To market, to market to buy a fat pig, rabbit, snake...

(Lauren) Yangshuo Day 2

Alex, Sandy, and I headed out early this morning to cruise West Street once again. There, Alex tried haggling for the first time and picked up a traditional Chinese landscape painting and two pairs of chopsticks. The three of us then headed to a small shop selling bamboo carvings and tested the limits of our Chinese. The seller was a very nice, very friendly young woman who only spoke a little English. We communicated in a mix of Chinese, English, and miming, each of us exclaiming excitedly every time we managed to understand what the other was saying. We spent nearly a half an hour at her store, and drew a fair amount of attention. Westerners are a bit more of a rarity in Yangshuo, so we’ve found that we’re more of an attraction to the locals than we were in Hong Kong or Guilin. Kids especially are eager to come up to us and test their English, and we have fun trying to reply in Chinese.

After finishing up with the bamboo carving seller, the three of us went back to the MeiYou Café, where we had eaten the previous night, to meet up with Cassie. (Alaina decided to remain in the hotel, feeling a little bit sick). We wanted to check out an herbal tea shop that we’d heard about, and asked a local woman for directions to 46 HuiGua Rd. Unfortunately, the woman spoke no English, and didn’t actually know where 46 HuiGua was. After walking around both West and HuiGua streets and asking several police officers and shop owners for directions, the woman decided that 46 HuiGua was not to be found. Naturally, we went down the road a little bit further, and found the store we were looking for immediately! To complicate matters a little bit more, the store owner, Dr. Lily, was out of the shop.

Thinking that Dr. Lily had taken a lunch break, we headed to Cloud 9 Restaurant, rumored to have the best food in Yangshuo. Cloud 9 was the first restaurant we ate at that we felt had really traditional Chinese food – nothing Americanized! Cassie was daring, and ordered us double-cooked pork, duck, and stuffed river snails. We all tried the snails, even though Alex was incredibly disgusted (and is still shocked and traumatized).

After lunch, we went back to Dr. Lily’s store. Dr. Lily was there this time, and gave us a quick introduction to the properties of medicinal teas. She also did physical examinations of each of us.

Final diagnoses:

Cassie and I were told we had “too much fire in the heart” as a result of too much stress. Because Cassie also had “too much fire in the liver” she was told not to eat deep fried, fatty, or spicy foods. She was pretty disappointed by her new dietary restrictions, but I was happy to hear that to deal with lung issues, I should eat more cinnamon! Less happily, I was told I didn’t have enough yang energy in my body (need more sun) and a digestion that indicated impending sickness (I’m hoping she was wrong about that).

Sandy and Alex were told that they have weak stomachs and spleens, and that their bodies hold too much phlegm. Alex was told to get more sun to introduce more yang energy into his body, and to eat less fatty food. Sandy was told to watch out for an impending cold. We were all very interested in some of the medicines we could see on the shelves – snakes and fetal rats were pickling in jars as cures for arthritis!

After leaving Dr. Lily’s shop, we went back to the hotel to pick up Alaina in time for our cooking class at the Yangshuo Cooking School. Amy, our teacher, picked us up from the hotel and started our lesson by taking us through the local farmer’s market. We were the only Western people in the whole market, so this was the first part of the trip where we were really conscious of our status as tourists.

The farmer’s market was made up of several large warehouses, filled with people selling all kinds of goods. There were many kinds of fish, chicken, and rabbits. It was a little hard for us to see those animals, because as Alaina commented, “they’re so cute and alive and could be in a pet shop.” Many of the locals were killing and gutting these animals as we watched, which was an interesting experience – I saw several chickens being strangled, and a couple of fish being gutted, which was a bit gory. Of course, there were also many exotic types of foods that we would never eat in America. We also saw dried rats, dogs hanging up to be sold, the feet of an unidentified bird, and water snakes being speared on nails and cut up. We were really impressed by the market, which we thought was a great insight into the local culture.

