I woke in the morning and started to get ready. I met everyone downstairs to begin our second day of teaching. Salima and I were off this round, so we were assigned to help another group in there lessons. I was in the Peach room with Alana and M’kaela to teach cute little kiddos about emotions. Alana went first and her lesson went amazing. The kids were calm at first, but became energetic during the freeze dance activity. I was amazed that the kids were able to pick up on the emotions that we were trying to teach. Alana’s class ended and we all headed back to the hotel. I was able to give Alana some feedback and suggestions that we went over during that time. Afterwards, I played a few rounds of card games with Ben (that I won btw LOL JK.) We returned back to the school and it was time for M’kaela teach her lesson plan. Her lesson was very cool because she is having the kids grasp the concept of feeling and understanding emotions through music. There was one part where the kids had to close their eyes to listen to a song and then explain which emotion it made them feel. One kid was so excited that he was dancing even with his eyes closed. It was the cutest thing ever! At the end, we thanked the teachers and took a group photo. We returned back to the hotel and then rested up for our early and excited day tomorrow: panda exhibit!
--Sydney
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Today was our first day of teaching! All of our preparation and hard work throughout the Spring semester and all the way up until now, is finally paying off. I was so excited to see how well everyone could execute their lesson plans and be of great service to the preschool here at SWUST.
Waking up at 7 am, the first thing I thought about was how appreciative I am to be given this opportunity to teach young children here in China. The second thing I thought about was breakfast! : ) After getting dressed and ready, my roommate and I went down to the second floor of the hotel and grabbed a quick breakfast before we meet with the rest of the group at 7:45. Here we were informed by Dr. Paik that one person in a group would teach in the morning from 8:40 – 9:20 and the second person in the group would teach from 3:00 – 3:40. My partner and I decided that she would teach in the morning and I would teach in the afternoon. Now we are off to the pre-school! Our original plan was to walk to the pre-school from our hotel, but the very nice student helpers arranged for 3 vans to give us transportation to the preschool instead! When we arrive, I am in awe of how huge this pre-school is; a castle-like structured building, with a skybridge that connects one side of the pre-school to a large playing area. WOW! This is definitely not what I had expected of a pre-school, this was even better than what I expected. The group goes up to a room designated for us where we can prepare for our lesson plans with our partner. Although it wasn’t my turn to teach, I was so excited to see how the students would react to her lesson plan. We go in and start teaching at 8:40 and it was a success! Everyone headed back to the hotel for a debrief in Dr. Paik’s room. Dr. Paik congratulated everyone on doing a great job and informed us that before we go back to the pre-school in the afternoon, we are going to be joining SWUST students to try a traditional dish, called Zongzi, that is eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival which will take place this weekend. One of the SWUST students taught me that this dish is eaten in honor of Qu Yuan, a person who sacrificed his life for the common people. It was really interesting to know the history behind this amazing rice dumpling dish. After chatting with the SWUST students and enjoying their cultural food, we headed back to the pre-school for the afternoon groups to teach their lesson plans. After I saw how well they interacted with my partner’s lesson plan in the morning, I was so excited to see how the students would react to my lesson plan. My lesson plan is called “Music Day” and it involves the students dancing and listening to music, all while learning about the different ways music can make us feel inside. I was happy to see that the students were having so much fun and understanding what emotion each song made them feel. Especially with the language barrier, I was nervous that the students wouldn’t understand the concept of the activities but somehow it just worked, and I was able to enjoy the music and the different activities with the children. I can not wait to go back tomorrow!! After we all get back to the hotel, I decompressed for a bit and reflected a lot on my teaching and how I can make room for improvement. Later in the evening, Juan and I ventured out on our own to find something small to eat because we weren’t that hungry. As we walk around local restaurants we found a woman making fried rice with all different types of veggies. We were able to put all the vegetables we wanted in a bowl, gave her the bowl to cook it in with the rice and there she prepared it right in front of us. It was like Benihana but tastier, authentic, and cheaper! : ) After this, Juan and I walked back to the hotel and told each other to get a good night’s rest and prepare for another great day at the pre-school tomorrow. M'Kaela The day started off young with everyone meeting in the hotel lobby at 9am to head to our welcoming ceremony at SWUST. For our welcoming ceremony we sat down in a very well air-conditioned room with students who volunteered to give us their time and talk to us or ask questions about the many things we enjoyed, have done, or want to do in China. They also asked us many questions about life in the states. After the Professors in SWUST gave us their presentations of culture shock and the things we might find different about China, we participated in student led art activities. Half of the students got to do a form of embroidery and the other half of the students did art using many beans and seeds to make different Chinese words. It was during this point where we learned so much about each other. We learned some of them wee fans of Game of Thrones, Beyoncé and the hit children’s song “Baby Shark”. They also learned that many of us come from vastly different cultural backgrounds and even though we are all from the US, we all have very different ways of upbringing and the ways we live.
