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The SC delegation arrives in Tianjin

This morning we had an early departure at 6:45 AM for the Wuhan airport. Our group has become a well oiled machine at loading and unloading a bus. We all have a job and have easily cut our loading / unloading time by 50% since the beginning of the trip. The trip to the airport took about 90 minutes because of traffic. As a side note, the driving situation here is unlike anything any of us have ever seen. I will never complain about Massachusetts drivers again.

Once we arrived at the airport we went through a group check in which went relatively smooth. This time we were allowed to carry on two bags. This was a nice surprise since our bags were busting at the seams in preparation for only one carry on bag. We made it to our gate in plenty of time, with about 35 minutes to spare.

Wuhan airport The flight was about 90 minutes and went well. The weather here is excellent – sunny, not too hot, with a nice breeze. One of our students said “I am actually cold in China and I am pretty happy about that”! After loading our bus we left the airport for the 45 minute drive to the Tianjin Sport University. Once we arrived we quickly dropped our bags in our room and had a late lunch that included cold noodles (very tasty), squid, fish, chicken, soup, and something that resembled potato salad. After lunch we quickly left for the campus to have a brief tour. The tour was led by the Vice President of the University, who visited SC about a month ago. He was and impressive host, greeting us all with a handshake as we disembarked the bus. There were also a number of cameras and video cameras operated by University staff and students. This has been common at each school, with all visits well documented by the host school.

Our tour began with stops at several athletic facilities. We were treated to demonstrations from several of the teams including martial arts, wrestling (which was like judo), a sport played like volleyball but with your feet (don’t know the name), basketball, and dance. The dance performance was particularly impressive. When we entered the gym there were chairs set up for all of us. We sat down and were treated to a 15 minute dance performance that was very impressive. This group of dancers is a community based program, which means that they prepare several performances and present at events in the community. After the performance we had a group picture with the dancers.

DancersWe then watched the Dragon boat teams practice, and they put on a nice show for us. Having been in the Dragon boats earlier in the trip we all had an appreciation for how talented these athletes are. After the demonstration they came ashore for a quick picture with the group.

Dragon Boats Next we had a tour of the library which included a foreign language section. We were all pleased to find copies of many of the texts we use in the U.S. for athletic training and exercise science. After the library we went out to the athletic fields and played a short friendly game of ultimate Frisbee. This was a lot of fun – we were given a short lesson on the game and throwing technique. After the game we returned to the hotel to quickly prepare for dinner. We “dressed to impress” for our dinner with the President. The group looked so good in their nice clothes! Dinner was at the Tianjin Gou Bu Li Catering Co. Ltd. This is a famous restaurant in Tianjin where a number of famous political and military leaders have dined. The food was excellent and included fish, beef, pork, and dumplings. This restaurant is known across the country for their dumplings. We had both vegetable and pork dumplings that were the hit of the meal. dinner with presidentEditorial note: in the picture you will notice our students holding up what we would call the “peace sign”. In Guangzhou we learned that the Chinese consider this “yea” or showing that they are excited. Our students have adopted this for some of our pictures now. After dinner we exchanged gifts with the President and administration and left for a party that was organized by the University students.

PartyI don’t think any of us had an idea of what a great show we were about to see. Every single delegate was very impressed. The group greeted us with applause as we entered the gymnasium. The party was hosted in the format of a talk show. There were two emcees who introduced each act. The performances included martial arts, dancing, singing, games, traditional dance. It was just amazing – ask your favorite delegate how talented these performers were!

It has been a very long day, so we are off to rest for lectures in the morning and cultural activities in the afternoon. Thanks again for reading, it has been a lot of fun writing and we look forward to sharing the full-length version of the entries with all of you soon.

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Page updated on: 05/29/2008 05/29/2008