[LAST POST of 2018 Exchange] One Last Time

Kelby

Alright. Last one. For our last full day in Shanghai we had a wonderful time.

Our day began with a nice continental breakfast in the lobby of our hotel. From there, the Sisterhood went upstairs, got dressed, and set out for the day. I was particularly excited because my father’s employee’s (Mingjia) parents (try saying that five times fast) said they would take us to some cool new sites.

The first place they took us to was Yu Yuan, an old garden with traditional Chinese architecture, multitudes of flowers, and ponds stocked with giant carp. From there we walked around the area surrounding the garden as it was filled with shops and markets. Mingjia’s parents bought us all Dairy Queen. We then went to lunch and feasted on fish, pork, green beans, tofu, and tea.

Once we finished our lunch, we were then taken to a shopping district with small gimmicks and local snacks. Liz, Iona, and I all bought shelled coconut, which was essentially a bubble with milk in it. Extremely filling, extremely worth it.

The Bund and Pearl Tower were next on our list. The Bund is a long walking strip which runs along the river that separates the business district from the rest of the city. Mingjia’s mother took lots of pictures of us on the Bund, and we even got a picture of the famous skyline Shanghai has. After pictures were taken, we crossed the river and headed up the Pearl Tower.

The view was unlike anything I had ever seen. The day turned into night, and the entire city was truly awake. The buildings meant for companies flashed with lights and further portrayed a presence of life. A sea of apartments covered every crack and crevice of the city’s floor, as you can barely make out the cars swimming through the streets. The city was not simply awake by then, but it was alive.

We were exhausted by the time we exited the elevator taking us down, so Mingjia’s parents bout us dumplings. We got in the car, went back to the hotel, ate our dumplings, and prepared for bed.

Seeing this is my last blog, these are the types of days I will miss. Days like this are filled with adventure, friends who become family, food flavored by love (as someone we met here once said), and a feeling of action.

China has not simply been a destination, nor a vacation, but opportunity for global education. Seeing that tomorrow is our last day, I hope to obtain as much knowledge as I can before returning home. Until our return, all I can say is, “One last time.”

[VLOG#33] Shanghai Day 2

Iona

(Video only)

Shanghai Day 1

Iona

Kelbs described our first day in Shanghai well in her quote “We took to the streets and started singing Shakira”. The energy and excitement the Sisterhood had to be in Shanghai was palpable all throughout the day. I loved my time in Hangzhou, but I felt so thrilled to be on my feet- out exploring a new city again! I hadn’t realised how much I had missed the hotel breakfasts and flexibility to plan our day how we’d like. Our mission for the morning was to get Kelbs to a restaurant which was forty five mins away from the hotel to meet one of Kelbs’ family friend. The walk was great to start off our morning in Shanghai, and Liz, Mrs. Waterman, and I continued walking around while Kelbs and her family friend ate brunch at the restaurant. After an hour and a half, we met up again and made our way along a street with tiny shops. So many times we were tempted to buy gifts but we quite actually have close to no space left in our suitcases... Liz’s checked bag is already 2 lbs over the weight limit so we have some repacking and shuffling to do before we leave.

After we visited the sculpture park and ventured through an architecturally interesting neighbourhood, we hopped on the metro and made our way to the Shanghai Museum. We had heard a lot about this destination, and it was a great time! Kelbs, Liz, and I split up from Mrs. Waterman to go see minority clothing, traditional furniture, jade jewellery, and old currency. After we finished, we had some time to spend so we walked back to near our hotel and walked into a small hairdresser shop for inexpensive haircuts! Liz got a much shorter do, Kelbs got a trim plus layers that frame her face, and I went much shorter :). After that journey, we all went out for some hotpot which was absolutely delicious and just what we were craving.

We met Mrs. Waterman back at the hotel at 6:15pm, and all headed out to go see an acrobat show! It was amazing to see the talent of the group, and all the craziness that was involved in their show. It was a rather comical experience, there was a lot of humour in some of the acts and their bodies were so flexible and strong! Refer to the vlog footage for an idea of the crazy things that were performed :).

We took a taxi back to the hotel and said goodnight for the day, ending the day on a satisfied and excited note.

