Zaijian Zhong Guo (Last post of 2009)

Friday March 20th

Oh my goodness - wow the past five days have been a roller coaster of emotion from pure joy to utter depression. Hangzhou High School is such a wonderful place and Hangzhou is such a beautiful city- leaving is so bitter sweet returning to the comforts of home..but leaving our new friends and this incredible country of China

Wednesday was our final day at Hangzhou High School. I had a bit of a rough start..I had all of these bags that I had to bring to school - gifts, movies that Derek had loaned me, my dress and shoes for the banquet I was running late and ran out of the apartment. As the door closed, I realized that I had left my keys on the table - .locked out and no key to unlock my bike. I starteded walking. To my surprise, William pulled up and offered me a ride!! We pulled into the school -he let me out by the English Office building...miraculously --Rose was standing right there. I told her that I had locked myself out, she told me not to worry and that Wang Huo could help me during first period (Rose had to teach).

William, Rose, Wang Huo and Bruce to the rescue a spare set of keys!! I ran home to get my keys and a few other things that I left behind.... Mark, Li, and Alex headed to the gym for Kung Fu. When I returned I headed towards the gymnasium - walking slowly through the impressive campus of Hangzhou High School. When I walked up the stairs..Bruce and Alex were battling it out on the badminton court Li and Mark were practicing Kung Fu poses and taking photos with Liu laoshi. At the end of class, we took some final group photos and headed to lunch.

After lunch, we had our last cooking class (so sad) with the chef, Wang loashi. This man is awesome! Every day he prepares these amazing lunches for us..and then comes in and checks in on us, He had decided to teach us how to make dumplings! So fun. After cooking, we returned to the English office to practice our speeches.

Helen came rushing up the stairs urging us to get ready for the farewell ceremony. Iit was 3:20 and the ceremony was starting at 3:30 - we had to put our traditional Chinese silk outfits on! We scrambled in different directions and somehow made it to the administraation building on time. We were joined by Madame Miao -- who had just returned from the Second Session of the 11th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China in Beijing. She went as a representative of the education department of Zhejiang province as well as the other administrators and a few of the English teachers. Madame Miao spoke about how impressed with this year's delegation (us!) and the importance of the relationship between Hanggao and DS. Then I expressed our gratitude for our wonderful stay in Hangzhou. Madame Miao presented us with some gifts and then we were off to the banquet.. It was so nice everyone who has been involved with our stay, host parents and siblings, our teachers, English teachers, administrators.all in the same room. Madame Miao and I walked around the room and toasted with everyone at each table Each of us had to give a speech in Chinese! I went first, followed by Li, then Mark, then Alex. A delicious meal was enjoyed - 1,000s of pictures were taken and then it was time to go home... so sad.

Thursday morning Bruce and Ms. Zhu came to my apartment to help me carry all of my things to school. Luckily, Ms. Zhu had a key to the back gate..so we were able to sneak through.

Packing the bus was quite a difficult task-- we have all accumulated so much stuff it is ridiculous between shopping and all of the giifts that we have received we are going to be quite a sight at the Shanghai airport on Saturday morning..

After a send off by the administration, some of our teachers, several English teachers, some students and their families -- full of hugs, some tears, expressions of gratitude and gift exchanges, we were off --heading to Shanghai with Mr. Chen behind the wheel --Derek and Bruce as co-pilots. Bruce is coming to Shanghai with us!! I cannot say it enough. Bruce is so wonderful. He has become such a good friend to us all It took us close to two hours to get into the city..battling the insane Shanghai traffic..

