6/16/04 - entry
by Alicia Beijing
Today we packed our stuff and took it to the bus station. We took the bus
to the Beijing airport and flew home to JFK. Our 13 hour flight was
full of screaming babies, lots of families were bringing their newly
adopted babies home with them. Neither Kate nor I got a lot of sleep.
When we touched down in JFK it was nice to be back at home.
6/15/04 - entry
by Alicia Beijing
Today we went to the Forbidden City. We rented the headset
so that we would know what we were viewing. The Forbidden City is made
out of
wood so there are many large vats to fill with water if it were ever
to catch on fire. There are many beautiful colors and statues. The
Forbidden City has not always been open to the public so this was
very exciting to see. We ate at a very good restaurant and got all
of our favorite dishes because this is our last day in China. We
walked around the hutong during the day. We explored the ally and
people watched. We walked into the different stores and ate ice cream.
The hutong is a treasure of Beijing and I’m so glad that we
got to experience this section of the city. At night we went to the
Beijing Acrobats, which ended up being a show full of children. This
show had more of a theme to it then the Shanghai acrobatics but we
liked the Shanghai acrobats a lot better. When we got back the hostel
we ate at local restaurant. A police office came in and showed us
his picture in the paper; he was very excited to be talking to Americans.
6/14/04 - entry
by Alicia Beijing
Today we went to the Beijing Zoo to see the pandas. We
saw the pandas who lived in a high class concrete cage. We decided to
walk around the
rest of the zoo and had a lot of trouble stomaching what we saw. I think
that America’s worst zoos may have been 10 times nicer than this
zoo. Later in the day we walked to the Temple of Heaven Park. We walked
around and viewed the Temple of Heaven, a beautiful building with bright
vibrant colors. If you walked further down in the park we were able to
find a smaller temple that had a whispering wall around it. A Chinese
man tried to help Kate whisper to me, and I actually heard them once.
Another really cool place in the park was a nine ringed circle. In the
center of the circle was a small platform. When standing on this platform
it is said that it is the closest you will be to heaven on earth. It
is the place where heaven touches earth. At night we decided to hang
out in the hutong where our hostel was. We were able to hang out with
people from other countries and talk about everyone’s experiences
in China.
6/13/04 - entry
by Alicia Beijing
Today we spent the day at the Summer Palace. This is where the emperors
went in the summer as a place to relax and escape the heat. There
is a huge lake in the center where many tourist rented paddle boats.
There are many different buildings and a lot of grounds to walk around.
Kate and I drank tea at a restaurant and sat on a bench in the park.
We read our books and wrote in our journals. We were really used
to the Chinese people staring at us at this point but people walking
by were staring more than usual and we finally figured out why when
one man pointed to his left hand. They were staring because I was
writing in my journal with my left hand. No one in China is left
handed and all throughout the trip people stare at me more when I
am writing. On our way back from the Summer Palace we had our first
run in with people cheating us. We tried to take a cheaper cab back
and ended up getting in a cab with a faulty meter. Kate and I quickly
were aware that we were being charged double what we should have
been paying. Kate was great and told the cab driver (who by reading
his body language knew we knew he was cheating us) that she was only
going to pay him what we owed him. Then she got out and slammed the
door. I am very lucky to have my street smart sister from New York
with me. At night we went the Beijing Opera. It was absolutely beautiful
and we got to front row seats. Even though we did not know exactly
what was going on you could read the body language of the characters.
There was 2 different shows, the first one was more acting and singing,
the second show was more stage combat. It was really fun and very
interesting to see. The costumes and make up were gorgeous and really
brought out the characters.
6/12/04 - entry
by Alicia Beijing
Today we climbed the Great Wall- Kate has an entry about this!
6/11/04 - entry
by Alicia Beijing
We woke up and ate an American breakfast of eggs and toast
in the hotel restaurant. We spent a lot of time walking around in the
heat. We found
Tiananmen Square which in the tour book it said it would be bustling
with people but due to the heat there was no one on the concrete desert,
actually they were all hiding in the shade of the North Gate. We walked
around Mao’s Mausoleum- an enormous building. Because of the
heat they had actually closed the building early. We also were able
to see the vans which they carted you off in if you were there to protest
or cause a disturbance, there were also guards everywhere. We took
our picture in front of Mao’s picture on the gate of heavenly
peace. We went to the People’s Park and relaxed for a little.
But because it was so hot we ran through the sprinklers in the park
? Then we had a bright idea to go to an international movie theater
where it would be air conditioned and we could see a movie in English.
Well when we got there The Day After Tomorrow was showing, so we figured
it would be in English with Chinese subtitles. Well we were very wrong
when the movie started it was all dubbed in Chinese. So we watched
the whole movie in Chinese, it was still air conditioned and very refreshing.
6/10/04 - entry
by Alicia Macua
We woke up and went to the highest point in Macua. There
is a fort and a lighthouse at the top of the island. We explored the
lighthouse and
observed the whole island. We walked around a path at the top of the
island. We rode a gondola down to a park. We explored a famous revolutionary’s
house. We ended up walking around the entire island and were back at
the plaza. We went to this really fun Japanese sushi restaurant where
the food came around on a conveyor belt in front of you and you picked
up which ever plate you wanted to and however many plates you wanted
to. After the restaurant we needed to go to the ferry station to catch
the ferry back to Shenzen. We got back to Shenzen and flew to Beijing
for the last leg of our trip. Once in Beijing there was a long time
for taxis and we could not figure out where our hostel was, in good
enough directions to tell the driver. We were extremely lucky because
an American woman and her husband over heard our troubles and helped
us. She spoke to the driver and told him where to take us. The drive
took us a long time and cost 120 yuan. The taxi driver also was not
sure where to turn into the Hutong and stopped to ask people on the
street. Eventually we got to our hostel and found our room. We shared
a room with 4 other people and we fell right to sleep after our long
day of traveling.
6/9/04 - entry
by Alicia Macua
Today we took the ferry to Macau, a former Portuguese colony that has
now returned to China as well. It is very different and European looking.
We took the bus and explored many of the towns. We even went to a black
sand beach called Hac Sac beach. We ate at restaurant called Pinocchio
which had a lot of really good Portuguese cuisine. Everything about
this island looked European. The ally ways were even neat and uncluttered
and it looked a lot like it would in Portugal except along with Portuguese
writing on the buildings there was also Cantonese writing. At night
we explored the plaza and walked up to the ruins of St. Paul. Macua
is also well known for its casinos. The Sands casino has just moved
in and there are also a lot of other casinos there. Casinos are a lot
smaller than American casinos and are all done in the round. There
are a lot of games there that we do not know but it was very interesting
to watch.
