Guangzhou

(Lianna)

Hi all! We left Hong Kong today. It was a little scary. We could no longer count on people knowing English. We found our train okay at the HK station and got into Guangzhou. We all made it through customs in Guangzhou! It was very exciting! I was the first one through on this side, after being last in HK so I was very happy. Sorry I didn’t write much about the train ride, I slept through most of it.  But what I saw was really interesting. We saw people working in fields and some really nice apartments, and some crummy buildings. It was definitely interesting seeing the varying degrees of wealth. After getting to Guangzhou we met our guide, Mingo. He is very nice, we all love him.

First Mingo took us to see the Chen Family Temple/Folk Art Museum. That was really impressive. It was at one point a person’s house. It was so incredibly large (like a palace or castle, but better, because it had traditional Chinese style architecture, decorations,  and plants). We all imagined how awesome it would be to live in it, until Mingo pointed out that there would be no running water or heat. The artwork there was amazing. There were exhibits designated to bone carvings, silk “paintings”, and other really awesome things.

After the temple Mingo (our love) took us to Sun Yat Sen’s memorial hall. The building was incredibly large and colorful. Before going in we saw a huge statue of Sun Yat Sen. This was our first experience of the Chinese being amused by Westerners. People kept staring at us and taking our photos. It was quite amusing. We went into the memorial and there was history and photos and stuff.  I thought that was interesting. We saw someone doing hand paintings that look like brush paintings of Guilin. So impressive. I already knew this, but Mingo said the three most important people to China are Sun Yat Sen, Mao, and Deng Xiaoping. Hearing it from a Chinese person made me realize just how weird it is that the three most important men were so different; one being a nationalist, one a communist, and one a “communist” with capitalist ideas.

Mingo took us to see some really great sites. We went back to the hotel and parted with Mingo. He told us he would be taking us to the airport. We hadn’t realized this and were thus very happy to find out we wouldn’t have to deal with the airport by ourselves. None of us felt like going out for dinner, so we walked around the island. It was beautiful, with the French colonial influence. I thought it felt a lot like Florida. There were palm trees and pretty buildings. We ended up at a starbucks. And Italian guy was also at Starbucks, and I think we were the first Westerners he had seen in a long time (He is working in a small community outside of Shanghai).  So he joined us and we sat and talked for a long time, probably at least an hour. And that was pretty much the end of our night. 

I mean, these guys INVENTED gunpowder ... !

(Alex)

My first blog entry! This has been a long time coming, and I hope that all those who read it will enjoy! Quickly, just for those who care, I am having a great time! The guys are great and Hong Kong is amazing! Today we woke up a little earlier than anticipated. Although we had had what we thought to be an enormously physical day yesterday, few of us actually slept in. Li and I were the only two who were able to sleep the entire night without the aid of medication. Allison, who had had a rough night yesterday, took a couple of Tylenol, whereas Mark woke up at three, and just couldn’t get back to sleep. Various sleeping complications aside, we assembled rather sleepily in the dining room to plan our day before the firework display on the harbor that night. The food there was, as always, great, although the décor was a little gaudy. After settling on a plan for the day (and around four cups of tea on my part), we headed down to the subway, which never fails to amaze.  At present time I don’t really know how in depth the other guys have gotten concerning the subway system in Hong Kong, but the one thing that really stood out for me is the amazing accessibility and cleanliness of the subway. Also, they really, really are careful that you wont fall on to the tracks, with double-sliding doors and glass-lined stations. 

Anyways, we headed towards Hong Kong Island, hopped a connecting train to Lantau Island and exited at the Cable Car station to the infamous Big Buddha. Although we were initially afraid we had arrived to late to beat the crowds, we were pleasantly surprised to find the line relatively empty (no two hour waits here!). After paying around $100 HK each for tickets to the cable car (they jacked up the prices for Chinese New Year) we were off to view the city from the skies… with one slight hitch. Although it has been overcast since we arrived, we didn’t realize how foggy it was until we got above sea level. Roughly five minutes into the ride, the blue seas and impressive skyline faded away into oppressive, foggy, white mist. Literally fifteen of the twenty minutes we spent in the cable-car ride consisted of sitting in the car surrounded by fog. Depressed, we exited the car hoping for the best but fearing the worst. Entering Ngong Pong Village (the Buddhist village housing the temple and the giant statue), the mist lent certain mysticism to the atmosphere, simultaneously improving and detracting from the experience of our trip. Making our way through the village, people faded in and out of the mist, along with tranquil gardens and the occasional gift shop. Walking along a partially developed road, we arrive at the bottom of an imposing step of double stairs, with crowds of people moving up and down. The mist obscured our final destination, the Big Buddha. As we climbed up the stairs, we looked in vain for some hint of the famous statue. Finally, within a few feet of the top, this massive figure looms out of the missed, materializing in clarity before our very eyes. Although the finer details are lost in the mist, the size alone is enough to take your breath away. After a little waiting, the fog clears for long enough for us to take some pretty great pictures. After hanging around the top alcove with the Buddha above us, and even going inside the shrine to see some amazing Buddhist relics (including a shard of the Buddha which is apparently comparable to the Holy Grail in Buddhist mythology), we decided to hike back down to the monastery itself, where we had lunch. The initial confusion aside, we managed to redeem the lunch ticket we got at the top and had some great vegetarian noodles and sweets. The temple outside was also pretty sweet, with a ton of intricate carvings and gold inlays, and A LOT of incense and Buddha statues. Much of the temples more intricate details defy description, so keep an eye out for pictures to follow. The trip overall was a great success. 

