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End-of-Program Goodbyes

Zhongguo, zaijian! Today we said goodbye to China and our fearless leader Liu Hao, Ned returned across the Pacific Ocean to the USA. It was an exhausting day of travel but we all made it safe and sound and got through immigration and customs before going our separate ways to various parts of America (and Canada!) Although we said our goodbyes in San Francisco, the friendships and experiences from this summer will last a lifetime.

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Shanghai

(Above: Eric and Charlie visiting the pandas)

After speeding into Shanghai at 300 km/hr on the bullet train, we headed straight to the zoo. Of course the top priority at the zoo was to see the Giant Pandas on their playground.

We then spent a while exploring the rest of the zoo.

(Below: Tatum, Michelle and Daniella at the elephant habitat)

(Below: Daniella, Vie Vie and Dietric capture some shots of the carnivores) 

After our visit to the zoo we checked into our hotel in Shanghai for some downtime after our busy day of traveling. We then braved the rain to go to eat Shanghai dumplings at a tiny dumpling shop that traces its roots back to the 1500s when a Ming emperor visited on his tour to the South and recruited the chef for the imperial kitchen.

(Daniella, Dietric, Tatum, Anabelle, Daniel and Eric enjoying Shanghai’s famous wontons)

We then returned to our hotel to reflect on our journey so far and plan our last two big days in Shanghai.

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End of Program!

Our last few days in China were spent in the international city of Shanghai! The humidity in Shanghai was something we were not used to since we were located in northern Chinese cities for most of our program. However, our students fought the heat and took care of each other by staying hydrated. We visited the famous Bund, the beautiful Yu Garden and Dong Tai Road. The afternoon was spent exploring local shops and buying any last trinkets for friends and family. In the evening, we enjoyed the incredible acrobatic show that blew everyone’s minds. We saw young women navigating bicycles while standing, young men flawlessly jumping through hoops, a man juggling a large vase on his head as well as several other acts. Even though we were not allowed to take photos or record what we saw, the incredible acts were unforgettable!

(The whole group at The Bund in Shanghai, China)

(Walking through local shops to get to the Yu Garden in Shanghai)

(The lake inside the Yu Garden)

(The famous rock with countless number of holes displayed inside the Yu Garden)

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Confucius

Good students respect good teachers, and today our students paid their respects to one of the most famous teachers in world history, Confucius. We traveled to Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, from our rural home stay in Buyang Zhuang village. Although he lived 2,500 years ago, Confucius’s influence is still pervasive in Chinese culture and in that of its neighbors in East Asia. When we arrived in town we were treated to a concert of traditional Chinese music over lunch, then we headed to the temple dedicated to Confucius.

Vie Vie, Dietric, Quaheem, Ethan and Arion at the Temple of Confucius

China’s most famous philosopher is still highly respected here in his hometown, so much so that despite the rapid modernization of this city, there is a law that no building in the city center can be higher than the main hall of the temple complex. As a result, while cities we have visited like Beijing and Chengde have block after block of skyscrapers, the buildings in Qufu are all under 25 meters tall.

Arion, Calder, Eric, Vie Vie, Annabelle, Tatum, Ethan, and Dietric outside the main hall of the Temple of Confucius

 On the way out we all passed over the bridge that was once restricted for the emperor’s use. Today it is said that anyone who passes over this bridge will be one step closer to achieving their goals.

The whole North China 2015 Experiment on the emperor’s bridge to the Temple of Confucius

  Above Dietric, Michelle, Arion, Eric, Daniel and our host family sisters Yaya and Coco at the Confucian Forest

After leaving the temple, we went to the Confucian Forest, where the tombs of Confucius and all of his descendants from nearly 1,000 generations are preserved in a wooded park. It was a peaceful setting to explore and a fitting conclusion to our visit to his hometown.

 Tomorrow we will be returning from Ancient China to Modern China, on a bullet train from Qufu to Shanghai, the 21st century economic powerhouse of this fascinating country.