6/8/04 - entry
by Alicia Hong
Kong
Today we say goodbye to Kaitlin who is going back to Xi’an to
finish her volunteer work with CCS. Kate and I hang out in Hong Kong
and book our hotel for our trip to Macua tomorrow. Then we decide to
ride the trams in Hong Kong. Trams are no more than 10 feet wide. They
are double deckers and sways back and forth as you ride down the street.
A really nice man helped us get on the tram that we needed to be on.
It took us directly to Hong Kong Park. Hong Kong is one of the cleanest
cities that we’ve been to and this park is beautiful. We walk
through the observatory where there is an orchid exhibit. There are
also so many rare and beautiful plants. Kate and I people watch a little
and climb to the top of the tower in the middle of the park. Next we
go to the huge aviary and sit and watch the birds soar around us, sometimes
a little too close. Next we walk to the Hong Kong zoo. This free zoo
is very beautiful but a lot of the animals are taking a rest in the
heat. We walk around the city some more and walk to the longest escalator
in the world. We eat dinner in a little Italian restaurant (our first
Italian since we’ve been in China.) Kate and I decide to take
in a show at a local theater, which turns out to be a children’s
production of many different fairy tales, it was basically Kate and
I and every child’s parents in the audience. When walking back
to the ferry we stop at a Canadian Bar because they are showing the
Stanley cup final game on delay. Since we found out about the Flyers
losing we needed to see who won this game.
6/7/04 - entry
by Alicia Hong
Kong
Today we venture to the suburbs of Hong Kong. WE take the train out to
a famous tree called the wishing tree. We take the bus to the tree
and once we get off the bus we’re surrounded by these women selling
oranges and paper. We walk a little further in and a vendor named Nick
who speaks English helps us learn about the tree and make our wish.
First you write 3 wishes on the piece of paper: 1. life 2. love 3.
health. Then you get 9 incense sticks which you light and stick around
the base of the tree. The paper is attached to an orange and you circle
the orange around a big incense stick. Next you throw the orange with
paper attached up into the tree. The higher it goes the more like it
is to come true. I throw mine first and then when Kate threw her orange
it knocked another and hers out of the tree, the other orange happened
to be mine so I got to throw it again. This was one of my favorite
things of Hong Kong. Next we took the train back and went on the walking
tour of Kowloon island. First we walk through the Bird market- where
thousands of birds are in cages. They’re really colorful but
really noisy. Next we go to the flower market where there are loads
of beautiful flowers everywhere. It’s just amazing how many flowers
there are. Next we walk to the goldfish market where there are a lot
of brightly colored fish and lots of little turtles. Next we stumble
onto a market with a lot of different fruits which we have never seen.
We eat dinner in an upscale section of town which reminds us a lot
like New York. We eat at a really nice Indian Restaurant and take in
a little nightlife in Hong Kong. One of our favorite fruits in china
is lychee and at the Hong Kong Haagen Das there is Lychee ice cream
so we stop and get some.
6/6/04 - entry
by Alicia Lanta
Island
Today we took the ferry to Lanta Island, which is
the home to the largest outdoor Buda in the world. The big Buda was
4 flights of stairs up the
side of a mountain. For some people this is a religious pilgrimage and
they bow and pray every step up to the Buda. There are 6 goddesses that
surround the Buda and is each giving him an individual gift. There is
a temple right near the Buda. Here there is a lot of burning incense
for the gods. There is also a fountain where you can pour water on a
gods and pay your respect to them. Next we decide to travel to the fishing
village called Taibee. This is a very small and remote village on the
shore of the East China Sea. There is fish or fish products in all the
outdoor vendors. We even are able to go on a Pink Dolphin cruise and
Kaitlin, Kate, and I swear that we see the Chinese Pink Dolphin in the
ocean…. I wish we could have gotten a picture. We eat dinner at
a small restaurant and order seafood. There is a TV on in the corner
and this is where we learned that Ronald Reagan had died. It’s
ironic that we are on this remote island on the other side of the world
and we can still find out important things happening at home. We take
the train back to Kowloon and actually we end up walking in the wrong
direction up Nathan Road because everything looks the same. We take the
subway to a bar that we have heard about and we all got asked if we were
over 18 (Kate really enjoyed this ?)
6/5/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
Today we woke up and said goodbye to the CCS staff. Jerome and Jocelyn
took us to the airport. It was really sad saying goodbye to them
and I really appreciate all of the hard work they put into making
this experience unforgettable for us. We also had to say goodbye
to Susan and Lily who I was also so lucky to have to opportunity
to know. Susan and Lily were flying to the city where Susan adopted
Lily from. They had a special invitation to visit the orphanage and
I wish them all the best in their journey.
Kaitlin still had three more weeks of volunteering but she was traveling
to Hong Kong with us for a few days. It was cheaper to fly to Shezhen
because flying to Hong Kong from main land China is still considered
an international flight. Once in Shenzen we took the ferry to Hong Kong.
From the ferry port we found our Guest House and checked into our room.
It was an extremely quaint room with hardly any room to move around.
We decided that our first adventure in Hong Kong would be to go up to
the Peninsula. Our guest house was on Kowloon and not Hong Kong Island.
To get to Hong Kong Island we needed to take a ferry across the bay.
From the ferry station we walked up a huge hill to the tram. We took
the tram to the Peninsula. It was like a roller coaster- straight up
a steep steep hill. Once we got off the tram we found a restaurant called
Eat Noodles to eat at. We were seated outside overlooking Hong Kong Island
and we were just in time to watch the sun set and see the lights illuminate
on all of the buildings. We walked around the walking path at the top
of the Peninsula to get a better view of the bay. The skyline in Hong
Kong is absolutely amazing.
6/4/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
At CCS today we were supposed to go to the city walls but it was raining
which would not make a very fun city wall experience. During the day
we packed and cleaned up our room. We went back to the boutique to pick
up the clothes that we have had made for us. It was really exciting to
get this shirt made for me.
For dinner we ate with the entire CCS staff at a really nice restaurant.
We had our own private room which was very fun. Jerome and Frieda ordered
us a lot of really good traditional Chinese dishes. We ate a lot of really
good food and it was just a really nice farewell dinner to us.
6/3/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
Today is my last day a Mangyan ? This morning we brought in our reactions
to our experiences to Mr. Chen the principal. This is so they can
make the volunteer placements the best experience possible. They
had our input on what was good and what needed to be improved. We
talked to Maria and Frank about our experiences. Then Morgan and
I taught the grade 3 blind students. We played the game “Morgan
says” just like “Simon says” but we did not want
to confuse the students. Peter had always won this game in the past
but today Sue was victorious- I think Peter was a little upset. Next
since we have been learning parts of the body I decided we should
teach them the “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” song
with the hand motions. It was really fun and made me think how much
I hated to leave these children. They have made such an impact on
me and have taught me more about China and its people and traditions
than I could have ever learned with out them. It really feels like
we were starting to learn their routines and I really felt apart
of their school. They were teaching me so many words and sign language.