After scrambling back to the hotel, we quickly changed for the night out on Hong Kong Harbor. Heading across the street to the Kowloon Hotel, we were told to wait for the tour guide Fred who would take us to the buffet we had planned and then to the dock for the boat cruise before the fireworks. But, Fred Ho never showed. Instead another guide, Ricky Martin (no joke), called out “Mr. Allison, group of four!” and we, in the words of Allison, “just went with the flow”. Feeling confused and slightly guilty, we boarded the tour bus heading to, we hoped, the restaurant. As it turns out, we were luckily right. The restaurant was great, with a ton of dishes to try, and some pretty interesting people to talk to. I can’t decide whether I’m embarrassed or annoyed that I ate far more than the other three combined (They’re all really slow and picky eaters). After leaving the restaurant, Ricky, who had by then become our personal hero, directed us to the docks where we would take the boat cruise around the harbor, culminating in the New Years fireworks display. Although Li and Allison were initially nervous about the rickety little boat that was moored when we arrived at the dock, it soon pulled away to reveal a far larger, more stable, boat in its place. We hopped on with the rest of the guests and were off taking pictures of the skyline at night for the last time. Then, the fireworks started. And when I say they were the best display I’ve ever seen, I mean it. I mean, the guys INVENTED gunpowder, so I would hope they where good with it, but this defied all explanation and description. So many boats flooded the small inlet where the fireworks were being lit that I was afraid on more than one occasion that we would collide with one and sink to the bottom before the show would end. I used up the remaining memory on my card taking a 8 minute video (to be posted on Facebook as soon as we have a reliable connection) of the beginning of the show, but apparently they ended up blowing up over 20,000 rockets and $5,000,000 HK worth of hardware. So yeah, the fireworks were epic. Taking the boat back, we said bye to Ricky and blearily stumbled back to the hotel. 

Which brings us pretty much up to date. OK. Now I am so ridiculously tired because I still haven’t fully adjusted to the time difference and feel that I have written way, way to much although Viz will be happy. Everyone is well, although also very tired. Sad to say bye to Hong Kong but excited for what’s to come next. Hope to write again soon, and hope for INTERNET at some point. Zai jian everybody, and hope to talk to you soon!!

World’s Happiest Party

(Allison)

Kung Hei Fat Choy! (Happy New Year)  Hong Kong is an amazing city…I love it here..We got an early start [Monday] and took the subway from Kowloon under the harbor to Hong Kong Island. The subway is so clean and easy to follow. We walked to the Peak Tram Station, there was no line and we got right on the tram and headed up to Victoria Peak. The weather was a bit cloudy – but the view was still very impressive. We decided to take our first official group photo..Oh, we have a team name…(with the help of Lianna’s father Greg  during our brainstorm at Logan) DS China Exchange 2009 will be officially called ObamaLAMA. Reasoning = every one in the group has a slight obsession to our new commander in chief…(Lianna did attend the Inauguration..) and the word lama is an acronym for all of our first names…and both words flow quite nicely together..to reinforce our name – there is also a large island just south of Hong Kong Island called Lamma Island..

Back to the peak..we wandered around the top in awe of the city…the contrasts between the lush green landscapes and the modern skyscrapers…Mark mentioned how it reminded him of Hawaii..There were adorable dogs everywhere!! Alex really wanted Haagen Das (spelling ?) but did not cave. We met this adorable tour guide named Arthur..he asked about our trip and was very impressed with our itinerary (thanks Becky!) As we were entering the gate to get back on the tram we came across a sign that said, to our amusement “Payments Accepted: Cash or Octopus” – Is octopus an actual currency in HK?   