Once our meeting was done, we headed out to lunch at one of the canteens in school. This was very exciting not just for the fact that it was way more packed then it usually is when we go, but also because mostly everyone thought there was going to be food at the welcoming ceremony when there wasn’t, so we all skipped out on breakfast and we were hungry. After we all piled on the food (only spending about 2-3 dollars) and grubbed it down, we headed into the local area to visit the bakeries and other food/clothing stores for some tasty treats and fashion. After lunch we split off to different areas, some of us went to the hotel, get Boba, or just explore the area. I decided to go to the store with some people and this is where I found the badminton rackets for about 2 dollars each, and this is where the next part of the day started. I quickly told Ben about my findings and we headed right back to the store and bought 4 rackets and some birdies (what you hit with the badminton rackets, not an actual bird). Four of us then met up in front of the University and headed in where our navigating and communicating skills were tested. After walking mindlessly for about 15-20 minutes we’ve decided to ask the students for help. Sydney used her amazing gestures and nonverbal communication skills to ask the students for directions and luckily enough, we found the one single court with a torn-up net, but it was perfect. We played for about 5 minutes before we started noticing the rackets and birdies breaking and in about 30 minutes all the birdies and rackets were broken. It was a great time in a beautiful university. For dinner we decided to be adventurous and go eat in the local community. We found a nice little KBBQ style spot where we were quickly seated and given a menu that was completely in Chinese with no images and just words and circles to check for what we wanted to eat. We tried communicating with the waiter using translating apps, but it didn’t seem to work, so we resorted to more of our primal instincts—pointing. We pointed at different thing that people were eating around us, and we started making progress on our menu. Then our savior came, a lady sitting next to us and clearly saw our struggles and decided to help us and she spoke some English. So, with her help (which we were very grateful for) she got us some of the best food to chow down. We got pork, beef, spicy beef, mushrooms, chicken marinated in so many spices, veggies, more mushrooms, rice, fruit platters, and seconds on all above dishes. This cost all of us 7$ each and the food was amazing. After dinner was done and our tummies were full, we walked around the area stopping by shops, people selling earrings in front of the shops and some late-night ice cream to end the day.The day started off young with everyone meeting in the hotel lobby at 9am to head to our welcoming ceremony at SWUST. For our welcoming ceremony we sat down in a very well air-conditioned room with students who volunteered to give us their time and talk to us or ask questions about the many things we enjoyed, have done, or want to do in China. They also asked us many questions about life in the states. After the Professors in SWUST gave us their presentations of culture shock and the things we might find different about China, we participated in student led art activities. Half of the students got to do a form of embroidery and the other half of the students did art using many beans and seeds to make different Chinese words. It was during this point where we learned so much about each other. We learned some of them wee fans of Game of Thrones, Beyoncé and the hit children’s song “Baby Shark”. They also learned that many of us come from vastly different cultural backgrounds and even though we are all from the US, we all have very different ways of upbringing and the ways we live. Once our meeting was done, we headed out to lunch at one of the canteens in school. This was very exciting not just for the fact that it was way more packed then it usually is when we go, but also because mostly everyone thought there was going to be food at the welcoming ceremony when there wasn’t, so we all skipped out on breakfast and we were hungry. After we all piled on the food (only spending about 2-3 dollars) and grubbed it down, we headed into the local area to visit the bakeries and other food/clothing stores for some tasty treats and fashion. After lunch we split off to different areas, some of us went to the hotel, get Boba, or just explore the area. I decided to go to the store with some people and this is where I found the badminton rackets for about 2 dollars each, and this is where the next part of the day started. I quickly told Ben about my findings and we headed right back to the store and bought 4 rackets and some birdies (what you hit with the badminton rackets, not an actual bird). Four of us then met up in front of the University and headed in where our navigating and communicating skills were tested. After walking mindlessly for about 15-20 minutes we’ve decided to ask the students for help. Sydney used her amazing gestures and nonverbal communication skills to ask the students for directions and luckily enough, we found the one single court with a torn-up net, but it was perfect. We