GLC School Trip to China

GLC 2012 China Trip Team all checked in at Shanghai Pudong International Airport and right now on the way to fly back to New York!!!

 

Found Poem for April 16, 2012

Reflection, Really Dark Bathrooms,

Bumper Cars, Secret Sliding Doors,

Antiques,  Difficult Doorways,

Ice in the Toilet, Closed on Mondays

Emotional, Spinning Swing, Crickets

Kiddies, Lasers

 

Today was our last full day in China. I don’t mind. I’m ready to go home, but nothing will ever be the same again. First, we went to the “ Shanghai Museum” and we took pictures of our favorite exhibit pieces. The different exhibits were ceramics, calligraphy, bronze, jade, furniture and minorities in China.  Michelle and I looked at every exhibit, starting from the top floor and going to the bottom floor.

Next, we walked through the People’s Square to the Urban Planning Museum.  When we got there, we were presented with a surprise – it’s closed on Mondays!  We have changed our schedule and will be going tomorrow.  Instead, (everyone’s favorite) we took a walk to the park and rode on one of the amusement park rides. I think it was called the” Spinning Swing”. I wrote down how I was feeling abut the ride in my learning log. Before there is any real description, all you see is the word “ Fun “ written about five times. It was like going on the cyclone for the first time. ( In my opinion because its been so long) The falling feeling was what made the ride fun though.   For those of us that weren’t feeling as adventurous, there were the bumper cars.  We also walked through a free gym in the park.  Many of us enjoyed the exercise equipment.

- Post by Raquel

Even though it was the last full day in China, it was full of great things as well.  The lunch we had was very impressive. They served us small portions, so it felt really fancy, but at the same time very chilled out, so it was definitely one of my favorite places to eat this whole trip.  After the lunch we went downstairs to nice lounge where they served us strawberry mousse, and our choice of drink (iced coffee or iced tea).  I think I like American ice cream is better than the Chinese one though.  Another thing that was pretty cool about the restaurant was that you had to push a special button to open the entrance door, so it seemed a little secretive.  Also the bathroom doorknobs were switched so we were pushing on the wrong side to get in for about 5 minutes until we finally figured it out.  All in all it was an outstanding lunch.

The antique street market was very cool, because it was literally all antique items.  The people who were pulling us to buy their things weren’t as aggressive as the mall we went to, but it was still pretty crazy how hard they went to sell just one little item.  After this street market we walked through the pet market.  There were many animals here, from cats to worms, and it was really interesting so find out what kind of people go to these kind of places.  I found out that the Chinese like crickets a lot because they supposed to bring good luck, and they like the sounds they make.  Unfortunately a lot of them buy and literally train crickets for cricket fights and bet money on them. The last stop was the Yu Yuan Garden was the last stoop we went to.  It was a very beautiful place and a lot of tourists like to go here.  We learned that the curved rooftops mean that the square structure of the building under them were in balanced harmony.

- Post by Nick

For dinner we went to a local restaurant and had all of our favorite foods.  We reflected on our morning trip to the museum.  We all shared pictures and information about an artifact that we found interesting.  After a few laughs and shared stories, we talked about our future and China.  We made goals for our future and bonded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found Poem for April 15, 2012

China Prep Sweatshirts, Pineapple,

Mushrooms and Bok choi,

Homemade Deliciousness, Bargained Wallet

Dancing, I am the World’s Greatest,

Sweet and Sour Pork, Fake

Sweet Lunch, Gifts, Mall, Chop Suey

Stamps

 

Today, we went shopping twice, a fancy lunch, and a cooking class (where we ate the food we cooked). When we were shopping, we had to learn some bargaining skills. Ann taught us to always ask for 10% of the original price they give us to pay for it. We can start off by cutting half of the first price they give us and then half of it again. If the saleswoman isn’t willing to push the price down any lower, we can start to walk away. The person will always try to drag us back to give us the price we want. Also, when we buy electronics we should always make sure that they work and if they’re even in the box it comes with. Ann tried to make sure we wouldn’t get cheated by giving us some price ranges we should pay in between for certain products.

