DiSCOVER. Trip to China. Day 8. July 23, 2013.

Arriving in Friendly Shandong

It was an early morning today. Morning call was at 4am and we were in the lobby with our packed luggage and ready to go at 5am. We ate a packed breakfast on the bus. We boarded our 7:30 am flight to Jinan International Airport in Shandong where we will be spending the next 3 days.

Jinan International Airport. The view from the tour bus after we made it, soaking wet, with our luggage onboard

When we arrived in Jinan at 10 am, it was raining cats and dogs outside. It meant the weather was cool and would remain cool during the duration of our stay here in the province. Awesome!

“Mui choi kao ruk” Slow braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens. Even though there is a lot of fat attached to the meat, this is what makes the dish taste sooo good.

We checked into our hotel (which is not as nice as the two we’ve been to so far on this trip — read: we’re spoiled). We had a delicious lunch at a run-down looking restaurant. Luckily our group got the nicest room that was brightly lit. Their food actually turned out to be extremely good! I was very impressed with their ‘mui choi kao ruk’. Clifton made a funny when he accidentally broke his chopsticks by stabbing it into the fried fish in order to separate it.

Fried fish that was difficult to pry open; so difficult that a pair of chopsticks was sacrificed in the process.

We visited the Shandong University and Elementary School. This was so much fun! The teachers and administration planned out such a fun afternoon for us. We first learned how to create Chinese opera masks and then got to create our own. We learned a Chinese song written about the “Jasmine Flower” and learned choreography with it as well. Some participants were picked to do it in front of us all on the stage too. It was hilarious.

Walking into the school, we were welcomed in Chinese characters. This was such a big difference in courtesy compared to the other university… On the right hand side is all the stacked desks and chairs from the classrooms due to cleaning over the summer.

Learning how to make a Chinese opera mask. It was incredibly fun! A lot of us had not used paints since our elementary school days.

Learning how to dance to “Jasmine Flower”. The teacher was so cute and taught us so patiently. Godwin made us all laugh so hard when he danced with his pink raincoat on.

At night, we had the Shandong Government dinner. There were 3 tables of us and there was one government official that was at our table. It was pretty neat. The table was also filled with food 😀