The two competitors who won the competition here in Qufu had to go to Jinan for the weekend in order to compete in the provincial competition and a chance to go to Beijing for a nation-wide competition. I was asked kind of at the last minute if I wanted to come to a practice and to give my insights. I said yes, since one of the competitors is my student. As it turns out, I got much more involved and active in helping both my student and the other competitor. I then got asked if I wanted to travel to Jinan to watch and support my students. I said yes and in a whirlwind, some other students bought Shawn and me round trip tickets. They cost about 100 yuan. Not bad, since Jinan on the train takes about 30 minutes.
The train going to Jinan was the "D" train, which is the second fastest. We had to sit in these sleeper cars with some other people, which was a little bit awkward, but nonetheless fun.
The train going to Jinan was the "D" train, which is the second fastest. We had to sit in these sleeper cars with some other people, which was a little bit awkward, but nonetheless fun.
When we got there, we had to get a taxi from the train station to the hotel. The plaza outside the train station had some interesting statues that were modeled after the terracotta warriors in Xian.
The hotel was very nice. Turned out I was responsible for paying for the room, which was about 200 yuan. That was a major discount, since a single room like the one in which I stayed was usually 600 yuan. We were all on the fifteen floor, and could look down at some of the city. Since Jinan in the province capital, it is a very large city with about nine million people within the metro area.
That night we had a nice meal and a couple more rehearsals for the students. We also went to a store that had some Western products, so I stocked up on cheese. I bought about 150 yuan worth of cheese, most of which is still, magically, in my refrigerator.
The next morning, we were told that the competition started at eight, and that my student was number one in line, so Jason, Shawn, and I got some Chinese continental breakfast, which is very different from the American concept of breakfast.
The next morning, we were told that the competition started at eight, and that my student was number one in line, so Jason, Shawn, and I got some Chinese continental breakfast, which is very different from the American concept of breakfast.
After breakfast, we rushed to the competition, but when we got there, the competition had already started and they were on contestant number seven! We were so baffled by this. We found our student and she explained that they started the competition at 7:30. So we missed her! We all had gone to show our support for her, since she was very nervous, but then we missed her presentation. We were all kind of sad, but she did very well, holding a very strong score throughout the whole first round. The other student also did very well and also had a high score. Unfortunately, neither student made it into the second round, so we decided to have a nice baozi lunch and to get everything ready to come back to Qufu.
The others had taken a van to Jinan, but Shawn, two other students, and I had taken the train, so we hung out a little more at Shandong Normal University, where the competition was held. There was a Chemistry department waltz competition in front of a Mao statue at the university, so Shawn and I watched that for a little bit before we found the other students.
For the ride home, we got the epitome of Chinese food: McDonalds. The train ride back was nice and we caught a taxi back to school. Overall, it was a fun experience, but I wish I had seen a little more of the city. Perhaps next time.