Count Down to the "Cup of China" Blog from Alex Aldridge and Daniel Eaton

[Turbo-Mom]

Count Down to the "Cup of China" Blog from Alex Aldridge and Daniel Eaton

Tomorrow, October 28, 2013 Alex and I leave for Cup of China.
Did you know;

The People's Republic of China is the world's fourth largest country (by total area), and one of only five remaining Communist states in the world. As with the ancient Roman and Egyptian empires prior, China led most of the world in the arts and sciences for hundreds of years.

Alex, Janet (Alex's mom) and I will stay couple days after the competition. We will go to the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square.

The Great Wall of China is made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials. The Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Lake in the west, along an arc which is at the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. The wall measures 6,259.6 km (3,889.5 mi) in length.

Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world. It is located in the center of Beijing, China. Tiananmen Square is named after the Tiananmen Gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace).

Outside China, the square is best known for the student protests of 1989, a pro-democracy movement which ended on 4 June 1989 with the declaration of martial law in Beijing by the government and the death of several hundred or possibly thousands of civilians.

Ok, enough for now of the well known facts of China. Here is a link to our Blog from the Cup of China. I hope you will enjoy the news we will bring for you from our first senior grand prix and our first visit to Asia. Thank you for your support and viewing our website.


http://aldridge-eaton.ice-dance.com/blog-cup-of-china/

 

[hippomoomin]

Have fun there and keep us posted.

 

[dorispulaski]

Wishing Alex & Daniel a great Grand Prix debut!!

 

[lcd]

Be careful in Tiananmem Square. A guy drove a car through the crowds and killed 3 people yesterday.

 

[Jammers]

How sad that most Chinese citizens especially the younger people don't even know what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

 

[FlattFan]

Good luck to Aldridge and Eaton. Hope the transition to senior is going well for them.

 

[hzhzhz123]

Because it is irrelevant to avarage Chinese people today. I was there in 1989. It is neither as reported by the western media nor by the Chinese media.

The air quality is number one issue there. Aldridge and Eaton, do not forget to bring some protection (air filtor masks)

 

[hippomoomin]

How sad that most Chinese citizens especially the younger people don't even know what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Do you really know what exactly happened there? Based on what?

 

[A.H.Black]

Do you really know what exactly happened there? Based on what?

For most of us, based on live reporting from journalists who were there. And, yes, it was reported in the west - live, as it happened. I listened. It was big news at the time.

Back to skating.

 

[Turbo-Mom]

October 30, 2013 Day Two

Today is our second day in China – sorry missed first day with travel for us. Our hotel is AMAZING and the food is GREAT. The ice rink is in the Capital Indoor Stadium which is right across the street from the hotel. Ice quality is perfect and the zoo is walking distant from our hotel. Hoping to visit the Giant Panda Bears and World’s Largest Aquarium.

To begin today’s blog, I’ll return to the day we arrived, Tuesday October 29th. The flight was LONG, really LONG. Sleep for Daniel NONE. Alex out with a snore factor of seven, LOL just joking.

On the flight we had our Team Leader for USFSA Richard Daly, Coaches; Angelika and Igor, Skaters; Us and our old practice partners Nathalie and Fabian. Having all these familiar faces made the flight go a heck of a lot better.

Take off delayed by 45 minutes. We were told problem with the plane. Thought we were going to have to change planes. Fear set in because we decided, direct flight well let’s check our skates and costumes. Luckily whatever was wrong with the plane things worked out didn’t have to change planes, arrived on time with all our stuff. Let me (Daniel) tell you stuff weights A LOT for Alex and Angelika. Their bags are huge!

As we said earlier the hotel is really nice. Alex’s roommate is Alexa Paige (Pair Skater) and Daniel’s roommate is Alexa’s partner Chris Knierim. We met them at Champs Camp so it was nice to pick up where we left off from our first meeting at Champs Camp.

Once we all got ourselves organized we all met in the hotel restaurant reviewed plans for the week than pretty much all of us were ready to call it a night.

Today (Wednesday), a group of us took the subway and went to Pearl Market. The original name of the market was Chou Shui Street “Smelly Water Alley”. Smelly water alley was a mud path outside the city center. Replaced with the current market in 2005.

The market has three floors of just about anything one would need or want. Of course pearls and jewelry. You can find lots of MP3-players, digital cameras, web cameras, memory cards, DVD-players and various other electronics.

Second floor name brand cloths, more silk products, shoes, suitcases and handbags.

Third floor is divided into two sections. The first section contains traditional Chinese art, ornaments, porcelain and chopsticks. It is in the second section that the Pearl Market proper begins. It stretches to floors four and five, where the shops are somewhat more exclusive than on the third floor.

Janet, (Alex’s Mom) and Alex lived in Beijing for about five years. Their local friends were with us. Not many visitors know about this floor, the BASEMENT. Wow oh wow, amazing, and I have been to Fileen’s. Need I say more? That is where we mainly shopped. Alex and Janet will have to buy another suitcase to get all their things home.

After we left the market we had an unofficial practice. Went well really well and we feel comfortable. The practice was like we were back in the USA. The three teams on the ice; Nathalie and Fabian, Madison and Evan and us.

Practice ended and back to hotel to call it a day. I hope tomorrow Thursday we can upload some pictures and take you for walk with us through the zoo and the aquarium.

Thank you for viewing our website, reading our blog and for your support.

Until next time.

Alex and Daniel