From Hangzhou to Shanghai

Ms Waterman
(teacher)

Today was a bittersweet day as we left Hangzhou after one full month and traveled to Shanghai for the last leg of our two-month adventure. We traveled by fast train just after noon, so the girls spent the morning with their host families. When all of the host families met at HangGao to say goodbye, our friends Sunny (a member of the Exchange from 2016!) and Dana (the Exchange teacher from 2017) were there, too. We were thrilled to meet Dana’s son, Happy, because we have heard so much about him, but we were so sad to say goodbye to our wonderfully generous and fun-loving host families.

We arrived at the Hangzhou East train station with plenty of time before our train, and I can say confidently that our experience there was the smoothest thus far! We had no ticket problems, we knew exactly where to go to board our train (unlike Chengdu), we made it down the stairs/escalator without people pushing and shoving (unlike Xi’an and Kunming), and we boarded our train car without any problems. Even though everything was smooth, it must have been very funny to watch the four of us trying to wrangle our now-enormous suitcases through the train station. Liz, Iona, and Kelby all have a small rolling suitcase in addition to their large suitcases, and I have a small duffel bag which I had mostly balanced on top of my rolling suitcase. Kelby got some funny videos of us, so we were able to laugh at ourselves after we boarded the train and stowed our bags.

And the Countdown Begins ...

Iona

And the countdown begins, we have had such an amazing time here in Hangzhou and we are desperately trying to take advantage of the winding down days! Yesterday after school, Liz, Kelbs, Sunny, and I met Mrs. Waterman and Dana in the English office at 5:30pm to go out for dinner and shopping together. Before this though, we had a ten hour long school day and it was productive for most of us; finding the time and place to make progress on our school work has been difficult but, VPN willing, we have been managing just fine. Coming home in a matter of days has been both exciting but also stressful as we still have to make a dent in our homework, strive to see all that Hangzhou has to offer (#striveforgreatness), and pack our rooms into our suitcases. I have just started the packing process and am finding it incredibly difficult to find the most efficient approach, wish me luck! When it comes down to it though, the Sisterhood will be just fine and everything that needs to get done will get done, though some good blessings and best wishes our way would still be appreciated :).

So on top of the tasks still left to do, we have been living life to the fullest and experiencing Hangzhou’s night life; Dana and Sunny showed us around Hefang St where we were able to satisfy most if not all of our gift buying! Very pleased with how the evening was spent, loads of walking and time with friends. The street had shops inside traditional style built houses which added a historic element to the experience, so cool to walk down the street. There were copious amounts of snacks inside the many different food stores so getting an evening snack was not a problem. Liz, Kelbs, Mrs. Waterman, Sunny, and I all bought gifts for loved ones and we are very happy now! The next challenge is to find a way to fit all this into our suitcases... I started out with one suitcase and one backpack and now I have two suitcases and a giant backpack and so many pounds of luggage...

Wish me luck!

[VLOG#32] Yellow Mountain Excursion

Iona

(Video only)

Nanbei Hu

Ms Waterman
(teacher)

Since Kelby and I returned to Hangzhou at 10:00 PM on Sunday night after spending the day at HuangShan (Yellow Mountain), I was a little tired on Monday morning for the day trip we took with the Senior 1 (grade 10) class. It's a good thing I had some longjing tea (caffeine!) to wake me up!

The trip was their spring outing and the destination was the Nanbei (North South) Lake. The lake is about one hour away from the city. The weather was sunny and warm again and it was great to spend the day outside. The kids spent the day with their host siblings' classes and I stayed with the teachers. I loved watching the kids travel in their class groups - each class carried a large red flag with yellow writing with the name of the high school and the class number (#1-12). There were also a few students who carried an even larger flag with the name of the school written in a creative design that students at the school designed a few years ago. The whole scene reminded me a little of how a military is organized in small groups. Each morning at school, the students in this same Senior 1 grade run laps of the school at break time in similar organized formation: one student leading at the front, the rest of the 48 students jogging in time in a crowd behind the lead student, and one student at the back of the group to mark the end of one class before the next class begins. While I like the idea of giving students 20 minutes for a break between classes (we do the same thing at DS!), I'm not sure I like the mandatory running. I like to run, yes, but the set up seems a little too militaristic for me.

Let’s Go!

Kelby

It’s confirmed. My host family does not sleep. This past weekend was a true testimony to such a statement.

Henry’s mother is a force to be reckoned with. I never knew a woman less than five feet tall could conquer the world in the way that she has. With every corner we turn we seem to be making a new friend. Anyway, this force I speak of willed me, Mrs. Waterman, and Henry to a mountain range (Yellow Mountains) three hours from Hangzhou. Saturday afternoon, we hop in the Jeep, drive to the mountains, and mentally prepare ourselves for the day ahead of us. That is where our journey begins.

Our day began at six o’clock on Sunday morning. I struggle out of my bed, tiredly moving myself towards the bathroom to wash up and get ready. Seeing that we were in the mountains, I had to dress warm. I pack my bag, go downstairs for some breakfast (the hotel had Coco Puffs), and then meet Henry’s mother in the lobby to go for our hike. We check out of our hotel, walk to the bus, drive up the mountain, and head towards the lift that will take us to the summit.

China Banquet May 3 ... Ms Viz's final one (very sad face!)

Mr Viz
(blogmaster)

The 16th Annual China Exchange Banquet is coming soon! Be sure to mark your calendars for May 3 at 6:30pm, and please note that ticket purchases should be finalized by Monday, April 30. See the ad at the top of the blog, and click it for details and the ticket order form.  Or, click here.

This Banquet will be a "sweet and sour" one because with her retirement, it will be Ms Viz's final one (but not as a participant, I'm sure!!). If you've had anything to do with the China Exchange over it's last 16 years, this would be a great opportunity to come and reminisce. That's why it's particularly important this year to get those tickets purchased, and numbers finalized, ASAP.

And if you can't make it, but would love to show your support for this amazing program, please note that you can still send in the ticket form with something entered on the Contribution line!

Hope to see you there!

Canals for Days

Ms Waterman
(teacher)

In the past two days, we have spent time at the Grand Canal in two different ways and in beautiful weather!

When we were in Beijing a few weeks ago (actually, it was almost a month ago- wow!), we saw the Grand Canal as we toured the hutongs of the old city. Our guide told us that we would see the canal again when we arrived in Hangzhou because the man-made canal connects the two old cities and measures about 1,500 km in length. The fact that it is man-made is incredible but the size of the project didn’t really strike me until I stumbled upon the canal on one of my afternoon walks. In Hangzhou, the Grand Canal stretches for miles and miles as it winds its way through the city from north to south. It is over one hundred meters wide in Hangzhou and used to be heavily used for trade. Now it is mostly quiet, but I have seen many large barges transporting cargo southward.

I have walked along the canal at least 5 times in the past 2 weeks and I have found it to be a wonderful place to walk in the spring. Most of the paths that follow the river on both sides of the canal are shaded by flowering trees (on windy days, I’ve walked through showers of pollen and tree seeds) and lead past bridges, apartment complexes, small playgrounds, and parks with pergolas covered in lilac vines. Unlike so much of the city sidewalks, these paths are quiet and calm and I never worry that I will be run over by a bike, scooter, or car. Needless to say, I’ve really enjoyed these walks!

Happy Qing Ming Jie from the Sisterhood!

Iona

The students at Hanggao get a 5 day break from school, so we had Thurs-Mon open to adventure. While it is tradition to get together with family members and honour the ancestors, the Sisterhood had no tombs to visit so we went shopping on Thursday. We all (plus Caroline) met up at the school gate early in the morning with Sunny (Hanggao’s exchange student from two years ago!) and she took us down Silk Street. It was so fun to catch up with her and get some insight into what her life is like after her trip to America. She has decided to devote a lot of her school career into studying for the SATs and is preparing to take the TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language) in order to make herself a serious candidate for American schools. All the best to her!

Chinese Universities

Elizabeth (Liz)

Hey all!

One of the big things I was curious about before coming to China was the University system. I knew what was the college process which as some of you may know in China they take the Gao Kao which determines your major and which university you can get into. But everything that came after that was a mystery. Luckily for us, my host parents are both professors at Zhejiang University of Technology, which is the number two university in Zhejiang Province, and my host mom offered to show us around.

[VLOG#31] A Hike With My Host Family

Iona

(Video only)

“‘Ohhh! You’re going to be there when the new tea comes in!’ - Mrs. Viz”

Kelby

My host family doesn’t sleep. That’s the impression Henry and his mother give, anyway. If my last blog didn’t convince you, let me attempt to pursue made you once more.

This past Sunday - ironically the day of rest - was one of the most tiring days I have had in a while. As of now in Hangzhou, Spring is approaching. In America, Spring Can mean many different things: flowers blooming, warmer weather, graduation soon approaching, etc. In Hangzhou, only one thing matters - new tea leaves. The new tea leaves are in! Naturally my host mother knew this, so she decided to take Liz, Mrs. Waterman, Henry, and me out to pick tea.

The tea trees themselves are not in the city, so we had to drive about 45 minutes into the hills to pick the tea. Being foreigners, we were very fortunate to have permission to pick the new tea. Apparently Henry has a friend from middle school who’s family owns a small patch of trees. The friend’s family owns a restaurant near their patch of trees, so we were able to drink some tea and eat some sunflower seeds before working. After that, we climbed into the hills.

Walking on Water

Elizabeth (Liz)

Quote of the day

            Yeah, yeah         - Henry's Mom

Hello all,

I am glad to report I am all better even though Kelby and Iona are not. Nonetheless after school today we headed out to hang out with Henrys mom who was taking us to the enduring memories of Hanzhou light show. The drive to get there was crazzzzzyyy. So much traffic!! But it was worth it. The show was pretty much like all the other operas we have seen, a series of acts that demonstrate the variations that is Chinese opera. But what made this so special was the fact that it was legitimately on the water. Basically all the dancers and singers would preform on these docs that were so thin it looked like they were walking on water. On top of that the water itself reflected all the lights that surrounded us which in turn provided this surreal atmosphere. I think my favorite parts was when the huge lines of women holding umbrellas all danced on the docks in sync and when they projected this giant fan on the water during the butterfly lovers dance. We are all so thankful Henrys mom brought us to experience this wonderful show and she herself was a lot of fun as well with her spunky attitude and fearless driving.

Thats all for now!

[VLOG#30] Morning in the Life

Iona

(Video only)

A Tour of West Lake

Ms Waterman
(teacher)

We spent today with Dana, our friend who was the China Exchange teacher from Hangzhou this year. She and her husband offered to bring us to West Lake to visit some of the scenic spots. The weather cooperated wonderfully! Even though it was quite warm (almost 80 F!), we were thrilled to see clear blue sky and bright sunshine. It’s the first really clear blue sky that we’ve seen since we were in Lijiang a month ago, and it makes me more aware that I’ll never take our beautiful blue skies at home in Massachusetts for granted again!

Our first stop was the Leifeng Pagoda which we climbed to see the view from the seventh floor. The lake lay below us and we could identify a few places that we recognized: the Broken Bridge and the Long Bridge. Dana also showed us the island with the three reflecting pools that are one of the lake’s scenic spots. Inside the Pagoda, we spent some time admiring the carved wooden panels covering the walls which tell the story of White Snake, a legend about Hangzhou. The story tells the love story between a human and an immortal god and ends in the destruction of the Pagoda. In reality, the Pagoda was destroyed many years ago by an earthquake, but I think I prefer the legend’s explanation of a vengeful immortal. After spending over an hour in our woodworking class this week painstakingly trying to shape a small piece of wood into something resembling a heart, I have a new appreciation for the art of carving, and I marveled at the level of detail and the intricate shapes and figures that the artist created to tell the story.

[VLOG#29] West Lake 2

Iona

(Video only)

[VLOG#28] Sound and Light Show, West Lake

Iona

(Video only)

Road Trip

Kelby

Wow, three weeks left! Time really has flown by since we’ve gotten to Hangzhou. I guess that shows how much fun we’re having!

Speaking of fun, this past Sunday was a blast for me. My host mother and host brother took me to a beautiful scenic area two hours outside of Hangzhou. Our final destination was the “Thousand Islands”, which is a man made lake with a rich history. I’ll get to that in a minute. Any who, although we had a final destination the trip was quite spontaneous. On the way to the lake we pulled off the highway and drove into a small town to pick strawberries. After feathering three baskets of strawberries, we hopped back into the car and continued towards the lake.

When we arrived the lake was unlike anything I had ever seen: island upon island, mountain upon mountain, and all connected by a massive body of water. I asked Henry what the history of the lake was, and he brought me to a film which answered my question... well, sort of. The film was in Chinese. After seeing the animations and receiving an explanation from Henry, the lake was in fact made to provide electricity for the major cities and towns in the area. Unfortunately, creating the lake and building the dam entailed displacing a whole village of people (let alone a village that had been established for centuries). The village was located in a valley, so the dam flooded the valley and transformed mountain-tops into small islands. That explained so much. When kayaking, I was wondering why the “beach” of each island instantly turned into an abyss. Yet again, the Chinese have impressed me in such an extreme way.

Happy 18th Birthday in Hangzhou!

Iona

Ni hao! I was lucky enough to celebrate my eighteenth birthday in Hangzhou yesterday, and it was a quite a unique day! I felt loved and celebrated the entire day, from both my family in America but also my new family in China :).

I started off the day with a few birthday FaceTime calls and then at school, I got so many birthday wishes throughout the day. Students and teachers made an effort to communicate their birthday wishes which was so nice of them. After our classes in the morning, I went to the cafeteria with the Sisterhood to find that Mr. Bacon (our chef) had prepared a birthday meal for me! Yiran and Irene (our friends who are also our english translators) had set up balloons that spelled out “Happy Birthday” on the wall, and our host siblings came to eat with us, as well as the teachers that are involved in the exchange programme. Yiran and Irene bought me gifts, as did the teachers! I got an assortment of bookmarks, hair clips, earrings, and even a large tea cup. It was so thoughtful of everyone to have gotten me gifts. After lunch, we had gym class and it was so beautiful outside that the class went to be active in the good weather. I, however, was still recovering from sickness so I stayed out of the sun, and out of the extreme heat for the afternoon. After we finished school, Kelbs, Liz, Yiran, Mrs. Waterman and I walked back to Peter’s house, where Peter’s parents had come home early from work to cook me a birthday meal! It was so sweet of them and I had a great evening that was spent with great friends and great food. I got two birthday cakes! Two sets of wishes!

I had known that I was going to be passing my eighteenth birthday in China for a while now, and I am so excited about the story I now get to share. When I turned eighteen, I had been living in China as a result of being a student on my school’s exchange trip. How cool!

A Day Out in the Tea Hills

Ms Waterman
(teacher)

We spent Saturday (our second in Hangzhou) with Charlotte, another English teacher at Hanggao. To reach our two destinations, we drove through endless gorgeous hills and mountains covered in tea trees. It was such fun to see the gorgeous geometry of the trees planted in rows rising up into the hills, and since it is late March, there were dozens of workers among them harvesting tea leaves. Charlotte explained that the best tea during the year is the tea that is available before Tomb Sweeping Day (usually April 5 or 6). She also said that it is the most expensive tea of the year because the taste is supposed to be the purest. Maybe we will have a chance to taste some in the next week!

We went first to the Bamboo Lined Path where we saw huge forests of bamboo trees and green waterfalls. Kelby and I accidentally hiked a huge staircase up to a temple for the god of wealth. I say “accidentally” because we thought the temple was much closer than it turned out to be! It took us 30 minutes of intense stair climbing to reach the summit where we saw a green temple garden where a lot of people were eating a picnic lunch. We were glad that we had persevered through the tough climb because we were greeted by a cheerful sign announcing that “exercises and workouts are good for health and the most important thing is persistence”. We were grateful, though, to meet Liz and Charlotte down the mountain since that meant we were on the way to the Tea Museum.

Handwriting and Medicine: Angry Confuigi Style

Elizabeth (Liz)

Quote of the day

         
           What's the character for sesame?
                                                    - Iona

Greetings everyone!

For those of you who didn't know I was sick last week (which yes totally sucked because I legitimately sounded like Beloved, ugh!) But it did give me a chance to try some weird medicine, that Caroline's mom bought for me (which was SO sweet of her!!!). First was this weird flower paste called Chuan Bei Pipa Gao. It came in a jar and was almost as thick as molasses but definitely did not taste like it. It honestly worked though, I could feel it coating my sore throat and soothing it. The other weird thing I tried was pear with rock sugar. This is honestly genius because it worked, the first day I did this I did not cough nearly as much. It in a way was like natural cough syrup. I was very sweet and warm and I wasn't sure if it was gonna do anything but boy was I surprised. This too decreased my coughing, which was nice. But now I am better so I don't need any more medicine, which is also quite nice.

