Bullet Train and other things

Well, we are almost done with our trip now. Today we will be flying back to the good ole' US of A! We have taken several kinds of transportation such as a plane, a taxi, assorted busses and a bullet-train. That was pretty cool:

We have also eaten a lot of different places. In Japan we decided to try a traditional noodle shop where you sit on the floor to eat at a low table. The noodles weren't very good and my mom said they tasted like fish....yuck! Then yesterday Nathan and I dressed up as a Samuri and a Geisha. That was a lot of fun and we both looked so funny in our outfits!

We went to a temple too!

At the temple there was something called a "love stone," where you had to walk (with your eyes closed) from one rock to another. If you couldn't do it then you would have a hard time finding love, if you did it with someone's help then you would need guidance in your love-life...if you could walk all the way by yourself then you would find love soon. Piyan just sat there.

Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony was very impressive and we really enjoyed it! The drums and music were very cool and the fireworks kept us wide awake! Anyway, the whole thing was amazing!! Sadly, Piyan could only enjoy it from the inside of my back-pack. I apologize for that, but I'm going to try a green-screen picture for it. I hope that it works for me to do that because that would be pretty neat to edit people into our trip with us!

Catching up a bit more!

Wow, this trip has been very busy! I've hardly had time to post at all. Sorry about that. Anyway, yesterday we went to a Cloisonne factory and I took a bunch of pictures of Piyan there with some other panda things:

Piyan has also made some friends here. Everyone seems to look like him here!!

Then we went to the Great Wall and I got some pictures there too:

The weather was great and the climb wasn't very hard at all. We all wish we could have had a whole day there, but we were happy with our trip there anyway. We couldn't have said we had been to China without going to the Great Wall! Piyan is very excited about going to the closing ceremonies tonight and we will be there for several hours!

Day #2

So much has been going on! Piyan got really excited when we went to the water cube to watch women's diving. That will be our only time to visit the water cube and it was pretty awesome. We did take some pictures of Piyan there inside the water cube:It was very exciting to be inside the place where Michael Phelps broke the world-record of 7 gold medals for the olympic games with a total of 8 (which happens to be a lucky number in China....go figure).

Anyway, we have had a lot of strange things to eat....like duck and huge lobster. The head of the duck kept staring at everyone! After one meal we were playing around with the plastic fruits and took a picture of Piyan, an apple and Tom Murano:

We have been having a great trip and I can't believe it is already the third day! I don't think any of us are going to be ready for it to end!

Arrival and First Day in China

Well, Piyan arrived yesterday in Beijing China! He was very excited. We are all suffering from jet-lag but that didn't keep us from enjoying the volley-ball this morning:

We had some very interesting foods for lunch and supper! This afternoon we saw the Forbidden City. It was very large and ornate. After dinner we went to the "Bird's Nest" and it was beautiful! Piyan really enjoyed how the "Water Cube" changed colors all the time. It was very interesting to look at:

Our seats were very close to the track and it was really awesome to see all the runners. I got a few pictures of Piyan in the stadium too:

Visitors!

We had some visitors last night who Piyan recognizes from the FIAR message board. KristaJoy's family came to visit us last night and I got some pictures of Piyan with her daughters:

We will be leaving today to Knoxville where we will be flying out tomorrow morning. Right now it is pretty crazy here from packing and cleaning, but we are getting very excited about the trip. My brother hasn't really flown that he remembers and it will be great to have an experienced flyer with us!

Catching up

Well, a lot has been going on since Piyan first arrived. We have been pretty busy preparing for our trip, but not too busy to get a little fun in:

This is a picture of Caleb getting beat at Chess by Piyan. It was pretty funny when Piyan finally got him in check-mate!

A few days ago Piyan posed for a sketch I did. I think it turned out pretty well. This is a picture of the drawing:

Anyway, I have some posting to do on my own blog! I should be posting more about Piyan in a few days!

Piyan Has Arrived!

The panda has arrived! Just in time for the Opening ceremony too! Today right after lunch I checked the mail and Piyan was there along with the rest of our mail. I am planning on getting him a passport and pulling out a duffel-bag for him so he actually has something to pack in. I'm glad he came in time for our big party this evening so that I can take lots of pictures of him getting to know some of our friends here in Tennessee.

What is with the Panda?

Okay, here goes. The panda I will be blogging about belongs to a girl named Emmy-Anne. This panda is very special (or so I've been told) and is named Piyan. He will be arriving at my house by mail sometime soon and I will start taking pictures of Piyan everywhere. The goal is to take lots of pictures of the panda going wherever I'm going. In my case that means the last week of the Olympics in Beijing China and afterward some touring in Japan. Even though Piyan is Chinese, he was born here in the states and doesn't speak a word of Chinese (much like myself). At any rate I will hopefully upload to this site daily during the trip and Emmy will have a lot of fun looking at what her panda is doing.