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Day 13 – Last Day in China

May 27, 2017

 Today was the last day in China for most of the group. Most of the group left Beijing at 4:30pm (after our flight was delayed for about an hour) but some of our group was continuing on for a three day side trip to Xian. The flight back to Newark was 13 hours long; when we arrived in Newark, we rushed through customs so we would not miss our connecting flight to RDU. Thankfully, no one had any major troubles and our connecting flight was also a little delayed. Back in China, 11 students took a high speed train to Xian where they met their new tour guide and went to the Xian City Wall. The wall is 600 years old, 9 meters wide, much wider than the Great Wall. For dinner they had their first hot pot experience. For a hot pot recipe, everyone gets to pick a meat, vegetable, and the amount of spice they want, then it gets placed it in a boiling pot of broth at the table where it cooks.  There are different styles of hot pot around Asia, and even within a given country, each household will do it a little differently, but if there’s one universal hot pot rule, it would be this —you don’t “hot pot” with people you don’t like. Like fondue, hot pot is one of the most social of dining formats. Not only are you gathered at one table sharing a meal, but you’re cooking your food together in a shared pot.

by guest blogger Michael Stephens & Julia Woods