Once Amy had bought what she needed from the market, we drove to the Yangshuo Cooking School, which is located a few minutes outside of Yangshuo. We were treated to the closer view of the beautiful mountains nearby, and got our first glimpse of a more rural China. It was amazing how quickly the buildings started to look a bit dilapidated once we left Yangshuo proper. We soon arrived at the cooking school, which was a very picturesque rural home. Amy and her coworkers served us some tea while we got settled in, and then it was time to cook.

Over the course of several hours, Amy taught us how to make a full course Chinese dinner. We made “Egg-Wrapped Dumplings,” “Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms,” “Eggplant Yangshuo Style,” “Stir-Fried Pork with Vegetables and Oyster Sauce,” and “Green Vegetables with Garlic.” All of the dishes were very simple to make (I can’t cook, but even I could manage with help from Amy). Best of all, we got to eat our creations for dinner! Consensus was that the egg-wrapped dumplings and eggplant Yangshuo style were especially delicious (although we thought all the food was great!) The women of the cooking school were also very fun to learn from. Other than Amy, they spoke very little English, but they were able to mime instructions to us, and they were gracious hosts. Everyone left the Yangshuo Cooking School considering it a definite highlight.

After returning to our hotel, we decided to go to bed a bit early, since we’ve got a very long day tomorrow. Next stop: Kunming.

Orchestrated Beauty

(Alaina)

Hello all!

I believe Alex left you just after our flight to Guilin, so that’s where I’ll pick up. We were all excited to start a leg of our journey that involves fewer English signs, and more China… whatever that may be. The city of Guilin has been a perfect introduction. Guilin is both a prefecture and a city at the center of the prefecture, all within the autonomous region of the Zhuang people. Zhuang is one of the many ethnic minorities in China, and it happens to be the most prevalent. The Autonomous Region status guarantees that the representatives from the area are all Zhuang, and gives other special considerations, such as exception from the one child policy. If anyone has been to Vietnam, Guilin reminds me very much of Hue. While it has all the trappings of a large city, the pace of life is clearly much slower and less frantic than Hong Kong or New York. What was interesting to learn was that even the peace is government maintained. Because of its beautiful location, the economy of Guilin centers around tourism, so in1998 the government rebuilt most of the city to better accommodate all the Western and Chinese tourists. To make sure the city remains tourist friendly, the government has placed industry restrictions and even building height regulations. The resulting city is fascinating. The beauty is a unique combination of extreme modernity, tradition, and nature. It does seem apparent, however, that all the beauty is carefully calculated. For example, there is a famous rock that looks like an elephant drinking water. It’s very green and lush; apparently the government planted trees on it just so they could charge people to visit. Much of the construction looks traditional (though it was recently built), while the posts of street lights are tubes of neon light, and behind it all rise ragged mountains.

Anyway, in Guilin we checked into a very lavish hotel. I don’t remember the details of dinner (shock!). We visited a night market, which was fun, but seemed a bit more touristy than some of us were looking for. We woke up early and Cassie Alex and I ventured out to find breakfast. We were surprised to find that at 8:30 there was virtually nothing open save for a few 24 hour fast food joints. We ended up going to McDonalds, though even there they couldn’t give us coffee because it hadn’t been made yet. It seems that America wakes much earlier than China. (I could get used to the late start here.) We then took a van to a wharf on the Li River where we began a 5 hour cruise. The Guilin region is known for one of the most quintessential topographies of China. Google the Li River, and you’ll recognize the mountains from classical Chinese paintings. The boat we took was very nice- two floors of seating and a third floor for viewing. All the boats are owned by the government, which presumably gets direct profit from the tourists. As our boat (which was following a long string of others) proceeded down the river, the mountains enveloped us on both sides. It was pretty cold outside, but we had perfect seats so I was very happy to watch the beautiful scenery and relax for a bit.

The cruise brought us to Yangshuo, a smaller city of the Guilin prefecture. It used to be a fishing village, but I think it’s evolved as another tourist destination. West Street is the hub of activity, where both sides of the road are lined with endless stalls of everything imaginable. You can’t take a step without being offered scarves, caricature drawings, scroll paintings, and so many handicrafts. We spent several hours walking through the market. I had fun trying food. I got a cup of this warm sweet black sesame goop that looks like sludge but tastes pretty good, Cassie and I got some great dumplings, and we all tried dried persimmons. I’m not feeling so great right now, and I suspect one of the above as the culprit… they were all yummy though, so I think it’s worth it in the long run. (And now I have time to write a super blog!) We got dinner at a nice café, my favorite dish being a delicious orange chicken. There was also a great soup of clear broth, mushrooms, lettuce stuff, and chicken, and a dish of spicy beef, onions, and peppers.

