More Dubaii

All I'm going to say is that we went to the dubai mall, the largest mall in the world and i went to this kid civilization thing. i was an artist, race car driver, and more.. it was called kidzania. then we went home and the next day we had lunch at the taallest hotel in the world:

we also went to the tallest building in the world, and the view was amazing.
Atlantis today! :) yayay!

Day 3 in Dubaii

A Museum with a sort of/maybe/a little bit/not really Interesting museum

We went to Museum that i didn't really like, but it was ok.

Then we went to the beach, and it was very fun. we took a few pictures of me and Emmie buried alive.



Me



Emmie

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again, sorry i couldn't make a long post, but I don't have much to say about today, but in a few days, we will be going to a water park called Atlantis, and i will have a lot to say about that. Oh great, now I'm giving away too much of a sneak peak, and i won't say anymore! Like in my last post, i thought i would start signing my posts

Miss you all,

                    Micah I. Bloom 

Day 2 in Dubaii

Today we went to see the movie  Rango, which was great, and we loved it!

Then we went to a little shopping market, and it was great!

sorry this post was so short, it's just that i try to post as frequently as i can and i'm doing this just before bed at about 9:30 pm or 10:30 am Oakland time.

Hope life is great wherever you are reading this post,
                                                            Micah

Arriving in Dubai and our first day here

We arrived in the Dubai airport at 5 in the morning and we hung out there until about 6 when we took a taxi to the house that we were staying at.  When we arrived at the house, ny dad's childhood friend, Justin, greeted us.  A few hours later, his son Sam woke up.  Sam is in 3rd grade and he's 9 so he's closer to Jonah's age but I'm better friends with him than Jonah.  In another couple hours, Justin's daughter Emmie woke up and Sam, Emmie, Jonah, and I put on a play.  That day, my family went swimming in their pool and we went to a HUGE mall, The Mall of the Emirates.  Inside it, we saw many great restaurants, a HUGE arcade, and a ski mountain which was in between the mall and the hotel next door called the Kempinsky.  Inside one of the various food courts, there was a place called the Shake Shack which they also have in New York. I got a delicious black and white shake which had chocolate, vanilla, and custard.  In the arcade, which was called Magic Planet, there were many games and rides.  I saw this movie simulation of a roller coaster called the Cosmic Coaster.  And it was AWESOME!  Jonah went on the bumper cars with three teenagers.  Then we played a car racing game with the whole family but some of the cars didn't work.  The ski mountain was very cool because it had a chair lift and a luge slide.  Then we went home, had dinner, and went to bed.

Jonah on the bumper cars

China: part 3: Beijing: HOW CAN YOU CHOSE WHAT YOU WANT TO DO?

The First Day

On the first day, the first thing we did was go to the Forbidden City, which is a part of Beijing that only the Emperor and his highest ranked officials could go in.  In the Forbidden City, it was believed that there were 9,999 and 1/2 rooms but there is actually 8,704 rooms.  While we were there, we explored the courtyards and various halls.  Next we went to Tienamen Square, even though we didn't know we were there.  After that we went to the Temple of Heaven and we walked through it.




palace at the forbidden city



 another palace at the forbidden city

The Second Day

On the second day, we went to the Great Wall of China.  We climbed up various hill through defense towers and up one VERY BIG hill.  While there, we saw a lot of graffiti in one room and Eli and I made a video to explain the graffiti in a funny way.  We called it GRA-FEE-TA, the ancient Chinese calligraphy.  Then we went to an antique market but it wasn't the one we were looking for.  So the kids stayed in the car.



the very big staircase



The Third Day

On the third day, we went to the Beijing Zoo and saw pandas, hippos, rhinos, monkeys, and other creatures.  I don't really have much to say about the zoo, except that it was amazing, so I guess you can just look at the following pictures.  After that we went to a show with acrobats, magic, singing, and dancing.  And I will have pictures of that too.

China: part two: Kaifeng: Who's ever heard of Kaifeng anyways?

Kaifeng

To get to Kaifeng, we took a train, and it was very late arriving and when we finally did, we barely got to the hotel which was very nice. Kaifeng, pronounced KIE-Fung, was a very big city in the 1400s, and there was a small Jewish community that strived, and a nice man named Shi-Lei showed us the sites in the city, both Jewish, and Chinese. I knew it would be fun, hanging out with all three Baum children, all week long.

  

The Jewish Sites

The first Jewish site we saw was a small museum that was at a theme park.  Not a theme park with rides, but a park sort of like a county fair.  It told the history of Jews in Kaifeng.  Next we went to "Teach Torah Lane," a street that used to be filled with Jews but isn't any more.  But they still call it Teach Torah Lane.  After that we saw Shi Lei's house where the few remaining Jews in Kaifeng meet to practice prayer. After that, we got on the airplane to go to Beijing, and I will post about Beijing.

The two families at Shi Lei's house



a picture of the synnagogue used in the days of the Kaifeng jews

Teach Torah Lane

 

China: part 1: Shanghai: NO SOCIAL NETWORKING!

China and it's internet

In Shanghai we were blocked from YOUtube, Facebook, Twitter, and worst of all, blogger. China blocks all these internet sites because they want to control what people say to the rest of the world. For most of our time in China, we had Gmail, but for the last few days, we couldnt because it was blocked. We didn't know why, but we hope to find out soon. Ok, i'm getting a bit off topic. I'm just gonna start talking about Shanghai now.

Arriving in Shanghai

When we arrived, we got picked up by the driver of our great friends the Bessler-Baums' who took us to their house, and we hung out there until the three kids got back from their school, which is called SCIS, or Shanghai Community International School. Next, the oldest child, Eli showed me his room, and we used his laptop. After that, the youngest child, Sam, showed me his pokemon, silly bandz, and laptop. After that, the middle child, Max, showed me this mock YOUtube that China has, called youku, and surprisingly, many of the videos I've seen on YOUtube, were on youku! Finally, we went to our hotel room, and had dinner, and I went back to the Bessler-Baums' house because i was going to Eli's class and school the next day.



Obama as Chairman Mao, the first communist leader of China




Shanghai skyscrapers



Going to SCIS

In the morning we had breakfast, and I borrowed one of Eli's school uniforms and we got on the bus to go to school. When at school,  a lot of the day was free time because it was the last day before a break, so I wasn't too bored. It was amazing to see all these kids from around the world, coming together with one language, English. I made friends with people from Japan, Ireland, America, and many more places. 

SCIS website:     http://www.scischina.org/