Bruce and I spent the afternoon exploring the city. Mmap in tow we walked to the old section of Shanghai or the Yuyuan section, which includes an antique shopping street full of shops selling silks, Chinese paintings, tea, Mao paraphernalia, abacuses, calligraphy sets. I bargained for some earrings..yet again - this section of Shanghai also includes a traditional Chinese snack area with some very interesting options, the beautiful Yu Garden, and the Old City God Temple. We headed towards the bay -- and walked down the beautiful Bund, the street that lies along one side of the Huangpo River -- it is lined with dozens of historic buildings-- built over time in various forms of architecture and by different countries including Britain, the Netherlands, and Portugal. We walked along the promenade admiring the modern skyline of the Shanghai financial district on the other side of the river which is dominated by the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Jin Mao building (two of China's tallest buildings) We walked back to the hotel to pick up Alex, Li and Mark then ventured on to the subway-- over towards the area of People's Square to attend a Shanghai Acrobatic show..amazing! Several different acts including juggling, plate spinning, Chinese yo-yo, balancing wine glasses, knife throwing and very impressive acrobatics back on the subway back to the hotel

This morning we slept in pretty late, then walked to a fantastic bakery called 85 C to get breakfast and milk tea! We hung around the hotel for awhile. Alex's former host brother Frank stopped by. He goes to college in Shanghai. Then, Bruce, Li, Mark and I decided to go exploring. We took the subway to the other side of the river..and walked around the financial center... we took a bunch of photos of the Oriental Pearl Tower... we then decided to go to the old section of Shanghai. We did a little bit of shopping..and then walked to the snack section. We went to this place called the Snack Kingdom for dinner. We enjoyed some noodles and dumplings for the last time here in China. We then walked back to the hotel stopping at 85 C for some coffee. Tomorrow we will leave the hotel at 9am to catch our flight at 12:45 to San Francisco, we will have a four hour delay and then a six hour flight to Boston... it is going to be very hard to adjust to waking up when I am used to going to bed and vice versa

Wow, we are leaving China tomorrow...it feels like we just got here..but at the same time as if we have been here forever The four of us have met so many wonderful people! We have been to so many different places. We have seen and done so many amazing things. Thank you to everyone involved with the exchange and for reading our blog!

Sunshine and Two Dinners

Allison

Monday, March 16th

I got very sad this morning as I was riding to work, it really hit me that this was one of our last days in Hangzhou. I am looking forwaard to returning home, to see my family and friends, and students, but I am very sad that we have to leave Hangzhou and all of our friends here. 

Publish Post

Our last calligraphy class..our teacher Yang Laoshi is wonderful! One of my favorite people (although I have many) here in Hangzhou, my friend Xu Dao, arrived to help out and provide his gentle encouragement. He is a 70 year old retired English teacher here at Hanggao.   He is a very talented calligrapher. He is always smiling!! He likes to play us songs on his cell phone.

Today, our assignment was to show off everything we had learned and create our Chinese calligraphy masterpieces!! We were each assigned four different characters to master and then had to paint them on some very nice paper. After class, we took a group photo with Yang Laoshii. Xu Dao was our photographer..he was having a little trouble figuriing the camera out and exclaimed "I am from the countryside!!" It was very funny.

Derek or Xu Chang arrived for Chinese class (it is his birthday!). Our assignment today was to write our speeches for the banquet on Wednesday night. All four of us have to give a speech in Chinese..yikes. The weather was so beautiful that we decided to sit outside to write when we were done..Derek and Bruce went to work translating away. 

Lunch and then Alex and I went to English corner. Li and Mark went to the astronomy club.

We met back at the English office and then Obama Lama went off with Helen to pick up our dresses and suits for the farewell banquet. Helen has been so kind to us during our stay here in Hangzhou..Thank you Helen!  After, Mark, Li, Helen, and I went to make some final purchases at the silk market. 

Somehow, the four of us had double-booked ourselves for dinner. Ivan's (one of the Hanggao students who came to DS last yeear) mother and father (he is a math teacher here at Hanggao) invited us to dinner but Derek had also invited us to dinner! So we had to eat twice.  Ivan's family took us to a fantastic restauraant very close to Hefang St. ( the lovely antique shopping street in Hangzhou). Wang Huo also joined us! We enjoyed some delicious dishes including dongpo pork, french fries, and some fried noodles. Ivan is such a sweet girl and her parents are just lovely. 

