China November 2017

Post for November 18th! Happy Birthday Lelaoshi! We hope you have a great birthday on the Study Tour Saturday, flying home! All the best from the CGS Staff!

November 17, 2017 - Post from Celine: This morning I was woken up by the sound of waves crashing onto the shore, good thing I had set my own alarm because a soft knock on the door is not enough for me to actually wake up. As I rushed out of bed, got ready and ate breakfast, in less than 30 minutes I was prepared to start another day at Guan Ming High School. This morning my host student and I, “Mao Mao” or “Black” got to school at around 6:50 thanks to the light traffic. We were the first ones to open the classroom door and sit down, as other shuffled inside placing their wet umbrellas down. Throughout the first period class- Chinese, many students were very fatigued struggling to keep their eyes open. At the end of the period their teacher let everyone have some rest time and CiCi (Chloe’s host) walked us upstairs to meet with everyone for our adventure to the Shanghai museum. Accidentally stepping into large puddles of water, making our way to the museum was an interesting walk.

November 16, 2017 - Post from Cailey Today was yet another busy day of our trip throughout China.  It just so happened to be our first full day with our host families.  Many of us woke up at 5:30 in order to get to school. I️ was lucky so I️ able to wake up at 6 and still got to school with time to spare. We started out the day with our host families in each of their classes. Chloe, Celine, Nicole and I️ all had host sisters in the same class. After checking in with the teacher and handing the phones and homework in, we were able to go upstairs to the auditorium where we got to participate in a welcome ceremony. We introduced ourselves in Chinese and danced to ‘Shake it Off’ by Taylor Swift. All of this embarrassing dancing and speaking in Chinese was broadcasted to all the rooms in the school, on TVs. With my host sister, we had math class, English class, biology, and physics.  Her math teacher was very very strict and she made the kids stand up when they answered a questio

Post from Tes - November 15, 2017 First day with the homestay-   Waking up this morning, I was excited and nervous at the same time. It was the last time we would be staying at the hotel, basically ending the tourist lifestyle. No longer would we be going from hotel to hotel, from city to city each day. We packed our things, ate a good breakfast that was both eastern and western styled, and rehearsed our dance for the welcome ceremony at school the next day. Boarding the bus, we were all feeling the same- nervous yet excited. We talked about what we were looking forward to and how we thought this experience might go. Arriving at the school, everyone was jittery and itching to meet our hosts. We walked in to see many kids playing basketball and badminton on their recess time, and saw some kids point from the hallways at us upstairs. We went to a room to keep our luggage for the day and headed to the cafeteria. Walking in, many heads turned, and we all felt a little awkward, b

    Last night we arrived back in Kunming and stayed in the same hotel we did the first time we were here. This morning, wake up call was at 8:30AM, which was nice because it’s a bit later than our other ones have been. After eating breakfast at the hotel, we left for the stone forest at 10AM.    During the bus ride, we wrote our introductions for tomorrow, since we’ll be arriving at our sister school. We all have to do an introduction of ourselves in front of the school. I think it shouldn’t be too bad; I hope the students like us!    Before arriving at the stone forest, we had an earlier lunch than usual. It was a little different because we all got to sit at one table. Plus, the food was really good, as well. That was also a little different than usual; there were a few different dishes that tasted really good. My favorite was the cabbage, though, even if they had it at almost every meal. But honestly everything tasted really good!   We arrived to the sto

Today was the 9th day of the trip to china and this is what we did today.  We started off the day by waking up at 7:30 and me and my roommate Anna went down to breakfast at 8:00 at breakfast we got noodles and other food but the noodles were the best. After breakfast we got on the bus and went to a Potatso National Park. When we were at the park it was really cold that i couldnt feel my fingers but it was a beautiful view of the river and the different colors of the trees.  Once we left the park we ate lunch at this little restaurant. The food was amazing and the set up was nice. The table was heated so we were warm instead of freezing like we were when we were outside. And then the food came out and we had rice, amazing fries, fired pork, and dumplings along with some tea and Sprite. Once we were done with our food we ended up taking the other tables food because there are 14 of us so we cant all fit at one table so we split up and the other table didnt eat some of their food so we t

Sunday, November 12          We had breakfast in the Lijiang hotel and after that we left the hotel around 9 am. Today we had a 5 and a half hour bus ride to Shangari-la. We visited places on the way though so it didn't seem that long. During the drive we saw beautiful views of mountains and bright blue skys. And we also saw the Yangtze River, the longest river in china, also known as the thrid longest river in the world. After a bumpy bus ride we arrived at The First Bend of the Yangtze River, where a bunch of people came and wanted to take pictures of us and with us. The attraction was in the town Shigu (means stone drum). The river does a complete 180 degrees because of a mountain, which is what makes it a big attraction.          After getting back on the bus, we passed a guy with a big group of goats walking alongside the road. After a while we also saw the Jade Dragon Mountain. We took a bathroom break, and personally I think (and I think everyone else who also went in a

