Sarah's Hometown Zhang Jia Gang 张家港

On Saturday our TA Sarah from NAU invited us to her hometown! She picked us up at about 9am in a big van to head to Zhang Jia Gang, about an hour and a half ride from the university. We had a general idea of the activities she planned for us, but we were surprised along the way. First, we went to a peach farm, a farm consisting of about 10,000 acres of orchards. It was owned by her father's friend. These peaches were distributed throughout China to major cities such as Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou. We had the chance to eat freshly picked peaches, walk among the rows of orchards, and even pick some fruit if we wanted to. After eating fresh peaches, Sarah took us to her father's farm where he grows organic food. There was a courtyard in the center of a plaza in the shape of a square. The square was completely surrounded by but connected with individual rooms. We entered a room to eat our meal, a large room decorated with very fancy curtains and furniture . Sarah's cousin and dad joined us. Whenever the class ate out, there was always a "lazy susan" or a turn table in the middle of the table. A waitress served us our meal. At first, it appeared as if there was not enough food, but after two hours of eating, there were between 25-30 plates of food on the table!! There were only 12 of us.

Following our gigantic lunch, Sarah took us to a foot massage facility to relax. We were served flower tea and fruit while watching the olympics. Some students decided to take a nap upstairs. Once we felt rested, we took the van to a hotel of approximately 72 stories. It is the 8th tallest building in China and the 15th tallest building in the world. We toured around the hotel by first zooming up to the top to have a look at the city. Then we went down 12 levels at a time (by elevator, of course) to view a themed level. The Chinese believe the five elements gold, wood, water, fire, and earth balance each other out. Five levels out of the 72 were completely dedicated to one of the five elements. Finally after a fun-filled day, Sarah spoiled us once again by taking us to a five-star hotel's all-you-can-eat buffet. We were amazed with the quantity and quality of food we ate that day. Once arriving back on campus 14 hours later, we decided to go sing karaoke at KTV. Our 17 hour day was quite an experience. 1. Foot massage room

2. The 72 story hotel

3. The 5 Chinese elements balance chart

4. The water level

5. The entire gold level was plated in gold including the floor!

6. Plated in gold in the lobby