At the bottom, there was a line for the tram that went around a corner and down the street—we beat the crowds!  We headed to H + M to meet my friends Geoff and Erica who live in HK. They both teach at an international school. They took us on a whirlwind tour of down town HK Island, desperately trying to find a restaurant that was open (everything is closed for the new year). We went up the world’s longest escalater system-- to an area called SOHO – with tons of great restaurants…any type of food you can imagine- italian, mexican, indian, american... We ended up going to this funky place that served everything from traditional  Chinese fare to pizza and breakfast!  At lunch Geoff and Erica ruined our joke by informing us that the “octopus” was the name of their subway card – like the Charlie Ticket or Metro Card (hi – and, dana, and mel ).

After lunch we took a double-decker bus (we sat at the top in the front = scary) to the south side of the island (where Geoff and Erica live). We strolled along a beautiful beach, and then along a promenade to Repulse Bay. Our first Buddhist temple!! Right on the water it was beautiful…and so colorful. We walked over a bridge that added three years to our lives. Then we headed to Stanley Market, an adorable waterfront shopping/restaurant area. Geoff, Mark and Alex went on an intense hunt for US to China adapter/converter but had no luck…Lianna was hungry so we sat down a water front snack bar type thing…everyone was getting tired..(we have not adjusted to the time change quite yet)..so we said good bye to Geoff and Erica and took a taxi to Star Ferry Pier!! I was very excited! I double checked that it was headed to Tsim Sha Tsui (thank you for the advice Terry and Rick).

It was 6:30 and we were not in the state of mind to conquer the crowds lined up 6 or 7 people deep for the New Year’s parade – otherwise known as the “World’s Happiest Party”. We headed back to the hotel with hopes to view the parade from the huge patio on the fourth floor of our hotel – but our hopes were quickly squashed by an evil security guard. We tried to go outside to watch it –but the route was blocked off to ticket holders only?? And we were all returning back to our jetlagged delirious stupor selves. So, we decided to watch from our hotel room (on the route but eight floors up)…it was kind of sad – but we had the television on so that we could hear it… It is the year of the OX!! – they are everywhere… Lianna and I really want to find some Ox ears! The parade ended and we went to bed…dreaming of small children dressed up as Ox on light up roller blades…

Hi Mom, Dad, Rachel, Becky and everyone else who is reading –including Periods 1,2,4,6, and 7!! 

love and miss you all,

Allison

 

Oxen on Blinking Rollerblades…? o_O

(Mark)

HELLO FROM HONG KONG!

So we touched down at the airport at 6:45 and made our way to baggage claim. The airport was so unnecessarily large…we had to walk for like ten minutes, then get on a subway type thingy that took us to baggage claim. Our bags came almost immediately (no, we didn’t lose any, despite Lianna’s fear), so we exchanged money and started heading out. As we got into the main airport, a random guy came up to us and asked us where we were headed. Turned out he was a taxi driver, and offered us a ride right to the hotel for 380 Hong Kong dollars (about 54 USD, divided amongst the four of us). So we went with him. And the ride was pretty cool. And he was really nice. When we got to the hotel, we tipped him an extra 40 Hong Kong dollars or so, later discovering that tips were supposed to be about 5. We certainly made his day.

After checking in, we headed to the night market (though we don’t think we went to the right one…?). Getting there was quite an experience, as we had to learn to ride the subway. You can only by a single trip ticket, and you need it to get OUT of the subway when you reach your destination. Allison thought she lost her ticket, it was bad… she’s still living in the subway. Like Charlie on the MTA. JK LOL, WE LOVE HER. The night market was actually kind of a let down (hence our doubts as to whether we went to the right place). It was pretty much just like any other market in any China Town. People were obsessed with remote control helicopters... one dropped and almost beheaded us. Except it was way too small. But I like dramatic effect.

ANYWAY. Then we were tired. So we tried to go back to the hotel. On the way, however, we encountered the rehearsal for the New Years Parade. We were pretty much in a delirious stupor, so we were just kinda wandering around when we stumbled upon it. It was pretty epic, with dancers, bands, large dragon thingys… When it began to get old, we headed out, but somehow ended up on the wrong side of the entrance gate, so that we could have just gone right into the stadium where everyone was performing. We decided not to though, which was an EXCELLENT decision, as we ran into “THE COOLEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN” (in Allison’s words). What was it? Little Chinese children, dressed as Oxen,* on flashing rollerblades. In Lianna’s words, it was “SOOO amazing!” Alex has a video of it that will hopefully be posted, and you can see the oxen and hear Allison and Lianna’s exclamations. You will laugh. A lot.