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North America Hands Insurmountable Victory Against the Chinese Villagers

By: Dietric                      

 The Experiment in International of Living (EIL) made history at Shangong Province in Buyangzhuang Village on a brisk morning of July 21, 2015, becoming the first U.S. team to beat the Chinese villagers. The lack of practice, due to heavy showers throughout the day before the basketball game, did not stop the U.S. team from an insurmountable victory of 87-49. There were some early jitters for the U.S. Team, but a streak of confidence allowed a four-point lead for the USA team at the first quarter. The under-equipped six-man North America team widened the lead throughout the remaining quarters. Fast break and second chance points during the second half, served as lethal weapons, causing the Chinese villagers to surrender. The team, led by its starting five: Dietric, Quaheem, Eric, Daniel, and Ethan, and sixth man, Calder, used speed and skill to top a Chinese team filled with bruisers.  

Quaheem shoots and scores two points for the North America team against the Buyangzhuang Village team

At half-time, the North America team leads 41-28 points against China

Daniel scores two points for the North America team

Left-right: Vie Vie, Tatum, Mivhelle, Noni, Annabell and Daniella were the North America team’s biggest cheerleaders, cheering the team to victory!

(The North America team wins with a final score of 87-49)

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A Visit to the Kindergarten and the Farm

By S. Annabell

Annabell goes up against a kindergarten in the game of seesaw

Our group visited a local kindergarten in Shandong Province’s Buyangzhuang Village during our rural homestay. We played with the little kids and interacted with them.

Jeff interacts with the Chinese kindergartners in both Chinese and English

Eric and Michelle introduce themselves to a group of Chinese kindergartners

 After visiting the kindergarten, our homestay families equipped us with tools to work at the village farm. We cleared the land of weeds in order for the farmers to use the land. It was a lot of hard work, but it was very rewarding to see what we accomplished. We also learned afterwards that the food our homestay families prepare for us everyday are all homegrown and organic. Knowing this, we have a new appreciation for the food we eat.

The whole group plus some of the Chinese host brothers from Chengde pose for a picture with their tools

We had time for a funny pose before heading out to the farm

The whole group begins to work the farm to clear the weeds

Everyone did a great job in clearing the field! Now the farmers are ready to plant vegetables!

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The Great Wall of China

We did it! Of course no trip to China would be complete without hiking along the Great Wall, and while it was a challenge to reach the top it was definitely a highlight of the trip. Despite overcast skies we didn't have any rain, and enjoyed taking in the views along this historic monument.

Michelle, Noni and Arion on top of the Great Wall of China

Arion, Leann, Dietric, Charlie, Quaheem, Daniel, Ethan, and our Chinese host family brothers Jack, Jack and Tony check out the remains of a watchtower along the Great Wall

After conquering the Great Wall, we overcame our next big challenge, the chaos of the Beijing train station. We are now heading to Shandong province for our next home stay in a rural farming village. With so many fond memories of our times in Beijing it was sad to be saying goodbye, but it will be a great experience to learn about life in China outside of the big cities. Since our host families in the countryside won't have Internet, we’ll be signing off for now, but will have lots of photos and stories to share when we get to Shanghai on July 25th!

Vie Vie, Quaheem, Eric, Noni, Annabelle, Charlie, Michelle and Dietric brave the crowds at the Beijing train station as we prepare to depart for the countryside

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Departing Chengde

Last night we said goodbye to our homestay families in Chengde. It was a great experience and we were all so grateful for the generosity and kindness that are Chengde host families showed us while we were there. In our goodbye celebration we did our best to perform as well as the Chinese students did in their talent show. Perhaps the highlight of our performance was The Wobble!

Vie Vie, Annabelle, Michelle, Calder, Eric, Leann, Ethan, Phua, Arion and Lambert

While we were sad to leave our host families, we are lucky to have some of our host brothers and sisters traveling with us to rural China for the next week during our homestay in a Chinese farming village in the remote countryside of Shandong province.

