On Saturday morning we took a school-organized trip to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. It is located about 35 minutes by bus from our school. We were very lucky both because the weather was relatively cool and because we got there early enough to miss the crowds. We had a guided tour to visit the enormous pit 1, then moved on to see pits 2 and 3 before returning to pit 1 for a picture a few feet closer to the warriors. Some of the students thought that would be able to stand next to one of the warriors since they saw a photo of President Clinton and family next to one. I reminded them that they are not a president. We looked from above.
After our visit we saw a circle-vision movie telling showing something of the history of the Qin Emperor who had the terra cotta army built to accompany him to the afterlife. He became emperor at the age of 13 and ruled for 30 years. So far 8000 warriors and horses have been unearthed, but though they know that there are more they are progressing slowly. The warriors were originally painted but when exposed to air the paint disintegrates. Right now they are working with some German scientists on methods to preserve the painted surfaces.
On the way to the murseum the students were all chatting and lively, but on the way home after a bit of talk most of them fell asleep. :) When we returned to Xi'an our bus dropped each student off and his or her building to spend the rest of the weekend with their host families.
Yesterday it rained and it was cool. The rain is not unusual, but the cool weather is! I am looking forward to see the kids to find out what they did this weekend.
I have been trying to add pictures but for the moment it is not working. I'll try again this afternoon.
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