- Post by Jenny

Today we had lunch in a restaurant that was in a mall. The food was different in a good way because many dishes were sweet. I have also noticed that ever since we have arrived in Shang Hai, we have been served spicier foods than the other cities. After eating, we walked out on a porch that gave us a beautiful view of the Pu River and the west side of it. Then we walked around in the mall for a bit but nobody purchased anything because we were so used to bargaining and the cheap prices of the previous mall.

- Post by Dustin

Then, we went to the KTV karaoke place and sung some songs. We all had so much fun, everyone was up and dancing at one point. Even the teachers joined in and started dancing around with us. All the chaperones had surprises for us, the teachers started out with preparing an awards ceremony for us. They all came up with funny things that reminded them of us throughout the trips to give us awards for. China Prep also gave us sweatshirts to keep. We had a very fun time at karaoke, and I’m sure everyone will remember dancing around, singing, and waving our maracas around.

- Post by Jenny

For dinner, we all went to a Chinese cooking class.  Our head chef, Mike, paired us up with cooking partners based off of our preferences.  There was Kung Pow Chicken, Shanghai Noodles, Clams, Sweet and Sour Pork, Eggs and Tomatoes, and Mushrooms and Bok Choi. We prepared and cooked a dish with a partner and I cooked a string bean dish with Besar. Everybody made great dishes and in a way it reminded me of how my father cooks me delicious meals. It takes a lot of time to do all that work and chopping but it is definitely worth it because Chinese food is amazing. In fact I will try to cook for myself in NYC because I am really getting tired of cereal and Poptarts when I am home alone.

After dinner, Ann and Peter took us for a walk around our hotel.  Ann also bought us ice cream for dessert.  It was nice to see the Pu Dong side of Shanghai at night.

- Post by Dustin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found Poem April 14, 2012

 

 

“Gender changing bathrooms”, Kung Fu,

Strawberries, Beautiful Sonny, Ann,

Family, Long Fist, City Lights, Together,

Shanghai Climb, Lu Pu Bridge,

Happy New Year, Bird

Besar’s awesome blog (most likely badly punctuated)

*ahem*

Today our groups went to the Oriental TV Pearl Tower right after breakfast (of which I didn’t have any because I thought my room was haunted, but that’s a whoooole other story…) we looked up to it and saw its huge awesomeness in the form of pearls. We rode the elevator up to 267 meters and looked at the city from the observation decks and looked at the amazing sites like the buildings, rivers and boats. I also found out my camera has a panoramic option so my day was made. After observing, we went a lower observation deck where the floor was made of glass, so obviously we took a ridiculous amount of pictures with awesome poses. The Chinese people were staring at us BUT THEY WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND OUR AWESOMENESS. Well maybe one day they will…

After going to the museum, which was actually after the Oriental TV Pearl Tower, we went to Ann’s parents house to eat some yummy food they prepared for us. They made fried lotus fruit with pork, vegetable dumplings, beef dumplings, pork dumplings, soup dumplings, beef buns, red bean buns, vegetable buns, but my favorite was the strawberries. It was indeed yummy in my tummy. Ann’s parents wouldn’t let us stop eating though, they were very nice and I was surprised by their generous hospitality and set a great influence on all of us for manners. I wish I could go back everyday for their food. I’m jealous of Ann…

Nick’s blog

After the amazing food we had at Ann’s parents’ house, China Prep surprised us with the opportunity to climb the Lu Pu Bridge.  Pu means water in Chinese.  The  actual climb up the bride was way more different than I expected.  I thought it would be just  a couple flights of stairs up to the top, but it wasn’t, at all.  They weren’t kidding when they named it the Shanghai climb.  The stairs up seemed never ending.  We even saw people working on the bridge with no harnesses.  It really seems like the Chinese don’t care about their own safety when it comes to construction and things of that nature.  By the time we actually got to the top (after at least 10 minutes of climbing), I was so tired that I didn’t even notice the amazing view the top of the bridge gave us on all of Shanghai, and the Yellow river.   That was definitely an experience I will never forget.

