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)