Instead of the usual meeting in the room downstairs, we met in a room upstairs near the ‘welcoming room’ to prepare for the day we had planned for us. As I rounded the corner to meet up wit
h everyone, I heard some heavenly voices echoing through the hall, and I knew all at once that it had to be my Chengdu friends! I peaked around and it was them! They were all dressed in some beautiful pink t-shirts with some Chinese words written on it. It took awhile to gather everyone, but eventually everyone arrived on time and we got ready to go. Everyone was paired up once again with their Chengdu buddies and I was with some friends I met before. As soon as we got into our group, we were talking a mile a minute. We were headed off to the Muttart Conservatory for a day in the four pyramids.Once we got on the bus there, everyone was excited and couldn’t stop talking. It truly felt like we were a family united together by all our outings together, and this was yet another one of those! We finally arrived at the Muttart’s and we all jumped off the bus and headed to see the 4 wonders inside the pyramids. There was the arid, tropical, temperate and the feature pyramid. Each pyramid was unique and all the Chengdu youths loved taking the pict
ures of all the different plants in each area. While we were going from section to section, I was talking with one of my buddies and I began to teach her some English. Every time we saw a sign with some words in it and wasn’t that long, I got her to read it. If she didn’t understand a word I would explain it in mandarin and then say it to her slowly so she would be able to pronounce it and understand. I thought this was only fair since they helped improve my mandarin from day 1 of their arrival! Several of the Chengdu youths were also photographed in the Muttarts; they were like models having their own private shoot. It was so sweet! I believe that everyone loved the greenery since in Chengdu they explained to me that there isn’
t as much greenery as Edmonton (which for some reason surprised me.)!Since we finished at the Muttarts earlier than planned, we went on a mini bus tour of the downtown area. At first we were too loud to even hear what the bus driver was saying so we all calmed ourselves and listened to the good stuff he had to say. After we passed several buildings, enough time had lapsed by so we headed to City Hall to meet the mayor and have lunch with him. All the Chengdu Youths filed out first in their bright pink (but sincerely lovely) t-shirts through the back entrance of City Hall. As we neared the front, we began to see familiar faces leading us to the room for lunch. Outside the entrance of our luncheon room, was a man on stilts who was way taller than six feet! The Chengdu Youths were all so fascinated by him and they were literally all lo
oking up to him. As each one of them passed by he gave them high fives and told them to go in and have some fun. Nearing the corner of the room, we were greeted by yet another fascinating human being. It was a joker (clown, or ‘Mr. Bean’ as some said), who did some pretty sweet juggling acts with pins, knives, and juggling balls. In the beginning he would drop the pins on the ground, and several Chengdu Youths helped him pick them up; however after several times, the Chengdu Youths got smart and began hiding the pins on the joker! It was hilarious because this was a definite surprise for the joker! One time, some of the Chengdu Youths also passed the pins behind their backs down a line, where the joker eventually caught them. It was so funny! Everyone was having such a good laugh about it. Then, some juggling balls (in a pack of three), were distributed to everyone so we could all learn how to juggle on our own. One of the Chengdu youths volunteered to go up front with the joker to juggle together. She gave a great go at it and had some very awesome courage. We all cheer
ed her on and she eventually got the hang of it and became very good at it! Following the fun acts, some speeches were given and then it was lunch time! There was an assortment of food all across two, very long tables, and everyone dug in. As we began eating, there was a balloon artist walking around, making balloon animals for people as he passed by. Everyone was so amused by this and by the time we finished eating, every single table had piles of balloon animals on it. Soon, everyone was done eating and it was time for the main performance of the day. The Chengdu Youth went ahead of us to sit in the front, in preparation for their performance; everyone after followed suit and we sat and listened to more speeches! Then, the main attraction of City Hall was ready! The Chengdu Youth had prepared three performances for us to observe. The first was a regular Chinese song, the next was a Christmas song and the last was a dance performance of one of the Chengdu Youths. Each routine was a work of art and was well crafted together! Not only do the Chengdu Youths know how to party, but they know how to sing and put a good show on! After the main show was over, there was a huge photo-opp with the mayor and everyone gathered a
round him on the stairs. Then, the Chengdu Youths went to go on a tour with the mayor while we met them in the Council Chamber afterwards. After all that excitement, it was time to go to our next destination.Our next destination was the book depository where the Chengdu Youths got to pick out 5 books on their own to take back home. As we arrived there, it started to rain (which was what we feared) and we all ran inside to stay warm and dry. It was fun in the ‘book store’. Everyone got to mingle with each other and talk about books they liked, they didn’t like, classics of the North American world and much more. Everyone was able to pick up something they liked and we all lugged our heavy books back to the bus. By the time we left the book depository, it was sunny and bright out (which was without a doubt very good!).
Before we went to the
Baseball game in the evening, we went to Kingsway garden mall and walked around looking at all the shops and stalls around the mall. Near the end of the shopping trip we went to the Bay and took a look at the winter Olympics merchandise. It was so much fun looking through there. My two Chengdu friends and I were goofing around by making animal noises that suited each mascot for the n2010 Olympics. It was such a hoot! Then we began translating some the things in English into Mandarin yet again. However what was different this time was that we did a little dance every time we said ‘Vancouver’. The sister of the Chengdu twin sisters began saying that her sister was such bad influence on me and was making me more ‘weird’ and ‘crazy’! It was good times.Finishing up in the mall, we finally arrived at the baseball game. Some of us were all hyped up, while others were a bit calm about it for they didn’t understand baseball. We got our meal tickets and we went up, grabbed our hot dogs and drinks and ran for the stands to our seats. Once majority of the group arrived to watch the game, we all noticed that the skies were getting really dark and it appeared it was going to rain. So we decided to go up higher to the more sheltered level. Luckily for us, we made the smart decision and say up there as the rain came pouring hard. There was a rain delay so we had to wait a good 30
minutes before the storm passed. During this time we chatted like crazy, ate the free popcorn we were given, and signed some foam hands we were given. It appeared that we were so absorbed in our own conversations and activities, that we didn’t even notice that the game had started and the rain had stopped. There was so much quirkiness going around; napkins in peoples hoods, tossing popcorn in to people`s mouths even though they would be a full two or three rows in front of you, signing foam hands and drawing some crazy things on them. It was good times in the back there with everyone. However we still watched the game and cheered on our home team! As intermission arrived, we all left, for it was getting late and we left to get our Chengdu friends home safely. On the bus there was so much commotion of more orange hands being passed around and signed and everyone was happy.At the hotel, we all went upstairs, gathered our belongings, and said good night for another night. We hugged, kissed, hugged some more, and wished everyone a good night rest for another sweet day was in store for them.
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