Yesterday we spent our day in Li Jiang, but the day mainly consisted of travel so we did not get to experience the cities full culture and highlights.  The city of Li jiang is an ancient city with cobblestone roads surrounded by cute little shops. There are people bustling to and from and walking around the colorful streets. As you walk down the street you can hear the vroom of the mopeds and sizzle of the foods, the Mood of the city is such a fun and exciting place to be.  This morning we woke up minds bright and ready for our exciting day ahead of us. We headed to breakfast and ate fried rice and noodle soup. Our next event was a walk through a beautiful park with a river running through it, and a perfect view of the Jade Snow Mountain. The park eventually lead to a range of cute little shops selling trinkets of sorts, where we walked around for about an hour.  Our next stop was a minority temple where many people visited for it’s beauty and the religion aspect. Inside the temple w

Dali to Lijiang Never would I have expected that a three hour bus ride would have landed us in an ancient city rich of culture and intricate structures. After devouring plates of bokchoy and sautéed broccoli, each of us changed and made our way towards our first destination of the day, Dali #1 High School (this is the direct translation). As we were guided through the delicate and intercut school strictures around us, we were able to peek into each classroom. Each window and door was filled with the welcoming faces of students excited to see us "aliens" walking in "their territory". This really gave me time to reflect and see the societal difference that the United States and China has towards diversity. When exchange students or foreigners come to BMHS, there is truly a lack of care. Many people have become cynical towards the idea of a foreigner being in their presence, and because of this, many people who have visited the United States are left with

This trip has been amazing so far.  The kids are wonderful, the scenery fantastic, and our last guide was the best ever. We have had amazing experiences.  I've attached a group photo of our kids tie-dying in Dali at a workshop that's hundreds of years old.  The two old ladies were our teachers.

Today we went to the butterfly spring park, the Duan family tie-dye wholesale, took a cruise on a lake, and went shopping in yang ren jie. Starting off the day on the bus we passed strawberry fields while our tour guide Kevin told us about the park. At the park one of the first things we saw was a clear blue pond. The water was so beautiful that it looked fake, and fish swam throughout it. Trying to get a better view of the mountains, we hiked up what seemed to be ten billion steep steps. Although the view was beautiful, I could barely process it because of how tired the journey up had made me.  Once we were done there we went to a room filled with butterflies. A few of them landed on me, and a man with a giant camera took pictures of them. The funniest part of being there was when a grasshopper jumped into Shannons hair and she started freaking out in the middle of the garden. While we were in there I bought two necklaces to give to friends, and then it was time to leave. We

China Day 2 Brigit Byrne Morning call was at 7:45 today, and breakfast at 8:30. The assortment of cuisines was a relief, the equal mix of American and Chinese breakfast foods made trying new things more appealing because you’ll always have familiar dishes to fall back on. After breakfast, we exchanged money in the hotel and checked out. The bus ride to the panda persevere was about 45 minutes, most of it spent in Chengdu traffic. On the way, the tour guide discussed the economy and how a major factor of what Chengdu going is the amount that people spend on designer clothes as we passed a strip with Louis Vuitton, Dolce and Gabanna, and Omega. Upon arrival to the Panda Preserve we had to walk up the street to the entrance, it was our first time all going out as a group and we got a lot of attention. A group of Chinese school children noticed us immediately and were yelling “Foreigner!” to each other, and even a policeman walked over while on the job to take a photo of us. Entering the

November 5/6th: Today was the first day of our China study tour, and it was quite a long day! We left McMahon on November 5th at 6:30 am for our 12 pm direct flight to Beijing, China’s capital. The plane ride was 13 long hours, and although some of us were able to sleep, the rest of the day we were all pretty exhausted. When we finally arrived in Beijing, this was our first view of the huge airport: Beijing Airport After another wait, we were on the (much shorter) flight to Chengdu. Some of us were so tired that we were asleep before the takeoff!  Once in Chengdu we met our tour guide and heard about all the amazing things we would be doing today while driving through the huge city. To me, Chengdu feels a lot like New York, but more spread out and everything is in Chinese! ~Anna Pasiakos

Journal Entry Number 1: Tuesday Essential Questions: 1. To what extent does travel effect our perspective towards others? 2. How does an understanding of any other culture  help us to enhance our studies? 3. To what extent does preservation of animals ensure the survival of a species? Our first day in China was a success!  We had a great breakfast at the hotel we stayed in.  There were many options and there was even a noodle bar with a chef that would add whatever we wanted to the soup noodle combination.  Along with a large variety of noodles and add ons to that, we also had a fruit bar, lots of different pastries, and steam buns filled with pork or yellow bean paste.  After breakfast, we went back to our rooms, packed up our bags and checked out of the hotel.  We boarded the bus and drove across town to the panda preservation sites.  The pandas were so cute.  At the site, they had about 150 pandas and there were whole sections that were sectioned of specifically for

The first leg of the trip was peaceful and successful! Ms. McCarthy writes: Hi everyone, We are in the Beijing Airport, about to get on our next flight to Chengdu. Perfect flight from NY to China. Kids are tired but great.