After dinner we went to see a show directed by the famous Zhang Yimou, who created the opening ceremony of last year’s Olympics. He’s gone on to do much since the Olympics, but the Yangshuo show was his first major one. After fighting through a huge crowd, we eventually found our seats. The “stage” is a large lake-like portion of the Li River. I honestly can’t describe the show because it was a) so innovative and b) so trippy that I’m not even sure what was happening half the time. Seriously, save a shroom and come see this show instead. At various points there were several hundred people lined in white lights standing on walkways through the water, a woman dancing on a giant rolling moon, and dozens of kids in canoes with flaming torches. All the while, the mountains would sometimes be lit with white or multicolored lights (coming from projectors). The whole place would be black, and then suddenly purple mountains would spring out of nowhere. I had to keep reminding myself that they were actually there and not some surreal backdrop. There are over 600 actors- interestingly, 300 are professionals and 300 are local fishermen, children, etc.

Okay, this blog is now quite long. But then, the things we’re doing and seeing are quite exciting :)

Thanks for reading

Jet Lag in Hong Kong (Mon/Tue)

(Alex)

After sleeping through an entire afternoon and waking up at 11:30 pm, I was wide awake all night and early morning. Out of the five of us, I by far have the worst jet lag, which is causing me to be perpetually tired! I was able to stay awake long enough for the peak tram and zoological gardens, but once the boat cruise and dinner hit, I was completely knocked out.

The weather was misty and foggy, but we could still see the Hong Kong skyline quite well. After a standard western buffet breakfast overlooking Victoria Harbor, we set out on a ferry to reach Hong Kong island. After struggling to find exact change for the bus ride to the peak, we finally reached it in the knick of time (when we came down, the line was a few blocks long!). The tram up was insane because of the extremely high angle the tram goes up. The tram ride reminded me of Lombard street in San Francisco, except for the fact that there is A) no trolley on such a steep angle in San Francisco and B) the tram was absolutely packed and seemed to exceed the weight limit…but we survived. Once we reached the top I was surprised to see that Victoria Peak was actually a giant shopping area and restaurant hangout. The gift shop was literally 20 feet from exiting the tram, and the first thing you passed through. This is just one more example of how Hong Kong is the most commercial city I have ever been to.

After planning out more of the day in a mountain top Starbucks, we decided that we would go check out the botanical and zoological gardens around the corner for the peak tram. This was by far the highlight of the day. We had a blast getting there and climbing steep sidewalks you would never find in the US. Once we got there, we began wandering around the zoo and found a very large amount of names carved into trees. We all marveled at how clean a city Hong Kong is, and Alaina documented this first hand. She took pictures of as many signs that had fines on them as possible. There are huge fines for spitting, hawking, feeding animals, and of course: illegal photography. After 15 minutes of plant admiration, we stumbled onto birds of all sorts and my favorite: cranes. Mrs. Thibeault and I were watching these beautiful cranes when one of them started purring and walked up to us. We were officially having a stare off with a very big bird. After he/she left us, we moved onto the mammals section which was the best part of the zoo. Monkeys were all over the place jumping from tree to tree in their caged off areas, but the one thing that caught our eyes were the raccoons on display. Two very large and very lazy raccoons were just trying to sleep atop a branch, but one of the raccoons couldn’t make up his mind about which way to put his head down (this reminded me of myself on the plane over…) then right as we were about to leave, the same raccoon decided he wanted some exercise, so he climbed down the cage very slowly, dangling off the edge. We all joked about that being the raccoons daily exercise and promptly left the zoo.

