There are two new videos posted to the Thunder website about our trip to China! There is lots more from Marisa and Riane, plus some insights from Mary Jo, our staff leader for the trip. Check ‘em out!

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Angi from NewsOK.com interviewed Marisa and Riane this week about our trip to China! Cool video – take a look:

Marisa & Riane on NewsOK

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We’re back in the US, and we are exhausted! We’ve been spending most of today trying to reset our internal clocks to OKC time, with mixed results.

All of us agree this was truly the trip of a lifetime, and one we’ll talk about for years. We only hope that the people we met and peformed for in China will also be talking about our visit – and about the Thunder! – for just as long.

We’re going to be talking on camera about our experience with some of the Thunder staff, so we’ll be sure to link to that video here once it’s on the website.

In the meantime, we’ll keep you posted on any more updates as we settle back in at home!

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What a crazy weekend! We may have gotten a little bit used to the pace of touring and shopping, but we were back into performance mode on Saturday and Sunday. We all were ready to get back into the groove of performances, but now that we’ve done it – whew!

It’s been a jam-packed couple of days. On Saturday alone, we had two performances and a visit to a Lenovo store – kind of a rough schedule after our days off! As always, though, the crowds were so much fun and so appreciative of us. We had a great time putting on a show, posing for pix and talking to the audience. We’re feeling a little more comfortable engaging with the crowd the more we do it. We know they’re all going to be so kind and so excited to have us there – plus we’re getting more used to communicating around the language barrier or talking through a translator.

Sunday we only had one performance, but after that we had to pack everything up one more time and head back to Guangzhou. We had such a short time in Huizhou – we wish we could have spent some more time sightseeing since it is such a beautiful city!

It’s hard to believe our time here is almost finished. This has truly been the trip of a lifetime – each of us has said that at some point, and the more we reflect on everything we’ve done, the more true it seems. Not only have we experienced things beyond our imagination, we’ve also shared so much together. (Right now, almost everything we’re wanting to write involves some sort of inside joke!)

We’re about ready to hit the hay for our final night in China. Tomorrow will be an incredibly long day of traveling, even if we do gain some time back. Looking at the schedule, only about ten hours will tick off the clock, but it will be nearly a full 24 hours of traveling for us. Probably we’ll sleep a lot more on these flights than we did on the flights here.

We’ll have more thoughts to share tomorrow, but overall, we hope we’ve been good ambassadors during our time here, representing our passion (dance), our league, our team and our city as best we can. We’ve certainly had a blast doing it!

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Final of three posts from our ladies about their favorite places we’ve visited so far and some of the things they’ve learned on this amazing trip to China.

Hayley:

I’ve learned many things about China in my short time here. One of them is that the culture has an outdoor emphasis. You can find people dancing, working out, shopping, sleeping and playing games outside just about everywhere. The people spend very little time indoors.

My favorite place we went was the beautiful Shamian Island. The buildings and scenery were fantastic!

Brittany:

I have learned so many new and exciting things on this trip.  But the thing that I found to be the most interesting is that they don’t have many houses in China.  Because it is so populated here, they build up instead of out.  In the US, the norm is living in a one- or two-story home in neighborhoods, spread out across the land.  But because there are so many people here, there is not land for many homes.  Therefore, the majority of the population lives in condos or apartments that consist of 30-50 floors.  I have never seen so many tall buildings.  It helped put into perspective just how populated China really is.

My favorite memory in Guangzhou was going on a cruise of the Pearl River in a two-story boat.  We went on the cruise at night, so we could see all the colorful city lights. We also could see the Canton tower, the second-tallest tower in the world.  It was very beautiful because there are lights all over the city, even in almost every tree.  The lights make it seem like Christmas every day here, which is my favorite holiday!

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Here’s the second of three posts from our ladies, who have been looking back on the things they’ve learned and their favorite places in China.

Marisa:

Wow! I am sitting in our hotel room in Huizhou staring out the window at the most beautiful landscape of our journey thus far. This has been the experience of a lifetime already and we still have three days left. Guangzhou was a large metropolitan city, much like Chicago/ NYC.  People were everywhere. Life was almost in fast-forward. Our days off especially seemed to pass by so quickly. This country is so rich in history and culture. I’ve noticed myself sitting on the bus in silence taking in everything as we pass by.

