Terra Cotta Warriors

One of the top items on our “Do To” list was see the Terra Cotta Warriors, but it just never happened. Our time was running out in China and we decided how could we go to China and not see the Terra Cotta Warriors? So late Friday night on November 30, all of us girls boarded a night train to Xi’an, saw the warriors, and took another train back Saturday night. Traveling over 18 hours just to spend a few hours looking at clay? Totally worth it—these figures were amazing!

Only seats were available on the way there so another sleepless night for me! Two funny pictures of the night: singing really loud before entering the train (aka being super embarrassing Americans) and Alysa kissing Whitney awake.

We hired a guy to drive us around all day and he first took us a place where they make copies of the figures and showed us around (and tried to get us to buy stuff from him).

Then we went and saw the Warriors! Here’s Pit 1:

Pit 2 & 3:

A photo booth we found:

Morning Exercises

Every morning the kids line up to sing and dance. One of my favorite things to do is participate with these exercises. These kids are probably at their cutest when they’re dancing and I love dancing crazy and making them laugh. They do two songs: one about getting ready for the day (brushing teeth, washing face, dressing, etc) and and the other is just a fun dance. Then they line up and recite a chant…which…I have no idea what that’s about.

Here’s a few videos: one of each song and one of the children chanting:

Seriously beyond adorable.

Bengbu Park

Like I’ve mentioned before—one of my favorite things to do is get on a random bus and explore my city, known as Bengbu. One day Kiera and I did just that and we came upon this beautiful lake and park.

One of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken: