China November 2017

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. Insid...

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....

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 ...