Green Eggs and Ham, Meet Your Competition

Kelby

As you may know, the Sisterhood has finally arrived in Hangzhou! But does that mean we are no longer busy? No. No it does not.

So far the food in Hangzhou has been nothing short of exemplary. We have definitely not been eating as much eggplant (which Mrs. Waterman and I love so much) but we have been trying many new kinds of food. Take yesterday, for example. I had 3 amazing opportunities to try the Hangzhou cuisine: once at our “Welcome Banquet” for lunch, another at our cooking class, and a third at dinner with my host family. Let’s start with the Welcome Banquet.

The Welcome Banquet comprises of many faculty members from the school, including the Vice Principal, a Dean of the institution, and two teachers involved in the program. The staff was responsible for ordering the meal, and one of the dishes in the meal was sweet lotus with sticky rice. This particular dish is a Hangzhou delicacy, and essentially tastes like rice and syrup (so basically syrup), which is absolutely delicious. From the Welcome Banquet we proceeded to our cooking class.

Hangzhou!

Iona

This was our first weekend in Hangzhou and the sisterhood (minus Liz since she was taking a sick day) met at the South Gate of Hanggao to hang out with Mr. William for the day! We finally learned that there was a difference when using Hanggao vs Hangzhou, Hanggao refers to the school and Hangzhou refers to the city; Hanggao is short for Hangzhou Gaozhong (Hangzhou High School)- so in English it’s a nickname for Hangzhou High School. The more you know!

Mr. William teaches English at the international high school, but was happy to show us around and took the three of us to Liying temple first thing in the morning. Liying temple was an amazing site with loads of running water and pretty stones and greenery everywhere, and people! So many people were coming to the top of the Liying garden to burn incense and to pray to the numerous statues. Everything was done in sets of three, and so we took three sticks of incense and bowed three times in the direction of whichever statue we chose to pray to.

Don't Miss the Photos!

Mr Viz
(blogmaster)

It's been great reading all the exciting posts and watching the VLOGs of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Silk Pajamas.  But if you haven't been clicking on the 2018 Photo Album link at the right, you've been missing tons of fantastic photos as well as some additional short videos!

Ms Waterman just posted quite a few new pictures of the first days at Hangzhou High School.  Go to the end of the Photo Album to see those.

2018 Photo Album

The Universal Language

Kelby

Today was a very special day for me. The morning started off slowly, but the afternoon and evening were fast-paced and exhilarating.

Today was the day the Sisterhood would visit Hangzhou High School’s new campus, located more on the outskirts of the city. Before going to the new campus, Liz, Iona, and I all went to class with our host sibling. Henry (my host brother), took me to his chemistry. I could understand the elements the teacher wrote on the board, but I completely forgot how to solve the types of problems written on the board. Once the class was over, the Sisterhood was off to the new campus.

The new campus finished construction in 2015, is consisted on an international school (150 students) and boarding school (400 students per grade), and is an extension of the downtown campus. I was very impressed by what I saw. The international school alone was larger than our high school, and the school campus was twice the size of ours (which I would expect considering the amount of students that go there). However, on the tour we were given, we were brought to an astronomy building which had a room that displayed the constellations above our heads. As a reference, the room was similar to the astronomy tower in the museum of science.

[VLOG#27] Outing to Lingyin Temple

Iona

(Video only)

Our Arrival in Hangzhou

Ms Waterman
(teacher)

We have arrived in Hangzhou! Our last sleeper train of the trip brought us to the Hangzhou train station on Wednesday morning at 9:00 where we were met on the platform by teachers from the school. What a treat it was to find them so easily! We were driven directly to Hangzhou High School and our visit officially began.

When we stepped out of the car, we were handed huge bouquets of lillies and greeted by administrators and also our exchange students- Peter, Caroline, and Henry. The kids were all so excited to see each other and I was so glad to meet the Hangzhou team which has helped organize our trip. After a brief welcome meeting with the head of school, administrators, and Dana (the exchange teacher from the fall), we took a tour of the school grounds. Like DS, the school has a few different buildings: administration, classrooms, teacher offices, senior student study space, and a canteen. The students watched us excitedly and waved from their classrooms as we walked down hallways of open doors and windows (it was quite warm and humid - 70 F!), and we were told that there are about 50 students in each classroom and 600 per grade. Since this school is grades 10-12, there are about 1,800 students- many more than at DS! The students wear uniforms that look like track suits with specific color strips on the legs: red for grade 10, blue for grade 11, and orange for grade 12.

