Classrooms to tea rooms

We reunited with each other after our first night of home stays. With tales of power outages, dining by headlamps, cold showers, and unique breakfast foods, our group started the day bubbling with energy and excitement for what else the day would hold.

First we attended classes in which Chinese students interacted with us in small group discussion about what school is like in our respective countries. The subject matter varied from being able to choose classes to dating to how get into good American universities. Each group also enjoyed demonstrations of the students' talents in dancing, singing, pantomime, and recitation. Our students responded in kind by June sharing his "beat box" skills and our singing two songs we all knew: the Sponge Bob Square Pants theme song and a song from High School Musical. Our students were treated like superstars. Can I have your autograph? What is your email address? The students were eager to connect with each other.



The warm reception in the classroom led the way to a heartfelt official opening ceremony. Jackie and Luke spoke on behalf of the students and contributed to the relationship that is developing by sharing what they appreciate about China so far and the importance of our visit. The ceremony was attended by host families, teachers, and school officials. We received a gift on behalf of Gould Academy and presented them with a gift from our school to theirs. Each student was presented a unique gift from their host families in addition to a gift from the school.

After this ceremony and group photos, students returned to their host families for lunch and a rest. Chinese school children of all ages have a two hour break in the middle of the day before returning to school commitments that will go until 10 pm. Following lunch we headed into downtown Chengdu where we visited a Buddhist temple where we saw people practicing their religion by lighting incense and bowing out of respect for the figures. Some of the buildings were built in the late 1600s. The figures were said to be some of the most revered in the country.



The trip to the temple concluded with a relaxing visit to a tea room in a lovely courtyard. Budding magnolia trees, goldfish in a stone vessel, and carved wooden gates are just a few of the details that stand out vividly as well as the delicious, flavorful tea.



We appreciate all that the host school has done to make our first full day here so memorable. Tomorrow we will experience lessons in the Chinese classroom - Chinese language, hand crafts, and calligraphy await us.

Pandas in person

After the first night with host families, everyone met at school this morning to compare notes. Nice host families? Yes. Recognizable breakfast? Not really. We spent some time in classes this morning, then we stood on a podium in front of the entire school. The students were lined up in rows, all four thousand of them, in their uniforms, on the central outdoor quad. Mr. Baker and Mr Wen, the head of the school, each gave brief speeches that were translated by students. Our students were then given uniforms from the school.

After lunch at school we were off to see the pandas. The Chengdu Scientific Research Station is home to the largest Giant Panda breeding program in the world. Fortunately for us, we were there during feeding time, and we saw many pandas gnawing on bamboo. The pandas are separated by age and gender because in the wild they are solitary animals and the males would fight if they were all together. There was another panda research station about 30 miles from Chengdu, but it was heavily damaged in the earthquake last spring, and those pandas were moved to Chengdu. The pandas live in large, natural enclosures, and we were fortunate that they were near the fence during our visit.

After the Panda Station we went to a man made lake and had a rest in a pavilion. We had glasses of tea, sweet tofu, spicy tofu and cold noodles. We took a horse drawn ride around the lake, and then headed back to school.

While we waited for our host pick ups, many students approached us to try out their English conversational skills. It was a lot of fun, and we got a tremendous amount of attention!

Many families were off to have hot pot tonight, can’t wait to hear the details tomorrow morning! Tomorrow we’re off to the Giant Buddha of Leshan…

Spring Rain Arrives

We arrived safely in Xi’an last evening and were greeted very warmly by our hosts, the Xi’an Foreign Language School. Our arrival was seen as quite fortuitous by our hosts. Xi’an is in the midst of a 3 month drought, but it rained today. Headmaster Liu, in greeting us, told of the old Chinese saying, “Spring rain is as valuable as oil,” and then he thanked us for bringing the spring rain. Our morning was filled with time in school. Our students attended classes with their hosts and found it interesting, though I think the explanations of factoring, given in Chinese, were lost on our kids. Following classes we attended a welcoming assembly, complete with speeches by students from each school. Each of our students introduced themselves and then Whitney gave a wonderful speech, on behalf of all of us, telling how she has learned so much already and will never be the same again.

After lunch it was off to begin our tour of the historic city. We learned about Xi’an history, with a visit to the Shaanxi History Museum. Xi’an lies in the Yellow River valley, and is the cradle of Chinese civilization, tracing its history to a Neolithic culture around 5000 BC. It’s location in central China made it an ideal location to establish a civilization. The valley is fertile and provided food for the earlier Chinese, while the surrounding mountains protected them from invaders from the north. Chang’an (on the site of modern Xi’an) first served as a dynastic capital in the 11th century BC, with the Zhou dynasty, and was a capital city for 1100 years, until 1271 AD, when the Ming dynasty moved the capital to Beijing. The name Xi’an means “western peace,” and is a reference to the hope for peace under an emperor’s reign.

The museum was followed by a trip into the inner city, surrounded by an intact nine mile wall that was built during the Ming dynasty. Our first stop inside the wall was the Forest of Stelae Museum. Stelae are stone tablets, and this museum has a collection of over 1000. At one time it served as a stone tablet reference library and still contains tablets with the oldest existing text of books by Confucius, samples of different styles of Chinese calligraphy, maps and other documents of historical significance. The teacher in me found the stone tablet textbooks most interesting. They were used to study for the imperial exams that one had to pass in order to become a civil servant. When our students complain about how heavy their books are I’ll remind them of the seven foot high stone textbooks they could be using.