So then we went back to the hotel, and tried to get internet. It was quite annoying, there was a fifty dollah deposit, and we had to buy a minimum of fifteen minutes (at one dollah per minute). So Allison just checked her email, and sent the world’s worst and shortest message to our parents and Viz to say we were alive. You probably won’t see this post till we get to Guangzhou, as we don’t want to deal with that internet thing again, but OH WELL! So yeah, hi mom, dad, alex, steve, grammie, gramps, nana, anita and steve, pam, and anyone else who I may have missed due to my exhaustion. Mom, your brownies were awesome! Coming up next… to Hong Kong Island!

*It is now the year of the ox. The Chinese aren’t THAT weird. Usually.

Airports? Boring Blog entry

(Lianna) 

So we all got to the airport at 4 am… or should I say most of us got there at 4 am. I won’t name the late comer (I’ll give you a hint… he’s blonde). We were all extremely tired and the fact that we would soon be in CHINA hadn’t really kicked in yet. So we got on our plane and fell asleep… it was long. Unfortunately however, none of us slept very long. So Allison, Mark, and I played cards including an epic, hour-long, game of war. Alex, who chose to be separated by the aisle from us watched TV and listened to his ipod and did other such things. That flight was pretty bad: cramped, long, etc. First casualty of the trip? Allison left Twilight on the plane, good thing she wasn’t upset about it.

We got into San Francisco at 10am-ish. We found our gate, which happened to be 12 million miles away from the one we came into. Then we went by twos to get food. We could tell the plane was HUGE, but the gate was pretty empty. Bad sign about the economy? You could say that… but GREAT sign for us… I’ll skip the boring airport time.

We got on the plane and there was absolutely no one on it. Everyone on the plane, except those with babies and small children, got a whole row for themselves! Mark, Alex, and I each chose rows with 4 seats, which made seeping pretty comfortable (well, as comfortable as sleeping on a plane can be). Alex wanted to build a fort in his row, but he didn’t end up doing it, he was out for most of the flight. The flight attendants were SO nice and helpful and delightful and happy, unlike the mean ones going to San Francisco. We had asked for a meal to be left for mark if he was asleep and the flight attendants were so amazing that he got offered the same meal THREE times!! The food was actually pretty good for airline food. We had the choice of Chinese style chicken and rice or meatloaf, then they gave us Chinese noodles (very much like ramen noodles). Then for the “light snack” prior to landing we could have a soggy turkey sandwich or disgusting looking noodles… but the first two meals were good. The international flight, while 14 hours long was actually a pretty pleasant experience. We are all hoping that the flight going home will be just as good.

O and there were lots of really cute Asian babies on our plane, they amused us. One of the little boys had shoes that flashed bright colors! It was so exciting! You will see a trend in our blogs that we like blinking things, specifically blinking shoes. So, long story short… because I don’t know how I managed to make this blog about airplanes this long… we got here safe and, well… exhausted.

2009 Exchange Group has landed in Hong Kong!

The 2009 Exchange group departed from Logan airport at 6:15am Saturday morning, Jan 24.  Stay tuned for further postings!

Last Day at Hanggao ... [LAST POST OF 2008 GROUP]

(Nick)

Before I talk about today, I must comment on last night's farewell banquet. It was so cool to see both of our host families, teachers, and friends together in one room - the energy was amazing. The food was delicious (of course) and there were many, many toasts throughout the meal. Drew, Emily, Cady, and I toasted both Madame Miao (the principal) and Lu Naichuan, the exchange coordinator. Madame Miao came over to each table and told our host families what she thought of us (according to her I am very handsome and my speech in Chinese was the best out of the four of us...HA). It was a great night and it was so hard to leave at the end.

Today was our last day at Hanggao. Jerry and I were a bit late to school, as usual, because Jerry overslept....rather than receiving detentions for being late too many times, students just get their name written down and they might be spoken to but most of the time they are just required to sing in front of their class!! There is definitely more trust between students and faculty...and it works. They never skip class, never leave class to go to the bathroom, and it is rare when a student is absent due to illness. I guess this is due to Hanggao requiring high marks on an exam to even be admitted, but it is pretty refreshing to see a school where everyone is in nearly perfect harmony. Anyways, this morning our papercutting class was cancelled because our teacher had a meeting, so instead we went to Free Mori and bought some delicious pastries, and also wrote our names on an apron that we later gave to our chef as a farewell gift. The next class we had was P.E., where we played badminton basically the entire time. We gave both of our P.E. teachers gifts, our male teacher a New England photography book and our female teacher a 2007 Grammy Nominees CD. We will miss both of them a lot....considering how much we have eaten here we might be needing them back in America after our families see just how much weight we've gained.

