Written by Zoe Sheitman.
Today a group of students decided to go visit a famous landmark in China called the Shaolin temple. After a two hour drive from Zheng Zhou, we finally made it to Shaolin.
This temple is the starting place of Kung Fu and is highly respected throughout all of China. Shaolin temple is composed of many different religious buildings, some even have statues and Buddhas. Our tour guide explained to us how each building has its own story which was quite intriguing. The scenic views of mountains and beautifully painted buildings were quite impressive.
Once we looked at all of the buildings in Shaolin, we decided to drive back to Zheng Zhou and get some lunch. The exchange students decided to give us a break from Chinese food and let us enjoy an American favorite: McDonalds. All of us really enjoyed eating this classic food; it tasted exactly like it does back home!
Once we finished eating, the students took us to an ice skating rink. This rink was located in a local mall. The cool temperatures were a nice break from the heat of Zheng Zhou. We skated around the rink and made some friends with the Chinese kids skating! Most of us were skilled at skating, while others fell a few times. Despite this minor setback, we had a really nice time at the ice skating rink.
The exchange students then took us to a market place for dinner. Here there were an array of different foods to choose from. Some of us choose to eat crayfish, bao zi (a type of food similar to a dumpling), pineapple fried rice, noodles and much more. Although at first we had doubts whether the food would taste good since it was in a market that looked rather shabby, we were pleasantly surprised when we tried the food and found out it was excellent.
Everyone was sharing with one another since we had so much food and we all had a great time. After dinner, some of us went shopping at the stores close to the market while some went to get more food.
Then we all parted ways and we are super excited for what exciting adventures tomorrow holds.