From there it was on the Drum and Bell Towers. Their contents are fairly obvious and there function was to tell time of day and to ring out warnings. We saw a brief musical performance in each and got a spectacular (well as spectacular as you can have on a drizzly day) view of the city. As we left the Bell Tower we passed by Starbucks and it took all the willpower our students and we could muster to keep walking, without going in.

The day ended with a return to school for English corner. Usually held outdoors, but moved inside because of the weather, the English corner is a gathering of students, Chinese and American, to share experiences. We were seated in circles, and if the students’ experience was anything like mine, they were peppered with questions about school, sports, interests, you name it. The teachers’ questions showed just how universal the profession is, and included “how do your grade students?” “do your students feel pressure to do well?” “does your school encourage religion?” and the ever popular “what do you do on your vacations?”

All in all it was a very full first day in Xi’an and a great start to our visit here. Tomorrow it is off to see the terracotta warriors and we’re hoping for a change in the weather.

Beijing Day One

Great, busy day... We are all bone tired. I'll am headed to bed, but with the wonder of jet lag hanging on, I will wake up very early with plenty of time to post before the day begins. Until tomorrow...
(The first of many group shots of the day. The lady who took this photo is not Ansel Adams or Sally Mann, but there is a nice artisty in the shot... or something like that. More pictures to come...)Colin Penley

They Leave... We Arrive

Hello All, The final group touched down in Beijing this evening.
We left Bethel with shin deep snow (that was still coming down.) By the time we hit Boston there was nary a flake to be seen. We had a bit of time in Logan airport and time enough for a quick snack/breakfast before boarding the plane for Chicago O'Hare.

(Above: The group waiting for our flight. Below: Dawson... I think ;) )


Once we touched down in O'Hare we prepared to go looking for our departure gate. Luckily, it was right across the terminal, only 50 feet. So another meal of airport food, and ready for our 11:40 boarding time. (Below: Our plane to Beijing)
For those of you playing along at home, yes our flight did get in quite late, but what is an extra two hours on the plane? After boarding it was announced the because one of our two High-frequency Radios was off-line, we would not be able to fly the polar route and needed to be rerouted over Alaska and Siberia. So with extra time on the run way and extra airtime, our "short" 14 hour flight turned into a 16 hour event.

Once we hit the ground in Beijing, we were off and running. We breezed through customs and hit the timing right to grab our baggage and head right out the main exit into terminal 3's waiting area. There, waiting for us, was out good friend, Dachuan. He had a bus waiting and we were off. Light traffic and a nice evening combined to get us quickly to our hostel.

After a brief moment to explore our rooms and "freshen up" we headed out to Goubuli (狗不理) restaurant. Goubuli is a famous chain restaurant from Tianjin, a large city just south east of Beijing. This particular branch of the restaurant has been open since 1858. We had a wonderful dinner of Baozi (包子 a type of dumpling with a doughy wrapper) and other assorted dishes, we headed out for a walk around the newly refurbished Qianmen district.
(Above: The group with one of the dragons in front of Tong Ren Tang [同仁堂], a famous Chinese medicine clinic and apothecary , first opened in 1669 and headquartered out of the building we are standing in front of since 1702.)

We walked around until ten and then headed back to the hotel to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I am going to be headed out for a walk at 6 am and then our day will start from there. Mao, Tiananmen, The Forbidden City and a tour of Hutongr. It is a day of the traditional side of Beijing. And now it is time for me to get to sleep to make sure I am up in time for that early morning walk!

"You say goodbye, I say hello"

We woke this morning, ate breakfast in the hotel, packed our bags and cleaned our rooms and took a walk through a nearby hutong. Hutongs are neighborhoods of single story connected buildings, some of which are hundreds of years old. They are rapidly being replaced with modern high rises. Narrow, mazelike streets, open food markets and friendly people are all part of life in a hutong.

We said good bye to Beijing this morning, and to our wonderful friends Dachuan, Liang and Ryan. A new place is always so much better when you have guides who know the area, know the language and want to show you everything! Thank you again Dachuan, Liang and Ryan- you made it all so much fun in Beijing!

We returned to the Beijing Capitol Airport Terminal 3 for our trip to Chengdu. The airport was completed last year and is in the shape of a dragon. It is the largest airport in the world. We boarded our plane to Chengdu and arrived two hours later.

We were greeted at the airport, and off to homestays! Flowers and signs and smiling waiving families is a pretty good way to start a visit in a new town!

Chengdu Bound

The group referred to as “Chengdu 1” (Ben A, June C, Helen C, Wyatt C, Matt F, Rose G, Abbie G, Trevor G, Haley I, Aaron M, Jackie S, Bryce R, and Luke S) with Lauren Head and Holly Tornrose started the day by walking through the Yingtao Hutong, an old Beijing neighborhood near our hotel. Here we saw what daily life is like for many Chinese. We went to an open-air food market, which tempted us with the scents and sights of various fruits, vegetables, bakery items, and meats. It was a feast for the eyes!



We flew to Chengdu and arrived to an overwhelming warm reception of host families and school officials right at the airport. They greeted us with flowers, name signs, and big smiles. Before heading off to our respective homes for the next week, all the host families and students gathered for a group photo at the airport taken by the Foreign Language Experimental School Affiliated to Tanghu Middle School. We hope to make those photos available later.



Students spent the early part of the evening getting to know the host families and their children. It turns out that all of the host families are teaching faculty at the school. Students will be living in either faculty housing or in the immediate area of the school. After a brief get to know you at their homes, everyone gathered at a hotel banquet hall for a special buffet meal which gently introduced us to the spicy cuisine of the Szechwan Province. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the challenge of communicating with various degrees of success. Students returned home with their host families for the night. Tomorrow we look forward to our first day at school where we will be officially welcomed before touring the campus and city.