Canton in China

Day 13 in China -- our last official day here!

2009-04-17T04:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone ... well our trip here in China has officially come to a close. It's close to 8pm on Friday, April 17 here and we had a wonderfully relaxing day in Beijing. We left Jinan around 7am this morning, arriving in Beijing around 10:15am. We were so excited to see our friend, Bing, waiting for us! He quickly wisked us away to our hotel, where we spent an hour resting, before we were off to lunch and the Silk Market. Today was the day all of the shoppers in our group was waiting for -- there were a ton of great deals at the Silk Market (if you were savvy enough to bargain, which all of our students were!) So expect some nice gifts upon their return! :)

We went to dinner and are now back in the hotel, resting up for our day of traveling tomorrow. The kids are sleeping in a bit later tomorrow morning (their wake-up call is at 8:45am), and we'll leave the hotel around 10am, before heading out to the Antique Market for an hour. Then it's lunch and the airport. Our flight is leaving around 6:30pm tomorrow and with the flight and quick layover in Washington, D.C., we are expected home after 11pm tomorrow night.

Before I close tonight, I want to mention what a pleasure it has been for me to share this experience with the students. This has been an amazing journey and I'm excited to share all of the things I have learned with my students when I get back home. Thank you for following along and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow! The kids are ready to come home ... so be prepared for a group of students who will be grateful for their families and friends, not to mention their beds and kitchens too! :)

Take care and wan an :)

Day 12 in China!

2009-04-16T06:45:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone ... well, this will be my second to last blog for our China trip, as tomorrow is our last day in China. It has been an incredible trip -- one that I believe, in many ways, has probably changed my life!

We started today by bidding our families in Jining a farewell at the school gate in the morning, before meeting up with our fellow travelers from Housatonic in Tai'an. In Tai'an, we climbed Taishan, or Tai Mountain, the most sacred of all mountains in China. The Chinese people believe that the closer you are to the heavens, the closer you are to having the heavens hear your thoughts, concerns and wishes. Therefore, all along the climb, there makeshift Buddhist temples -- Mrs. Carter, Adrianne and I participated in a Buddhist practice by purchasing a lock and incense. We lit the incense and bowed to Buddha three times, before taking our lock (on which our name and the date had been carved) and "locking away" all of our past mistakes, therefore opening ourselves up to new experiences! (A little spiritual, I know, but it was a very cool experience!)

Here's my lock! (my hand normally doesn't look that big!)

I don't think our group was prepared, however, for the strenuous climb Taishan would be -- it took us 4 hours!! Most of the group stopped half-way (2 hours into the climb, mind you) and took a cable car up to the top, where lunch was waiting. But Brian, Jan, Lauren, Kendra, Adrianne and myself toughed the rest of the climb up! Here are some pics from the way up!

This picture is from the very top of Taishan -- we climbed over 6,000 stairs!!

This shot is from about 2/3 of the way there -- Adrianne and I came to a point and then looked up and couldn't believe how much farther we had to go up!! You can't really tell from the picture but right in the center of where the mountains meet the sky was the top!
This sign appeared more than half-way up ... it reads "Climbing Begins Here." Begins???? :)
A few from far down the mountain!

Tomorrow, we're taking the morning express train to Beijing, where our fearless leader, Bing, will be waiting for us. From there, we're going to spend the day shopping in the Silk Market, before heading back to the hotel and prepping ourselves for the return home. Some of us might splurge on a foot massage, as we hear they are very good -- I know a few girls are interested, but I'd like to see if one of the guys would be too -- it'd be a nice pic to add to the blog :)

Until tomorrow ... :)

Wan an

Day 11 in China!

2009-04-15T07:29:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone ... well, our stay in Jining has come to a close and although we'll leave tomorrow morning for Tai'an, the friendships we have made here will last a lifetime! Here are some pictures of today's activities!

A group shot of all of the Canton Students with their host students from the Affiliated Middle School of Jining Institute at the farewell dinner -- they were very patient ... it seemed like 30 different people all wanted to take their picture!
All of the Canton students before heading back home for their last night with their families.

All of the students posing outside the library at Jining Institute!

The following pictures are of each of the Canton students touching the dragon on the stone pillar at Confucius' temple. It's believed that if you rub the dragon, you will experience good fortune ... so each had a turn!

An inside shot of Confucius' temple!

Today, we went to Qufu (pronounced "choo foo"), the hometown of Confucius. There we toured through the temple dedicated to him, his mansion (or, his family's mansion) and his "woods" (the cemetery where all descendants of Confucius are buried). Confucius thought is evident in many places in Chinese culture -- and as a teacher, I am extremely interested in the philosophies and lessons from him!