After the Shanghai climb, we went to the French Concession area in Shanghai, where we took a Kung Fu class.  By the way, the French Concession area is very crowded and filled with tourists.  I barely felt like we were in China when we’re here.  Jong Lao Shir, the Kung Fu master and our teacher, was extremely talented.  I’m pretty sure the warm ups he gave us were meant for people on his level of skill, because the way he was making us stretch, kick, and punch, weren’t comfortable in any way at all.  I used to take karate classes when I was younger, so this really reminded me of how fun this was.  I’m really glad we did this today, and I’m glad Jong Lao Shir was our teacher.  I walked into the class knowing very little about Kung Fu, and in only a half hour, walked out knowing a lot of great information and moves as well.

For dinner, we went down to the center of Shanghai and ate at a Yunnan (southern part of China) restaurant where there are a lot of Southeastern influences, specifically Vietnam and Taiwan).  The food was very spicy yet very delicious.  Our table set up was a long table, so no lazy susan.  The bathrooms were very interesting as well.

p.s  I’ll be blogging the last day too (16^th) ;D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found Poem             April 13, 2012

 

Tea, Clapping

Hawthorne Berries

Pagoda, birthday

Delicious noodles, Health

Japanese, Elephants

Lemon, Spit

Tea Fields, Bullet

Sonny’s super saucy blog

When the morning began, we had spare time, so we went to the zoo. At the zoo, there were some rare/cool animals that were unique to China. When we arrived there, we saw a show with an elephant (which I felt bad for) that was doing tricks and taking pictures while holding people. After that, we continued with regular exhibits like fish (who had freaky eyes), and primates, not to mention the ever famous and rare PANDA. The only bad thing is that both pandas were sleeping..

After the zoo, we journeyed to the Pagoda (the building you saw in the mountains near the West Lake). Due to the fact that it was destroyed long ago during the Cultural Revolution, it is now rebuilt and extremely modern. On the stairs up to there, they put escalators.. Inside the Pagoda, we learned the history of it, and how it was used. We also took some awesome pictures on the top floor.  While at the Pagoda, we ran into a bunch of Chinese High School students, well actually they RAN up to us, screaming and waving their cameras.  They all swarmed us and asked to take pictures with some of us.

Besar’s awesome blog (most likely badly punctuated)

*ahem* Dear Diary

Today at the tea fields in Hangzhou we surveyed the different kinds of teas and even had the chance to taste/trial some different kinds of teas. We learned that the best kinds of tea leaves are the small young branches with only 3 leaves on them (though sadly I can’t remember why…) at the end of tea leaves hunting we got to taste the different teas and learned about the things tea does for your body by detoxify it. After all the tea tasting we had the chance to buy all the very healthy teas and bought tea candy.

After the tea fields we left to get to our train ride to Shanghai by taking a bullet train.  It was a very smooth ride and went by quickly so all is good, but the engineers were too lazy to put normal people toilets and only had the toilets where you have to squat *frowny face* After the bullet train and arriving in Shanghai we took the subway train. I love how the turnstile can read the pass cards through my wallet, I wish they had that in New York… so then, shortly after we stopped near our hotel and walked there. The only thing I didn’t like was carrying our luggage. I have lots of luggage so personally I don’t know about anyone else but IT WAS THE MOST AGGRAVATING THING.

For dinner, we just hopped next door to a Japanese restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Half Way Point Journal Topic:

We’ve learned a lot so far on our journey.  If you can bring back four things with you from China to show/tell your family and friends, what would it be?  These four things come from only four different categories:

Physical: menu, statue of Buddha, pork buns, two fancy chopsticks,  2 pieces of the Great Wall, Laughing Buddha, a new journal, a Chinese style poster of Kelvin.
Historical: constant threat from Mongols but never rebelled, Emperor’s concubines and their rituals, different Buddha stories, Laughing Buddha story, dynasties, the history of the Forbidden City, the history of the Great Wall, the infertile prince, golden notches, old folklore and the Broken Bridge.
Customary: Five Lazy Susans to our houses, calligraphy skills, tea serving, small portions with healthier portions, scrolls with famous sayings and pictures, covering your mouth when you laugh, and serving other people before yourself.
Lifestyle: Dancing in the Temple of Heaven, drinking tea with every meal, Wu-Shu, bike riding, not wasting food, praying to Buddha, putting solar panels on the street lights, free outdoor gyms, not wasting paper and water, exercising, and their diet.

Found Poem April 12, 2012
Peaceful, Five Hundred, Tea

Enlightenment, Monks, Green

Chopsticks, Crazy Monk, On Your Way To Buddha,

Temple, Caves, Prayer, Rock-a-tecture

West Lake, Turbulence

 

Today we flew to Hangzhou.  We landed there safely and we had a nice lunch (American style) at KFC.  It was very authentic to our country.  Other than that, we didn’t have any bumps on our ride – Ms. Tran and Ms. Briggs even got upgraded to first class!  On our way into the city, our tour guide told us that Hangzhou means Heaven on Earth and it is known as the Tea City.  After going through typical Hangzhou traffic, we finally arrived at the West Lake.  The West Lake is a man-made lake that people visit on a daily basis.  It is said that if a boy and a girl walk around the lake together, they will end up dating and then eventually married.  Ann and Peter surprised us with a boat ride across the West Lake.  It was very peaceful and relaxing – I even had a chance to steer the boat!  Then we rode bikes around the West Lake which was amazing.  The bikes we rented from a local merchant.   It was a little crowded but we managed – we are New Yorkers after all ☺ All in all it was an action filled morning.

-    Post by George

Ling Yin Buddhist Temple was a beautiful place full of statues and trees.  When you walking around there, you feel one with the environment and take passion of the religion.  The temple feels like a home. The Buddhas there are of all colorful and in many different shapes and sizes.  We had the chance to see the largest sitting Buddha in the world.  We were very lucky to witness a prayer ceremony amongst the monks.  Some Buddhas were very happy, especially the Laughing Buddha –  one of the more impressive statues I have ever seen.  The trees at the temple make the place seem peaceful, the people are relaxed and the religion on top of that is incredible.  The other half of the temple is made out of caves.  There are many Buddhas and monks carved into the limestone of the caves.  Our tour guide told us about how the mountain came into existence.  The flying peak is the top part of the mountain that flew over to Hangzhou from India.  The stories say that we know this is true because the top peak is different from the rest of the mountain.   We had dinner at a fancy hotel and tried Chinese pizza for the first time (no sauce and no cheese).  We had to cancel our trip to the Hangzhou night market because it was raining.

- Post by Kelvin

** To all 2011 China trip participants: Yuan is back with the Hello Kitty ☺

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found Poem April 11th

Calligraphy, Family Dispute,

Wu Shu

Forbidden, Sculpture

Exercise, Animal Organs

Illiterate Emperor, Tree

Frank, Jasmine Tea,

Beautiful.

 

Today we went to Tianamen Square.  It was really windy in the morning, but that didn’t stop us from learning more about China.  “Tian” means heaven, “an” means peace and “men” means gate.  When we got there, Ann, Peter (both from China Prep) and Frank (our tour guide) told us that Mao’s body was in the shrine.  There were hundreds of people lined up to see his body.  Luckily, Frank knew to avoid the crowds.  He then told us about the student protests in the square and how the soldiers weren’t originally armed with loaded weapons.  Unfortunately, the protesters took it too far and the soldiers were told to do anything possible to keep themselves safe.  This led to the infamous 1989 Tiananmen Square killings. We compared this situation to the most recent protesters in London. At the end of the square there was the Tiananmen gate (which checks visitors) to the left and a watch tower (used by military to protect the city) to the right.