Then, we took taxis to a hotel to join Derek and his wife Susan, her mother, and uncle, her brother, and his girlfriend, and Derek's best friend and his girlfriend. Derek's dinner was so much fun. His friend, I forget his name, is a magician! He performed several tricks using some elastic bands and then moved on to coins. After dinner we sang Happy Birthday in English and Chinese and then ate some amazing cake!!

Last Wednesday, after our beloved cooking class (the chef taught us how to make rabbits out of eggs…) Rose’s sister Angela met me at the English Office to take me to her school. Angela teachers English at a middle school very close to Hanggao. Rose introduced us --we hopped on the bikes and we were off. Chatting and meandering along the road, we finally reached the school. After a quick tour, we walked up to her office – where I met two more English teachers – grabbed my computer and followed Angela quickly to her class.

I walked into the classroom and was greeted by an enthusiastic applause... Angela’s students are in their last year of middle school (a U.S. high school freshman). They are studying hard for their high school entrance exams. My visit gave them a nice break from their focused studies. The students were overwhelmingly enthusiastic and wonderful…asking me all sorts of questions.

I looked at the clock 3:58..oh no! I told Derek that I would speak to his English club about American food at 4:00… I had to wrap up my speech and head back to Hanggao. Angela and I ran down the stairs and rode quickly back to Hanggao…I thanked her very much for giving me the opportunity to spend time at her school.

I ran up the stairs of the classroom building and down to English club… Derek was showing them a clip of Iron Chef. I had a minute to catch my breath…before presenting again.

After English Club, I met Helen… and we went shopping on the famous Hangzhou Silk Street…the street I have to ride down …to and from school. Helen is a very good shopper – and is very good at bargaining.. After I had made some purchases, Helen asked if I wanted to go to the night market….more shopping?..why of course! We both ran home (her apartment is in the building next to mine)… grabbed something to eat…and then hopped on our br bikes and rode down to the night market. The night market was very cool! Helen bargained for a beautiful silver bracelet. I bought a bunch of earrings and some gifts…

Thursday we had Chinese and calligraphy in the morning but it was a little different because we were joined by the ten students visiting Hanggao from Georgia this week….. During calligraphy, my friend Xu Dao, the retired, 70 year old, English teacher who Lianna has blogged about…came to assist Yang lao shi. He taught at Hangzhou High School for over 40 years.. He is so kind and wonderful…and he is trying to help me with my Chinese pronunciation….

Wang Huo (an English teacher who came to DS a few years ago) invited me to have dinner with her and then to go to Hefang St. Bruce and all of the host siblings had taken us there our first Friday night here in Hangzhou. After enjoying our dinner at the school, we hopped on a bus….and headed down to Hefang St. – a fantastic antique street with all sorts of tea, traditional medicine, silk, fans and other souvenirs shops. Wang Huo is also a very good bargainer! We met one of her friends..and we walked down the traditional snack street.. They have all sorts of things even fried scorpions…I decided to play it a bit safe and selected some sort of fried shrimp patty thing.. It started to rain heavily…so we seeked refuge at a Chinese snack restaurant…We enjoyed some warm soy milk…and then headed home…

Friday morning we had Hangzhou history and culture, and were once again joined by the students and teacher from Georgia… We all had lunch together…after lunch and I said farewell to Beth and Robert and wished them safe travels... they were headed back to Georgia. Bruce took me across the street to buy a second suitcase! Bruce!! What would I do without Bruce?? I honestly do not know….he has been so wonderfful to us during our stay here in Hangzhou..

Friday night out with William!! Alex filled you in…Lou Wei Lou (excellent food) and the Impression West Lake (fantastic show)! I just want to reiterate what a nice time we had…so nice. Thank you William!

Saturday – Tea Museum! (see Alex’s description as well..hehehe)… Then we walked along the Yang Causeway….the west side of the west lake… so beautiful…the lake, the he weather…China!

