Friday, March 7, 2008
The Soundtrack of a Marathon Travel Day
On the way to the airport, the students sang every chance they got, like while sharing each other's iPod selections with one another (one guy was listening to a Swedish techno group called Alkaseltzer). Some of the lyrics made me laugh-- such as when one student did her best hip-hop impression with, "I'm too broke to pay attention." Loved that line. Then there were a few ex-Girl Scouts treating everyone to every song they ever learned at Girl Scout camp-- "Fried Ham" and "Rigabamboo," to name a few. It was a little goofy and chaotic, but very entertaining. You could tell that this was a bus full of people who live, sleep and breathe singing. Especially when Karen, the choir director, took out her pitch pipe to show it to John Bowman and blew it for a second. Immediately, several students' voices rose in perfect union to meet the notes. Hearing them suddenly stop what they were doing and rise to the occasion to get into tune felt like when you see a flock of birds move swiftly and suddenly in an entirely different direction, completely unified and full of purpose.
Later we did fly ... on the plane, for 13 hours. None of the movie monitors were working, but that didn't stop everyone from having a good time. We got up and walked around to visit one another, read, sleep and eat. A woman was doing tai chi in the back of the plane. One student was sitting next to a deaf man who was headed to Mongolia to do work with the Peace Corps. She was thrilled to have an opportunity to use her sign language to talk to him. "I have never been so happy to know sign language in my whole life," she said later. I sat next to an elderly Chinese couple who were a little intimidated by the experience of flying. I helped the woman fasten her seat belt and wished I knew more of what to say to her so we could communicate beyond smiles and nods. I slept a lot, which was great because later ...
We grabbed our bus, ate a fantastic dinner and then headed over to Lotus Lane, which is sort of like Beijing's version of San Antonio's River Walk. Tons of lights and crazy bars ... we all walked in a bit of a stupor after such a long day, but it was fun anyway.
Now I must sleep. What a full day of thoughts, sounds, sights. LOVING THIS!
Later we did fly ... on the plane, for 13 hours. None of the movie monitors were working, but that didn't stop everyone from having a good time. We got up and walked around to visit one another, read, sleep and eat. A woman was doing tai chi in the back of the plane. One student was sitting next to a deaf man who was headed to Mongolia to do work with the Peace Corps. She was thrilled to have an opportunity to use her sign language to talk to him. "I have never been so happy to know sign language in my whole life," she said later. I sat next to an elderly Chinese couple who were a little intimidated by the experience of flying. I helped the woman fasten her seat belt and wished I knew more of what to say to her so we could communicate beyond smiles and nods. I slept a lot, which was great because later ...
We grabbed our bus, ate a fantastic dinner and then headed over to Lotus Lane, which is sort of like Beijing's version of San Antonio's River Walk. Tons of lights and crazy bars ... we all walked in a bit of a stupor after such a long day, but it was fun anyway.
Now I must sleep. What a full day of thoughts, sounds, sights. LOVING THIS!
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