China: Yantai, Day 3

Our first stop after breakfast was my favorite part of Yantai, the beach! Even though I grew up less than 30 minutes away from the beach, I've never really been a fan. But, it was fascinating to see the other side of the Pacific Ocean, plus I really love the water, just not the sand. The sun finally decided to make an appearance, so it was quite warm. But, oh, how I had missed it! It couldn't have come at a better time. It made the water sparkle and the whole thing was just stunning. There was a really cool–looking horse statue in the middle of the ocean and some really beautiful architecture. I may or may not have grabbed a few shells from the sand. (They were pretty!) And there wasn't a ton of messy sand, so it was perfect. I took way too many pictures, as usual. Since it was another concert day, we were able to rest after lunch before another rehearsal. Since we had a different piano soloist for this concert, we had to make sure to rehearse the different tempos and such. It was an easy rehearsal since we already had a feel for this concert hall. We were released for a dinner break, which was the same bread bags, so I grabbed one and stuck it in my backpack for later and then joined a few friends across the street at the mall. I don't know why we didn't think of this earlier! We still had quite a bit of time before we had to be back in the concert hall, so we went to Starbucks (it's everywhere!) and I got a yummy sandwich. We walked around exploring for a bit. My favorite part was outside, where the weather was perfect and a whole bunch of families were gathered around a fun little area with a carousel and these ball–shaped rides I had never seen before. I so wish I had had my kids with me. They would have loved it! The inside of the mall was really nice, too. It reminded me of a typical American mall. No bargaining here. We made sure to arrive back at the concert hall in plenty of time. Our soloist for this evening was Dr. Sidney Yin, who is a staff member of SDYS. He was by far my favorite soloist of the tour. He NAILED it. Blew the roof off the place. The difference in my focus from the night before was night and day. I felt it was a very successful concert. At the end of each concert, our director announced our encore, Dahai. This time, he invited the audience to sing along. Talk about a tear–jerker. It was very powerful to make music with people who live halfway across the world and who live a completely different culture. Even though we are very different, we are all human beings and, on a deeper level, brothers and sisters and children of God. I had focused so much on our differences that becoming aware of our similarities provided me with an amazingly moving perspective. That was definitely a highlight of the trip. After the concert, while most of the students had a celebratory dinner at the hotel, all the alumni were invited to a separate dinner just down the street from the theater, an authentic French restaurant. In Yantai. Go figure. We ate a delicious 4-course dinner while visiting with our hosts and tour guides. It was a wonderful way to say goodbye and thank you to the people who so graciously welcomed us to their city. I can't say enough of how amazing this city was. I don't know if I've met nicer people anywhere in the world. Seriously, if you have the chance to go to China, visit Yantai. I was blown away with their hospitality and kindness. I'll definitely miss them.