The teachers were making us feel so welcome and were teaching us
songs and interacting with us. I really do not want to leave so soon-
I will really miss these students and this school.
Morgan and I teach the high school deaf class. We read a story from their
lesson book. The books are definitely British English textbooks because
of the language and vocabulary. Again we go over the vocabulary with
the students and we exaggerate enunciation so they can lip read the English.
During lunch I went to a boutique with Susan, Lily, Kaitlin, and Frieda.
They were going to pick up the shirts which they got made for them and
I decided that I really wanted a shirt made for me. I picked out this
gorgeous purple material with silver trim and they measured me and started
work on my shirt.
We went back to Mangyan and Susan joined us. We interviewed Frank and
Maria about the school and the treatment and attitudes towards those
with disabilities in China. This interview was difficult because some
questions could not be asked for the sake that they would be rude to
ask according to Chinese society.
Here are some of the questions I asked Maria and Frank:
1. What laws is there that protect the rights of students with disabilities?
(I don’t think they understood what I meant by this question)
Maria: In China that standard of living is changing. More people have more money
to send their children to school. More students are attending schools because
there parents can afford to send them to school. At Mangyan this is why there
are older students in the younger grades because they have entered school when
they are older. Parents are more able to be able to afford to send their students
who are deaf and blind to school.
2. What are the expectations after graduation for these students?
Maria: For the visually disabled students many of them will do into Chinese
massage. They can become Chinese massage doctors. This is what a lot of blind
people are doing now in China. Others will master musical instruments such
as the erwho or the piano. They will learn to play and use this talent. There
is a Blind University in Beijing which some may be able to attend. There
is also a university called: Xi’an University for the Blind and it
was built last year. Students have the opportunity to attend this university
if they score well on their tests.
Frank: The deaf students will most likely work in factories, they might do
the packing or arranging in factories. They can also be workers and laborers.
Some (especially our one student who makes paper cuts) may attend the fine
arts universities.
They can also try at regular universities or go to small colleges. There are
also some deaf universities where they could attend depending on their test
scores.
3. Who are the advocates for the students?
(This question was very confusing for Frank and Maria. The word advocate was
very hard to describe to them.) The teachers advocate for the students and
sometimes the parents do too.
4. Are there specific goals for each student?
The teacher sets goals for each class and each student has specific goals to
accomplish. They are also working to getting good marks on their tests.
5. How are the parents involved
in the students’ education?
Parents are only involved a little bit at this school because it is a school
where students stay all week long.
Others were hard to explain
so that they could understand and give a correct answer to. From my
experience I
think that disabilities
are not
a term known or referred to in China. These students are disabled but
this is an entire school for disabled students. In normal school disabled
students did not exists or at least they were not identified as disabled
and no special services were given to them. Regular schools have classes
that are too crowed and fast paced that students need to be able to keep
up or they will be left behind. There are no resource rooms or intervention
specialist in classrooms to assist students. Many students receive tutoring
outside of school but this is only if your parent can afford it. In talking
with Kate about her school we have decided that a lot of students probably
mask their confusion or not comprehending what is going on in the lesson.
One student in the very back corner of her classroom could not read or
write English but he masked it by copying from other students. The head
master assigns the students seating in each classroom. The teachers are
not allowed to change the seating arrangements. In Kate’s school
the smartest kids sit in the front and on the ends. I feel like the teachers
teach and hope that 70 children understand. The fact is the children
are so enthusiastic about school and about their classes. They always
want to be called on and recognized and they are so smart. Kate would
know a lot more about this, I am only going from one observation at the
primary school.
Mangyan is a terrific school which has a very strong community. Students
care for each other and help each other even if it is as simple as walking
around the school building. They have taught me so much about China and
about the people and I am completely indebted to them. These children
have welcomed me into their school and they will surely be missed a lot.
I wish nothing but the best for them and hope that one day I will be
able to go back to Mangyan Xuexiao. I will take this experience and share
it with my friends and family. I will try to educate those about this
wonderful school in China with its amazing students and wonderful teachers.
For dinner we went to a Hot Pot restaurant with the Frieda and Kiki.
This was a really interesting and exciting meal because each individual
gets a pot of boiling water with different herbs and spices added into
it. Then in the center of the table there is a lot of different raw meats
and seafood. There are raw vegetables and fruits. You choose which ever
you want and you place it in your boiling water. You wait for a few minutes
and then take it out when it is done and you eat it. It’s really
good and a very unique eating experience.
6/1/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
Happy Children’s Day!! Kate and Kaitlin came to Mangyan this morning
with us because their school was closed for children’s day. Children’s
day is a wonderful day in China where the children are celebrated. They
receive presents and a lot of schools are closed. Mangyan is open since
the children stay there during the week. There was a celebration in the
open area on the side of the school. The deaf preschoolers did this adorable
duckling play. (the one they tried to show us earlier but we did not
understand what they were doing.) Both deaf dance classes performed again.
They are such beautiful and talented dancers. There was another dance
of a cat and fishes. A lot of students’ parents were able to come
and see their students perform. Annie stole my camera and started taking
lots of pictures. She’s got such a spunky and warm personality.
The blind choir performed. A lot of them had young pioneer scarves on
and sunglasses to protect their eyes from the light. Children’s
artwork was displayed all around the school. We talked to the principal
a lot about how gifted his students were. The students then split into
the four corners of the open area. The preschool deaf students played
a game in one corner. The older grade 3 and oldest class of blind students
played a drum game in one corner. They also played soccer- which was
really fun. Each student clung to another that they knew could see better
than them and they ran around laughing and charging at the ball. The
two oldest deaf classes played musical chairs and three legged races
in the other two corners. The students really wanted us to play the games
with them. So we played musical chairs with the deaf students. The game
was exactly like musical chairs except for instead of music a teacher
held up a flag and when the flag came down then you had to sit. Kate
and I were also pulled into the three legged race- which we won ? I took
pictures with Fung Fa Fa and Funglain Mei. The tall teacher who taught
me songs wanted to do the three legged race with me but unfortunately
we lost. The bakery prepared small individual cakes for everyone- they
were really good but really rich. Then we played the hand slap game with
all the blind students and then some deaf students added in too….
It was very chaotic but a lot of fun.
We had the afternoon off from Mangyan- we read a lot this afternoon.
In the evening we had our Tai Chi lesson which we looked ridiculous for
because we did not practice 30 times like our teacher had instructed
us to do. At night we went to the Tang Dynasty show which was really
touristy but a lot of fun. There were many ancient instruments being
played and there was beautiful costumes and dancing. The scenery and
the sets were extremely interesting too.
6/2/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
Kate came to Mangyan with me today. We taught the high school deaf students
the English words for colors. We had them point to specific things in
the classroom and list what color they were. I had a good idea of having
them make lists of the different things in their classroom and the colors
but Frank did not think their English skills were good enough for that.