After Qufu, we went to Jining Institute, the university affiliated with our sister school. There, we posed for pictures outside the library! We were also treated to lunch there by Mr. Li, who used to be the principal of our sister school, but has since been promoted to a position at Jining Institute!

In the evening, we had a wonderful farewell dinner with the host families and Mr. Meng and Mr. Li! The school presented each student with a gift -- a plaque of Confucius!

Tomorrow, we're leaving early in the morning for Tai'an, where we'll climb Tai Shan (Mt. Tai). From there, we'll drive to Jinan and spend the evening there, before heading out on the express train early Friday morning for Beijing! We'll be home before you know it!

Wan an :)

Day 10 in China!

2009-04-14T06:47:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! As promised, I have LOTS of pictures today!!! I have a picture of each of the students from Canton High School with their host student and their families! I'm writing the blog a little different tonight, so follow along! :)

Today has to be one of my favorite days in China so far!! I got to be a teacher again (!!) -- I missed being in front of a classroom :) The students treated all of us like movie stars, and I for one have never being treated so well and admired so much in one place by so many people. All of the students I met with today wanted to take a picture with me!!

This is a picture of the students doing their "eye exercises" -- these are students in Grade 2 (which is really Grade 7 in the states) relaxing their eyes. The average class in Jining is nearly 80 students (!) so this was ONE English class!

As you can see, Mr. Gula is highly regarded in Jining! This is a picture hanging in the stairwell of the administrative building!

Here I am answering questions and talking to a group of students in Grade 7!

This is Nick and his host, Su Xianlin and his father -- his father took time off from work in Beijing to spend these past few days with Nick!

This is Shawn and Zhang Tianyuan and his little sister and father -- Shawn has joked that he has a new sister this week!

This is Brian and his host Xue Rui and his father! (as you can see there's a height difference!)

This is Jan and his host Zou Yuheng and his mother -- Jan, I must say, has been extremely attentive and has interacted really well with his host -- they played Jiangzi today in the school yeard (think "hacky-sack" but with feathers!)

This is Shelby and her hostess Chen Xi and her father!

This is Jessica and her hostess Zhang Bowen and her parents -- Jessica received a rabbit from Zhang as a gift!!! We'll see if we can bring it home!

This is Adrianne and her hostess Qin Wenjing and her friend!

This is Danielle and her hostess Li Xinyuan and her father!
This is Lauren and her hostess Tan Tianyao and her father!

This is Kendra and her hostess Su Ziyi and her mother!

This is a picture of Ms. Gembala shaking hands and meeting with Mr. Li, the principal of our sister school! I had just arrived off the bus in Jining and was welcomed with open arms!

A picture of the flowers Holly gave me as a welcome gift!

Today was an amazing day in China! I can't say enough how welcomed we have felt while here in Jining -- the students asked so many wonderful questions (and spoke very good english for only having studied it for 2 years or less!) and were wonderfully polite, shaking hands and wanting to take pictures and know more about us. It has truly been a wonderful way to share cultures and to develop friendships!

Today the students spent the morning with their host students in the school, before heading home for lunch. Students in Jining get almost 3 hours break in the afternoon, so they go home and eat lunch and take a nap, before heading back to school for the day. In the afternoon, the students participated in a Chinese paper cutting activity, as well as some PE activities. Then they went home for dinner with their families.

I went to dinner with a number of my new friends, mainly English teachers as well as Mike, who came to Canton in the fall. Mike treated us to a hot pot dinner -- I tried cow lungs and cow stomach!! Not too bad :)

Tomorrow we are going to Qufu, the home of Confucius, as well as a visit to Jining Institute! Then we are going to a farewell dinner party with the host families and teachers from the school.

Before I close, I want to tell all of my new friends here how wonderful they have been and how much I appreciate and value their friendship! Cheers to more time together! :)

Wanan :)

Day 9 in China ... we meet our host families!

2009-04-13T06:01:00.000-07:00

Ni hao ma!

Hi everyone ... today we began the next leg of our adventures -- we finally met our host families in Jining!! We left our hotel in Qingdao around 7am this morning, and started our long journey across Shandong province. We dropped off Lisa Carter and the 5 students from Housatonic Valley High School at their sister school at 1pm, and left for Jining, thinking it was only supposed to take an hour. 2 1/4 hours later, we finally arrived in Jining -- with a number of Canton students who couldn't wait to see their host families (as well as use the bathroom ... 4+ hours was a bit too much!) I will say that a number of students were a bit nervous about meeting their host families, but the students and families waiting were so warm and welcoming, I'm sure that everyone had a fantastic time. We were treated like movie stars when we got off the bus -- cameras flashing and some clapping too! And Holly presented me with the most beautiful flowers! In the bustle, I didn't have a chance to take any pictures of the students with their host families, but I will tomorrow for sure.