We then had our last Hanggao lunch. We presented our chef with the apron that we decorated, and then took a photo with him...he was very happy! All of our host siblings are very sad that its our last meal because once we leave, they will have to go back to eating the normal school food (which is apparently pretty bad). Patrick and Ella came into our room and we took some photos together. We walked out to English corner for the last time! I am really going to miss English corner, its definitely my favorite time of the day because we get to socialize! It's hard to socialize during the rest of the day since the students are so focused on their classes. It is also the only time we get to see Patrick, Ella, Frank, and Kathleen, the busy seniors...they have to sacrifice a lot each day to go to English corner when all their classmates are studying, and we are very grateful that they care so much about seeing us. English corner today consisted of LOTS of picture taking, email address exchanges, and presents! It was really overwhelming because there were so many people I wanted to talk with and take a photo with but not enough time! I tried my best to hug as many people goodbye as possible, take as many photos as possible, and yes, sing into one of my classmates recording devices so they will forever have my rendition of "I want it that way," by the Backstreet Boys. I will miss English corner so much...it feels like just yesterday that we had our first one! It is so fun to hang out with all the students at Hanggao without them having to worry about schoolwork (well, for the most part).

In the afternoon I took some time to write letters to Helen, Rose, and Derek, all English teachers that I have grown pretty close with and will miss a lot! The English department has been so hospitable...the 5 of us must be quite a pain to have in the English office but they have survived. I am going to miss Helen the most...she has basically been like a mother to us. Not only did she take Terry under her wing while we were in Hangzhou, but also us as well. She is so helpful and always so interested in us. I only wish I could've been at DS when she was the teacher of the Spring 2004 Chinese delegation. Four years later, and she still has a Dover-Sherborn nalgene water bottle and a DSMS sticker in her cubicle. She clearly got so much out of her time in the U.S. and her way of giving back is always being there for us! It is people like her that make me realize just how life-altering this exchange really is. I hope that I can see her again sometime in the near future! I am definitely going to miss her smiling face every morning at Hanggao.

After school I played badminton with some of my old classmates from Class 1. I'd really missed playing with them, as it had been 2 weeks since I switched host brothers, so it was really nice to be with them again! However, once we were done playing, it meant I had to say goodbye to all of them which was really sad. I hope to come back to Hangzhou sometime in the next couple years, but you never know, and although email is great, the prospect of not seeing them is too hard to bear!

We met at the school gate at around 5 PM, where we were joined by Patrick, Ella, and Baker. We went to our favorite Japanese restaurant near the school for a quick dinner before Patrick had to leave for more classes. Speaking of Patrick, I am pretty sure he is the Chinese version of me. We have a lot in common and even though I've only known him for 5 weeks, I would consider him one of my best friends. I think I will probably miss him the most out of anyone in Hangzhou, just because its not everyday that you meet someone who is exactly like you, and it will be hard to be so far away from him. I know he is someone that I will always keep in touch with, though, and hopefully our paths will cross sooner rather than later. Anyways, after a Japanese dinner and Patrick's departure, we took a public bus to Xihu (West Lake). We walked around for a bit, which was nice with the warm breeze. We went to Starbucks and sat around talking for a good 2 or 3 hours! It was glorious. At around 10 PM, we took taxis home (which is actually a hard task, vacant taxis are hard to find), and Baker dropped me off at my host families apartment complex. Since this was the last time I was seeing Baker, I hugged him goodbye. Baker was such an important part of our days at Hanggao, considering he was the translator for all of our teachers. He is probably the nicest, most warm-hearted person I know. I will miss him so much.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Hangzhou. Today was definitely pretty emotional though, since Hanggao has become so important to us in the last 5 weeks. It is hard to believe that it is basically all over. This exchange has changed my life in so many ways. But when I say exchange, I guess its really just the people involved that have changed my life. I am definitely going to miss living in China a lot, but most of all, I am going to miss all the people that I have connected with. I can't imagine my life without these people and I hope that this is just the beginning of a lifetime of friendships. As I transition back into Dover-Sherborn High School next week I will always carry with me the many unique experiences of my time in China. This was the best decision I ever made in high school, and no matter how stressful, tiring, and sometimes, awful high school was, my 2 months in China are what I will always remember when I think of high school. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. Thank you DS (but mainly Viz) for giving me this opportunity.

See y'all in the USA! We will be arriving Tuesday night and I am totally going to school on Wednesday to see everyone. Zaijian Zhong guo, Ni hao Mei guo!