We ended up pointing to different things and they wrote There is/ There
are sentences for the thing and its color. These students have only been
learning English for 5 months and their English is excellent. As students
they learn so quickly and are very enthusiastic about learning English.
The next class we taught we the oldest deaf class. They could not believe
that Kate and I were sisters because of our different color and texture
of hair. They asked if we had the same parents and wanted to take pictures
with us. The pictures of these classes are in the photo journal. We then
taught them a story from their workbook. We read it out loud very slowly
and with exaggerated enunciation. Again the goal of the lesson was for
them to learn how to lip read English. We wrote their new vocabulary
on the board and then wrote sentences with the vocabulary in them. It
was a lot of direct instruction but all the students were on task. Then
Frank told them to find all of the verbs in the story and write there
present and past tenses. This task proved to be quite difficult for the
students. But very impressively they were able to find a lot of the verbs.
I tried to help Abby but kept signing the wrong letter so we more worked
on my sign language then her finding verbs.
In the afternoon Kate and I went to the Wild Goose Pagoda. We took the
bus for about an hour through the city and past the city walls on the
other side of the city. We found the Pagoda and admired it from the plaza
at first. Then we walked to the temple and looked around. There was a
lot of burning incense and many statues representing the gods. Next we
climbed to the top of the Pogoda which we 7 stories high with very steep
steps. It gave you the chance to view Xi’an from all different
angles but it also made me realize that there was no distinguishing skyline
of Xi’an. It was a very beautiful city but no big buildings that
were distinctive. Kate and I bargained for kites and bought icecream
before heading back to CCS.
That night we had our Chinese lesson where Kiki taught us the dates and
times. After dinner we got the traditional Chinese medical lecture and
acupuncture. The speaker gave us each acupuncture. I got acupuncture
in my hand- I’m not going to lie it hurt a lot. Kate swears that
acupuncture is not as painful at home.
5/31/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
Happy Memorial Day! When Morgan and I went to school today
we ended up going to a different school. We went to another
Xi’an Primary School
for normal students. This school was partners with Mangyan. This even
was sponsored by McDonalds and the Traffic Cops. There were three schools
of children sitting in the hot sun, almost 2,000 children. Everyone was
performing. There were very beautiful dancers from Mangyan- they were
the younger and older deaf students. There were McDonalds workers who
danced and even a fashion show with very young students. All the Mangyan
students received a bright yellow hat so they were seen on the walk home.
When we got back to school Frank took us to the fourth floor office.
A very nice woman teacher taught me a song about a bird that a girl sees
which reminds her of her love. It was very beautiful and I appreciated
her wanting to teach me this beautiful song. After lunch we taught the
grade 2 deaf students. The children helped me with my sign language.
Then we went outside and played the human knot game, which the students
had never played before. It was difficult to play because communication
was so difficult and the students could not sign to each other because
there hands were being held. We eventually figured it out so that one
student would direct the students where to go and whose arms to step
through. It was a really fun game and I loved working with this class.
After this we went back up to the 4th floor teachers offices. The woman
teacher taught me another song about a girl whose boyfriend was away.
We read so-fa syllables and learned the words to two versus. I really
wish more than anything that I could remember the words but now I have
forgotten them.
At CCS that evening we had a feedback meeting about how the program was
going and what we still wanted to do, since it was our last week. We
went to Muslim quarters with Casey (a volunteer that will be starting
next week) We bought gifts and then walked around the streets of Xi’an.
We bought icecream and went to the Feelings Bar which was a piano bar.
5/30/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
We woke up and checked our baggage. We went back to Xian Tian Di to eat
Dim Sum but the place we wanted to eat at was closed. We saw a Children’s
Day gathering of lots of children in roller blades. We got asked
to take a survey too. We got lunch at a bakery and ate soup and sandwiches.
We went in search of an English bookstore so Kate and I would have
something to read while waiting for our flight. Before we left we
walked through the People’s Park where people were flying kites
and children were playing in a fountain that was turned off. We got
the shuttle to the airport which was almost 1 hour away. Our plane
ended up being delayed but Mr. Young waited for us and took us back
to CCS.
Overall Shanghai was a much different experience
then Xi’an. It
was a lot like a city from the future that had been influence a lot my
western culture. It still retained a lot of its Chinese traditions and
beautiful architecture and gardens. It was a much more fast paced city
and the hustle and bustle was a little overwhelming. People were not
a curious about Americans as they are in Xi’an but also not as
friendly. I feel like in a weekend we took in as much as we could, except
for going to the tops of the tall buildings. Shanghai is such a new city
though and as I write this I’m sure that ten more buildings are
being erected and the skyline is continuing to change and develop. I
am very glad that we got the opportunity to go to Shanghai.
5/29/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
For breakfast we ate at Mister Donut, a donut shop a lot like Dunkin
Donuts. We took a river boat cruise which was a great way to observe
both the new side and old side of Shanghai. We rode up and down looking
at the skyline. There was also a lot of life on the river because
of the different house boats, big cargo ships, tugboats, and all
the other cruises. Next we went to have tea at the famous Shanghai
teahouse in the center of a pond. The bridge to the teahouse had
9 turns to keep the evil spirits away. Kate got chrysanthemum and
wild berries tea, Kaitlin got green tea, and I got red tea. The tea
was served with quail eggs and tofu and green putty like dessert.
Next we walked around the Yuyuan gardens. This garden was built by
an emperor in the 16th century. It was absolutely amazing and a lot
like a maze with a new beautiful section around every turn. It was
very peaceful and relaxing, but not like an American garden. There
were not flowers everywhere. There were bridges and ponds and hallways
with lanterns. There were rocks and stones that had different significances
and different chambers where the furniture from the emperor remained.
Next we saw the acrobats, which were absolutely fantastic. Really
these acrobats were amazing- we snuck some pictures so be sure to
check them out. After the acrobats we were going to go to the new
section to go up in the tower which housed the Hyatt which is the
tallest Hotel in the world. Unfortunately when we got over there
and looked up you could not see the top of the buildings because
of the low level fog. You could not even see the top of the TV pearl
tower another tall building. We rushed to get pictures of the lights
on the other side of the river (of the Bund and the old section)
then we rushed back to subway which closed at 11pm. We wanted to
take pictures of the new side from the old side but this was not
possible because all the amazing lights on the skyline are shut off
at 11pm. We were disappointed and went back to the hotel.
5/28/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
Today Kaitlin, Kate, and I left for Shanghai. We flew into the old airport
and took a cab to our hostel, which ended up being really expensive.