Holly, the English Department Supervisor, has graciously opened up her home to me for the next few days and I feel like she and I are already great friends! She took me to her apartment, so I could freshen up a bit, and then brought me to the school to meet with her principal, Mr. Li. Then she took me to her mother-in-law's apartment, where 9 other people (family and friends) ate an AMAZING dinner! The dinner had 18 different dishes!! I took a few pictures :)

Tomorrow, the students and I will spend the day in school with the students, and on Wednesday, we are going to Confucius's home and touring the city of Jining, before we bid our new friends farewell on Thursday morning.

Already, I know that this trip has taught me a lot (and I hope the students too) about not only the history and culture of the Chinese people, but of humanity in general. To be welcomed into a home, to share stories and laughs, even with a language barrier, is an amazing experience.

Wanan :) More tomorrow :)

Day 8 in China!

2009-04-12T05:56:00.001-07:00

Ni hao ma!

Hi everyone ... well, today we had another wonderful day in China. The weather started out a little cool and cloudy, but the sun ended up burning all of the fog off and we had another terrific day. Today we climbed Laoshan, the famous mountain in Qingdao. The mountain range was incredibly beautiful, as I'm sure you'll see by all of the pics. We spent a few hours hiking up (there were a ton of tourists walking as well, but we were the only Americans, so again many of our students posed with locals and tourists alike -- the blondes, brunettes and red heads certainly do stand out in a crowd!)

While on Laoshan, William (our guide in Qingdao) treated Mrs. Carter and myself to a traditional green tea ceremony. William is a tea expert, so he made sure that we both were given tea that fit our satisfaction (and, yes, Mom, I do like tea now! :) )

After Laoshan, we visited a pagoda right on the shore of Qingdao. I can honestly say that the view was reminiscent of a European coastline ... one would never guess that we were in China. The students, of course, had fun climbing the rocks along the water -- I suppose climbing a mountain wasn't enough for them in one day.

After our sightseeing, we went back to the hotel and William -- the expert guide that he is -- (having recognized that we truly enjoyed our lunch yesterday at the posh restaurant, "Top Restaurant") booked our dinner there again! So we changed and put on some cleaner and dressier clothes, and enjoyed a dinner of steamed rolls, fish, fresh mushrooms, squid, rice, and clams. And the mushrooms were picked by William on our way up Laoshan (there were vendors all along the road).

Tomorrow (Monday) we are up early (5:30am) to start our long, 6 hour bus ride to Jining and our sister school. We are so excited to finally meet with the host families and develop friendships! I will write more tomorrow when I can (I'm not sure if I'll be able to post right away, though).

Just to close, I know now it's almost 10am in the states, so I would like to wish my family -- Mom, Dad, Kristina, Kevin, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Ed, Auntie Ang, and Eddie (and the rest of my family who could not come today!) -- Happy Easter!! Love you lots! :)

Wanan :)

Day 7 in China!!

2009-04-11T04:51:00.001-07:00

Good evening everyone! or, Good Morning to you!

Today we had a rather relaxing day -- not as stressful or busy as the previous days. We woke up bright and early (5am) to leave for the airport for our flight to Qingdao. Our flight was delayed about 45 minutes, but we made it to Qingdao safe and sound. Qingdao is very, very different from both Beijing and Xi'an. At only 120 years old, Qingdao has an almost European feel ... in fact, today Lauren said, "It doesn't feel like we're in China anymore." Qingdao was a colony of Germany in the years after the Opium War, through the end of World War I, when it was taken by the Japanese as part of the agreement in the Treaty of Versailles (allllll of these terms better sound familiar to all my students reading this!!!) Therefore, Qingdao's architecture and altogether structure of the city (the streets, the buildings, etc.) appear more European than Asian.

The weather today was not at all what we've been used to -- it was rainy and cold, as you can see in the pictures. The students had to huddle together to conserve warmth (ahem, spoiled from the 80 degrees we had in Xi'an yesterday). Our new guide, William, recognized that we were a bit tired and cold, so he ended our day a bit early. But before he did, he took us to a fantastically posh place for lunch (there was a cat walk down the middle of the restaurant, used for actual runway fashion shows) and a terrific seafood restaurant for dinner. The seafood was so fresh and so healthy -- according to Mrs. Carter and myself, it was the best dinner so far!!

Tomorrow, we're going to do some sightseeing in Qingdao, before heading to our sister school on Monday!

