Off to China

My 16-year-old son left for a 10-day trip to China today, with the Lake Braddock High School Band which he plays in. What a great adventure for this band - they are only the second high school to ever to be invited to China to play, and they have a whole series of concerts lined up for them to perform in and around Beijing. This trip was two years in the making, and affordable by fund-raising and contributions from the Chinese Cultural Exchange. (I donated a new leather recliner for the fund-raising auction). Parents only had to pay the airfare for the students out-of-pocket when all was said and done.

They will do all the sights as one would expect as a group of nearly 150 students and 40 adult chaperons. One aspect I think was very interesting and may turn out to be one of the highlights of the trip, is they will break up into groups of four students and go into the home of a Chinese family for a traditional home-cooked meal as part of the exchange. That should be a real experience. They will also spend most of a day at a Chinese high school and play a concert there as well as eat in their school cafeteria.

Ray Holder, Band Director for Lake Braddock, really worked hard at this and I know he has to be exhausted with organizing it all and getting nearly 200 students and adults to the other side of the world with all their band equipment on four different airplane flights and then keep them all together and organized and safe for the next week and a half. He's one teacher that really has gone above and beyond the call of duty.

Trip of a Lifetime, it should be quite an experience. :D

That's amazing Duane! My niece is adopted from China and my brother and sister-in-law had to stay there for 10 days when they "picked her up". They have all kinds of pictures and mementos they brought back for all of us and her. They said it's a beautiful place but very different from anything you can imagine. It will be an experience your son will never forget!

I have to laugh when I think how these kids are going to hit the wall from jet lag. They left for the school at 6:30 a.m. Wash DC time. Then bus from the school to Dulles airport, plane leaves at 1:30 p.m.

6 hours before boarding
14 hours non-stop to Tokyo and it will be 4:30 p.m. when they land, still daylight.
1 hour layover then to China by 7:30 p.m. as the sun is setting.

So these kids will have been up for 23 hours when they get Bejing, then the ride to the hotel and of course they won't go to bed for another three or four hours. I'm thinking close to 30 hours straight....and with them all being teenagers they've never experienced that before - flying West and staying almost even with the sun....lol

Not to mention they were probably so nerved up the night before they left they probably didn't sleep much then either..

Sounds like the trip of a lifetime, hope you sent him with a camera. :)

It sounds like a great trip!

When I was in junior high, we got to go all the way from Toronto to Quebec City, taking us sweathogs any further , was not even slightly in the Board of Educations' mind, and forget about another country.
It was great fun though.

hahah that's funny BrentB.. :)