Yang Ni Ke

The Great Banquet

(Drew)

Well this is probably my last blog entry in China. Just the realization of this is making me sad. It depends how busy we are in Shanghai but i doubt ill have time for another blog entry because it would be on the day we leave. So updates on my travels. Our morning classes have been going great. We finished our "masterpieces" in both Ccalligraphy and Chinese Painting. Our body and Kung Fu classes keep us in shape while we stuff our faces with Chinese food. When i get back i might take a little time off from dumplings and noodles though. This week we have given all our teacher gifts out to show appreciation to all the teachers who took time to teach an extra class in the morning. My abilities at Ping Pong, Badminton and Running have all seen dramatic improvement over the last 5 weeks. I wish we played more badminton back in the states, its sort of the Chinese equivalent to Tennis. Everyone plays.

ooo... host dad brought me an apple (peeled), gotta love the hospitality in this place.

Today i got up a little earlier than usual. "Usual" has turned into 10 minutes before i leave in which i gobble whatever i can on the table before heading out the door. This morning i had a little more time to prepare for my day. I got to school (safely i might add, each day adds new perils to my trip to and from school) and did the normal routine, checked up on e-mail and chatted with team china before our Chinese class. We dedicated today's Chinese class to translating small scripts we wrote in English into Chinese. Today was the day of our going away banquet, which went very successfully (ill get to that later). After Baker the Bread maker helped us translate, we spent the rest of class practicing the actual speaking to each other, i knew it would be a train wreck if i didn't. Our second class today was calligraphy, but we already finished our "masterpieces" and didn't really have anything to work on. Yang Lao Shi said that we could take home the brushes we have been using as gifts. Yang Lao Shi is definitely one of Team China's many favorite teachers. We spent most of the class working on other constructive things, reading and writing etc. as well as practicing our speaches. First period in the afternoon was gym for Nick, Emily and Me, they played badminton while i spent the time practicing my Ping Pong with Joe. Second period i had to run home and get my silk vest for the banquet that i did not realize i would need because i assumed we had time between school and the banquet. I took a quick shower and changed as well, it was very warm today (over 70 degrees). Last period we had a farewell meeting just like the one we had at the beginning of stay in Hangzhou with all the administration at the school and all our host brothers and sisters along with various other teachers. We said our final thoughts about our stay and gave our deepest thanks for our trip and the hospitality they showed us while at Hanggao. We exchanged gifts and took many pictures.

After about 20 minutes we set off for the banquet. The banquet was massive. We had 5 large tables completely filled with people. Our list was just about 50 people which included all people who were related to the exchanged, our entire host families, our teachers at Hanggao and of course Patrick. Team China loves Patrick. Each of us got a table with both of our host families. At my table i made many toasts to my host families and to Patick, Ella and Baker who were all at my table. I thanked my host families for everything and had lots of fun chatting with them. My two host fathers did toasts to each other every couple minutes and proceeded to chug a small glass of wine each time. Team China made many toasts including Lu Naichuan and Madam Miao. We took lots of photos of all the different groups of people, we had lots of fun. The banquet was a great way to wrap up our stay in Hangzhou, we celebrated our stay rather than mourned our departure.

Fleeting Moments

(Terry)

Sunny skies overhead today; cherry blossom petals swirl along the driveway with the breeze, and we try our very best to ignore that clock ticking in the background. Offhand comments acquire more import, a casual snapshot becomes the last picture arm-in-arm with a now-dear friend, and there's a piquancy to all the little happenings that compose our day.

We've done our darndest to concentrate on morning classes. To our endless delight, we find that Yang Laoshi has crafted and stamped calligraphy for each of us -- loads of framing work now awaits us at home. Brushes swirled busily across numerous sheets of paper, and we find Yang Laoshi liberal with praise today: so many red circles and "very good"s! After he leaves us, poetry and portraits are our self-assigned work, until our history teacher joins us. We peer at the powerpoint he's prepared about some of the highlights of Hangzhou, including the Lingjing and Daoist temples. (We'll visit the Lingjing Temple this Saturday.) Class ends with a trip out to take pictures with the nearly century-old cherry tree as background. After our customary huge lunch, the young folk all head out to English Corner while laundry beckons me around the block to my washing machine!

