Our entourage excluding cadets and escorts is 15 Chinese high school kids in an aviation program that just started. When they graduate they will move on to Chinese military, air force, commercial airlines as flight attendants, pilots and ground crew/support. Also are the schools headmaster, aviation program director and 2 teachers from their English program who are acting as our interpreters.
Besides the school we have 1 local political consultant, region party vice chairwoman, region finance director, 1 security staff (plain clothes police officer) 1 vide recorder, 1 reporter and last is our doctor (who had to patch me up yesterday when I scraped my shin on the bus). Our security follows and leads us in black compact SUV's which the first 2 days was one front and back and now we are down to just 1 black SUV. Pretty impressive isn't it?
Accomodations the first 2 nights we stayed in the Shandong Region Party Directors Hotel in JhouJioux. It was very nice and is also where we had the formal receptions I mentioned earlier. I am rooming with my Canadian counterpart who is a Major in their military and works with Air Cadets Canada wide.
We are in the Prince Hotel just off the port of Tsingtao and up from the original pier built by the Germans in 1896. The hotel was built at the beginning of the last century and still has a strong german influence like a lot of old Tsingtao.
I have to mention the beds well I should say the thing we sleep on. Hard is an understatement and I believe they're built to last another hundred years. Both hotels so far use the same bed. Better not try to bounce on it our you'll break something and it won't be the bed.
Tsingtao is a tourist city for Chinese and Korea so there is people everywhere over and above the local folks. Everywhere you go this is a little old lady trying to sell you sea shell necklaces, fried fish on a stick, customer kites or just about anything else you can imagine.
The trip has been great so far, hospitality has been fantastic and the focus on cadets and cultural interactions has been fantastic and I'm just glad I'm along to witness all of it.
Cadet Noah Gibbs had his birthday yesterday and I mentioned it to our hosts and for lunch they brought in a great cake and we all sang happy birthday to him. I just have to mention that tomato's are a fruit and always in the fruit trays here. So Noah's cake had fruit filled frosting on it including cherry tomato halves. The Chinese thought it was great but all us Meigowa's (foreigners) picked the tomato's out before eating.
I do have to mention we are very well watched over and our security person and party reps know where the escorts are most all of the time and during tours we don't get much of a chance to wander off.
Attached are a few photo's I've been able to upload so far. I'll add a few more of the signs we see but check out the sign behind our two school teacher/translators. The best I've seen so far but didn't get a picture of was on a t shirt saying "menstrual park, New York City"
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