On our way out of town we also had the chance to learn about an exquisite but dying art that originated in Chengde, the art of paper cutting. We got to meet a paper cutting artist and see a demonstration and learn about this fascinating and beautiful traditional art form.

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Chengde junior high

Here in Chengde, in addition to visiting many historical sites from the Qing dynasty, we have enjoyed learning about modern life by interacting with our host families and other students at the local school. We had the pleasure of attending their end of the year student talent show, which ranged from modern rock and roll to traditional pipa performance, and everything in between. It will be a tough act to follow, but we hope that our hosts will enjoy our farewell performance as much as we enjoyed their show!

We have also bonded with the local community by participating in sports, from ping pong and badminton to soccer and basketball.

(Dietric, Ethan, Quaheem, Eric and Daniel playing basketball with students from Chengde junior high)

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July 14th visit to buddhist sites in Chengde

On July 14th we went to visit two 18th century Buddhist sites. The first was Big Buddha temple, named for the huge statue of Maitreya Buddha, the Future incarnation of the historical figure Shakyamuni Buddha. In addition to viewing the historical relics and temple architecture, we also learned about Tibetan Buddhism practiced in northern China today.

(Our Chinese guide Liu Hao explains Buddhist practices in China today to Leann, Anabelle, Arion, and Daniella)

(Daniella, Anabelle, Michelle, Charlie and Dietric take a turn at giving the prayer wheels a spin)

Next we visited the small Potala Palace, a replica of the famous temple in Lhasa. Built by Emperor Kangxi in the 1770s the replica was meant to foster peace and unity among Tibetans, Mongolians and Chinese by promoting Tibetan Buddhism within the Chinese empire. Although smaller than the original, it was still quite a climb to reach the top levels of the palace!

(Calder and Charlie on the way up to the top of the Little Potala Palace)

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A great video of the students teaching kindergartners in Chendge a song

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Teaching English to Chinese Kindergartners and High Schoolers

By: Vivi  and Daniel

 This week my program classmates and I had the pleasure of getting to visit a school in Chengde with small students in Kindergarten. We got to sing and teach them “Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes,” which was quite fun. The kids were very enthusiastic and also very cute!

I worked two classrooms. The first only had nine students, and my good friend, Channing and I not only got to sing the song, we also got to read to them. It went really well! What’s more, since the teacher could not speak English, I learned new Chinese vocabulary and helped translate as Channing read what was in English.

(Vivi and Tatum read to Chinese kindergarten students)

The second classroom was a little rowdy, so there were four girls, including myself. We sang the song, as well as pointed to objects on the walls and said what they were in English. We had an absolute blast, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way! (Vivi)

In addition, the students of EIL were able to spend time with and converse with several groups of Chinese high school students, who study English in school and are preparing for their very important final exams.  These exams will be instrumental in dictating their college admissions.  They were able to hold conversations in English and comprehend basic sentences spoken relatively quickly, which is very impressive.

(The China North group give self introductions to Chinese high school students in Chengde)

The EIL students split up into multiple groups to cover the 30-person classes, and each group spoke about their cultures and the Chinese students were very interested in American culture.  They were surprisingly familiar with American music, movies, and sports.  It was great to see the compatibility of two groups of very different people from very different backgrounds through the same culture and popular media.  At the end, there were arm-wrestling contests and not one American was able to win. They are lucky it wasn’t a basketball contest. (Daniel)

(Charlie helping a Chinese high school student with her English study guide)

(Two Chinese female students help Calder practice his Chinese skills)

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Chengde Summer Resort Picnic

7/13/15

On Sunday all of the students got together with members of their home stay families for an outing to the parks and gardens of the Summer Resort of the Qing dynasty imperial family here in Chengde.