The Chicken Masterpiece

(Cady)

Hey everyone!This may just be my last blog entry of the trip, unless we end up getting to an internet cafe in Shanghai. The exchange is really coming to an end. The big trip, the one we spent nearly an entire year anticipating, is almost over. The fact that we'll be graduating soon, going off to college, voting in a presidential election, and fending for ourselves is really beginning to hit me. These realizations, along with the fact that I'll soon be back in Dover-Sherborn, are scary but so exciting. That doesn't seem entirely related to China, but this trip has been such an integral part of my senior year that I'm sure it's played a part in the whole "growing up" thing. Anyways, this blog entry is really supposed to be about Tuesday. So here we go.Our first and only class on Tuesdays is Chinese Painting. Unfortunately, our teacher wasn't actually there. We decided to paint anyways though (don't worry, Baker said it was fine). We were supposed to be making our "masterpieces" since it was our final Chinese Painting class. I felt a little disgruntled- we were supposed to be making brilliant works after all! Sure, I like Chinese Painting, but it's difficult and therefore sometimes very frustrating. On tuesday, however, I opened the book of birds to a rooster that I have been admiring since day one. I proclaimed, "I am going to make a chicken....and it is going to be a masterpiece!" And I did. Well, okay, the chicken isn't quite like the one in the book. I am very proud of it though, since it actually resembles a chicken MORE than it does a worthless blob. Mission codename chicken is successful.After I completed my masterpiece chicken, I was quite ready to retire my brushes. Drew was having painter's block, so we went together to get milk tea and lollipops while the other three continued painting. I will be quite sad when I no longer have every day access to milk tea. Also, lollipops here cost wu (five) jiao. Like a dime, shi (ten) jiao is equal to one yuan. Therefore, one yuan gets you two lollipops, which means that seven yuan, which is equal to one US dollar, get you fourteen lollipops. I just thought that I would impress that figure on you. Fourteen lollipops for one dollar. Oh, I love China. Then again, at the rate the dollar is falling, soon it may only buy thirteen lollipops. I would suggest that all US citizens go out and buy all fourteen lollipops while they still can.We did a variety of things in the afternoon. The tailor, once again, brought back our dresses. I was finally satisfied with mine- I'm actually quite happy with it now. As of today, Emily's is good now too. Success! Nick and I rehearsed for the "play." Have we written about that? We acted out scenes from The Million Pound Bank Note with a couple of my classmates and then performed them for my entire class today (I am writing this on Wednesday, by the way). I acted in a restaurant scene, speaking a total of three lines which I, much to the awe of my classmates, memorized after one practice. I was actually really impressed by how quickly they managed to memorize their lines since not all of them even speak English very well.After rehearsal, Doris and I took the bus home. Very crowded. Her uncle then picked us up and brought us to a nice restaurant where we had dinner with my host mom, her brother and his wife, and her mom. At home, my host mother has taken to forcing Doris and I to eat every last bite of every dish she prepares. Her mother is almost exactly the same as she is, so you can imagine that between the two of them urging me "eat more! eat more!" I certainly ate more. My first, second, and third stomachs were very, very full. Then home, shower, computer, bed. You know the drill. And that's about it for Tuesday.In exactly a week we will be on a plane bound for America! We're getting excited to see everyone back home. Nick even has a small posse of admirers lined up to meet him at the airport. Well, see you all then!Cady

Ellas's Birthday

(Emily)

sunday was the day that the team china kids had been looking forward to since the beginning of the week- it was the day of ella's birthday party!

ella's birthday party started at 10am at a kareoke place across the street from the one that we have been going to (haoledi). this one was chosen because ella though it had the most american songs and it did not disappoint. even though it was 10 in the morning and we were all a little tired, we perked up after being in the room. besides us, ella had invited patrick, aj, and cerrus (sp?) along with last year's group: frank, kathleen, and rose. it was a ton of fun. we sang the requisite songs (britney spears and beatles) and even some new ones. cady did an amazing rendition of the intro of lonely by akon and we even tried to sing zhong guo hua. the latter was not as successful as we would have liked it to be but we have the 'zhong guo hua' part down now. patrick's really good at dancing and as he was singing love stoned by justin timberlake, he also danced along. pretty soon, it was time to go to lunch, which was at a japanese restaurant around the corner.

the food at the restaurant was delicious- i was very happy with my yaki udon with miso soup. frank also presented us with a roasted chicken that he had bought for us in the morning, so we had a little of that as well. after lunch, kathleen, rose, and frank had to go. we went SHOPPING! the boys were really excited for this part because they really wanted patrick to help them pick out some new clothes. we went to the downtown part of hangzhou and looked around the outlets (very very very hot and crowded- bu hao!). the boys didn't find anything that they thought was worth buying (they did try on a lot of clothes) and in the end, it was cady and i that ended up making purchases (she-a sweatshirt shirt with a rainbow god on it from jasonwood and me-a summer 'frock' with a square neck from only). such is life.

after bidding patrick, aj, and cerrus goodbye (they all had places to go), the five of us walked along the west lake...sort of. we were all freaked out at the large amount of people swarming the causeway (it was a beautiful day so go figure), so we just sat on the edge of the water, getting many odd looks, and just chilling. it was a very team china.

after ella's birthday, i went back home and met my host mom's brother along with his wife and daughter. the daughter is in fifth grade and has pretty good rudimentary english. we went to wal-mart together after dinner and she was able to tell me her favorite foods as well as ask me various questions. she also thought my attempts at speaking chinese were highly hilarious and helped me with identifying some foods in chinese.

and this is how sunday went. until next time, zai jian!

