Ethan in China

Ethan came back from China on Wednesday a week ago (April 3rd). He was there for 10 days.

When he left on March 24th, he had to be at the airport at 3:30 am. Caleb told them to just not go to bed, so Ethan stayed up packing, then Corey got him a stash of ice cream to help him stay awake. We didn't hear from him while he was gone, except for a few texts saying he was having trouble logging into the table that had his music on it. I will try to update with more pictures of it after I get the link - Here was a post of their itinerary from the Soundhouse Facebook page as they left -

"The traditional gift for a 20th anniversary is china. We took that to heart as we celebrate the Soundhouse’s 20th year. We are just taking off from Salt Lake for our first ever Crescent Super Band tour to China! Over the next week and a half we will be playing 6 shows across the country. No Facebook access there so we will be posting photos when we get back. Next stop - Beijing!"

And here is a post that one of the chaperone mom's (Erica) shared on her facebook -

Dear China,
I wasn’t too excited to meet you but I’m so glad I joined Zane and The Crescent Super Band for an amazing adventure. This trip was nothing like I thought and consider it a huge success that I didn’t crap my pants.
1. I figured out the old ancient Chinese secret....always find the handicap bathroom. I proudly didn’t use one of your disgusting squatty potty’s.
2. Why is your ground so uneven?!? No two steps are the same?!? Random steps and different sizes. Americans are tripping all over the place there.
3. I love how clean your streets are...no garbage laying around and sparkling clean. I’ve never seen so many mopping the cement. With that being said why aren’t you using toilet paper and soap?!? I prefer to keep my butt and hands clean then maybe I’ll think about the streets...maybe.
4. No wonder everyone is so thin! You eat the same thing over and over for every meal and with chopsticks, so not much can make it into your....my mouth.
5. Why do you all shout when speaking?!?Why are we so angry? Also on that note, I’m clearly misusing my car horn and driving way too cautiously.

I loved my visit although I got a little scared, sweaty, and nervous when the United States X’d my face and sent me to the cold, cement room by myself while they debated letting me leave you while questioning my horse head. What a beautiful place with beautiful people....I’m especially a huge fan of your babies. XieXie

Ethan brought home some nice chopsticks for each of his siblings. He said he went to the souvenir shop and said "I need 12 of something...." I thought that was funny. He also brought back key chains and some nice silk art pictures for me and his grandmothers. His grandparents sponsored his trip and provided him with quite a bit of spending money, plus he had his birthday money too. He took all of it with him and found out after that you can't take Chinese currency out of the country, and you can't exchange it back to US dollars, so he just had to spend it all - he bought himself some birthday clothes (Vans hoodie, Ray Ban sunglasses, new backpack). He had a great trip and was up and going the whole time. That schedule there combined with the jetlag from returning has left him feeling more tired than he usually already is (which is pretty tired). He stayed home and slept last Thursday but went to school on Friday. He might need another week to recover though!