The Great Wall of China

Elizabeth (Liz)

Phew...Its taken me awhile to get this down because oh boy its a lot. This morning we were still tired from last night so we slept in late (yikes!) But it was still okay because we were able to get up quickly and eat breakfast. Afterwards Kelby, Mrs. Waterman and I (Iona stayed in today because she was sick) all went with Kelly to the Jade Market. It was actually really cool to see how they polished and carved the jade. Jade can come in many forms like agate but the most popular jadite and the harder the stone the more expensive. Also real jade will look like cloudy glass and will be cooler to the touch than fake jade.

Kelly then took us to the secret road which contained the tombs of emperors and empresses of the Ming dynasty. Apparently according to Kelly the mountains surrounding the tombs were named in accordance to Feng Shui.

[VLOG#26] Beijing Day 4

Iona

(Video only)

Beijing Day 4 and Off to Hangzhou

Iona

The Sisterhood met Kelley downstairs with their bags and belongings at 8:30 am and set out for another day in Beijing! We would later be boarding an overnight train that would take us to Hangzhou- and the second leg of this trip- but for the majority of the day, we would be spending it in Beijing.

Our first stop was the Olympic Village, the arenas and space that was built for hosting the 2008 Olympic Games! It was really quite a site to see given and extremely impressive to see how the government had managed to build such an impressive layout given the already heavily populated and developed city. We learned that those who had been living in that area were given a substantial amount of compensation for cooperating and also would be relocated on the government’s dime. After the initial grandness of the entire place wore off, we found ourselves asking how does the government maintain usage of these facilities? Tremendous work beginning in 2002 had gone into modelling and building this area, but was it still used? Kelley informed us that the swimming pool was still used for competitions, and the Birds Nest received publicity as it is a very impressive stadium; yet the Village’s primary function was still to serve as a tourist site. Kelbs, Liz, and I soon fell into conversation about the value of hosting the Olympic Games and how many benefits (beyond the publicity) does it bring to the nation. Was it really worth it or not..?

[VLOG#25] Beijing Day 3

Iona

(Video only)

A Royal Day

Ms Waterman
(teacher)

Today, we visited the Temple of Heaven which is quite close to the Forbidden City in the center of Beijing. It’s located in a huge park where we witnessed the daily morning exercises that local Beijingers gather to do. Other than us, all of the participants were of retirement age. We jumped onto a few machines to stretch and do some basic movements while watching everyone around us perform a variety of exercises: group dancing, static and kinetic stretching, sit-ups, pull-ups, gymnastics high bar flips, and more. I love this structure of exercising because it clearly promotes healthy activity (the people doing flips and chin-ups were much stronger than me!) and community interactions.

Once we had limbered up a bit, we walked through the grounds of the Temple of Heaven. Built in 1420, it was used by the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties to pray for good harvests for their people. The grounds of the temple are three times larger than the Forbidden City which, having just visited that huge site, is impressive! The temple itself is a unique shape among the many other temples that we have seen in China because this temple is round and three levels high. Why round? The temple is round because the Chinese belief is that the heavens are round and the Earth is square. The temple roof has three layers of painted carvings: blue (heavens), yellow (emperor), and grey (common people). I loved the painted carvings of dragons and phoenixes on the walls surrounding the temple. We’ve learned that these two animals can have a few meanings: dragon is male and phoenix is female, or a dragon means power and a phoenix symbolizes longevity.

The Capitol

Kelby

Hello all! Sorry for the late post. Since arriving in Beijing yesterday, the Sisterhood has been very busy.

We got to Beijing at around 7:00 yesterday morning via sleeper train. The experience was a lot better than the previous train considering the later time. We then met our tour guide - Kelly to my surprise - in the main area of the station. The main area was an interesting sight to see: police at every corner, soldiers at every entrance, police cars driving through the halls. As you can imagine, we were shocked.

When exiting the station, the streets of the city appeared the same. Kelly told us the government was in the midst of a meeting, therefore the security is intense for the time we are here. Kerry brought us back to the hotel, where we changed, stores our suitcases, and packed our bags for the day.

