(FINAL POST of 2013 Exchange) Aiya! My Last Blog Post!

(Deanna)

Today was our official first day in Beijing. I was woken up by a woman telling people to get up at 6 am and then proceeded to go back to sleep for a little while longer. We all finally woke up at around 7:30am when we realised we were approaching the station in Beijing. Me being on the top bunk of our section I had to throw things down with Veronica to Brandon and Patty and then organize ourselves to get off the train. In getting off the train, we met our tour guide Lily. We walked about ten minutes to get to the parking lot where our van was (in Beijing, vehicles cannot always park on the street due to the large population so there are many parking lots). We went to the hotel, took showers and ate breakfast.

"Might as well throw Platform 9&3/4 in there!"

(Brandon)

Hello from Ho Chi Minh! We got on the wrong train (no one explained "platform 2" was the first floor of the station), largely due to the tickets being in Chinese and the conductors being nonexistent. Well,
it looks like we're going to have to learn Vietnamese now.

Until Next Time, Hangzhou

(Patty)

Today was the last day of our last weekend with our host families, and so three of the four bears (plus Mifield) (Brandon was busy tea shopping) met up to go ice skating. I, for one was excited to get back on the ice and really enjoyed teaching some of the other kids how to skate (which also provided some comic relief). Afterwards, we got Korean BBQ and went to go see the new Oz Movie, which was.. Interesting. In the evening, I ate a final meal with the Ye family, and packed all my stuff for Beijing.

"Two Trains!"

(Deanna)

On this lovely Thursday, the Bears started out the day ready for Culture class. Zou Lao Shi asked us if we wanted to go to Prince Bay Garden near West Lake, we happily said yes. Before leaving, I presented the group gift to our teacher who was both happy and surprised.

"So we put our hands up like the ceiling can’t hold us..."

(Brandon)

Curse this alarm. Five more minutes of sleep and I'll get up. I promise. Half an hour later? Just getting up. Inhale breakfast and we're out the door. Upon arriving at the school, the gang convened at our den to start another school day.

Getting Ready to Say Goodbye...

(Patty)

Hi all!

Today was another characteristically busy day for everyone's favorite bears. The morning started off in Chinese painting, a class which we all enjoy but do struggle with a bit due to our artistic inabilities (I'm the weakest link in this case). About an hour into class I had a painting which I was fairly confident in, as I thought it looked like the subject matter I was trying to depict (flowers). However, when I went to go show the teacher, her response to my masterpiece was that it didn't look like a flower, but at least it had feeling! From that point, I fell back onto the refined art of splatter painting. Ah, looks like I won't be a Picasso any time soon.

Teaching in China

(Veronica)

My apologies for the absence of blog postings – I have been kept busy the last two weeks teaching Gao Er and Gao Yi classes, respectively (these are equivalent to our junior and sophomore classes). As noted in an earlier post, the class culture greatly differs from what I am used to. However, this time I wasn’t teaching a set curriculum. My presentation consisted of a virtual tour of Boston, a run through of the different colleges and universities in the area, my family and interests, a tour of DSMS, what I teach in 7th grade English, pictures of my classes (yes, kids, they loved the pictures we took before I left!), and a sample poetry lesson that incorporates music. When I have run out of time during my lesson with the Gao Yi (year one) classes, the students have closed the doors and windows, urging me to continue. Since some of the students are host siblings for the Bears, the feedback I have received is that they enjoyed how expressive and animated I can get.

"School Meeting"

(Michael)

I woke up this morning at 5:30 to attend one of the more misleading school sponsored events that I have attended on any continent. The event was given the generic title of “School Meeting” and it was just that. The attendance of every student, facility member,  was compulsory and attendance appeared to be organized and counted with military precision. The students organized themselves into lines divided by grade and class and organized by height while the faculty formed a separate block of people. Students in red sashes and armbands moved about the sea of people and counted and shifted their peers to better fit the lines of the group.

"That's For Babies!"

(Deanna)

The day started out in driving to school to meet up with the Bears at 8:30. With my quirky and lovely host mother who was dressed in bright pink pajamas, we finally arrived at the school. My host mum said “You didn’t eat breakfast, I’m going to get you a hamburger”, she runs out of the car past traffic and into KFC. Five minutes later, she comes back with coffee and a sandwich for me in which I thank her many times and tell her how sweet she is. She waved goodbye and went on her way while I met up with the Bears.

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done..."

(Brandon)

This week flew by. It feels as if we just got off the train from Shanghai and met our second host families for the first time. Whatever the case, today started off on a normal note. Spring out of bed (well, more like a long groan followed by the untangling of sheets) and head out for school. Not before Mrs. Ye could hand me a delicious apple however while on my way out the front door.

Wei, Ni Men Hao!

(Patty)

Feeling quite refreshed after the two hour spa visit my host mom treated me to last night, I met the Bears this morning for our Chinese Culture class, in which we learn everything from simple Chinese phrases to Confucian sayings. Today, our teacher discussed with us the history of Chinese writing, and had us guessing at the meaning of old Chinese pictographs, most of which we interpreted quite inaccurately. After class, we met up with Ms. Moy, who couldn't make it to class because of her busy teaching schedule, and ventured off-campus for lunch. We made our way to a restaurant which specializes in Hong Kong cuisine, and was super delicious. Although we love Chef Bacon (the Chinese uncle we never had) and his awesome cooking, we all appreciated having some bear-time where we discussed everything from our new host families to the proper technique behind eating yogurt (and yes, there is a proper technique).

Bargaining: A New Skill to Learn

(Deanna)

Good day to those near and far!

My host sister Serenity and I headed off to school where I went to the usual room of 209. We had handiwork class where we made whistles out of bamboo with our names on it! I was excited because I had never made a whistle before and it was even cooler to be able to have my name engraved on the whistle via laser. While waiting for our whistles to be engraved, Apple showed us a song by Team H (Apple is a really big fan), which it was possible that we spotted Team H in Shanghai.