Once at the YMCA hotel we checked into our room- it had four hard beds
and four lockers and was actually very nice. We decided to go buy acrobat
tickets, since Jerome had told us that the Shanghai acrobats were the
best. We were wandering around with this little map the hotel gave us;
someone stopped to help us and pointed us in the direction of the subway
station. Once inside the subway station we could not figure out which
train to take because it was all in Chinese. We took a guess and went
down to the train, luckily for us underground they had both English and
Chinese. We found our way to the theater with the acrobats and there
were no shows on Fridays so we bought the only tickets left on Saturday
which were 200 RMB and in the second row. After we bought the tickets
it started to pour so we jumped in a cab and headed towards the old famous
section of Shanghai called the Bund. We got off at the Peace Hotel which
we heard has a beautiful view. We ate at the really expensive restaurant
on the top floor and when we looked out at the view you couldn’t
see anything across the river. We stood on this really high balcony and
observed the street life up and down the Bund. Then we walked down Nanjing
Road. A covered street shopping paradise with anything you could ever
want or imagine, including a KFC, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut every half
a block. Nanjing road is a mix between a modern outdoor shopping area
and Las Vegas because of all the neon lights all over the street.
For dinner we went to Xian Tian Di- a posh section of Shanghai. We ate
at a restaurant called Lunas which was more of a Spanish themed restaurant.
After dinner we went to the Corner Bar and listened to music. The performer
sang Hey Jude and a couple of Chinese pop songs. Then a female artist
got up and sang Shania Twain and Britney Spears. We got in a cab and
went back to the hostel.
5/27/04 - entry
by Kate CCS
House
Sunday
May 23rd Alicia, Kaitlin and I went to climb
the highest mountain in Shaanxi Province-
Hua Shan. She has five peaks and well, is
very tall. It was not my idea to take this
hike, but I went along because I knew it
is something I should do while in China.
Jocelyn arranges a tour for us and we are
picked up at 7:30 in the morning. We are
taken to the tour office and loaded onto
another small bus where there are many Chinese
tourists waiting.Most
of the climbers are women and it is interesting
to see that despite the fact they are going
to climb this very tall mountain, they are
dressed very nicely, with heels and nice
sandals on and their hair and makeup is perfect.
I think the idea is that the purpose of climbing
the mountain is to get your picture taken
doing so, and for that you must always look
your best.
If you
look at our pictures, you will see that comfort and sneakers was our
objective and therefore we do not look our best. The tour company keeps
us waiting forever and finally these women get fed up- they all storm
out of the bus and swarm the bus driver- they crowd around him demanding
that we leave. They get back on the bus, triumphant, as the bus driver
grumbles up to the driver seat and lights a cigarette. I applaud them
on their perseverance.
The drive to Hua Shan takes about 2 hours- we try to sleep and I try not
to drink a lot of water because there is no way I am using a public toilet.
As we approach the entrance to the park, we pull over at a rest stop and
after a tour of the restrooms (nope, not doing it.), we enter a room that
can only be described as being a Chinese Pharmacy. There are counters set
up and all sorts of mushrooms, roots, dried vegetables, herbs and other
amazing things throughout the room. Most of the people in our tour are
in line to see a Chinese Medical Doctor who is taking pulses and looking
at tongues. She then gives the consultation, writes out what I can only
assume is a prescription and sees the next patient. We waited in line for
a while, nervous that we too would have to go through this exam- then we
figured out that it was optional and we high tailed it outside.
When we arrive at the foot of the mountain and take the gondola to about
the midway point. This made me very nervous because you are literally
dangling in mid-air and the ground below you gets farther and farther
away. Once
we got off the gondola, we began our climb--- up the stairs. There are
stairs built into this mountain, all the way to the top. It’s amazing
that from start to finish there are stairs to travel all the way up. If
we had started at the bottom, the round trip would probably take 10-11
hours, we started at the middle and it took us roughly 3 1/2 hours to get
to one of the tallest peaks and back to the bus. A little more than two
hours up and going down was, of course, much easier. There were so many
people climbing the stairs and they were very steep, with hardly a guardrail
between you and certain death. We were some of the only Americans making
the trip and were asked by many, many people to pose in pictures with them.
Some people from more remote provinces in China don’t have the
opportunity to see Americans and we were very popular. We made it to
the top and rested
for a while, taking lots of pictures and posing for a lot of pictures.
I have a picture of someone taking a picture of me. All along the way
we saw thousands of pad locks chained to the railings. At every resting
point
there was a place to buy one and have it inscribed. Married couples will
often climb the mountain, secure their lock and it is said that their
love will last until the lock falls off. I took a lot of pictures of
old and
new locks. On the way up, we ran into many of the women on our bus and
they were all very sweet, and very concerned that we return to the bus
by 5pm- they kept pointing at their watches.
The way down was a breeze and we were able to truly enjoy the beautiful
views and take in everything around us. Hua Shan was like no mountain
I have ever seen before- the rock formations were very different than
the
American Rockies or Appalachian Mountains. Its difficult to describe
and I really don’t think the photos truly captured the magnificence of
it all. I’m hoping I will find a painting of Hua Shan that I like
in town so I can hang it on my wall and say, “I climbed this mountain.”
5/27/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
Today we work with the grade 3 blind students and reviewed the words
we learned in the previous days. We also worked with the high school
deaf students. They were learning to lip read English. Quite a challenge
if English is not your first language but these students are extremely
intelligent. As the teacher, and native English speaker I wrote their
vocabulary on the board. They have workbooks which are all in English.
They read along with you as you read out loud, over emphasizing the
words in your mouth so they can see every word and how it is formed
in your mouth. On our break the teachers wanted me to sing them a song
from an English song book that they have. One of the only songs that
I knew was “Edelweiss” so I sang it to them. It was really
interesting because one teacher knew it too and so they sang with me.
In the afternoon Morgan and I did random outdoor activities with our
students. I played badminton with one of the older deaf students. I
think he felt bad for be because I was really bad at it. We interacted
with some of our younger blind student who were wondering around. I
also had English corner with the older deaf students. It was really
fun. One of the students pulled out a piece of paper and so we communicated
that way. I tried to ask simple questions which I thought they would
understand. There were some questions which were not communicated well
and so their answers were not in reference to the question but I really
thought it was amazing how these students were able to converse after
only learning English for less than a year.
Back at CCS our nightly activity was English corner. This was such
a great experience the week before so I was really looking forward
to it.
The only bad thing is everyone crowds around you and I get really claustrophobic.
This week they asked me a lot of questions ranging from the NBA to marijuana
usage by students in universities in America. Then I had a conversation
with Tony who is a student in Lily’s class. He was really funny
and I really liked talking to him. People also asked me about my travels
in China and how much longer I would be there. A lot of the people were
there from the group I was in last week. It was interesting because I
recognized their faces and they asked me to elaborate on things I had
said last week. This week more people spoke and more people got involved
in the conversations. I was still the center of attention but I think
more people asked questions and no one dominated the talking.
