Hello all from beautiful, muggy Changsha, Hunan.  What a wonderful place this is.  As before, our guests have really rolled out the red carpet for us. Everywhere we go, we are given the VIP (or C in my case) treatment.  I was especially impressed today when the students at the high school we visited sang a song from the musical "Cats."  I guess they knew I was coming.  By the way, this high school we visited was Chairman Mao Tse Tung's alama matter.  The founder of the People's Republic of China's school- can you believe it?  They had his yearbook picture there and everything.  Pretty wild! 

Today we also got to visit a middle school, where we met a girl named Emma. She was pretty excited to learn that Mr. P had a Chinese-born daughter named Emma as well.  She told us that Em-ma in Chinese means "Love your Mother."  Isn't that cool?! :)

Tomorrow we will visit Chansha University, which is apparently the 2nd oldest college in the world, and a museum with 2000 yr old relics from the Western Han Dynasty!  Can't wait!

The food here is spectacular, but they are afraid that us westerners won't be able to handle the heat, so they keep toning it down.  Our guide said he would make sure we get good spicy stuff tomorrow. I sure hope so.  You know, when in Hunan...  

Hope all is well with you in Spokane. Love and miss you all

Jr  

Nee-how (Hello) from China!

So much to tell you, and verly little time to do it.  Everything is pretty well scheduled for us each day- not a lot of free time.  Mr. P and I are having a fabulous time here.  Mr. Jurison, I've done my best to keep Mr. P in line, and so far no international incidents, so I think I'm doing well. 

We've seen absolutely amazing sites and have been treated like royalty wherever we go.  We've also made a lot of great new friends.  I think that has been the best part.

Our adventure really began with the flight over here.  It took about 12 hours or so to reach Beijing, but I really enjoyed myself.  I met a lot of nice folks from the delegation and they all seemed very please to have me tag along.  That made me very happy- some people just don't like cats... Legroom was a problem for Mr. P and that man can NOT sit still, but that was not really an issue for me.  We had different music to listen to and movies to watch (just one screen up front, not the cool ones in the chairs :( ), so that helped the time pass relatively quickly. As comfy as I was, I still didn't get in anything more than a little catnap.  I was just too excited.

When we finally landed, it was obvious that we weren't in Spokane anymore.  I knew there be a lot of people and I knew it would be hot, but WOW!  Nothing can really prepare you.  Let me give you a fashion tip:  leave your furs at home if you plan to visit China in the summer!

The next morning, we set off for a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People along Tianemen Square.  This is not a place where people (or cougars) usually get to go. It is reserved for Chinese heads of state and special guests of the government.  How bout that!?  We listened to different dignataries give their speaches and list their hopes/dreams for our delegation, and then we went to this gigantic ballroom for a feast.  I was really incredible.  Most of the food you would recognize, some not so much.  There's always at least one bird dish (duck, turkey, chicken...) and one fish dish (who knows!) so I'm very content.

Later that day we got to go to an elementary school.  That was a ton of fun.  Turns out that kids over here are just like kids back home- they're smart, funny, and they think cougar cubs are pretty cute.  I got lots of ear scratches and made lots of new friends.  I wasn't sure if one girl named Ting was going to let me leave!   I hope we will be able to keep in touch.  Mr. P and the others were sure glad to get out of their suits and ties when we got  back to the hotel- NOT a luxury I have!  Oh, well.  At least my coat is nice and shiny.

Next day, we got to see the Forbidden City- the imperial palace of the emporer.  For hundreds of years, nobody but the emporer and his court were allowed through the gates.  The palace was built in the 1400s, and served as the center of Chinese power until the start of the 20th century.  This place was overwhelmingly huge and beautiful- kind of like China itself.  The Chinese love to put lions at their doors for protection- good idea don't you think?  The emporer, of course, had some of the best.  I got my picture taken with them.  Nothing like meeting royalty!

We did the Great Wall yesterday.  It truly is awe-inspiring. Mr. P took about 10 million pictures, so hopefully we'll get those up for you to see soon. 

We flew into Hunan (means South of the Lake, if you were wondering) last night, and it looks like the bus is about to leave, So we gotta go! 

Wonderful to hear from some of you. 

JR 

Hi everybody!  Sorry Mr. P and I have not written for a while- they have us on a pretty hectic schedule over here.  It has been absolutely wonderful though!  We've been to the Forbidden City and Peking University, and we've had the honor of meeting kids here.  I've got a lot of pictures that we'll try to send soon, but that take more time.  I have to pack for Hunan now- were going to the Great Wall and then we hop on a plane.  Hope to chat at you again soon! 

JR

Hi everybody!  We made it to San Francisco without any trouble.  We're staying with Mr. P's cousin tonight, and then the adventure REALLY begins.  Tomorrow is going to be a really long day- literally.  We'll be crossing the international date line, so it'll be even longer than it seems!We're having fish tonight, by the way.  Clearly an excellent choice! 

Enjoying a nice bay view,

Junior