During passing periods…

I am going to share some silly pictures mostly taken during recess time, are you ready?

First two pictures: Erica was not very excited when she found out I was taking a picture of her…..Olivia was very cooperative almost too cooperative:

Keegan and Ryan like to make fun of me by writing (pinyin) and drawing a picture of me on the board:

 

Sometimes they like to make fun of themselves:

Ethan showed me his new favorite ice cream called ”You Know”

 

Students in China need to clean their own classroom. We take turns, too. In the last picture, Ryan was sweeping the floor while complaining “I don’t like hair, I don’t like somebody else’s hair”…. hahahaha

Afternoon Activities

This week we did Chinese painting, Peking Opera Masks and rock climbing! In the meanwhile, we work really hard on hulusi, a traditional Chinese instrument and Taiji to get ready for our farewell show on next Sunday.

In Chinese painting class, Olivia showed her talent by drawing her favorite Chinese fruit. Ryan couldn’t stop laughing when I was trying to take a photo of his painting. You probably will be able to tell why from our group photo.

First Weekend with Host Families

First Excursion

Hangzhou is famous for its Dragon-well tea. Today we went hiking at the tea field and a very beautiful place called “Cloudy woods and bamboo routes”.

Our students receive a lot of attention almost everywhere. There weren’t a lot tourists today on the hills, but still a couple of them asked our boys to take pictures with them.

Papercutting

Paper cutting class:  Thursday afternoon our students created their own paper cutting art.

Indoor (cultural) activities and outdoor (sports) activities

There are various cultural activities that our students attend after our language classes. In music class, they learn a traditional Chinese instrument, hulusi. Each of them received one hulusi from the school as a gift. Keegan is the teaching assistant since he has several years of experience in saxophone. He loves to help his new friends!

Yesterday they learned to appreciate the art of Chinese painting, in next art class, they will draw a Chinese painting; today, they worked on calligraphy with the art teacher,  they created their own piece of art by the end of class. Tomorrow will be our paper cutting class.
Students are interested in very different sports, but they all have to learn Taiji, and by the end of the program they will present Taiji on stage at our farewell show. We’re working very hard while fighting with many mosquitos in the sports building….
Chinese students do morning exercise every day. Today we decided to join them. Keegan and Ethan were very competitive because they bear in mind that they represent America. They work hard, play hard and run hard.

No. 14 Middle School Tour

We are so fortunate to stay in one of the top middle schools (in China, “middle school” actually includes both junior high and high schools) in HangZhou. It has the all the facilities that we can imagine: Art Building where our students learn Chinese painting, paper cutting, calligraphy and a traditional Chinese instruments hulusi; Sports Building where they learn Taiji, play ping-pong, basketball and all kinds of sports. Ryan is really crazy about rock climbing, but unfortunately he is not allowed because his insurance doesn’t cover that kind of possible injury……he still mentions rock climbing from time to time two days after school tour. Today, he asked me very seriously: Laoshi, HOW can I do rock climbing? Of course in Chinese. Hahaha….

Boys usually don’t have camera shy, but it took me a little bit effort to take pictures of girls….they sometimes like to play hide and seek with me…

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Our original plan was to have a zongzi breakfast together this morning, since we agree that it is too early for our students to arrive school by 7:30am with their host siblings. Apparently, their host families fed them so well that all the kids were so full that none was interested in our zongzi breakfast. I did ask them about their first night at host families, all of them told me henhao, which means very good. When Jessica collected all the pictures taken by host families, she would share with you all. Stay tuned……

The Principal of No. 14 Middle school gave a welcome speech to us. We get to use their school cafeteria, food is delicious! Ethan talked to some No.14 middle school student like an old friend, then I realized that he was Ethan’s host brother!

It rained so heavily. We decided to keep our plan to take a boat ride at the West Lake. Ask them about the scenery spot that they saw. It was also on the back of 1 yuan bill.

Tomorrow will be Monday. It will be our first normal school day.  Next blog update will be by Wednesday.

First Day at No.14 Middle School

It rained a little this morning, and it was very humid in HangZhou. Jessica gave all the kids a very informative orientation on safety and logistic issues. I really liked the way she addressed issues from her personal experiences as a “foreigner” in China. She is fantastic and extremely helpful!
We took a little break by walking to a local supermarket nearby No.14 Middle School. The location of No. 14 Middle school is very convenient, 10 min walk to the famous West Lake, 5 min walk to a super market and lots of good restaurants….We had our lunch at one of them…
Right after lunch, Yongkai and I did an orientation on cultural shock, communication strategies and our program honor code. About 2:30pm in the afternoon, our host families started to come, almost all the families arrived ahead of time! We all think it is amazing that almost all the host parents and host siblings showed up(only one dad couldn’t come) . Our students and host families started to chat very naturally. We all enjoyed watching them chatting…..

I will let you know how their first night with host families was like. Stay tuned..

ARRIVAL: First night in Hangzhou,China.

We stayed at Zhejiang International Hotel. We had our first meal at a very popular restaurant right next to the hotel, Grandma’s house. Ryan is SO tired…..