On to our Homestay

It feels like a recreation of the film “Catch me if you can” here in China. Today we awoke early (What else is new?) to board an 8:33am train to the city of Zheng Zhou in Henan Province. The train terminal was right next to our hotel, outside the ancient city wall (I’m not exactly how ancient that wall is, because we’ve been visiting a lot of recreated “ancient” sites that have been built in the last five years.). The station was crowded very crowded at 8am. Trains are a much more popular mode transportation in China for common people then in the U.S. We went through the lax security and joined the throng. Luckily we didn’t have to lug our heavy bags through the station like they did a few years ago. The train was a standard train and we got a bed car. Cramped to the Max! They had three rows of beds, six in a “cabin” (a kind of outlet divided from the others but no door.) We are having fun though. The bathroom is more or less a hole in the bottom of the train (squatter style, we call it). The train is cleaner than I thought but it’s not Amtrak. They have carts with snacks and some of the kids got apples. It is several hours (eight I estimate) to get to Zheng Zhou. We are all getting psyched to meet our host families. Some are freaking out about staying with them, and fearing they won’t know any Chinese when we get there. Some are trying to memorize huge introductions (*cough John/Kim). I myself am taking the relaxed “go with the flow” attitude. It should be a very exciting and interesting experience. Hopefully it will be quieter then the last few days (which have been very intense if you couldn’t tell from the previous posts). We stay in Zheng Zhou for 4 nights. Mr. Killmer will keep you updated on our progress. Mark

Editor's Note:
The students were a little nervous about meeting their host families. Maybe even more than a little nervous. Their fears faded as soon as they saw their host student. It was a touching reunion complete with hugs, introductions, handshakes and relief. All was well as the students headed off to their homes. I will try to keep the blog updated daily as we explore Zhengzhou.