2 6

It's My Birthday! YAY! I had a lovely low key bday. Started out with a killer brunch of homemade scrambled eggs with feta, spinach, and mushrooms, then REAL bacon, toast, and fried potatoes! top it off with some grape juice! It was delicious! Then of course it was naptime - because I tend to enjoy an afternoon nap after coming back from China - then got ready and went with Pops to the OSU vs Purdue Basketball game. It was a heart-breaker and a horrible game! haha! You always want good things to happen on your bday but alas they couldn't pull off those 3 points needed to tie. Oh well - I enjoyed my time with my dad! And now it is bedtime - at a decent hour! WOW! just hoping I don't wake up at 4am.

26 - merely a number.....

home sweet American home

I'm HOME! It took 13 hours, a stay in a hotel, and another hour or 2 plane ride to get me back to my safe haven in the USA, and I'm so glad to have returned. And to a winter wonderland at that! haha! I'm loving watching the snow fall as I sit by the fire and eat good food and watch the Olympics. SO time to relax and nap myself back onto a normal sleeping schedule. (that 13 hour time difference thing is super fun! haha!)

well - i'm still here

That's right - I'm STILL in CHINA! Our flight got canceled yesterday because of all the crazy snow storms on the east coast of good 'ole America. So it turns out almost everyone is flying back on the 12th and a small group of us very special, very cool kids will not be returning until the 13th. And in my case I still have to spend the night in Newark and the fly back to Cbus on the 14th. Good news : the small later group is flying home FIRST CLASS! woohooo! so thats exciting! But anywho - Im going to continue enjoying Beijing and chilling out in my hotel till my turn to fly home comes! Hope to see you sooN!

Oh so sorry Poingo's me forgot to update!

Sooo i think the last time i updated this was perhaps Nanning??? hmmm well Nanning was awesome - nice and warm. Then we headed to Wuhan - colder and not very exciting. We did very little there. However I did go to the Wuhan Gong and Cymbal factory which was pretty awesome! I went with members of the band and of course our drummer Rob and we all had a field day banging on gongs and making piles of the many we loved. Everyone went home happy that day! ( a day that started with us having to rent a cab to take us the hour and half ride there - soooo cheap!!! so fun!)

Next up we went to Fuzhou, you may remember Suzhou but this city my friends starts with an F! haha! Let's see Fuzhou... what did we do in Fuzhou - oh I think more shopping perhaps! They had a fun outdoor market area that was pretty cool. I got "hit" by a lady while I was bargaining with her, (these people are roooough and like to play rough!) Ate some good food in Fuzhou and had a nice time I recall.
NOW we are in Beijing and have been non-stop shopping and sight seeing for the past 6 days! we started our shows this sunday and finish up on tuesday. Last night we performed for the highest ranking female Chinese government official. VERY COOL! Lots of security and tons of other government officials. It was like performing for the president! haha!
The China tour is coming to a close and I'm looking at all my treasures thinking "wow", "these are amazing", "i'm bringing china back with me", and "how am i going to fit this all in my suitcase!? haha! We fly back on the 10th at 5pm China time and arrive the 10th 530pm USA time - magical isn't it!? Then I have to spend the night in Newark and finally catch my final flight home to Ohio. So excited to see family and friends and rest and eat good good fooooood!!! YAY!
When I return home and can actually look at this blog site I 'm sure I will write more detailed accounts of my travels. You know - for posterity! haha! Zijien!

soooo

I was in Xian and now I'm in Nanning! We've had hotel drama - at this moment we are staying at a lovely hotel and are moving tomorrow to stay at an equally nice one I guess. Our hotel we started in here was a bit gross and cooooold! The air here in Nanning is much better - cleaner. Its very Florida in the winter here as well which is a nice change of pace from bone chilling cold. We went to the "night market" tonight which is full of crazy foods! It was really neat and a bit smelly - and now i feel like I smell like China - not my favorite. Other than a few things not whole lot to do in Nanning - we have more days off here too! yay for food and rest!

Here we are in XIAN!

Simple trip to Xian - well except for the whole not having any passport stuff, getting a new Company Manager (who i love), and losing a cast member ( i think the new guy comes in tonight?). BUT we are here - in a very historical and famous area. Our hotel is very nice and our room has a great view of the new subway construction and just beyond that the beautiful wall that surrounds the inner most city or downtown. A bit o'history: "Xian (often spelled as Xi'an and pronounced "she ahn") was the ancient imperial capital of China for
over 11 centuries. Called Chang'an in ancient times, 13 dynasties placed their capitals here. Much of
this history remains buried, either literally ?? in the dirt surrounding regal burial mounds which dot the
rural countryside ?? or amidst the sky?rise development that has swallowed much of the city. Yet Xian's
public spaces and charming alleyways manage to appear more authentically "Chinese" than Beijing's
grandiose plazas and avenues. The old Muslim Quarter is particularly colorful and worth exploring on
foot. So far, Xian enjoys equal fame with Athens, Cairo, and Rome as one of the four major ancient capitals. "
We have already explored the Muslim Street (not very muslim) but full of street vendors selling everything from really neat chinese arts and crafts to fake louis vitton purses and rolexes. It's a good time and I will probably return there again when its not so completely freezing (we couldnt feel our feet anymore!) and forced to find food and refuge at the local McDonald's then again at a very nice Starbucks. haha! We also saw the really neat and artistic Drum Tower or Temple. Huge drums filled the outside walls of the tower and you could pay 10rmb to bang a huge drum 3 times which symbolizes long life. Jamie went for it and let the drum ring out through the city. The inside was full of interesting furniture and such - we weren't really sure what it all meant but hey - there was a gift shop! haha - these Chinese are really really good at this game (the game of shopping that is). Melissa got two beautiful Jade necklaces for 100rmb (about 15 bucks) - She is very good at haggling and could get them down to just about any price. ALSO the later or colder the day - the better price you can get because they wont have many customers!
We are opening tonight in X'ian and I've heard some interesting things about this theatre - so we will see what adventures lie ahead for this week! We are going to see the Terracotta warriors tomorrow so thats fun. AND we have a full day off on Monday before we leave for our next city so thats great! So far I enjoy this city - i love that we are close to everything as opposed to Shanghai (that got real old real fast) - cabs are even cheaper here and everything is much closer. Also this is the university city so there are lots of young people here and hip things to do! I'm excited to continue exploring this week! More to come! posting some new things on my shutterfly page soon as well! :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

YAY 2010! In Shanghai! And Happy New Year to America!!! I had an absolutely lovely new year's! Full of good food, good friends, and great fun! We even sent off these huge red balloon candle things as we said our New Year's wish! A wonderful tradition here - and we met Frenchman and other fellow Europeans enjoying this tradition!
At this very moment I got to skype with brother ON New Year's in the states. So fun! (he was alone so it was extra special!) I got a little teary-eyed. I also got to skype with my girl Kerri! AND Todd, Dugan, Sweeney - haha the fun kept coming to say hello (as i looked oh so beautiful on the morning after my new year's celebrations.)

So HAPPY NEW YEAR my loves! I wish you all the joy in the world for 2010.