_   Post by Kelvin

Today we went to the Forbidden City. When we got there, I was excited to learn about the history of it. I’ve seen a bunch of movies (Chinese “movies” were usually called “dramas”) that were set back in the monarchy times when emperor’s would rule. Until this trip, I always thought the settings were the actual Forbidden City. But I also learned there was only one actual Italian film filmed in the Forbidden City, hence “Forbidden”.

When we went inside the Forbidden City, Frank (our tour guide) told us many stories that related to the reason why certain things were there, and there positions in the city.   Since I was little, I’ve always watched dramas about the imperial times and the Forbidden City, a lot of Chinese dramas like to film about history. When I realized a lot of information I knew was wrong, I was eager to learn which things were right and which things were wrong from the dramas.

I also learned new information, so it made me happy. When Frank was talking to us on the bus, he asked us about the 1^st emperor of the Ming Dynasty and whom he picked to become the next emperor. From the dramas I watched, I knew the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd sons were dead, so the 4^th son was the next oldest. Although I don’t know if this next information I learned from the drama was true: the reason why the 4^th son didn’t get picked was because this “mother” (the empress) wasn’t his actual mother. His actual mother was a concubine. At the time that this 4^th son was given birth to, the empress also tried to give birth to the next heir. Unfortunately, she had a miscarriage. The emperor wanted to keep the empress happy, so he forced the concubine to give her son up to the empress. When the time came for the emperor to pick his heir, he didn’t want to pick the 4^th son (the oldest one and most eligible) because he wasn’t the empress’ actual son. So, the emperor picked the 1^st sons’ son, his grandson, to become the heir. I knew how to answer Frank’s question from the information I learned from the movie.

-       Post by Jenny

After the Forbidden City “journey”, we went to a super good restaurant called Peeking Duck, which obviously specialized in duck.  Let me tell you that this duck was soooooooo good – especially when we made the duck wrap with mango sauce.  It was so savory.  Ann arranged for us to visit the kitchen to take a “turn” at revolving the ducks in the oven so that they wouldn’t burn.  Afterwards, we visited the Urban Planning Museum which featured many bird eye views of Beijing. They also  had many future buildings that were going to be built.  We also had to find our hotel on a scale map of Beijing that was a 3D model as well.  I, of course, with my superior navigation skills found it first with the help of a colleague. Next, we went to very old part of Beijing that specializes in shopping.   We had an hour to shop and many of my peers bought souvenirs.  This shopping experience was different than the Great Wall because you can’t bargain.

-  Post by George

After visiting the shops, we rode rickshaws around the town, and eventually into our next activity. We then visited a Whu-Shu master, Mr. Lui. After showing us some cool moves, he brought out weapons. At a safe distance, he performed challenging moves that people would only see in cartoons. He then let others try with dull weapons. They made poses that Whu-Shu fighters would do. After putting away the weapons, he showed us his musical skills, by playing an Er Yinyue (basically the Chinese version of a violin). After showing us some songs, he let some students try it. I was the first to try it, but I didn’t do so well.  When he put the Er Yunyue away, he began to teach us Calligraphy. He taught us basics such as “China” or “Sun”. The way you wrote the Calligraphy required a completely different hand position which is hard to get used to. Once we were done with Calligraphy, he and his wife treated us to a homemade Chinese dinner. It was not as fancy as the other restaurants we’ve been to, but knowing that his family had made it for us was an enjoyable experience. It was challenging, because not finishing the food is considered disrespectful. Even when we were all full, we were still stuffing our faces with rice and other dishes. When we finished dinner, we thanked him, and exercised in the free gym that is apart of the park in front of his house.  Our finally stop for the day was the night market.  Here, we saw very unique foods; snake, spider, bull hearts, scorpions, crickets, beetles, etc.  Needless to say, we did not buy anything, just took in a different part of the Chinese culture.  Tomorrow we fly to Hangzhou.