The students went back to the school-- Rose and I decided to stay by the lake. We walked along the Bei Causeway…Rose asked me if I want to try a special Chinese dessert...powder of the lotus flower mixed with boiling water…and it turns into this delightful pink sticky substance… We sat on a bench and enjoyed our treat… We tried to get a taxi…but the city was so so busy….Rose realized that she had two cards that borrow the city bicycles (the city provides bikes to their citizens free of charge - similar to the programs they have started in the European cities…) We couldn't find any at first because the weather was so nice -- but then two people returned some right in front of us… We hopped on and headed home…

I decided to go back to the school to get my bike…(I had left it Friday afternoon…) and I ran into Derek at the gate! He had been looking for me…(remember I do not have a cell phone) and invited me to have pizza at his apartment with Susan…yeah!!

Sunday morning Helen took me to try on my silk dress...it came out great..but needed a few alterations...

After shopping with Helen, Susan met me and we rode back to her apartment to have lunch with Derek, his cousin, her boyfriend, and his parents. They were so nice.. His cousin and her boyfriend speak English very well.. Derek prepared quite an impressive spread...

Susan had to go back to work...she is teaching an open lesson this week...which means any teacher in the city is invited to come and observe her teach... she had to prepare her lesson and materials...

Derek and I decided to go to the Silk Museum... we could not get a taxi...so we took a bus... the Silk Museum is great. Then Derek remembered how I wanted to take a boat ride in the West Lake ... so we got off the bus on the south side of the lake - Nanshan Road ... a beautiful area of Hangzhou... the top art university in China is located along the road...there are many shops and nice restaurants ...We went out on the boat as the sun was setting! soooo nice! Then we walked along Nanshan Road...and traveled to one of Derek's favorite restaurants -- Mr. Chen's Noodle House..delicious... I was exhausted ...I went home and fell asleep right away...

Hangzhou Highlights

(Allison)

Last Wednesday, after our beloved cooking class (the chef taught us how to make rabbits out of eggs…) Rose’s sister Angela met me at the English Office to take me to her school. Angela teachers English at a middle school very close to Hanggao. Rose introduced us --we hopped on the bikes and we were off. Chatting and meandering along the road, we finally reached the school. After a quick tour, we walked up to her office – where I met two more English teachers – grabbed my computer and followed Angela quickly to her class.

I walked into the classroom and was greeted by an enthusiastic applause... Angela’s students are in their last year of middle school (a U.S. high school freshman). They are studying hard for their high school entrance exams. My visit gave them a nice break from their focused studies. The students were overwhelmingly enthusiastic and wonderful…asking me all sorts of questions.

I looked at the clock 3:58..oh no!  I told Derek that I would speak to his English club about American food at 4:00… I had to wrap up my speech and head back to Hanggao. Angela and I ran down the stairs and rode quickly back to Hanggao…I thanked her very much for giving me the opportunity to spend time at her school.

I ran up the stairs of the classroom building and down to English club… Derek was showing them a clip of Iron Chef. I had a minute to catch my breath…before presenting again.

After English Club, I met Helen… and we went shopping on the famous Hangzhou Silk Street…the street I have to ride down …to and from school. Helen is a very good shopper – and is very good at bargaining.. After I had made some purchases, Helen asked if I wanted to go to the night market….more shopping?..why of course! We both ran home (her apartment is in the building next to mine)… grabbed something to eat…and then hopped on our br bikes and rode down to the night market. The night market was very cool!  Helen bargained for a beautiful silver bracelet. I bought a bunch of earrings and some gifts…

Thursday we had Chinese and calligraphy in the morning but it was a little different because we were joined by the ten students visiting Hanggao from Georgia this week….. During calligraphy, my friend Xu Dao, the retired, 70 year old, English teacher who Lianna has blogged about…came to assist Yang lao shi. He taught at Hangzhou High School for over 40 years.. He is so kind and wonderful…and he is trying to help me with my Chinese pronunciation….