Until tomorrow :)

Day 6 in China!

2009-04-10T07:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone ... it's about 10:30pm on Friday -- I'm a little late in writing the blog, but we had to make sure all of our bags were packed for our flight tomorrow. We have a very early wake-up call (5:00am!) because our flight to Qingdao leaves a little after 8:00am. The flight shouldn't be too long though -- a little less than 2 hours -- and I'm not sure exactly what we'll do when we get to Qingdao since our new guide will have a plan for us.

Today was another great day -- we have certainly lucked out with the weather. It's been close to 80 degrees, and mostly sunny, save for a few raindrops yesterday afternoon and this morning. We started the day at the Terracotta Warrior Museum. The Terracotta warriors were constructed in the Qin Dynasty (221 bce), during the reign of Qin Shu Huong Di, the "first" emperor of the Qin dynasty (he named himself the first emperor when he succeeded in uniting all of China). As part of his burial process, he wanted the ultimate afterlife, so he forced the construction of nearly 7,000 life sized, terracotta warriors. All of them were constructed and positioned so that his body would be protected in the afterlife. In 1974, Chinese farmers discovered the pit, which was then officially excavated and turned into a museum. Interest fact: the farmers weren't actually paid anything extra for their amazing find until 1998 when Bill Clinton visited the museum, and asked one of the farmers to sign a book he had purchased about the warriors.

After the Terracotta warriors, we went for tour of Xi'an's City Wall, a 9 mile rectangular-shaped wall, built during the Ming Dynasty (1368). For 20 yuan, most of us rented a bicycle and we biked the 9 miles around the wall! The scenery was terrific and the weather was fantastic -- Ms. Gembala's arms are a bit sunburned again though! It was also a bit hard to take pics, but I tried!

After the tour of the city wall, we went to Xi'an's Great Mosque, a wonderfully peaceful Muslim worshipping place. Xi'an has a population of 8 million people and about 1% of that population is Muslim. The Mosque is actually situated in downtown Xi'an, so the students had a little time to shop around the souvenir shops in the area and practice their bargaining skills. On our way to dinner, we saw some business men jumping rope, so a few of our students decided to join in the fun! And, of course, because we're "Americans", lots of Chinese citizens love taking pictures with us -- enjoy the pic of Nick!

For dinner we had a "hot pot" dinner -- we were each given a small vat of boiling water and on our Lazy Susan we had a variety of meat and vegetables. We got to cook the meat and veggies in the boiling vats!! It was quite an experience and most everyone enjoyed it!

I will write more tomorrow night once we're all settled in Qingdao. After Qingdao, we will head to our sister school in Jining -- we'll be there April 13-16, and I'm not sure of the schedule at all for those days, but I will definitely keep everyone posted! Thank you so much for following along -- I enjoy the comments!!

Wanan :)

Day 4 and 5 of China!

2009-04-09T05:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone ... well, we certainly have had an exciting 2 days here in China ... ;)

Yesterday (Wednesday), we started the day at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, a beautiful Buddhist place of worship meant for the Emperor Yongle during the Ming Dynasty. Today, many places around the Temple of Heaven are treated as a park (think Central Park but just Chinese :) ). The kids got a kick out of the morning exercises being performed by citizens (mainly senior citizens). I took a video of some of our students joining in :)

After the Temple of Heaven, we ate lunch at a Pearl factory -- everything in the store was half off for students, so many students purchased a few things. Then we were off to the Summer Palace, the palace built during the time of Empress Dowager, who many believe to have been the person responsible for the end of the Qing Empire, and Chinese dynasties forever. The palace is built right by Kuming Lake, so the breeze (and the weather overall) was fantastic. Oh and the pearls we bought yesterday -- they were harvested in the same lake.

After the Summer Palace, we went to Dr. Tea and listened to a presentation about a number of different types of tea. After Dr. Tea, it was off to the overnight train to Xi'an. Well, the train wasn't too bad -- a bit cramped and no breakfast, but we survived. We had a few meltdowns, but this is an adventure -- and the students are getting to really REALLY experience a new culture. And, yes, some of our female students have had to use traditional Chinese toilets ... but again, we survived :)

Now onto today ... today after we got off the train, we went to the Shaanxi History Museum ... Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi province, and for 4 dynasties it was the capital of China. After the museum, we went to the Wild Goose Pagoda, a Buddhist temple built during the Tong dynasty. Some interesting facts about worship at the temple -- Buddhists first start by lighting a candle, that way making their faces available for the Buddha to see, and then lighting incense. Once the incense starts to smoke, it signals the appropriate time to begin to pray!