5/26/04 - entry
by Kate Xi’an
Primary School We
don’t have a speech this morning- so I have a
moment to finish summarizing last week.
Saturday we went to see the 8th Wonder of the World- The Terracotta Warriors.
You haven’t been to China if you haven’t seen the Warriors.
The 1st Emperor of China commissioned the Terracotta Warriors during the Qin
(Cheen) Dynasty, over 2000 years ago. He ordered that thousands of soldiers be
created to protect his tomb after his death. Each warrior stands about 6 ft tall,
weighs around 600 lbs and has a unique body and face. Each was glazed and then
fired in a huge kiln. They were then transported to the pits and placed in row
after row of traditional battle formation. There are about 5000 of these warriors-
each uniqueThere
are also terracotta horses which stand taller than the soldiers,
but slightly smaller than
actual horses. Real chariots were also used. Each soldier held some
sort of weapon. The swords were made from bronze with a thin chrome overlay
(a technique that was ‘invented’ by the Germans last century,
but the Chinese used 2000 years ago). The warriors are said to be modeled
after the actual soldiers in the Emperor’s army. It is also
said that at his death, everyone who created his tomb and the Terracotta
Army
was buried with him. This was to ensure a long and happy life and
protect against a servant rebelling and trying to kill the Emperor.
The Terracotta Army wasn’t discovered until 1974 when a farmer
was digging a well and stumbled upon the edge of the pits. There
had been legends of people living underground and now there was proof.
Soon
after the discovery, they began excavating and found out what an
amazing treasure there was to be had. Can you imagine being an archaeologist
in China? What an exciting time! They have begun uncovering 4 pits-
the
excavation is a long and tedious process, as you can imagine. When
the soldiers were first uncovered- the brightly colored glaze was
still intact-
but after being exposed, the color faded in about a week. One of
the pits houses a smaller chariot with bronze horses, this is said
to carry
the spirit of the emperor up and out of the tomb.
Bill Clinton visited the Terracotta Army during his presidency. He
is the only person who has been granted permission to stand in the
actual
pits. He also asked to meet the farmer who made the discovery. They
found the man and Clinton met him, there is a picture of them shaking
hands.
Now this farmer, who is 69 years old, spends all day autographing
books at the gift shop. Our tour guide was one of Clinton’s
guides.
Visiting the Terracotta Army is an amazing thing- the pits are so
overwhelming- I don’t think the pictures really convey the enormity of it all.
This site is something I will never forget- and now I can’t
wait to see my next Wonder of the World- The Great Wall of China!
5/26/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
Today I went to Lui Shi- another school for students with disabilities. Most
of the students here work one on one with teachers to build their physical strength
as well as their cognitive skills. A lot of the kids have been labeled with autism
(or some disease in that spectrum.) The school was created by parents who recognized
the need for their children to receive services for their diseases. There is
a parents resource room and the parents are there to support each other which
really shows a sense of community in the school. The teachers were trained in
Chinese massage and so to strengthen the muscles in the student’s legs
they would do Chinese massage on them. One little girl had just started coming
to the school. Before coming to the school she could not use her legs at all.
After a month of Chinese massage she was able to put some weight on her legs.
I was able to speak with a mother of one of the children there. She gave me lots
of good information about how the parents are so involved in this school. She
even took me to the room filled with resources for the parents to use. There
were some parents there talking and supporting each other. I was very impressed
with this school. In the afternoon I went back to Mangyan where Morgan and I
made exercise books for the students. They basically were posters that had been
donated to the school that we cut and stapled together. The blind students then
used them to do their lessons in. The students covered these books in Braille.
While we were working a Chinese volunteer from a local university came in to
help in the school. She spoke very little English but we tried to communicate
with her. We played the circle game with the blind students. This game consisted
of all students in a circle and one in the middle. The student in the middle
would sing a song as the people in the circle slapped each others hands. If you
were the last hand to get slapped you would stand in the middle and sing. Singing
is a huge honor and tradition in China. All of the students know so many songs,
and have very beautiful voices.
Back at CCS our evening program was learning about Xi’an and the Shaanxi
province. There are a lot of interesting things just about the province we are
in. Each province has very unique qualities. After this we walked around Xi’an
and took in everything around us. It’s very peaceful to just walk around
and be apart of the city, even though everyone stares at you.
5/25/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
This morning we taught grade 1 and grade 3 blind students. Our new vocabulary
words were clothes- shirts, skirts, pants (trousers), dresses, hats,
jackets, shoes, and socks. We decided that these were perfect words
to put into an American game- Simon says changed to Morgan says- explaining
who Simon could have been really confusing. In grade 3 the children
especially liked this game and got really into it. Though some of them
were a little confused about where the clothes were on their bodies.
Peter won 3 times that we played. In attempts for them to make sentences
with the new words Frank wanted us to ask them “What color shirt
are you wearing” Morgan and I thought this was a little cruel-
especially with the high school blind class because they were very
embarrassed that they did not know what color clothing they were wearing.
Even when we told them to guess on a color they were very hesitant
and shy about it- not wanting to shame themselves by giving the wrong
answer.
In the afternoon Morgan and I played basketball on the dusty court
outside. We played with a high school deaf class. I was on a team with
all boys
and we actually won- very exciting it maybe the first time that I have
ever won a basketball game. Communication was really interesting since
when having a ball in their hands they could not sign but it worked fairly
well and there were a lot of grunts and lots of eye contact with the
people on your team. After this class went in these other kids saw my
camera and started posing for pictures. I think they were in a middle
level deaf class. There were about ten kids that just started posing-
always with the victory sign (it’s not the peace sign in China).
They all thought that I had a digital camera though because after I took
a picture they would all run over to look at the back of my camera and
I didn’t have the words to describe that it wasn’t digital.
So after each picture (I started fake taking the pictures after about
3 different poses) all ten kids would run over and want to see the back
of my camera. They were so cute!!
At CCS we started to learn Tai Chi- it was our first lesson and let me
say Tai Chi is really difficult and takes a lot of strength and focus.
Our instructor is probably in her 70s but she is so strong and focuses
and wants us to practice our moves 30 times a day. We also have a beautiful
instrument performance in our apartment tonight. It is called the ????
but it is a lot like a harp that lays horizontally and you play by applying
pressure to strings on one side of the bridge while you strum and use
different plucking techniques on the other side of the bridge. It is
an ancient traditional Chinese instrument and it’s beautiful!!!
5/24/04 - entry
by Kate CCS
House Xi'an
Like I said- it has been very difficult to journal! I’ll go
through the week and summarize what we experienced.
Tuesday night we had a guest speaker, Ann, come in and teach us about
Chinese History. We briefly went over each dynasty- touched on Confucius
and skimmed
over the Cultural Revolution. We didn’t speak about China today- I
guess we will have to save that for another lecture.