Wang Huo (an English teacher who came to DS a few years ago) invited me to have dinner with her and then to go to Hefang St.  Bruce and all of the host siblings had taken us there our first Friday night here in Hangzhou. After enjoying our dinner at the school, we hopped on a bus….and headed down to Hefang St. – a fantastic antique street with all sorts of tea, traditional medicine, silk, fans and other souvenirs shops. Wang Huo is also a very good bargainer! We met one of her friends..and we walked down the traditional snack street.. They have all sorts of things even fried scorpions…I decided to play it a bit safe and selected some sort of fried shrimp patty thing.. It started to rain heavily…so we seeked refuge at a Chinese snack restaurant…We enjoyed some warm soy milk…and then headed home…

Friday morning we had Hangzhou history and culture, and were once again joined by the students and teacher from Georgia… We all had lunch together…after lunch and I said farewell to Beth and Robert and wished them safe travels... they were headed back to Georgia. Bruce took me across the street to buy a second suitcase!  Bruce!! What would I do without Bruce?? I honestly do not know….he has been so wonderfful to us during our stay here in Hangzhou..

Friday night out with William!! Alex filled you in…Lou Wei Lou (excellent food) and the Impression West Lake (fantastic show)! I just want to reiterate what a nice time we had…so nice. Thank you William!

Saturday – Tea Museum! (see Alex’s description as well..hehehe)… Then we walked along the Yang Causeway….the west side of the west lake… so beautiful…the lake, the he weather…China!

The students went back to the school-- Rose and I decided to stay by the lake. We walked along the Bei Causeway…Rose asked me if I want to try a special Chinese dessert...powder of the lotus flower mixed with boiling water…and it turns into this delightful pink sticky substance… We sat on a bench and enjoyed our treat… We tried to get a taxi…but the city was so so busy….Rose realized that she had two cards that borrow the city bicycles (the city provides bikes to their citizens free of charge - similar to the programs they have started in the European cities…) We couldn't find any at first because the weather was so nice -- but then two people returned some right in front of us… We hopped on and headed home…

I decided to go back to the school to get my bike…(I had left it Friday afternoon…) and I ran into Derek at the gate! He had been looking for me…(remember I do not have a cell phone) and invited me to have pizza at his apartment with Susan…yeah!!

Sunday morning Helen took me to try on my silk dress...it came out great..but needed a few alterations...

After shopping with Helen, Susan met me and we rode back to her apartment to have lunch with Derek, his cousin, her boyfriend, and his parents. They were so nice.. His cousin and her boyfriend speak English very well.. Derek prepared quite an impressive spread...

Susan had to go back to work...she is teaching an open lesson this week...which means any teacher in the city is invited to come and observe her teach... she had to prepare her lesson and materials...

Derek and I decided to go to the Silk Museum... we could not get a taxi...so we took a bus... the Silk Museum is great. Then Derek remembered how I wanted to take a boat ride in the West Lake ... so we got off the bus on the south side of the lake - Nanshan Road ... a beautiful area of Hangzhou... the top art university in China is located along the road...there are many shops and nice restaurants ...We went out on the boat as the sun was setting! soooo nice! Then we walked along Nanshan Road...and traveled to one of Derek's favorite restaurants -- Mr. Chen's Noodle House..delicious... I was exhausted ...I went home and fell asleep right away... 

Sunday's with Shuang

(Alex)