A group picture of the students with their homestay brothers and sisters `

We had a lot of fun teaching each other Chinese and American games to play together.

Playing the Chinese version of Duck Duck Goose. (Above: Daniel is “it”. Below: Vie Vie is “it”)

  After playing games with our host families, we found a pavilion at the Qing dynasty imperial summer resort to share a picnic with them.

(Daniel, Eric, Dietrich, Michelle and Quaheem enjoying a picnic with some of our Chinese home stay siblings)

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The Pearl Market

By: Arion

7/11/12

Today, the group and I went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant after the 12 hour train ride. After lunch, we caught a bus to the Pearl Market. When we arrived, all of our jaws were on the floor at how much stuff there was to buy. We got even more excited when we discovered how cheap it could be if we bargained correctly. There was 3 floors of Dr. Dre Beats, jewelry, purses, clothing, you name it. The only downside was that they were all knockoffs. Some items were really high quality though. My bargaining skills have gotten so much better by the end of the day! I was able to get a Michael Kors purse from 2000 yuan to 150 yuan. When it was time to go we even bargained with Liu Hao, our in-country group leader about how much extra time we needed to shop. We had an awesome time!

(Tatum and Noni bargaining with a Chinese sales woman at the Pearl Market in Beijing.)

In addition to shopping and using our bargaining skills, the group leaders created a Pearl Market scavenger hunt in which we had to take a series of photos to document our progress. Some examples included pictures of knock-off luxury brand items to a price listing of the Starbucks in the marketplace. After tallying up the score, the group leaders surprised the winning team with prizes! Great job Tatum, Noni and Quaheem!

(Left to right: Tatum, Noni and Quaheem claimed victory in the Pearl Market scavenger hunt and walked away with their very own selfie sticks!)

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Urban Homestay – Meeting Our Families

By: Tatum

7/10/15

Today we all take a step forward into a very exciting and scary day. We will be putting aside our normal lives to submerge ourselves into the everyday culture of China.

To begin the experience, we all traveled by train to the beautiful city of Chengde. Once we arrived with nerves settling in, we sat down for our last group meal at lunch before meeting our homestay families. We then sat off to the school where the children of our families attend. Once we arrived in the auditorium of the school, everyone including the homestay families sat and waited patiently for the rest of our new family members.

(Tatum with her Chinese family in Chengde, Hebei Province, China)

After we were all paired and presented to one another, the group said their last goodbyes and set off in different directions with their new and inviting Chinese families. From here we will all experience different things. None of us will have the same story to share; however, all the stories will have one thing in common—all of them will be special and meaningful in our individual hearts.

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Grasslands in Inner Mongolia

*NOTE* the internet firewall in China is causing the leaders issues uploading their group’s blog pieces. These posts may be a few days old. Please expect more sporadic blogging.

By: Calder

Our stay at the grasslands was a memorable one. Between the dreaded squat toilets, beautiful rolling hills and late night bonfires, a memory was created that we will never forget.

While the sun crept high into the sky, drowning out the star written sky, we stumbled out of our yurts and settled down to a modest breakfast. We then returned to our yurts for bonding activities. After many giggles and laughs we came back for a satisfying lunch. Following our adventurous walk through the grasslands, we returned for dinner. Later we stepped outside to a beautiful sunset. Shortly after, we played football until the bonfire was lit. We then joined the Mongols in a fire dance. Following our cultural experience, we headed to bed. It was quite a day!

These yurts were our temporary residence for a few days in the grasslands

The beautiful sunset illuminates the grasslands in Inner Mongolia

The Mongolian horses rest before the arrival of Chinese tourists to the grasslands

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In Baotou!

After a bumpy ride to the heart of the desert, we were jumping with excitement to explore the rest of it. With sand as far as the eye can see, we knew we had to see it all. Just like those adventurers before us, we explored the desert on our trusted steeds: the camel. After our long rides up the sand dunes we decided to go down in style on sand sleds.