We got up early this morning ate breakfast. Lily picked us up at 8:30 am to go to the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum. It was an hour drive and Olivia fell asleep before we got there. There are two different areas that you go too. The first area is where they show you how the Terra Cotta Warriors are made. We went inside of the building and they had life size Terra Cotta Warriors and small ones being made. We saw a couple of ladies make the small warriors. One was pressing the clay into the mold and the other lady was shaving off all of the extra clay from the body and covering up the seams. They had some life size warriors that were curing, which the gentlemen says that it takes about a month before they can add the feet and head to the body. You can purchase the warrior and put your own face on it. We saw the sculptor carving the face on a warrior that someone had purchased. We went into another room where you could purchase different sizes of the Terra Cotta Warriors. Kevin bought a couple of small ones. While we was looking around, one of the ladies working there was smiling at us and she could speak English. She talked to Olivia, but at first Olivia wouldn't talk to her until Lily came over and talked to the lady too. The lady said that Olivia was very cute and smart. We went on shopping and the lady asked Lily lots of questions about Olivia. The lady said that she couldn't believe that her mama gave her up just because she had a droopy eyelid. She said that she has a 4 year old and she is not nice like Olivia. She is kind of naughty. The workers understood that we were adopting and they were very receptive of it, so much that Kevin got 35% off of his purchases. Lily said that the man usually only gives 20%, but he told Lily because we adopted the girl that he will give us 35% off price.
After our purchases,we headed off to see the Terra Cotta Warriors Musuem. There are 3 large buildings. The first building is the largest and holds all of the Terra Cotta Warriors and you can view them. The area is about 2 acres and they dug down about 35 feet. A farmer found the warriors when he was digging a well. He didn't know what is was and he had unearthed one of the warriors head and was using it for a scarecrow. A reporter who was originially form Xi An had come home to see his family and heard about the story and went to investigate. He wrote a large article in the paper and the government saw the article and investigated what it was. So far, there are 8000 warriors. They put them back together with the original pieces and if all the pieces are not there, they will not make any new ones. There is only one warrior that was found all intact. It was a kneeling archer and the back side shows the original color on him. The emperior was like the Egyptians, preparing for the after life. He was a ruler here so he is assuming that he is going to be a ruler in the next life. They believe that his tomb is behind the warriors. While we were looking at the sights and Lily is telling us the history, Olivia decides to get out of her stroller and go for a walk. If Lily stayed too long in one place, Olivia was ready to move on. When it was Olivia's snack time, Lily gave her the snack so Kevin and I could get some pictures and get a closer look. Lily got Olivia to point at us and call us mama and baba then she spoke in English and pointed to us again and said mommy and daddy. Olivia repeated mommy and daddy. Lily told Olivia that she was eating too much and Olivia replied to her that she knew that she was overeating, but she couldn't help it because the food we are giving her taste so GOOD. Olivia did very well on her first outing as a family. The second building is next group of warriors. They are waiting for new techology before they uncover them, hoping to preserve the color that they have on them. The third building held the emperiors chariots which were half the size of the original and are made out of pure bronze.
After the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum, we went to a restaurant that makes noodles. The chef came out and went around to every one's table showing how to make the noodles. Lily ordered our lunch. We had noodles, rice, beef and onions, chicken with spicy sauce, vegetables, and watermelon. The plates were the size of saucers. Our glass was the size of a 3 oz Dixie cup and you had to pay extra if you wanted more. The noodles tasted like they were cooked and then dipped in vegetable oil. Kevin was looking forward to getting back to the room and eating Pringles that he had gotten at WalMart. On the other hand, Olivia like the noodles and rice.
We went back to the room for a couple of hours and then Lily picked us up to take us to a restaurant where they make dumplings. The dumplings are shaped like the meat inside like chicken, pig, frog, duck, cabbage, goldfish, shrimp and walnut. They also had regular steamed dumplings they were really good. The dumplings were the size of a walnut. When Olivia saw the dumplings she was jumping up and down in her highchair and then when she sat down, she was kicking her feet. She really liked the dumplings. Kevin decided that the snacks back in the room were much better than anything we had tasted all day. So, when we got back to the room we had Pringles and Coke. Tomorrow we will be flying to Guangzhou.
Enjoyed reading! We had technical difficulties Sun morning and did not get to announce the Saturday gathering, but will do it WED!
ReplyDelete