We started our first full day in Xian with a visit to the Children’s Village, an organization that shelters and takes care of children while their parents are in jail. Since the village was opened in 1996, it has helped over 2,000 children return to their families who would have been homeless otherwise. After a brief video introduction explaining the Villages history, we performed Baby Shark for the children and then handed out Hershey Kisses. I thought our three huge bags of Kisses was going to be way too much, but the kids made short work of them. They filled every pocket to the brim with the chocolate, faces beaming the whole time. Next we went down to the basketball courts and played a game of knockout, which we explained how to play, and we also kicked a few soccer balls around. There were also a few ping pong tables so we all tested our mettle against Dr. Li and the kids, but few of us came out victorious. Next we had a nice rice and stew lunch at the Village cafeteria and a quick group picture before saying goodbye and heading back to the bus for our next trip. After about an hour in the bus we arrived at the Greater Wild Goose Pagoda, a buddhist historic landmark. We did not actually go into the Pagoda, but the surrounding area was filled with a mix of tourists, monks, and worshippers. I have never been to a buddhist area of worship before so the giant statues and bowing people were new to me. I also realized that when I think of Buddhism I only think about Tibetan Buddhism. I don’t know nearly as much about Buddhism in China and Southeast Asia so I will have to make it a point to look them up and learn their differences. In a building next to the Pagoda we learned about calligraphy and the instructor showed us some paintings representative of traditional chinese style. The instructor taught us that despite there being tens of thousands of characters in the chinese alphabet, everyone is composed of some mix of only 8 brush strokes.

In my opinion the most exciting part of the day happened after our scheduled activities. We ate an excellent dinner courtesy of Dr. Li (Thank you Dr. Li!) and then we walked to the Muslim Street, the cultural center of the Muslim population in Xi’an and also a popular street for street food. The walk to the Muslim Street was the craziest experience of my life, I had sensory overload the entire time. There were hundreds of huge grasshoppers in small green and white cages the size of lacrosse balls, countless shops preparing an endless amount food. The smells were intense, some were inviting but others literally made me gag, and it was always impossible to identify where they were coming from. Neon lights illuminated the street as motorcyclists wove through the bustling crowd, avoiding prostate beggars and oblivious tourists as easily as if they weren’t there at all. The walk to the Muslim Street has been the height of my experience so far, and I challenge the rest of the trip to shock me with the same intensity.