Wednesday, 5/19, I woke up with a sore throat and sniffly nose. We taught
two 1st grade classes in the morning, but before that we had a meeting with
all the
English teachers and they told us all about Chinese wedding traditions- a
lot of which we had experienced on Sunday. Oh- I forgot to mention that on
Tuesday
morning, Kaitlin and I gave a “speech” on the education system
in the US.
So-
we taught 2 different 1st grade classes in the morning. The teacher wanted
us to tell them about an American student’s life- so we focused on games that
kids play. We told them about “Hide and Seek”- had them repeat the
phrase and them gave a demonstration. Kaitlin and the teacher hid and I tried
to find them. This was a big hit. We taught them “tag” and gave them
a little demonstration. There is not much room to move around in the classroom-
so the teacher let us bring the class outside. This was not small feat- with
70 kids to corral. They were divided into boys and girls and we tried to get
them to form and circle. Again- difficult to do if the language isn’t there.
Once in the circle we taught them “Duck, Duck, Goose” they loved
this game. We also taught them “red Light, Green Light”- the
girls were better at this game than the boys.
We did the same lesson plan for the next class- another group of 70
kids! After lunch we had another 1st grade class- 70 more kids- we
taught them the same things
and also “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.” Kaitlin stayed to teach another
group of 1st graders and I went upstairs to a 5th grade class. The teacher wanted
me to teach them their actual lesson plan for the day so I observed her for a
while and then gave it my best shot. I don’t know how successful I was-
these students weren’t immersion student and therefore their English was
not as advanced. I had some difficulty getting them to raise their hands – I
think it is nerve wracking to try and speak English when you are in 5th grade-
1st graders have less inhibition.
As in every class, there is always one person who knows every answer
and it was hard not to call on her every time. I had to change my tactics
and word things
differently to help them understand. I taught them new material from their
workbook. I went over the same sentence, “Every day she watches a cartoon on TV.” I
told them what a cartoon was- and then asked the question, “What does she
do every day?” They can memorize and repeat the sentence, but teaching
them to comprehend is the challenge. Some students were brave enough to come
up and write the answers on the board. I spent about 30 minutes on one sentence.
I hope I can improve my technique for next week.
Wednesday night we had a brief lesson I Chinese, and after dinner, a lecture
and demonstration of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy. I was beyond exhausted
and still felling unwell. I could barely keep my eyes open during the classes
and hurried to bed. I did get my name written on rice paper- it is wonderful.
Thursday: I still wasn’t
feeling well. I think the dust and pollution here is getting to me.
In the morning we gave a ‘speech’ to the teachers about
American Food. I tried to explain the Atkins Diet. I’m not sure
if they understood. In China, their food is prepared very fresh. They
don’t eat very much processed food. Although the food can be
greasy and they eat a lot of it- Chinese people in general are very
thin and don’t worry about weight.
After our speech, we observed some of a 2nd grade class and taught them our
default song “the Itsy Bitsy Spider.” We then went to a music class
and played “Hot Potato” using a tape of Children’s Songs
that Kaitlin brought from home. We then taught them “It’s a Small
World” and our favorite “the Itsy Bitsy Spider.”
After lunch we had drama class- which I had been looking forward to all week.
Kaitlin and I prepared 2 short scripts- “the 3 Little Pigs,” and “Snow
White.” Tina, the 2nd grade teacher, chose 20 0f her best students to
have class with us. It was in the auditorium, so we had space to move around.
My group was “The 3 Little Pigs”- after assigning the roles, I
tried to help them read through the script as a group. The kids who played
the pigs were shy at first, but warmed up after I taught them “straw,
sticks and bricks.” The wolf had some trouble with “Huff and Puff…” But
he loved growling and blowing the house down.
After the read thru- I got them on their feet and tried to stage the script.
They caught on very quickly! Their actions were very cleat, but the English
needed at little more work, so I tried to focus on enunciation.
We ran through it several times and then went to watch the Snow White group.
They were so cute! The dwarfs really were into their characters! We put on
our little show next and I was very proud of my group- they were very focused
on stage and I didn’t have to do much side coaching. It wasn’t
perfect, but they tried very hard. I think next Thursday we’ll be working
on the same project.
After class- we had a lesson on Chinese Dumpling making- and then ate our dumplings
for dinner. After dinner- we went to “English Corner” at the International
University. Students gather in a large courtyard and the rule is that you can
only speak English. We were a hit! We were literally mobbed. I found myself
surrounded on all sides by people. Alicia and I managed to stay next to each
other, but we had totally different conversations. There was one woman in the
group who did all the talking- I could barely get a word in edgewise. Her English
was better than mine- but she spoke so quickly! She told me all about Chinese
history, culture and education. She went on for about 20 minutes- it was amazing!
Then she started asking me questions- about where I live, my family, my home.
The other people were listening very hard- the circle around me was about 5
people deep on all sides. I was nervous at first- it was so hot- but I tried
not to feel claustrophobic. I don’t think it is so much the exchange
of information, but the listening to conversation in English that is important.
This is a great way to practice and to hear conversational English is better
than to just read or write about it. One of the questions I can remember was
about friendship and how did I go about making friends? Its something I never
thought about, but I think is a very deep and almost philosophical idea. English
Corner was a lot of fun- and I look forward to it next week.
Friday morning all of the volunteers went to my school. We were given quite
a show- we watched a class of 70 1st graders at their best- all very bright
and clever students. We then sat in on a music class with 5th graders- they
learned “This Old Man.” Then we group taught a class of 72 2nd
graders. We made an alphabet book. We split them up into groups- each group
had a different set of letters and we had them draw pictures of things that
started with each letter. They don’t do much group work here- classes
are very structured. We tried to show the teacher how a class might work in
an American school- by breaking into small groups. This was easy for us because
there were 4 teachers- but I don’t think this method would ever really
work with 1 teacher and 70 students. After al the group work was completed,
we read the book to them- having them repeat each page. We covered and bound
the pages and told them they would have something to remember us by.
After lunch we went to the Shaanxi History Museum. This was very interesting,
but I was very tired and not much in the mood for a museum.
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Oh
I forgot to mention that we went out on Thursday night. It was
Lin’s last day and Kaitlin’s birthday. There are a
lot of clubs in Xi’an. We went to 1 + 1, there is dancing
and a dj in the 1st room- but we went to the back where there is
a lounge with couches and tables. It was fun sitting around, playing
Chinese dice games, listening to music and meeting other English
speakers. I’m sure we stood out a bit in our travel worn
clothes against all the nicely dressed Chinese people. I was still
not feeling up to par, so Alicia and I left early. Oh- before 1
+ 1, we went to a pub made of old train cars- which was really
neat.
