Dear Parents, 

Today was a very long day, but like the rest, very rewarding. 

In the morning, after a quick breakfast, we took a bus to downtown Shanghai where the students concluded the conference.  

For the first few hours they participated in a knowledge-bowl, where they answered 72 questions using a remote device about the material they studied.  They said they enjoyed it very much.  

Afterwards, there was a talent show in which 3 of our students (Inon, Matan, and Yuval) performed.  They all got loud applause from the audience.  As only about 10-12 out of 600 people performed, and 3 of them were from Israel, our students represented Israel very well and the crowd liked them very much.  

Following the talent show, awards were given out.  Unfortunately, Leo Baeck did not win any awards.  However, this is not disappointing. Several teams from Singapore won nearly all the awards.  They have a year-long class preparing their students for this particular competition, and no country can really compete with them.  Our students understood this, and nobody was upset.  Rather, they were all very happy with the conference and want to continue going in future years.  

At about 5:30pm, the conference ended.  As we were already downtown, we said our goodbyes and took a walk to People's Square, which is a commercial area with a lot of people and bright lights.  We ate dinner there and walked around for about an hour.  After that, we went to the Shanghai World Financial Center, which is the world's third tallest building and has the highest observation deck on the planet.  We went to the top to see the view of the city, which everybody loved.  Following this, we went back to the hotel.  They are all in their rooms now, getting ready to sleep.  

Tomorrow, after breakfast, we will go back to the World's Fair expo, as there is a lot to see, including Israel's exhibition.  After that, we will go to the Shanghai museum to learn about Chinese history.  Then, at night, we have reservations to see Shanghai's best acrobatic theatre.  

I have been encouraging all the students to call home - and I believe that many have.  Please let me know if you have any special requests or need to communicate anything.  Please expect us back late (Shanghai time) tomorrow - so no calls before approximately 6pm Israel time.