Hi everybody, I know it has been really long since I last checked in, but it has been really hard either to find the time or the proper material to blog about. My time here at Hangzhou has seemed to fly by, as I am writing this I only have three (!) more days in this beautiful city. School has been quite an experience, and, while I have learned something new every minute of everyday, it has been one of those experience which has not really been conducive to a blog. Yeah, so since covering my behind is over with, let’s get to this weekend, which has been by far one of the best weekends of this trip. To start with, William took us out Friday night to Lo Wai Lo for some much needed and much loved, you guessed it Viz, Beggars Chicken. Quite honestly the best tasting and most tender chicken I have ever tried. Period. A serious competitor for my pick as best dish in China, second only to the delectable Dong Po Pork (Mao’s Pork). After a great meal, William led us for a beautiful night-time stroll along the edge of the West Lake, ultimately ending up at the place where the famous West Lake Impressions occurred, a daily event which is famous throughout China. The show was directed by the same guy who directed the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, so you can just imagine the scale and beauty of the show that we enjoyed for the greater part of an hour. I kid you not in saying that at one point, a huge metal construct literally rose magically out of the water and towered above the actors, all of whom were standing on submerged platforms in the middle of the lake, giving the decidedly ghostly appearance of “walking on water.” The beautiful lighting effects had Mark, our resident Light Guru at DS, mesmerized. It was simply one of the most beautiful and breathtaking shows that I have seen on this trip, or in my life for that matter. And before you guys reading at home think I am just given to hyperbole, please wait until you see some of the video clips Li got before you decide for yourself. After the show, we met back up with our host families who where saying their final goodbyes to the OTHER delegation from America (that’s right.) I’m not sure how much the others have spoken about the delegation from Athen’s Academy in Georgia, so I’ll give a quick overview. This week, another group of students came to Hanggao and have been taking classes with us. They are very cool, but a much larger group (twelve in all, including a teacher and the headmaster of their school), and have sort of ended up preoccupying the teachers time. It has been really cool, however, to give them our advice, what with us being such experienced foreigners at this school. Anyways, they were leaving the next day, and our host siblings, who had seen them a lot through us, wanted to say goodbye. The next day we all headed out with Rose to the Tea Museum. And once we got there, we met … Jin Shuang! For those of you who don’t know, I hosted Jin Shuang (Frank) in America my sophomore year, and became very close with him. He looked a little older, but had not changed much at all. He sends his love to everyone back home, and has great memories of everyone he met and everything he did. It was great to see him, and, an added bonus, it was a beautiful day, and the museum was really cool. It was nestled in amongst rows and rows of tea plants (??), and really exuded a sense of peace and serenity. Wandering the halls of the tea museum and learning about the different types of tea and about its preparation (apparently I have never had a real, correctly prepared cup of tea in America) really made me feel like I was experiencing something amazingly Chinese. After another great lunch, Rose took us for a walk around the West Lake, one of the first times we had been there while the sun was shining. The walk put any body of water in America to shame, the views so stunning they defy all description. I felt, at that moment, so very blessed to have been able to see this beautiful scene, hundreds of thousands of miles away from my home, surrounded by friends of the past and present. This, my last weekend in China, really reinforced my appreciation for this great experience, and has made it very hard to begin to let go. After saying goodbye to Rose and Shuang (more on him shortly), we made our way back to Star’s (Li’s host sister) house for a farewell party by our siblings. Bruce made dumplings and pork steaks, and we watched a lot of movies. It was just one of those moments where we felt so close to everybody in the room, so content and at peace, that it was with a heavy heart that we left. The next morning, Shuang met me at Sunny’s house bright and early and took me out on the town. We first went to a Chinese supermarket, where he proceeded to show me all the best things to buy for the lunch we would have later, reminiscing all the while about his stay with me. I can’t believe how much he remembered about his stay two years ago. After, I finally met his mother and father, and they made a great lunch for me. His house was amazing, and it was simply an amazing experience to come full circle and go from inviting him to my house to he inviting me into his. I was so overwhelmed by the huge overflow of kindness his parents gave me, showing me around the house and thanking me profusely in broken English for hosting their son. I could only respond “Mei guan xi” “It was no problem”, and I tried to convey the immense affection my family and I had for their son. After lunch, we went for a walk around Shuang’s neighborhood, where he pointed out various landmarks of his childhood along the way. Stopping in small little garden, we chatted for about an hour about how life was going for both of us. I felt as if this day had been two years in the making, and it was truly one of the most enjoyable experiences of my entire trip. Unfortunately, Shuang needed to head back to Shanghai at six, so it was very reluctantly that we left the garden and headed home. After making plans to meet up again in Shanghai, I said goodbye to his family, who repeatedly sent their best wishes to my family. And that’s how the best weekend of the trip ended. So that about finishes up one of my longest blogs. Sorry again that it took me so long. Miss you all, but I guess I’ll see you soon enough. I might be able to squeeze out one more blog before I’m done… but for now, Zai Jian!