July 11 in China

 Suzhou ("sue-joe")

We drove about 1.5 hours from Shanghai to the town of Suzhou. Effee said it wasn't very big... Um? When I asked our city guide what the population was, he said it was 13 million! Nope, guess that's not too big! Actually, only about 6.5 million of those were born here. The other half are immigrants, many from other parts of China.

This city was built in 514 BC! Originally, it had a wall surrounding the city and 8 city gates. In October, 1937, 6 of the gates were destroyed from being bombed. The canal running through the city was originally the moat that ran next to the city wall. Most parts of the city wall were also bombed during the war. There's only something like 300 meters left of the wall. Our first stop was actually a school...more of an after school school...weekends, some holidays, after regular school...and they teach a lot of arts. They also play a lot of ping pong...which is what we did with some Chinese students. The school is also an 'English Immersion' school. There were some serious games going on...some lasting a long time! Zack and Noah (Monterey group) both were playing with their Chinese opponents for a long time!

 We headed toward the city wall...to fly kites!  It was another gorgeous walk through a park-like area!

 We went to one of the 2 remaining gates, went up on the wall and flew kites! That was fun...but it was also SO hot and SO humid! We had one casualty of a kite I getting stuck in a tree...but our Madison came to the rescue and helped rescue it! Zack's kite wasn't cooperating when I saw him...so I took a picture😉. Nick and Anthony were working together to figure their kites out...and both of our Charles' seemed to be doing OK!

 These next few photos were taken as we were walking back to our coach...

 

A lot of us ended at the little snack bar buying a Popsicle....yum!

Our guide, John, told us the most important industry here is electronics....especially Samsung. Their smartphone is made here. There are also a lot of Japanese factories here...Sony, Hitachi, Mitsubishi ... He said the 2nd most important industry is the semi-conductor...computer chips.

Silk used to be the most important industry 30 years ago and prior to that.
400-500 years ago, farmers started to gore Mulberry trees because of the high demand for silk. Silk embroidery has been very popular with royal families.

After lunch, we came to our new hotel to check in and freshen up before our next activity. We went to 'The Garden of Cultivation', which was declared a World Heritage Garden by UNESCO in 1997. It's stunningly beautiful! John told us there are seldom a lot of people there...well, I can see why! We walked through a maze of alleys and little tiny streets to get to it...then it was behind a Gate! Wait till you see the photos!

 This is the building where we had our calligraphy class...

 Effee

Besides just enjoying the park, we had lessons on Chinese calligraphy. We learned the main strokes...then wrote some word the ancient way and the current way, Chinese people originally drew pictures to communicate and the characters have evolved from that.

Dinner was next...delicious once again! It was interesting at lunch and at dinner. The talk around the table was food...not Chinese food, but In n Out, doughnuts, hamburgers from various other restaurants, etc.

This delegation, like I said, is GREAT! But I think they're starting to think about home...moms/grandma/dad's cooking...siblings (I think working with the kids yesterday triggered those feelings), a few are a bit homesick. Perfectly normal! Usually the last couple of days they're torn...wanting to go home, but not wanting time with their new friends to completely end...

We've been hanging out tonight...sitting around in the lobby and in the halls in small groups just visiting, the hotel wouldn't let them play cards in the lobby ...probably because gambling is illegal?

Wake up tomorrow isn't until 8 am...and we don't leave for the day until 9:30 am! It'll be a relaxing morning!