Reflections of last week's adventures by Keren:

---New York

The first impression New York left on me is that the city is crowded with high rises and the subway is really not so good. Right on the first day Laura and I bought unlimited tickets for one day and began our adventure in Manhattan just with a map in hand. Almost all the buildings are quite famous as we have read a lot about them in books and movies. Therefore, "ah, this is …" almost became our tag in New York. Most excitingly, we watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics in TV when we were having dinner in Rockfeller CafÃ??©. At that moment, I was moved and really missed home.

---State Fair.

In Springfield, we were hosted by Judy, who has a big and beautiful farm. When we arrived at her house, we were all amazed by the terrific landscape outside and the antiques in her house. The next morning, Judy drove us to State Fair, which we have heard about for long. The moment when I got there, I found although I have been to several county fairs, no wonder none of those is bigger than this one. You can see almost everything here, even the butter cow, which is extremely lifelike. We attended the clover bud celebration, during which we enjoyed the fashion show and met a lady who has been in 4h for more than 60 years, amazing! I can't help wondering if I continue working for our community program in China for 60 years, how old am I going to be then? : ）

The first day we arrived at the state fair is undoubtedly a big day for us because we've got the chance to meet with Chancellor Herman and Dean Easter, who are very nice and know a lot about China. And we even got the chance to see the governor bid in auction place. So many VIPs the whole afternoon! That day is also the first time for us to meet Ryan who is so nice to drive us by his golf cart to and from ethnic village where we had dinner together with Judy and Patti. We all tried kim chi, very spicy Korean food and we all liked it.

---Chicago

Jane picked us up in Champaign and drove us to Tinley. The afternoon when we arrived, Greg invited us to his house for dinner with his brothers and sisters. Before I went to his house, I had already expected many beautiful flowers. But I bet I never expected to see tens of frogs with various poses in front of his gate and an unbelievably large collection of Mickey Mouse in his house. He is also very creative in cooking. He made us a very special and yummy dessert --- grilled peach ice cream.

Next morning, we five kids stepped on the way to Chicago. This trip to Chicago is very fruitful. During the meetings with extension educators and community workers, we exchanged our ideas and got many inspirations for our program. I realized there is a great necessity for us to reach out to the parents who send their children to our program and thus they will be aware of the important role they play in children's life and then create a better study environment for their children, or they can also be educated to apply for positions in job market and find their own sense of belonging. We've also got to learn about the program of "Readers are Leaders", which is quite similar to our reading program.

This trip is just wonderful. We lived in a wonderful hotel. Jane and Greg brought us to some nice restaurants, like Park Grill, Garden Restaurant, and Dixie Kitchen, a typical Southern restaurant, where I ordered Southern sampler consisting of rice, gumbo, jambalaya, red bean and rice, so yummy! One of the restaurants we went to called Parrot Cage in South Shore Cultural Center is very unique not because of its food but because of its waiters and waitresses who are mostly young people coming here to be trained for jobs. And the food there is just wonderful.

On the trip, sometimes nice things just happened unexpectedly. For example, on the first evening, we had originally planned to go to some place but when we by chance learned that a jazz concert would be held in Millennium Park, all of us preferred to go to the park. Apparently, that's a wise choice! Everyone enjoyed the powerful and moving jazz music. I found a little girl dressed in black dress also enjoyed it very much, dancing alone all the way to the stage along the aisle, just like an angel. The only pity is that chairs were put in front of the stage and many people sit there; otherwise, everybody could dance with the music. Another unexpected beauty of Chicago was discovered on the way to the University of Chicago. Along the road when I beheld the clear sky, blue sea and white beach, my heart leapt up. After touring around the university and visiting the smart house, which in my opinion is still not smart enough to enable most people to afford such a house worth $ 450,000, we headed for the beach. We took off our shoes, raced with waves that were going to break on the shore and picked up stones and shells of beautiful shapes. The air show also happened to be on, and in the evening we went to a place with a good view to see the fireworks show, transient but very brilliant.

On the last day, we lost no time in seeing and experiencing more about Chicago. We went to American Girl store, where we saw many little cute girls with American Girls in the same dress in their arms. Sometimes, I just could not tell which was the doll and which was the real girl. They all looked so delicate and adorable. We also went to the Art Institute of Chicago to see the exhibition of Impressionism and American art. In the gift shop, thanks to Jane's membership card, we got a very very considerable discount on the souvenirs we bought there. Then, our wonderful trip to Chicago was ended with a wonderful dot --- a yummy dinner and a bonfire at the Higgins.

Through this second trip to Chicago, I know for sure that I like Chicago much more than New York. Chicago is such a magnificent and neat city that I have already been missing it on the way back to Champaign and we all enjoy the time with Jane and Greg, who are so nice and humorous.

I'm very sorry that I haven't kept the blog updated since we left Champaign. I'll try to make it up. We were hosted by Steve in St. Louis; and by Donna and JoAn in Chicago. I'm very grateful to them. Every day was well arranged; we were busy but had a lot of fun.

At the first afternoon in St. Louis, we were given an informative and interesting presentation by Wilbon, a coworker of Steve. Wilbon taught us how to make robot in the presentation. It was very cool. In the rest of our stay, we visited two local schools, went to Bond Community fair, Union Station, city museum, the Arch, St. Louis Botanic Garden, etc…We also went shopping, drank beers, had witty and humorous discussions on cultures. It was so much fun to be with Steve who has been thoughtful to us and made us relax. In the morning we were leaving, we felt the time just flied and hard to part from him.

After six hours on the train, JoAn and Donna met us at the Chicago Station. After lunch, we took a wonderful water tour in which we were fully exposed to the uniqueness of the city, especially its architectures. Then we walked to the Sears tower where I got a very thrilling experience in my life. We were on the top floor of the building, enjoying the beautiful night view of the city. Everything was gorgeous until it started lightening and the building began to shake! JoAn and I were not comfortable with the shaking and decided to leave first, even though we knew the place was safe. The waiting for the elevator was probably the longest one in my life. Finally we got to the ground floor, finding people rushing into the hall from outside, all wet. Then we were told the windows on the 49^th floor blew off and the storm was probably a tornado. Once we five got together, we decided to change our plan, skip the dinner in the restaurant, and go immediately back to Donna's house. The next morning, we saw trees were cut down by the storm and some areas lost electricity. What an unforgettable night! Now I start wondering what would be the next unexpected experience in my America tour.

I should apologize for my previous stereotype that people in Chicago are indifferent to others. In my stay in Chicago, I was impressed by people here who constantly showed their friendliness to us. The recent one came when we were in Ravinia Festival with JoAn, Donna and her husband, enjoying the pavilion of Chicago Symphony Orchestra at lawn. A gentlemen and a lady offered us two free tickets for indoor watching. What a wonderful surprise! JoAn generously gave her chance to us; Keren, Laura and me watched the performance by turn. I don't know what to say, though I do know I should be very grateful to the people who hosted us and helped us in our visit. They also taught me how to understand and appreciate others. What else would the trip bring to my life? I am seriously curious.