-     Post by Sonny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3

Found Poem April 10, 2012

Buddha, Tall, Lucky Number 9,

Heaven, Basketball, Llama,

Guaranteed Happiness

Laughing Buddha, Respect for Religions

Cold Chicken Fingers, Silk Worms,

Incense, Community

 

After having the same old breakfast, some food and 2 cups of coffee, we headed on the bus going to the Temple of Heaven. Seeing history surrounded by modern civilization is an amazing sight. There were 2 temples, the first one smaller then the other. I learned today that the entire land represented the division between Earth and the heavens.  The Temple of Heaven is a little like central park in the way of being around for long and being made by hand and showing the inner beauty of nature. After we decided to visit the Silk Factory. We met K.G., our silk factory tour guide. He explained to us the life cycle of a silk worm from beginning to end. We also saw how they extract the silk from the silk worms cocoon, and how not one part of the silk worm is wasted. The actual cocoon is used for the silk, and the body is used as a common snack. We were also shown how the silk is increased in size by stretching and pulling.  Some ambassadors bought silk comforters and received 10% off – this is especially cool because it is harder to bargain in a factory compared to street vendors.

-Post by Tyler

Today we went to the Llama Temple, which was started by the Tang Dynasty.  Although it was built a long time ago, it is still an active temple. In the temple we saw the LaoShing Temple, which houses the tallest standing wooden Buddha in the entire world. The Buddha was made from a tree. It was 84 feet high. But the most upsetting part was the fact that we could not take pictures of the Buddhas because of religious reasons, “an active temple”. Today at lunch we had a lot of food but my favorite dish was the lamb. It was so spicy- my mouth was on fire!!!  The lamb was delicious but the red chili peppers made everyone at the table gasp for air, and grab their water bottles. I love trying new foods everyday. Out of everything in China one thing I am going to miss the most is the food.

-Post by Michelle

Today I interviewed kids from a Chinese High School. It was very interesting to see the similarities and differences that we had with them. The girl I interviewed was Ally and she is in the 10^th grade, yet she was taking Trigonometry and only the Juniors at our school are taking it. When I asked the kids what colleges they wanted to go to they just listed Ivy League Schools which makes sense because those are the most famous and prestigious schools. Their academic life is completely different from ours. They study every night and have about 4 hours of homework while we have 1 or 2 hours of homework and 1 test each week. The sports they play most are Ping Pong and Basketball, which is an interesting combination. They also have many clubs at school like dance club. Overall I think that American schools are very different from Chinese schools but in terms of being teenagers, we are all very much the same.

-Post by Dustin

* Shout out to Michael from Sonny – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! (all the way on the other side of the world) *

** Pictures will be added by 8:00PM (New York time) because the internet runs much better then **

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found Poem for April 9th

Great Wall, tired

sunblock burns eyes

words, toboggan

acrobats, slow

mountain, duck, climb

bargaining, restricted art

losing money

 

Today we went to the Great Wall. I woke up this morning feeling so exited that I was going to one of the World’s Greatest Wonders.  The bus ride was and hour from the hotel to the part of the Great Wall where we were going to visit. Our tour guide, Frank, told us that the Great Wall is 2020 years old! When we got to the wall, I was very exited. The walk up to the wall was an experience that I will never forget.  There had to be about 200 or more stairs. My friend, Jenny and I were the last ones up with Ann. When we got to the top, I was a little out of breath but everyone clapped for us and I knew that we accomplished something amazing.   This is a wonderful, breath taking experience and I could not believe that my dream came true. After walking a little bit of the Great Wall and taking pictures, we took the toboggan down the mountain.  The toboggan its like a sled that has a lever that you push down to accelerate and pull back to break.  We each had our own toboggan that we drove down a giant slide.  The whole ride lasts for around five minutes.  Once the toboggan ride was over, we had the chance to use our bargaining skills for the first time.  Some people had success and others did not and paid too much for some items.