Getting back to the hotel, we all went out to eat lunch at a place that Mrs. Thibeault, Cassie, and Lauren visited the night before and this lunch was pretty amazing for Hong Kong. It was a nice break from the western styled breakfasts and other bad Chinese meals we had because this restaurant not only had good food but also had a great atmosphere. We were cramped into a small table that barely fit us all and as soon as we finished we were kicked out of the restaurant to make room for others coming in. It was at this point I almost passed out. We all joked about taking a siesta, but I actually wanted to.

We all met at the hotel across the street for our bus to a Chinese dinner and fireworks show, but I was struggling so hard to stay awake from my serious jet lag. We had dinner at a gathering in a Hong Kong hotel and we sat with a group of Panamanian and Venezuelan travelers who spoke great English (even though they were only talking to each other and ignoring us for the most part). The dinner was not very good, but we wouldn’t let that get in the way of our fun. Once we reached the boat we were all tired, but once the fireworks started we all got up to see them. The show was great and there were tons of boats in the harbor gathered to see as well. One particular boat was an old wooden sloop named bounty and the silhouette of the ship on the skyline was very aesthetic and cool. All this time I was about to pass out, but I still had a good time in the end.

The next day wasn’t so nice to me…I woke up tired and dizzy and didn’t stop feeling that way until we reached Guilin. The travel that day was fine, but the jet lag was still hitting me full force three days later (lucky me). Our guide Rico has been awesome so far with helping to plan out our visit to Yangshuo, helping us find electric converters, and getting us our first Chinese dinner on the mainland.

We've Arrived! (First post of 2010)

(Cassie)

Ni hao and happy Valentine’s Day from China! Tonight is our second night in Hong Kong, but I was far too worn out to write last night. Anyway, flights make for boring writing. Especially ours, which were long, yet relatively painless considering the fact that we spent about twenty four hours traveling from the time that our first flight took off until we entered our hotel rooms. But enough about that??

Hong Kong is remarkable in that it feels a lot like a larger, more populous version of New York City. It is, however, much cleaner and has a more beautiful location. Our drive from the airport to our hotel took us across a very long (in fact the world’s longest) suspension bridge and gave us a gorgeous view of Hong Kong Island’s lush hills and seemingly endless high-rises. When we got to the hotel, Alex was down for the count, but the girls decided to go out on the town (in a manner of speaking). After getting into the elevator and forgetting to actually press a button for a while (we were all a bit out of it) we took to the streets to find almost everything?closed! As last night was Chinese New Year’s Eve, many of the shops had closed up early. This left the streets of Hong Kong feeling vaguely strange and emptier than expected.

This morning, however, the city was bustling. Although many businesses were still closed, many people were out and about. After breakfast, we decided to brave the Hong Kong subway (which is actually called the train here) to find a temple in different area of the city. We pushed random buttons on the ticket dispenser until finally figuring out how to use it, then spent another twenty minutes attempting to figure out where to go until Alaina finally suggested we wing it. Luckily, we ended up figuring things out and landed in Tsuen Wan, home of the Man Mo Temple. I have to say, I can’t get over how CLEAN the subway was. And they’re always on time.

After we all wrestled with our terrible senses of direction, we found the Man Mo Temple. It was a little oasis in the city, with trees around it and a little park across the street. The temple was dedicated to filial worship. Plaques with photographs and names of loved ones decorated the walls. In one room of the temple, huge coils of incense hung from the ceiling and people walked with bundles of burning sticks of incense to bow in front of altars overburdened with offerings of food. It was packed with people and smoke from the incense clouded the air, giving the temple an atmosphere of both chaos and mystery.

We left the temple to roam the surrounding streets, finding a stall selling antique cricket cages, jade, and Cultural Revolution era relics. After a bit more exploring, we headed back over to the hotel, where everyone but Lauren napped. We woke to head back out into the city for the “Festive Hong Kong 2010 Night Parade.” Alex was feeling exhausted, so he opted to stay in for the night. As the parade was due to start about an hour and a half after we left the hotel, we decided to stake out a good spot on the street and brave the long wait. Finally, two and a half hours after we had begun to wait and an hour after it was supposed to start, the parade reached us. It was a very interesting parade, and not quite what we expected. Among dragons, dancing girls in ethnic costumes, and a Chinese marching band were a Swiss band called the Tigers and?the San Diego Chargers cheerleaders?! Weird. The guys from SSpain next to us seemed to like them though. The cheerleaders were the final straw for Alaina and I, so after three hours of standing near the parade route we decided to head back to the hotel. Sandy and Lauren hung in there for the rest of the parade, and said it was worth the wait, but far more multi-national than expected. Frankly, there weren’t enough dragons for me.