Happy Easter!

(Nick)

Happy Easter! Today we celebrated Ella's birthday! We met up at a KTV (karaoke) around 10 AM and spent a good 2 hours singing our hearts out. Our voices were less than stellar, however, as it was so early in the morning. It was a fun group - Ella (obviously), Kathleen, Frank, and Rose (the 2007 Exchange group that came to DS), Patrick, a couple classmates of Ella's, and Drew, Emily, Cady, and I. We were all a little burnt out from a busy weekend, but we were entertained by Patrick's amazing dancing skills which made it 100 times better. After KTV, we went to a Japanese noodle restaurant for lunch. It was delicious, and despite being in a city of 6 million, i managed to see a couple classmates eating lunch at a nearby table! Rose (English teacher) paid for the meal despite our protests. After our meal, Rose, Frank, and Kathleen all had to leave because they had school-related things to attend to. We barely ever see Rose since she is always busy, and Kathleen and Frank are of course studying like crazy for the college entrance examination at the end of the year. One thing that we do have to keep in mind here is that although we are about to graduate and our lives are (somewhat) stress free, everyone here is working and studying hard. Last spring, when Ella, Frank, Kathleen, and Rose came to DS, I was experiencing the end of junior year madness and AP exams...and i barely got to see them in DS. We all wish we could've had more time with each other in both DS and in Hangzhou, but school will always interfere with that. It's too bad, but it's a fact of life.

We then went clothes shopping for a solid 3 hours. Patrick is a clothing fanatic so he took us to all the good stores, and a couple of us made some great purchases. I had to refrain from buying anything, however - my bank account is rather small at the moment and I'd prefer to not come home bankrupt. Money sure does go fast here! Hangzhou is very cosmopolitan and fashionable so it is a great city for shopping. Patrick had to leave early because he had sunday classes (considering all grade 3's have classes on saturdays that is technically a 7 day school week for him......torture). We walked to West Lake and enjoyed the scenery, although the Broken Bridge was literally covered with people completely. West Lake in general, though gorgeous, is so crowded that it is sometimes hard to fully enjoy it. The weather was fantastic...probably high 60's and very sunny...sure beats Massachusetts. Emily and Cady were picked up by Emily's host mother, and Ella, Drew, and I took a taxi back to KTV, which is close to Ella's apartment and where Drew's bike was. Ella handed me a 20 yuan bill and gave the taxi driver Jerry's address...I insisted on paying but she wouldn't budge...even on her birthday.

When I got home, my host family and I (well, minus my host father who I've seen once and is constantly working at the Bank of China) went out by the river and took pictures together. When we got back to the apartment I showed them photos from home, and they showed me photos from their recent trip to Australia and New Zealand last summer. We went out to dinner to a Thai restaurant by West Lake....it was so good. Now Jerry is doing homework and I am preparing myself for my final week at Hanggao :(

My grandparents have enjoyed teaching me the Hangzhou dialect. They taught me "mado" which means stupid or foolish guy. Whenever I say it they burst out laughing...and whenever they have relatives or friends over, they ask me to say it for them. They also find my Chairman Mao (Mao Zhushi) bag and wallet hilarious...everytime I put on my bag, which is every morning, they laugh at it. It would be interesting to hear what my grandparent's lives were like during the Mao years...but it is a somewhat touchy subject here so I haven't asked them yet. It is so weird to think that these people have lived through so much historically...China has changed dramatically over the course of their lifetimes.

We have been in China long enough that it really doesn't feel like a foreign country to me anymore. Perhaps that is just because Hangzhou is so modern, but I honestly think that I have adapted to life here. Now that we have been in one place for nearly a month, I feel connected to not just the city of Hangzhou, but to the people. The fact that I have good friends here is just so comforting and I feel like I am a part of something rather than an outsider looking in. I mean, that is not to say that my lighter hair and fair skin do not constantly attract stares 24/7, but you get the idea. Even though I can clearly remember my first day at Hanggao, it feels like I've been here for years. The people I have met in Hangzhou have made the Exchange for me. We have one more week here and I am not looking forward to the end of it. Time goes by so quickly here and before you know it we will be back at DS.

Again, Happy Easter to everyone back home!