Going from an ancient temple where they worship Buddha to the top of  a 600-meter building in one day showed me how far China has come.  It is difficult to chose one favorite moment on the trip. The Canton Tower certainly was a sight to see. The skydeck platform left me with my legs a little shaky!

Sheri:

I have learned about the Chinese history and culture thanks to my new friend Yaug and tour guide Li.  They have opened my eyes to a new way living, eating and speaking. I have tried to learn how to say a new Chinese word every day. Today, I learned the world for “pineapple” because it is my favorite fruit. Their language to me is very interesting, but it would be difficult to speak fluently.

It is hard to choose my favorite place we have visited because we have seen so many incredible sights.  But, if I had to choose one place, it would be Bao Mo Garden. I loved touching and smelling the fresh roses. The waterfalls were gorgeous, and I have never seen a turtle lay eggs and then bury them in the sand. Riane and I enjoyed feeding the pretty koi fish. Overall Bao Mo was beautiful, and a memory I will never forget.

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Yesterday morning, we packed up (and pushed our doorman to his limit!) for our next destination – Huizhou. The drive from Guangzhou was about two hours and almost directly east. While we’ve all been exhausted from the heat and from being constantly on the go, none of us wanted to sleep through this bus ride. The views – the trees, flowers, mountains and rivers – were too beautiful to miss. Most of us put on some music, looked out the window and took it all in.

On arriving in Huizhou, we discovered we’d be staying in another wonderful hotel. All of our rooms have spectacular views of a lake, and it just took our breath away the first time we opened our window shades. We’re all hoping to take a stroll or a jog around the lake later today.

By now, our guide has us pretty well figured out, so of course our first stop was the local mall for dinner, entertainment and (more) shopping! We were on a mission on this shopping trip, though. At every stop, we’ve been trying to get our tour guide to join us for a swim; since it’s been so hot, getting in the water has been a great way to cool off. But every time, his excuse has been that he doesn’t have a swimsuit. Well, we were determined last night to change that, so we had him write down the words “male swimsuit” with his size on a piece of paper so we could find him one. Our “cheat sheet” came in handy as the seven of us trekked through the mall, and we finally found him a swimsuit!

After that success, we went outside the mall to the pavilion where today’s tour event took place. Several of the guys, including our tour guide and our friend we had nicknamed “Luke,” were playing basketball, and we had to join in. Jessica challenged Luke to a game of “PIG,” and even though he didn’t quite understand the scoring, they both got into the spirit of competition. With more than a foot height advantage over Jessica, Luke did pull out a win with a trick shot under the basket. But Jessica definitely gave him a good run!

We’re so excited to be able to perform again after having several days off. It’s still over 100 degrees outside (we’re keeping pace with Oklahoma weather here!), but we’re looking forward to getting back in uniform and putting on a good show!

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We thought it might be fun for each of the ladies on the squad to share thoughts on what they’ve learned while in China, as well as what their favorite place to visit has been. Since they shared so much, we’ll break it into a few posts…

Riane:

One thing that I have discovered and found interesting about China is that people are much more conscious of their health and taking care of their bodies.  The Chinese put emphasis on drinking tea instead of sugary sodas, exercising in public areas and maintaining expansive herbal markets for certain health benefits.  They also carry around parasols in the sun to protect their skin, something hardly any Americans do.  Because of these things, many of the people in China are very physically fit and healthy.

My favorite location that we visited in Guangzhou was the Liurong Temple, also called the Six Banyan Pagoda.  I have visited a Buddhist temple before, but I have never actually seen a pagoda.  There were three huge golden Buddha statues, a monk was chanting and people were bowing down to pray.  There was incense all around and there was a mausoleum, which I had not seen before in a temple.  It was a very relaxing and memorable experience.

Jessica:

One thing that the Chinese culture is very proud of is preserving their ancient art customs.  Many places we visited had beautiful embroidery, intricate styles of painting, pottery and wood carving, all done in traditional Chinese style.

Throughout the week, we visited many historical landmarks.  The Bao Mo Garden in the Zini village was by far my favorite location because of the ancient architecture that showed exquisite workmanship, and the blooming flower gardens.  It was unlike any place I have ever been, and it painted a picture of what the Qing Dynasty would have looked like many years ago.

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