Dragon Dancing, Kung Fu, Lion Dancing and Awesome Food- Day 3

On our 3rd day at TU, Eathen came and got us for breakfast and took us to a new canteen. I bet most of us wish we would have eaten more because that afternoon we REALLY burned some calories. After breakfast, we went to one of the gyms at TU and watched an awesome presentation. The students performed a "Dragon Dance," "Lion Dance" and demonstrated some Kung Fu. Here are a few shots from this performance:

We were extremely flattered by this sign!

The Dragon Dance

Lion Dancing

Here, the performers made a "Dragon Boat." When we arrived in China, we learned that we arrived a few days after the Chinese holiday, the Dragon Boat Festival. The Dragon Boat Festival celebrates the life and death of a famous Chinese poet Qu Yuan, who killed himself during the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty. The people of China loved him so much that when his body fell into the river, they threw rice ball dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves into the water so that the fish wouldn't eat his body- they would eat the dumplings instead. Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated by eating these rice dumplings, drinking rice wine, and racing dragon boats.

Some Kung Fu!

These girls in white demonstrated some Tai Chi sequences, which although appearing easy and graceful, we would learn is indeed very difficult!

Sword fighting

The guy in the white demonstrated a few shadow boxing techniques. Let's just say I definitely wouldn't want to cross him in an alley! He was incredible, and we sort of nicknamed him "Jackie Chan." Come to find out, his English name is Jackie Wu! Another interesting fact about Jackie Wu... He's deaf! It was incredible- Whitney was able to sign with him and communicate. It was a very special experience. 

Group Shot!

After all of the formal pictures, we stuck around for a little while and got some more photos:

We had to get a picture with Jackie Wu!

Dr. Reed's pretty flexible, don't you agree?

Whitney signing with Jackie Wu!

After that incredible presentation, we had lunch. Thankfully, we had our Chinese co-students with us to help us order. Everyone had a great lunch.. Here's some more pictures!

My lunch- I honestly couldn't tell you what it was, but it was great!

This is what Lynn ate for lunch. Those little round things are steamed rice squeezed together and rolled out into little circles. She told me this was the traditional dish in Taizhou.

Noodles!

After lunch, we learned Kung Fu. Holy cow, this was probably the most physically exhausted I had been in months! The performers made it look so easy! I think everyone was dripping with sweat and suffering from exhaustion by the time we were through. We were all learning Kung Fu, so unfortunately I wasn't able to get any pictures of that. Most of us will probably thank me for that anyway, because I'm sure we looked rough- we were so hot. It was worth it, though! After all, how many times does one get the opportunity to learn Kung Fu in China? After a quick break, we learned Lion Dancing. Lion Dancing was lots of fun, also! I wish I had gotten pictures of this. They even let us put on the costumes! 

After the exhausting Kung Fu and Lion Dancing lessons and a shower and rest, we headed out to the street for dinner. I ended up trying several different small things before settling on my dinner, so here's more pictures!

This cup has some kind of broth in it, and I went to the cart with Lynn and picked out the vegetables I wanted to try. I decided to go with mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and some type of greens. Lettuce, maybe? Regardless, it was very good!

Eathen suggested I try "Chinese pizza," which is nothing at all like American pizza, but still very tasty. I went with the mini-sized bag, which only cost me 1 RMB!

Some type of Chinese fruit. I'm not sure what it was called, but you peeled it and it revealed a clear fruit that had the same texture as a "tough orange." It tasted good! Kind of sour, though.

I'm not sure whose "Chinese burrito" this is, but we ended up eating this several times on the trip.

After I sampled what I wanted to sample, I was ready for my dinner! I requested that one of the Chinese students get me some noodles, and we ended up walking to a restaurant a few blocks down the road. Man, those noodles were delicious! To drink, William suggested I try the most famous canned drink in China, so I did! It was kind of like green tea. 

After that adventurous dinner, we decided to wind down with our Chinese students and we taught them card games and they took us to play pool!

After this exhausting day, it was finally time for bed!