Friday night we spent in- after a birthday feast for Kaitlin. They ordered a
cake that the deaf students at Alicia’s school made and Jerome, Kiki, Jane
and Jocelyn decorated the dining room. We had a lot of fun and I think Kaitlin
enjoyed herself and had a special day.
Oh- I forgot all about Thursday’s lunch! We were invited to a very nice
restaurant by the teachers from our school. The headmaster and the two vice principals
were also there. We had a private dining room and about 15 of us sat around a
circular table. We all had chamomile tea, which was delicious. The principals
did not speak English, so we did not converse with them very much, but the headmaster
did offer a toast in our honor and told me I was pretty.
The meal was served with appetizers first- these were numerous and all delicious!
Every dish is placed on a glass tabletop that spins around and you can help yourself-
this is a Chinese Tradition. My chopsticks skills are getting better everyday
and I don’t think I embarrassed myself too much. Kaitlin and I kept looking
around, watching what everyone else was doing in order to figure out what was
proper and what to do next. It was so much fun to hear all the teachers chatting
away, occasionally stopping to translate for us. There was a very good feeling
around the table. We ate so much food! I was so stuffed! Luckily the restaurant
was across the street from our apartment and we had just enough time to catch
a nap before the next class!
5/24/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
This morning Morgan and I worked in the mentally disabled classroom.
No one in the classroom spoke English so we were really lost on
what we were actually supposed to be doing. The children showed
us their dances that they were preparing for Children’s day.
We went to the big dance room in the school and watched them dance.
Most of the time we just interacted with the students through non-verbal
communication, asking them about themselves and their class but
I think we were both confused to what the other was trying to say
or do. A group of students were very excited about my watch… something
they may not have seen before.
In the afternoon we worked with the Grade 3 blind students- playing
our famous singing songs and slapping hands in a circle game. All
the students love this
game especially because they love singing songs. Some of the songs they sing
are in English and some of the songs are Chinese. Our circle grew larger and
larger until there were blind students and deaf students in the same circle….
I never realized within the school these children have a huge barrier because
half are deaf and the other half are blind but they seem to work through this
barrier as much as possible but it’s still hard to imagine trying to communicate
with someone who is deaf when you’re blind or the other way around. We
modified the game for the deaf students- telling them that when they got in the
center of the circle instead of singing a song they could dance… this seemed
work and everyone had a great time!
5/21/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an
Today every volunteer goes to Kate and Kaitlin’s school. This school
is for the best of the best children in Xi’an. All of the classes
have 70 kids in them which is so many more than we have in our classes
at Mangyan. I am very impressed at the first grade class that we are
observing. They are only allowed to speak English in this class and
are learning different
words for animals and descriptions of animals. These children know
so much and make really clever descriptions of all of the animals.
When
looking
around the room it seemed as though most of the children were actually
paying attention to the teacher and were actually on task. There were
a
few students that were not on task but most were and they were all so
eager to be called on and to speak in their class.
We also went to a music class where they sang so many English songs
with all of the verses- did you know there were 4 verses to “You are my
sunshine”? They were learning “This Old Man.” Again there
were around 70 students in each class and most kids were attentive and
they all picked up the song so quickly. The teacher explained to them what
a “knick-nack” and a “paddy-wack” were, I didn’t
even know what I “paddy-wack” was. And my absolute favorite
part was when she described “up in heaven” she drew a cloud
with a smiling sun behind it and says “this is up in heaven” boom
5 second description of heaven! At the end of this class we got called
on to play instruments at the front of the class.
Next we taught a 2nd grade class. We were teaching the alphabet and Kate
had prepared an alphabet book for us to make with the students. Since there
were four teachers each teacher got a group and a section of the alphabet
to make pages for- each letter had one page. I got L through Q. When asking
the kids to find words that began with certain letters they were a little
confused. Once you gave them a few examples though they were really into
it. The group with L made a picture of a lion and drew the whole jungle
around him and the kids with P looked in the glossary and wrote down every
word that started with P in it! At the end we shared our entire book and
left the copy so that the class could keep it.
This afternoon we went to the Shaanxi history museum which had things from
all the different dynasties. There was so much to see and so much to learn
in this museum. We also saw Terracotta Warriors which we are seeing tomorrow!
5/21/04 - entry
by Alicia Xi'an Today
we help the teachers with their English by conversing with
them. They also ask a lot of questions
about American
culture and
day to
day life. It is interesting to make comparisons and find out there
are a lot of differences but so many similarities. We also teach the
3rd grade blind class. Since it is Lin’s last day she wants to
take pictures. While taking pictures with the students it is taking
a little while to get set up and Peter says “it takes you longer
to take a picture then it takes me to find my shoes in the morning!”
Oh Peter is such a funny boy. He is also the boy that taught me to
count to 10 in Chinese- thank goodness I finally learned that! That’s
the thing the children here are so willing to help you out and they are
so respectful too. They help me learn Chinese and do not get frustrated
with you if you cannot pronouncing something correctly. Which is good
for me because I do not know how to pronounce a lot of things. It’s
really the tones of the Chinese language that get me confused because
one word can mean up to four things with the four different tones. And
some words I cannot even say at all because I cannot pronounce them correctly-
like glasses I still cannot say it and I have taught 3 classes to say
it in English.
In the afternoon we work with the mentally disabled students. They are
all young and I am not sure how they are placed in this class. There
are some kids with down syndrome and a boy who seems to have autism and
a lot of them just seem very hyper- maybe ADHD but on all of this I do
not claim that I can diagnosis anything. They were working with a painting
project and lets just say at the end of the day paint was covering the
desks, hands, faces, and clothes.
After dinner we went to “English Corner” at the International
University. It is where students from the university come and only speak
English so they love when native English speakers come and kind of surround
and close in on you. It was quite an overwhelming experience but also
just another learning experience for me. I got asked so many questions
that ranged from the life of American university students to did I like
the Chinese culture to why don’t I look more like my sister and
beyond. These students were so interested in American culture and so
interested in my life and my travels in China. There were only a few
people who actually talked and the rest listened but still seemed like
they understood what was going on. When we had to leave the students
did not want us to go but I was ready to leave but once inside the van
we all erupted into different stories of questions that they asked. Some
even were pretty personal but as Lin told us there are no personal questions
in China.
We went out to a bar and nightclub tonight for Lin’s last night
and Kaitlin’s 21st birthday. The bar is a bunch of train cars put
together. Morgan teaches us two different Chinese dice drinking games
and actually everyone in the bar seems to be playing them. Even at the
club there are dice on the table. There are awesome some crazy dancers
even in the lounge section of the bar. Since Kate has been sick her and
I end up going home early and the taxi ride is a little interesting since
our taxi driver keeps talking to us and all we can say is we do not understand
but finally we get home!
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Journal
entries: 05/12/04 to 05/21/04 - 05/21/04
to 05/27/04
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5/27/04 - entry
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