Lauren and Sandy returned to the hotel, and the three of us went in search of food. We ended up finding a restaurant on a side street that was busy – always a good sign. We sat down to what we all considered to be the first truly Chinese meal we had eaten since we got here. It was delicious. That’s pretty much all for now. As much fun as I’m having here, I miss everyone at home! Kayla, here’s your shout out…I hope you’re reading! Goodbye for now?zhu nimen xin nian hao!

Zaijian Zhong Guo (Last post of 2009)

Friday March 20th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunshine and Two Dinners

Allison

Monday, March 16th

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

Publish Post

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hangzhou Highlights

(Allison)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday's with Shuang

(Alex)

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

Sunny Skies and Winding Down!

(Allison) 

Ok, so time is really starting to fly here in Hangzhou. Fortunately, this week – it stopped raining!! We had a few beautiful days! But then rain returned yesterday…oh well.

Last Friday was National Women’s Day here in China!

In the morning….we had Hangzhou history class – Our history teacher Zhao Yi Bin is a wonderful man.  I cannot remember if I have blogged about him already. He is very interested in ancient history – and also knowing more about how history teachers teach in the U.S. I really wish that I could speak Chinese so that we could chat.

Then off to the gym for Kung Fu class – Mark, Li and Alex are working on perfecting their series. Our teacher, Liu Laoshi, also attempted to teach us some Tai Chi. He told us to clear our minds and imagine that we were standing on a beach facing the ocean.  After our sorry attempt at Tai Chi…Li and Mark decided to play ping pong. Bruce, Alex, Liu Laoshi and I played an intense game of badminton. Our teacher taught me how to properly serve…between my serve and his skills we beat Alex and Bruce – twice!

Because it is National Women’s Day ….all of the women teachers at the school received the afternoon off to go to a tea house. Rose and I rode our bikes down Fengqi  Road (a very busy road that the school is located on.), towards the West Lake, and arrived at the tea house. The tea house was very large; we walked up to the second floor. In the middle of the second floor, there was a huge buffet of all sorts of Chinese food.  On each side there were little rooms with a big table and comfy chairs. We found some seats with some of the math teachers from Hanggao –we ordered tea – I had flower tea - Rose had green tea, and then went out to the buffet.  Once again, there was an insane amount of food. I tried some sort of famous Hangzhou snack – a flour cake with shallot and sauce.  We spent the afternoon drinking tea, snacking and relaxing. Then we rode back to the school…I met up with Lianna, Star (Li’s second host sister), Mark, Tao Tao, and Bruce…and we headed out to get something to eat and do some shopping..

On Saturday, we traveled out to Wu Zhen! It was fantastic. Derek, Ms. Zhu Wei., and Mr. Pan (both administrators at the school) accompanied us.. Wu Zhen is a well preserved historic town about an hour and a half outside of Hangzhou. Because it was Saturday, and not raining – there were a ton of people there... we meandered our way through the swarms…and explored. The town is absolutely picturesque…lined with canals, classic Chinese buildings, humpback bridges…Lianna described it as Lijiang meets Plymouth Plantation..  soo nice…. We took the bus back to the school…snacking, listening to music and napping...

Derek and I took a taxi over to the section of Hangzhou-- where he and Susan attended university. This area of Hangzhou reminded me so much of the strip of Com. Ave. near BU… college students everywhere, shops and all sorts of places to get food. We met Susan at the Curry Bistro. When we arrived she had milk tea waiting for us…mine had these little black pearls in the bottom that were made out of sticky rice!

Sunday

I do not have a cell phone here in China. It is nice…but it does cause me a little bit of anxiety … and it makes making plans rather challenging. People just say -- ok meet me here at this time¦and I just have to trust them.