- Post by Michelle

After the Great Wall we went to the China Art District.  In this area, we took pictures of Chinese statues, figures and factories.  From 1966 to 1976, the culture of China was very strict.  Some examples include no entertainment, no reading and limited shopping.  Ann said that there were only eight movies during these ten years.  These movies were categorized as the “red movies”.  I can’t believe that!  She also mentioned that there was only one day to shop for the meat and milk for your family.  Once Chairman Mao died in 1976, the Chinese culture became flexible and open.  We took some awesome pictures as a group with the art statues.

Next, we went to the acrobat show.  My favorite act was the motorcycles in the big giant metal orb. In the motorcycle act, there were 7 motorcyclists all riding orb, there were also many bright lights in the act, and I was so happy.  In another act, I was very scared when the guy who was on the wheel and almost fell as he was blindfolded. My heart started beating fast!!  Then there was one acrobat who was stacking a bunch of chairs one by one and performing special handstands.  This reminded me of when I was younger and how much I loved doing handstands.  Another act had girls riding on bicycles and performing cool acrobatic stunts.  At one time, at least ten girls were piled onto one bicycle.  Unfortunately, two girls fell during one of the stunts.  She looked like she got injured. I felt sad for her.  For dinner, we went to a Peeking Duck restaurant.

- Post by Donte

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I’m in the airport right now…and to tell you the truth, I’m not that excited. I already expect great things from China. I guess expectation has left me without excitement.

Ok… We’re on the plane and it’s almost in the air. I’m kind of hungry, as I’m sure everyone is. ANYWAY. Here we are on the trip of a lifetime, watching T.V. listening to music, doing the usual stuff. Michelle is anxious to write down the exact time we take off. And right now, everything is very… quiet.

No one’s speaking to each other on the plane because we are all so tired and I don’t think the silence is going to end anytime soon. It’s nice though, The silence is kind of relaxing.

It’s 12:30 and we still haven’t left. Luckily the plane has lots of cool movies, and music, and shows.

Never mind! The plane just took off and it’s awesome!! It’s like a 13 hour roller coaster!! Yes, the airplane is cramped and it’s not exactly first class… but we are excited anyway!

It’s been a few hours since we left the U.S.  and we still have seven hours until we land. Right now we are in a cloud above Ireland, or at least I think it’s Ireland. It’s starting to get dark though. I just woke up from a nap and I’m watching  “Anchorman” with Will Ferrell.

Hey! We finally landed in Beijing, Ann and Peter were at the airport to pick us up.  Now a 45 minute bus ride to our hotel.  Beijing traffic is crazy – I would say crazier than New York City traffic!

-Post by Raquel

Found Poem April 7

Found Poem 4/07

I like planes

Arctic Circle, excited, togetherness,

Tired, air, hysterical, confused

Wall, amazing, adventures,

Museums, clouds, sleep.

 

When I first saw the hotel on the outside I thought it looked amazing! It was well decorated and looked pretty official.  Ann said that we are in the financial district and this hotel is rated 4 stars.  When we walked inside it just looked amazing. After seeing my room I just couldn’t believe it, I made it to China. After 15 hours I made it.

We all met in Ann’s room to discuss procedures and rules. We also went over how our WHOLE trip will be. After orientation, we went to a restaurant with Ann and Peter. We sat in a room with one large table.  In the center of the table was a Lazy Susan, the traditional way food is served in restaurants here.  Ann explained all the different types of foods we would be eating and then our first dishes came. Watching the table turn left and right I just thought, “wow, this looks awesome”.  I tried new dishes like Steamed Pork Buns and Lamb Shish Kabob. After dinner, we cruised around town and looking at the wonderful Beijing city at night. It looked like a calmer New York City to be honest. One of the greatest sights to see was the Forbidden City lit up.  We can’t wait to go there during the day on Wednesday.  I enjoyed myself today. I think everyone else did also.

- Post by Tyler

Found Poem for April 8, 2012

Exciting, food, sleep, tired

Relax, bed, oxygen

City, pictures, fun

Singing Asian ladies in the restaurant