School's Out! On to Qufu.

The celebration for the end of the summer program was very nice on Saturday morning.  It was so sad to say goodbye to the students.  They are so generous and kind with their appreciation.  I've received several e-mails already.  Before the ceremony we took a photograph of all the teachers and the students who had not already caught the train home (about 1/2).  By about noon, they had a beautiful copy for each teacher that they delivered to the hotel.  They are neatly rolled up in a box to bring home. 

 

It was unbelievably hot today.  I am so glad that I carried my umbrella.  The shade was a help.  I bet I sweated 2 liters of water. Our hotel here  in Qufu is very nice.  Both of our meals were very good.  Joy tried some donkey meat.  She said it was very good.  I've added quite a few tofus to my list of foods.  There is also a speckled fruit that tastes a bit like a kiwi that I also snap up.  Tonight's buffet had some very good dumplings and crepes filled with vegetables. I'm actually getting pretty good with chop sticks!  I ate too fast tonight.  That's a sign that I'm getting better!  

 

 

 

Even though I'm pretty certain that there is no actual body in the Confucius tomb, it was really interesting to see the Confucius family cemetery, house, and temple.  Just getting the feel for the type of house was amazing.  All of those movies on TV make more sense now.  I understand the house concept.  An actual courtyard exists between the multipurpose room, the offices, and the living quarters.  The spot is filled with tourists, mostly Chinese.  Only one of the original gates to the temple exists:  900 years old.  The others were all destroyed in an earthquake 400 years ago.  The cemetery is more like a forest.  The ancestors of Confucius are buried there.  Some of the ancestors that held higher positions have fancy markings, but most are just mound after mound of earth.  One of my students had described the cemetery as a forest.  I had no idea what she meant by that.  After seeing it I understand.  We actually took a golf cart through the cemetery to get to the tombs of Confucious, his son, and his grandson.  It really was a forest.  

 

 

 

I'm sure you heard about the train wreck here.  None of our teachers were on that train.  The one we are taking on Tuesday from Jinan to Beijing is not the same type of train.