China2025

A Warm Welcome Today we went to visit the local middle school. In China, middle school is a little bit different since it has students from grades 7 through 9, but overall it felt very similar to my own experience in America. What struck me the most though was how welcomed I felt into every single one of their classes. Each teacher had prepared a special lesson for us: traditional paper cutting (art), the history of porcelain and china (Chinese language), using chopsticks (history), and more. In addition to changing their planned lessons, many teachers added English captions to their slideshows, so that we would be able to follow along with the students. The reception went beyond just accommodating us though. It truly felt like they wanted us to have the best experience possible, and the community went above and beyond what I would’ve expected from a school in America. For example, during first period we were making paper fish – a supposedly easy task – and I somehow messed mine up...

Treasured moments with host families One of the biggest differences I have noticed so far is how late the college application process is for high school seniors in China. While all the seniors in our group have already started hearing back from colleges or even know where they will be going next year, the students here have yet to take the college entrance exam, or Gaokao. Because Syndiely and I have a host brother who is currently a senior at a boarding school, our host father told us all of the facts about the Gaokao. After students take the test in June, they submit their scores; however, if you don’t score above 500 points, your chances of getting into college are very low. Additionally, our host father told us that only 20% of students from this area are able to get into college, otherwise they will have to make a living farming. Because the Gaokao is so important to the students’ future, our host father expressed to us that he was worried about his son’s score and wanted us to ...

Service Learning and Cultural Exchange We started the day with a thoughtful discussion about the meaning of service learning, which prepared us well for the service work ahead of us. We discussed what constitutes as service work, and came to the consensus that service learning is an exchange of cultures—and that service work should be centered around what the local community would like us to do, rather than what we think is helpful to them. We agreed that service isn’t merely doing manual labor (because a lot of times the locals can do it WAY better and quicker than us), but also learning about the customs, traditions, language, and food of the community we are serving and providing ours as well. Akal and I really enjoy teaching our little siblings English after dinner, usually through reading them children’s books and helping with English homework (of course it’s not just service but also spending time with them as family). But let’s get back to what our group did today. We spent ...

We weren’t supposed to go to the national park today. The schedule planned for our trip to San Bai Shan (San Bai Mountain) to be tomorrow, but because the weather was so sunny, our leaders decided today would be the best day to go. The gorgeous scenery, clear air, and amazing views left a lasting impression on me, and the park definitely lived up to the five star rating given to it by the Chinese government. It was a bright and sunny morning when we arrived at the main gate of San Bai Shan National Park. We had such great energy to start the day, and instantly rode a gondola to a higher elevation. We were immediately given great views of the landscape, with the diverse tree line and never-ending mountain range. Right off of the gondola, we were given a presentation on Gan Giants, which were mythological creatures that preceded homo sapiens. They have some unique features: backwards feet and lots of hair. Apparently, when they came in contact with modern humans, they smiled so wide that...

Baskets and Junior High Yesterday, the entire group went to go see a master bamboo craftsman at work. We referred to him as shifu or master in Chinese. We toured his inventory before sitting down to watch him work and it was impressive. There was a multitude of different projects, from simple chicken cages to actual chairs, all made out of bamboo. He told us (albeit translated from Zhang Laoshi) that sometimes, in the case of chairs or structures that need to support weight, the bamboo needs to be hard and dry, so they will cut the bamboo and wait before using it for any projects. When the process requires intricate woven patterns, like the basket we saw and helped him make, the bamboo needed to be fresh and supple, so the bamboo we used had been cut down just the day before. During the process, he taught us how to weave the bamboo fronds so they made a strong shape that could hold rice in order to stir fry it.  We went in pairs of two and started helping him craft it. Earlier th...

First Impressions of the Village After nearly 30 hours of travel, we arrived at Sanbaishan. We were welcomed to the hotel where we would be staying the night by the very enthusiastic staff, who had many cameras and were even equipped with an overhead drone. We were seated at a “lazy susan” table which was elaborately decked out with lots and lots of Chinese food: both vegetable and meat soups, noodle dishes, and egg dishes. The inside disk of the table, where the food dishes were, slowly rotated around, so that if you wanted a dish on the other side of the table you needed to wait until it came around to you and then serve yourself quickly before it rotated away again. I think the most notable thing about this meal was that all of the dishes were communal, requiring a serving spoon or chopsticks to serve yourself a small portion onto a personal plate. Because of this arrangement, and the rotating table, the meal became a communal activity, which I thought was very fun. The next mor...

 The group after check in at the airport The students during their layover working on their group expectations, like community expectations, for their time traveling together  The group after arriving in Guangzhou