music with all their talent and hearts.  Speaking with some of the audience before the performance and during intermission was fun…One family was disappointed that we couldn’t visit them in their home after the performance!  I am amazed at the warmth and kindness of all the people.”

 

Thursday, JULY 26, 2007 Location: Qinhuangdao-Beijing-Xi'an, China Today was a travel day...Four hours on the bus from Qinhuangdao to Beijing, time to enjoy the Beijing airport, a 1.5 hour flight to Xi'an, a bus ride to dinner and then another short ride to our hotel.  What a fantastic group of young people...so patient and good natured through all of the "hurry up and wait" today!

 

Wednesday, JULY 25, 2007 Location: Qinhuangdao, China Today we visited the beginning of the Great Wall, also called Old Dragon's Head.  The Great Wall begins in the ocean and extends across China (so amazing)! After some free time this afternoon, we attended a very pleasant dinner sponsored by the Municipal Government of Qinhuangdao.  Our concert tonight was very well received in the brand new Qinhuangdao Concert Hall.  We look forward to our travels tomorrow to Beijing and then on to Xi'an.

 

Tuesday, JULY 24, 2007 Location: Qinhuangdao, China This seaside "Summer Capitol" is named after an early emperor (Qin) of China.  It is smaller than Beijing and Tianjin.  A 3.5 hour bus ride from Beijing, with a stop at a roadside convenience store (bathroom break and interesting new snacks), brought us to this charming city.  After lunch, we visited the Great Wall Pass.  After dinner, some of the students visited the Olympic Park, a lovely park in the middle of town with a fountain/light/music display.  Others went swimming in the "other" side of the Pacific!  We couldn't stay too long at the beach because it was getting dark, but we had a wonderful time playing soccer, swimming in the clean, warm water, and curling our toes in the sand. Most of our meals have been served family-style at large round tables like you see below. Beijing is hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics, and Qinhuangdao is one of the sister cities.  Olympic soccer and basketball games will be held here; we drove past the stadiums (very impressive). Tomorrow night our dinner will be hosted by the Municipal Government.  After dinner, we perform in the Qinhuangdao Concert Hall.

 

Monday, JULY 23, 2007 Location: Beijing, China An early start (to beat traffic) brought us to the Summer Palace, which is a beautiful, retreat-like palace.  Later we visited a silk factory, where we learned about the making of silk!  And to round out the evening, we wandered the Oriental Plaza and Wangfujing Pedestrian walkway--think Bayshore Town Center on steroids and in Chinese! Tomorrow we head to Qinhuangdao and the Sea Garden Hotel.

Sunday, JULY 22, 2007 Location: Tianjin, China Today was a very special day!  Tianjin is a beuatiful city.  We drove by bus (about 1.5 hours) to get there, and then we had a short rehearsal on stage at the Zhong Hua Theater--a gorgeous opera theater.  Later we visited the Cathay Future Children's Palace (a MYAC of sorts in Tianjin--how cool!), where we were warmly welcomed and lucky enough to see a wonderful performance by some of the students at the "Palace," including a Chinese instrument orchestra, vocal solos, instrument solos, and dancing!  This evening's concert was another great success--with special guests in the audience from the Cathay Children's Palace!!  We returned to our hotel in Beijing late in the evening, but feeling very good about the day!

 

Saturday, JULY 21, 2007 Location: Beijing, China What an amazing day!  We started with the Great Wall—where we heard over and over “I can’t believe I’m actually here!”  A great performance with a wonderfully international audience and with the Great Wall visible both behind AND in front of the orchestra, then a great climb (ah, youth!), a great visit to the cloisonné factory, with a great lunch to boot, and then a performance by a troupe of great Chinese acrobats.  From Libby Garrett: "Looking up at the Great Wall while we were playing the concert, was so breathtaking!  I'm exhausted from climbing the wall, but it was TOTALLY worth it! From Lauren Finn: "There will be surprises all over China.  The best one was when I saw the harp on the Great Wall!  Greatest surprise ever!!!"

Friday, JULY 20, 2007 Location: Beijing, China This evening was our first concert, and it was—without doubt—an unqualified success----a beautiful hall (the acclaimed Forbidden City Concert Hall); a wonderful welcome and greeting by our sponsor, Manpower; a large, attentive audience; students who played their hearts out and performed beautifully; five encores; and a well-deserved standing ovation----plus more than a few people who said it was the best musical event they’ve ever attended----that’s what it’s all about!  A fitting ending to another great day---the Temple of Heaven, a pearl factory, and more.   Tomorrow morning we head off—in our Harley-Davidson t-shirts—to play a concert ON THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!  How incredible is THAT?!  From Evan Lane: "...there is a major advantage with playing the music over and over again until you're blue in the face--since we've played with each other for quite a while, with some music we have now reached a level of ease and comfort when we play--making it look like what we do is a piece of cake."

Thursday JULY 19, 2007 Location: Beijing, China Greetings from Beijing!  For those of you who have not heard directly, we all arrived safely (albeit tired, especially those who spent 9 hours at O’Hare because of a flight delay), got a little sleep, and had a very full day of sightseeing today, including the unbelievable Forbidden City, plus three great meals, topped off with a Peking duck feast this evening (plus another birthday celebration).  The cello and bass players “met” their new instruments this morning, and we had a brief, good rehearsal.  Tomorrow (Friday) will include the Temple of Heaven, a tour of a pearl factory and our first concert in China, at the Forbidden City Concert Hall.  Looking forward to reporting back afterwards.  Here are a few “pearls” from our group: From Ari Lipchik: “It’s such an odd experience to be put in the position of a minority.  [When the] bus stops, everyone crowds to try to look at you.  After the initial surprise, you get used to it and can really appreciate the beauty of the people, landscape and language.” Anonymous: “Dude, this is awesome.” Jonathan Terrasi: “…Just when you think the city might finally come to an end, here is yet more.” Devon Cupery: “After only a few jet-lagged hours, I have fallen in love with China.” Vickie Schroeder: The Forbidden City was magnificent, especially the Imperial Garden area.  My favorite part of today, however, was the rickshaw ride through the narrow streets of an area of Beijing that had a village feel.  The old stone buildings were fascinating.  [This was part of our visit to the hutong area.] Ella Washington: “Traffic is redefined in the streets of Beijing…”

 

Friday JULY 13, 2007 Location: Helen Bader Concert Hall, Zelazo Center UWM. Milwaukee, WI What a great "send-off" concert--so much energy on stage and in the audience!!  Don't forget to order your CD!!

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