Up, Up and Away

Wow, if there ever were a blog-worthy day, it would have to be today. I just got back from the most unique, bizarre, and exciting experience I've had here so far: the 2008 China-Langfang International Hot Air Balloon and Fruit-Picking Festival! We were invited to participate by the local city and county officials, so we knew it was a big deal, but we had no idea just how big. The first clue came when we got on the bus and received our "Distinguished Guest" press passes. We arrived at the "fairgrounds" and as we went to watch the opening ceremony (they use that term a lot these days), we realized that we were part of it! They welcomed all of the foreign experts, and then had us stand there in a line while a literal swarm of paparazzi snapped photos and videos. It was probably as close to a red carpet experience as I'll ever get.

This isn't even half of them, but you get the idea...

It was an extremely foggy morning-we didn't even see these behind us at first

Then came the real fun: hot air balloon games! The first was called "Treasure Hunting" (catching foxtails thrown from the ground in a fishing net) and the second was "Target Practice" (dropping said foxtails onto a giant bullseye on the ground). They would be keeping score as we were competing against the locals. So up and away we went. I've never been in a hot air balloon before, so I was pretty excited, even though we were tethered to the ground (actually, we were tied to trucks on the ground!). Shannon and I went up together for the Treasure Hunting game, and I gotta tell you, my head was awful close to the inferno blast above us- I seriously thought my hair was melting. But we had a fun time as we tried to catch the foxtails thrown by Peter. Everyone got a turn up in the air, and when it was all over and the scores added up, the foreign experts triumphed over the locals. At least that's what they told us! Then they presented us with this amazing glass trophy in the shape of a fist giving a thumbs up, and gave each of us these nifty embroidered pictures. Did I mention the paparazzi? They were following us everywhere, and they grabbed me for an interview at one point. My first (and last?) translated interview- a very interesting experience. Tune into CCTV tonight at 8 pm, and you'll see what I mean.

Treasure Hunting!

Team Langfang!

After the balloon festivities, we got back on the bus for the fruit-picking. We were given a police escort to this village, where we then rode on a horse-drawn cart out to the fields. Then we were handed bags and clippers and instructed to go and pick all the grapes and pear-apples we could in 30 minutes. I've never picked grapes before, it was fun to grab them, peel them, and eat them fresh off the vine. We found out later on that the farmers had harvested most of the grapes a couple weeks ago, but left 4 rows just for us. So sweet! And remember the paparazzi? Yep, still with us, following our every move, to the point that they were hiding on the other sides of the vines and trees, waiting to get the perfect picture of us plucking our fruit! I can only imagine what they're going to do with 20 pictures of me with my hands on some grapes...

Shannon with her harvest

I am the vine, you are the branches...

We finished the day off with a giant lunch consisting of no less than 15 different dishes and multiple toasts with the officials. Generosity and abundance are the way they do things around here, and it was truly an honor to be a part of their special day. And now I have 2 giant bags of fresh fruit. I'm thinking applesauce and some freshly squashed grape juice. We'll see how that goes...