Star (Li’s current host sister) called me in the morning, (I do have a phone in the apartment) and told me to meet Mark and Tao at the school gate at 1:30… I walked to the school – the sun was shining!! Tao Tao’s mom drove us over the Baishan Road – the road that runs along the north end of the West Lake… We were meeting Bruce, Star, Sue, Lianna, Harry, Alex and Sonny to hike up Bao Shu Shan pagoda. Once everyone arrived – we were off. We climbed up Bao Shi Hill and reached the pagoda.  There were people everywhere up there! (six million people live in the city and greater Hangzhou area) Just past the pagoda are all of these rocks that you can climb.…Bruce, Harry, Sonnny and Alex climbed up a very large rock..

We strolled around and hung out at the top for awhile..and then walked down the hill along a path…there were various people selling things – some of them were selling stinky tofu…it is these small squares of fried tofu…but it smells soooo bad-horrible...we picked up the pace. At the bottom -- we walked along Beishan Road once again -- people everywhere along the lake…and walking on the Bai Causeway.. The students all decided to camp out at a Starbucks¦ I decided to walk along the east side of the lake for awhile. I discovered a statue of Marco Polo – in his writings he said that Hangzhou was the most beautiful and splendid city in the world! On the way back to the apartment, I decided to check out some of the Hangzhou clothing stores…

Monday

A beautiful, sun shining day! In the morning, we had calligraphy and Chinese…after lunch with Bruce, Tao, Star and Sunny –we went to broadcast club! One of my friends from English Corner..Brianna or Chen Yun…has been asking us to come to broadcast club for a few weeks now….we finally committed to a day! During the lunch break, a few students put on a radio show...they mostly play music, but some times they interview people. Brianna asked us various questions about our lives in the U.S. and our experiences in China.

After broadcast club we went to English corner... Joe one of the students coming to DSHS this year – showed up!

After having dinner at the school, I decided to ride my bike down to the Bai Causeway…there were too many people there on Sunday to walk it. I rode down the very scenic Beishan Road … and then back over the Bai Causeway… the West Lake is so pretty and relaxing at night...

This morning -we had Chinese painting class! I love this class. Our teacher is a very talented artist.  Today, we were joined by a delegation from Athens Academy – that is located in Athens, Georgia - 10 students, a high school history teacher - Beth, and their headmaster – Robert. They had traveled in Beijing for a few days and arrived in Hangzhou – Monday afternoon. There school is possibly going to set up an exchange similar to the DS one…

Our teacher presented the new students with some paper cutting, a Chinese folk craft.  Mark and Li attempted some advanced paper cuts... Alex and I decided to paint.  I painted a fish...and then something between a shrimp and a lobster -then I attempted to paint a duck...

The Georgian students went on a tour of the school…and our teacher took us up to her gallery/office to show us some of her work. She has traveled to Europe, and enjoys painting European buildings and landscape scenes.

Off to lunch...today, instead of our usual round table, the chef and his staff transformed the room into a buffet set-up… because they had to feed the DS exchange and the Athens exchange…

The last period of the day we were invited to Harry’s class for a class meeting/party. Alex went to Sonny’s class meeting/party. We played some English games, and they put on a performance of the Peking Opera and made us join in!

Arcades, Ice Cream and a Chinese Forest Gump

 

(Li)  2/26 and 2/27

Today is Sunny’s birthday! Sunny is Alex’s second host brother. All of our siblings are good friends now (although they didn’t know each other a month ago), so we all hang out all the time. We had Chinese and Calligraphy in the morning. We watched a movie in Chinese. Although the movie was really good, it was kind of disappointing that he showed us a movie. I wanted to actually learn a lot of Chinese while I was here, and I don’t think that has really happened. But anyway, the movie was called “tough guy” or “underdog warrior”… not really sure. It was basically the Chinese “Forest Gump.” In the movie a man is in the army, but he jumps in a body of water to save another soldier. He nearly drowns and ends up with brain damage, causing him to be much like Forest Gump (mentally). The main character is incredibly strong and a good fighter, so he fights in the name of good. He gets tricked by a bad guy and ends up in trouble with the law… but I won’t tell you any more because you should see it. Not much to report about calligraphy, other than that it was good.