After the Pagoda, we went to a Dumpling Banquet -- we tried 18 different types of dumplings, such as pork, chicken, beef, pickle, vegetable, fish, duck, and walnut! We all walked out stuffed!

Tomorrow we're going to the Terracotta Warrior Museum in Xi'an and then for a tour of the City Wall. On Saturday, we fly to Qingdao -- so we're on the move for the rest of our adventure!

Wanan! :)

Just a little of Day 3!

2009-04-07T04:54:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone ... this will be a very short blog tonight, only because my 24 hour Internet connection will close out any minute.

We had a terrific day today -- we went to a Jade factory, the Ming Tombs, a Cloisonne factory, then ate lunch before we spent 3 hours climbing the Great Wall of China! Oh, and on our way to the Jade factory, we drove by the Bird's Nest and Water Cube from the 2008 Olympic Games -- we didn't get off of the bus though (we were actually in the middle of traffic!) Finally, after our 2 hour trip back from the Great Wall, we ate dinner and now are preparing for tomorrow!

Tomorrow we're going to the Summer Palace, a pearl factory and possibly some shopping ("Dr. Tea" is a favorite, I've heard). Then we're catching the 9:30pm train to Xian -- it's an overnight sleeping train, so I will not have any Internet connection -- the next post will be on Thursday, April 9 (when we're finally settled into the hotel in Xian).

Much MUCH more on Thursday!

Day 2 in China!

2009-04-06T05:07:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! It's about 9pm on Monday night now, so everyone in CT is probably just heading off to work. We had a VERY busy day today ...

We started the day in Tiananmen Square, then headed to the Forbidden City. We were a bit unprepared for the nice weather here -- I suppose the long winter in CT has sheltered us from the sun, because a number of us left today with sunburnt necks, arms and faces. Maybe tomorrow, we'll use an umbrella to shade us, as many of the locals do.

In the Forbidden City, we were able to walk through all of the different palace, take pictures of the architecture, and hear stories from Bing, our tour guide (he's the man in red). After the Forbidden City, we ate lunch (we were happy to be in shade!) and then headed to Hutong, a portion of Beijing that is authentically "old Beijing." We rode through Hutong in a pedi-cab, a man riding a bicycle, with a carriage carrying 2 tourists attached behind it. We must have been quite a sight navigating through the narrow streets! While in Hutong, we met Mr. Wei, who invited us into his home for tea. Bing had to translate for him, but we learned from Mr. Wei that his family has lived in Hutong for five generations! He showed us his main room and his bedroom ... as well as his collection of crickets, a hobby similar to "ant farms" in the states!

After we left Mr. Wei, we went shopping at Yuanlong Silk, a government run silk company, so everything is guaranteed to be 100% silk. We watched the workers separate the silk from the worm, then spin, wash and stretch the silk. This was amazing to us, as you'll see from the pictures of all of the dropped jaws!

After Yuanlong, we went to a Kung Fu show! The music, sounds, lights, stunts, acrobatics and of course, Kung Fu, were terrific. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures -- they didn't allow flash cameras and the auditorium was quite dark for any good pictures!

Tomorrow, we're going to the Great Wall of China, so I'm sure I'll have a ton of new pictures to present then!

Wanan!

Day 1 of Canton High School in China

2009-04-05T05:51:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone ... it's close to 9pm, Sunday April 5th, here in Beijing (12 hours ahead of CT time!) and everyone has just settled down for the day. We had a very VERY busy first day of our China trip, although most of it was spent sitting in a seat in an airplane. Our plane left Bradley around 8:45am Saturday morning and we headed to Chicago to switch to a HUGE Boeing 777, which left around 12:45pm today. The trip was about 12 1/2 hours long ... the students and I spent most of the time watching movies, reading, or sleeping. The flight was actually pretty uneventful, until the last 15 minutes or so of the flight when our plane experienced a bit of nauseating turbulence from the mountains around Beijing ... a few people on the plane got sick, but we didn't have a huge problem like that in our group (thankfully!)

Our hotel is terrific -- the rooms are a good size and the amenities are terrific! The students are a bit tired, so I'm sure it will be a early night tonight. They have full stomachs -- a terrific dinner of Peking duck, rice, chicken, dumplings, sesame rolls, tea and soup! -- so let's hope everyone gets a well-deserved night's sleep. ;)

Please enjoy the pics from today!

Tomorrow we're going to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, perhaps some shopping, the Temple of Heaven and a Kung Fu Show! I'll post more tomorrow!

Wanan ... good night ;)

Trip Details

2009-03-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

With only a few days left until we leave for China, the students and I are making sure everything is all packed and planned out.