Dianne Skawski:
We have been very busy today. We’ve jumped into
the schools with both feet and are starting to get better
acquainted with our wonderful Chinese hosts. We visited
two schools today, the Wuhua Experimental High School
and Yunnan Nationalities High School. As we meet more
of our Chinese friends, we getting more excited about
their visit to the United States this summer. It's exciting
to think that we’re forging bonds of friendship
and understanding that will resonate between our two communities
for such a long time.
Mariha Pronovost:
After arriving at the Wuhu Experimental High School, we
were led straight to a conference room. On the table waiting
for us were fresh, cold bottles of Coca Cola and fresh
fruit. All of the teachers introduced themselves and then
the Headmaster gave an introduction. After introductions
we were grouped with a teacher and taken to their classroom.
When Jordan and I first walked into our teacher’s
classroom everything became quiet. The faces of all the
students appeared blank before they started to giggle.
Jordan and I were nonplussed at first, but as we all became
more comfortable questions began to flow. We now realize
that our gracious Chinese hosts are just as nervous as
we are, another example of why cultural exchanges are
so important.
The next classroom our teacher took us to was an art class.
As I walked around the art class I was amazed by the quality
of the student work. It looked as if many students had
been drawing or painting for many years. I talked to a
student while he was showing me how to draw a small boy’s
face; he had said that they had only been learning art
for about a month. The way that they could get every detail
on the object that they were copying was amazing. While
in the art room, I also tried some calligraphy, and one
of the teachers said that I had a good stroke order, although
the thickness of the lines that I had made changed the
meaning of the character. This showed me how careful you
have to be when drawing characters, otherwise you could
change the whole meaning.
While at Wuhu Experimental High School, we also participated
in a basketball game, which I thought was one of the best
parts of the visit. The Chinese students that we played
are currently in a class of athletes. The whole class
is made up of students who are really good at sports;
I thought that was cool until we had to play basketball
with them. At first they were winning by a large margin,
then we started to have fun and it helped us to let go
of the nervousness. During the basketball game, one of
the teachers and some students brought us Coke while we
played.
After playing basketball
we then went to a wonderful restaurant where we were served
Crossing-The-Bridge Rice Noodles. The soup was delicious,
and they told us the whole story behind it. A young scholar
went to work everyday, and during the day for lunch he
would go to a pavilion. But the pavilion was far from
where he worked and everyday his wife would make him lunch
to take. By the time that he got to the pavilion and got
the chance to eat his lunch, it was cold. The young scholar’s
wife wanted to make her food so that it would be hot when
her husband ate it. One day she decided to make chicken
soup for her husband. She put the egg in and then the
meat. Then the wife put in the greens, after all of this
she was so tired that she fell asleep for many hours.
When she woke up and went over to the soup it was still
hot. She was so excited that she brought it to her husband
and when he went to the pavilion at lunch the soup was
still hot. As lunch drew to a close, we played a game
where someone would clap and we would pass a purse with
a flower on it that represented something special whoever
had the purse first got to keep it and had to sing the
whole group a song.
After lunch we traveled to Yunnan Nationalities High School.
Again we were given introductions and shown around the
school. After this, we were taken to a small café
on campus. We sipped coffee and talked with the Vice Headmistress;
from there they took us in to a room where many English
teachers were waiting for us. We enjoyed some conversation
and showed our Chinese friends family photos. We also
enjoyed several elaborate performances from the different
nationalities that make up Yunnan Province. We also performed
“These Green Hills”, a selection from “Rent”
and some guitar work by Matt and everyone seemed to enjoy
it.
From there we went to
the cafeteria or the "canteen" as they call
it here. There we enjoyed a delicious meal, and talked
with two of the students that will be coming to the United
States in July. We were asked to attend an English corner
after supper. At the English corner we talked with the
students. Asya and I taught some of the students how to
play Uno. Our Chinese friends really enjoyed it. One of
the students coming to the United States played with us.
He said the single thing he wanted to do when he got to
America was play Uno and go bowling. We are very excited
to have them come and see where we live and go to our
schools now that we have visited their schools. We are
having fun and meeting new people everyday!
The courtyard at Yunnan Normal High School
Paxon catches some air during the basketball
game. He was so inspired he bought an entire NBA outfit
later that night.
The Tea Garden Dance
Lizzie tries her hand at learning brush work.
Megan, Silvana, and Mariha sing over their noodles for
our appreciative hosts.
Lizzie and her new friend.
Jordan
observing a student calligrapher.