After school the three of us, all six of our siblings, and Bruce went to Sunny’s house to celebrate his birthday. We ate pizza, played mahjong, and watched Valkyrie. O by the way, I am really good at mahjong. My host sister taught me how to play. But yea, Valkyrie was a really good movie, shocking that its based on truth and yet I had never heard about it. It was sad knowing the whole time what the ending was. During every scene I wanted the outcome to be different. Sunny’s birthday was really fun.

Friday we were supposed to have Kung Fu, but our teacher was feeling sick and had an injured elbow, so he just gave us free time. He taught Mark and I how to play Ping Pong and we have been practicing every class since then. We are actually getting pretty good, but not good enough to beat Nat. After lunch we went to get the fabrics for our silk dresses and jackets. Mark and Alex each got jackets and pants, while Allison and I each got dresses. I ended up getting 2 dresses because I couldn’t choose between two fabrics and the dresses are actually pretty cheap. We got our fabric and headed to the tailor to get fitted.

After school Mark and I, our current hosts, Sunny, and Bruce, went out for dinner at a Japanese noodle place (Alex and Allison both wanted to go home). Dinner was good and we went to an arcade after. Arcades here are lame, in the sense that everything requires WAY too many tickets to cash in. Where as in America, you can at least get candy regardless of how many tickets you win. So we were sad that we couldn’t get anything… and no, that is not a little kid mentality—almost everybody at the arcade was a teenager or adult. We got ice cream at the arcade and hung out in the ice cream store for a while before going home.

First Days in Hangzhou

(Li) 2/19

I met my host sisters yesterday. They are both really nice. They are in the same class, so I won’t have to get used to a different group of kids or teachers at all. I am living with my sister, Sue, her mom, dad, grandmother, and little cousin. The apartment is pretty nice, but they don’t use heat!... not something I am used to. Today was out first day of Chinese classes. First we had Chinese class. Our teacher, Derek, is an English teacher at the school and he will be coming to America this year. We were glad to find out he is coming, seeing as he is awesome. Derek is similar to William; cool, fun, nice, and young. I also have to talk about Bruce. Bruce is amazing. Bruce is a senior three student (aka our grade. Senior three is the hardest year of a Chinese student’s life). Bruce, however, applied to colleges in the US and has already received acceptance letters, thus escaping the dreaded college entrance exam. He also no longer has to attend classes (amazing, right?). Because he has a lot of free time and all his friends are still in class, he volunteered to be our translator, since most of the teachers don’t speak English. Bruce has become more than a translator, however, he has become a really good friend.

We had Chinese, in which Bruce and Derek taught us basic greetings and random words in Chinese. Not much more to say about that. After a short break, we had Calligraphy class. Calligraphy is really fun. Our teacher is very nice, and extremely helpful. He is a good instructor and can usually communicate with us through body language, although we have Bruce if needed. Our teacher knows how to say “okay” and “very good” in English, unfortunately he doesn’t know the difference between the two phrases (or so it seems). In calligraphy class we also met a 70 year old, former English teacher. He exercises at the school every morning and came to meet us. He is really nice and hilarious, so we enjoy his periodic visits.

We went to lunch, where we had an amazing meal in a small, heated room with our host siblings, cooked by our very own personal chef. Our chef is actually the head of the school cafeteria, so he doesn’t cook the school food, but he is an amazing chef and has been featured on Chinese cooking shows. Not only does he make great food, but he is such a sweet little man.

After lunch we went to classes with our host siblings. Most of the classes were really boring, seeing as they were in Chinese, so I did my own thing. Sue and Star had English though, so I got to participate in that class which was…. interesting. First we heard Ferddy the Frog sing a Beatles song. Then my English teacher, who has actually been to America, Ms. Wang, asked me to read the vocab words to the class for the students to repeat.

After school we went to the grocery store. CRAZY experience, there were 9 of us and everyone was saying different things. The siblings were arguing and trying to figure out what we needed. They were trying to figure out what stuff was, such as loofahs. It was crazy. There was quite a large language barrier between us and our siblings back then. But they have all progressed SO much and they speak English really well now. It’s amazing. Then we went out for dinner… The end

Blog…. DONE