[VLOG#24] Beijing Day 1

Iona

(Video only)

Goodbye Xi'an!

Iona

The Sisterhood had a later start to their day but checked out of the hotel in Xi’an at 10:30 am and left Huiming Jie, which is the Muslim region of the city. Here, we saw most of the women wearing hijabs and learned that they tend to speak Mandarin, their local language, and sometimes Arabic. Lining the street were many food vendors selling tofu, soup, meat, and fried foods; there was this one instance we saw where saw a lady purchasing some soup and she was given the soup in a plastic bag- very interesting. The walk along Huiming Jie continued as we went into the Great Mosque of Xi’an where we noticed that Mecca was to the west of us, as opposed to the east of us in America. There were courtyards and stone archways, and also pavilions painted with vibrant green roofs that were reflective of the theme of peace in Islam. After further exploration, we went to a restaurant that served us beef, chicken, and vegetable soup dumplings which made for a very filling lunch. After the soup dumplings, we went shopping on the street across from the Muslim corner, which was East St.

[VLOG#23] Xi'an Day 4

Iona

(Video only)

[VLOG#22] Visit to Pang Liu Elementary School

Iona

(Video only)

This Land Is Your Land

Ms Waterman
(teacher)

We were lucky to visit the elementary school in Pang Liu village today, and we finally got to meet the famous Richard Wang! Richard has been the tour coordinator for the DS China Exchange for 15 years and Ms. Viz has always spoken highly of him and his work. He accompanied us to the school because Pang Liu is the village where he grew up.

The Pang Liu school is quite small- there are 11 teachers and 130 students ages 4-11 (there used to be 350 students 15 years ago when Nancy, our guide, taught English at the school). Since the school is in a rural village that is not wealthy by any means, all students receive breakfast and a hot lunch every day. It is interesting that this meal program is not available to students in urban schools, and the girls and I talked about how there is just as much (if not more) of a need for subsidized meal programs in urban as well as in rural settings in the US.

Xi'an Day 2

Elizabeth (Liz)

Greetings and salutations everyone!

Quote of the Day

        "Quack, quack!"

Day two here in Xian and thank god there is no more rain! Kelby, Iona and I got up around 7:30 and decided to head down to breakfast in order to get ready for our busy day! Our first stop was a Shanxi History Museum, which contained collections of bronze artifacts dating back to the Tang dynasty. Nancy showed us three galleries, all containing various relics such as masks, lamps and statues (one was of a hedgehog!). Very cool! Afterwards we headed over to a park that was recently built that has little fountains on these multiple granite steps and everyday they turn them on to the tune of classical orchestral music creating a splendid little show for all to see. We then headed over to a buffet lunch in order to prepare ourselves to bike on the cities wall.

[VLOG#21] Xi'an Day 2

Iona

(Video only)

Xi'an Dumpling Duck

Elizabeth (Liz)

(Video only)

[VLOG#20] Xi'an Day 1

Iona

(Video only)

But How Much More is There?

Kelby

I feel as though I always get the best days to blog. Today was our first day in Xian, a “small” city in Northern China that is known for its pottery. You’ll hear why in a minute.

The start of our day began quickly. Iona, Liz, and I had about 20 minutes after breakfast to take showers, get dressed, clean our room, pack our day bags, and meet Mrs. Waterman downstairs. Naturally we were late, but relatively quick for the three of us. Our guide, Nancy, took our group to an ancient civilization that was excavated, and then created into a museum. The site we visited was the Banpo Site, a village that consisted of about 300 people, and was excavated in the early 1950’s.

Sisterhood Travels to Xian

Iona

Started off our fourth day in Chengdu at 7:45am, opening with a buffet styled breakfast that would fuel us for the busy day ahead. We went back into our rooms to pack and organise all of our belongings as we were checking out of the hotel promptly at 9am. Maya and Mr. Wong came to pick us up, and we went on our way to the Wuhou Shrine. This shrine was built in 1672, during the Qin Dynasty and was one of two graves above ground that had not been broken into/ tampered with in history. The shrine was right next to Jinli, a shopping street filled with different stores and stands, and so the Sisterhood spent the rest of the morning walking through the street and found a few things to bring home which we are all very excited about.