China - part 3

My trip to China – part 3 by DreamFinder agent Kim Merrill

I decided to combine yesterday and today into one blog, as they were both very student-centric and I figured a summary of my observations would be a bit more interesting than a detailed account of the goings-on.  As I mentioned in the first installment of this, this trip is a cultural exchange and not something that I personally planned as a vacation.

Yesterday we were taken to a “middle school”.  These students were the equivalent of our high school students and we were told that the group we interacted with was part of their “international” program.  Some of those students have been to different places in the US and UK to practice their English skills.  One of the students translated a speech from one of the administrators with surprising ease and clarity.  It was interesting to see their textbooks too….Chemistry, Physics, and some math classes are taught in English, not Chinese. 

There was a gift exchange between the students and a talent show of sorts. They had one girl play piano, as did one of our girls, and what was fun was that our piano ambassador taught her to play Chopsticks (the duet version).  If music is universal, then so is dance, and as such the teenagers all had fun doing some current popular dances.  We got a tour of their school, it was older, built in the 1950’s after the revolution and it is currently under the process of renovation.

This leads me to an observation about the architecture in Guangzhou......there is a bunch of “mid-century” concrete institutional block structures intermingled with modern-day high-rises, an eclectic mix.  The streets we drove along are tree-lined and have flowers on overpasses….almost like ivy that clings to the side of a building, but horizontally-strung and currently blooming pink (quite beautiful to see).

I did have some interaction with the educators at the school on an adult level.  One teacher was actually bold enough to ask about the US political structure and beliefs.  Her phrasing was delicate and not at all to the point, but it was a clear message that she was curious.  She had finished her University studies in Scotland and commented to me (after I told her not to believe all that the media reports) that she had been brought up to “listen to her teachers” and didn’t realize until after University that perhaps they weren’t totally informed.  Another teacher asked one of the parents how US teachers dealt with discipline in their schools, as “it was a problem” here in China.  All very interesting conversations.

Lunch yesterday was “Hot-Pot” style.  If you are familiar with the sushi restaurants that have dishes go by on a conveyer belt, then you can picture what this was.  We had a pot of broth (one of 4 different flavors, I had “spicy and numb”) that sat on a hot plate and as you saw ingredients go by that you wanted to try, you put them in the broth.  It was a bunch of fun, but not as I remembered it from when I was a kid. Historically it was more of a family style experience, however they have Westernized this a bit for people that don’t want to share with strangers.

After the kids had their practice it was time for dinner.  We went to a Dim Sum restaurant and tried a bunch of different styles of Dim Sum.  Some were tasty, some were oddly textured.  Not much to add to that—just interesting…

Today we had a very busy morning.  We started off by visiting a kindergarten (ages 3-5).  This school, which is one of the best in the city, was AMAZING.  These kids were kept busy and had the opportunity to play, both outside and inside, incorporating skill development in their activities.  We got to play with them (it was great to see all the teenagers interact and have fun) and we all had little gifts for the kids.  They had made crafts for us as well.  Half of the group got crowns that were decorated and the other half had clay art to take home. 

We departed the school and went to visit the Dr. Sun Yat-sen memorial.  He is the Chinese equivalent of George Washington.  If you know anything about Chinese history and political structure, he formed the Nationalist Party.  This was the party that eventually retreated to Taiwan after the Revolution.  We were curious why the monument was here in Guangzhou and not in Beijing as one might expect.  It turns out that when he formed the party, Beijing was not the capital of China at that time and he lived in a palace of sorts in Guangzhou.  This monument is built on the site that the palace once stood.

I am happy to say that we had enough time to sneak in a trip to Shaimen Island.  This is a small shopping area on the waterfront.  We split up in groups and I followed about 6 kids around and thankfully they were more interested in walking than shopping (and bartering).  We wound up finding a group of locals dancing, and also a group of older people having a community sing-a-long (for lack of a better explanation).  The leader had a bunch of rolls of large song lyrics (in Chinese) on what were essentially long strips of papers and the violinist played along while he used a pointer to keep people on the beat of the music.

We headed back to the hotel to have lunch (Subway sandwiches, nice to not have Chinese food) and get ready for the swim meet.  Tomorrow we are back to more “tourist” like activities and I’ll deviate away from the cultural exchange portion of this.  I hope, however, that the exchange info was interesting to read.  All the kids AND the adults thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Interested in booking a trip ?  Contact Kim (kim@dreamfindertravel.net) for more details.