played for about 5 minutes before we started noticing the rackets and birdies breaking and in about 30 minutes all the birdies and rackets were broken. It was a great time in a beautiful university. For dinner we decided to be adventurous and go eat in the local community. We found a nice little KBBQ style spot where we were quickly seated and given a menu that was completely in Chinese with no images and just words and circles to check for what we wanted to eat. We tried communicating with the waiter using translating apps, but it didn’t seem to work, so we resorted to more of our primal instincts—pointing. We pointed at different thing that people were eating around us, and we started making progress on our menu. Then our savior came, a lady sitting next to us and clearly saw our struggles and decided to help us and she spoke some English. So, with her help (which we were very grateful for) she got us some of the best food to chow down. We got pork, beef, spicy beef, mushrooms, chicken marinated in so many spices, veggies, more mushrooms, rice, fruit platters, and seconds on all above dishes. This cost all of us 7$ each and the food was amazing. After dinner was done and our tummies were full, we walked around the area stopping by shops, people selling earrings in front of the shops and some late-night ice cream to end the day. Today we were split into two groups. One group went to Chengdu and the other group went to the temple and to the downtown area.
I was in the second group. To get to the temple we took the local bus. Upon arrival we knew we were there when we saw the massive stairway to get to the temple. We were all in awe at how big and beautiful the temple is. While there we could not take pictures while inside the rooms but we were able to take pictures when we were in the outside area of the temple. While on our way to see the Sleeping Buddha, I was stopped by a monk. He came up to me and started to touch and point at all of my piercings, especially the one on the bridge of my nose and my lip. According to Jessica, one of our student aides, he said that they were beautiful. He also started to say a phrase and wanted me to repeat after him. The phrase was "beautiful." Beautiful was all that came to mind when at the temple. Its beauty just took my breath away. It brought a sense of peace and tranquility. It felt as if I was in my own place of worship. After the temple we took the bus again until we got to downtown Mianyang. There we went to one of their shopping malls. It was not like the malls in America. Here an entire floor was dedicated to children. It had areas for them to play and paint. There was an entire floor of just places to eat. It seems every floor had a specific genre it pertained to. While at the mall we also went to the movies (the theater was in the mall). We saw Godzilla! I was expecting it to be in Mandarin but because it was an American film we saw it in English and it had Mandarin subtitles. I was somewhat disappointed because I was expecting the full Mandarin movie experience. Finally, we took the public transportation back to the hotel. This was a fun experience because even back in the states I dont know how to take the bus routes so this was overall new experience for me. Day 3 of being in China! Today waking up at 7am, I felt relieved because I knew I wasn’t jet lagged anymore and was beginning to get adjusted to the time. In the morning, some of the cohort met for breakfast and at 9am we all met with Dr. Paik and Dr. Du for an orientation meeting. After that around 10:30am all the teaching groups had the opportunity to discuss their lesson plans with the student helpers before we start teaching. At around 12pm, we all met downstairs in the lobby to grab lunch together. We headed to a cantina in the SWUST campus. Like the first time the food was delicious and majority of us shared our food to try out various options that were provided. After lunch we all headed back to the hotel and as some of us packed our belongings others went to rest up.
At 2pm we went downstairs to meet SWUST student’s who were going to give us a tour of their school. At this time, it was about 85 degrees outside and safe to say we were all semi ready for the heat during the tour. As we walked over to the school SWUST students partnered up with each one of us we all got to know each other. As a group, we walked around the entire campus, took group pictures, had an ice cream break, visited the preschool we will be teaching at, played in the playground and played card games. Even though the sun was out during the tour it was a great to make new friends and learn about SWUST from the students themselves. Once the tour ended, we all headed back to the hotel to rest and freshen up after that long outing. When I returned I moved into my new room and organized my belongings. At 7pm, we headed for dinner unfortunately the cantina was closed and we headed to the nearby alleys to grab dinner. We all got a table together , ate food, talked, laughed, played card games and had a fun time. Since we all have a busy day the next day we all headed back to our hotel to rest up. Today was a great day and am excited to experience many more great memories to come on this trip. Breakfast time at our hotel started at 7am until 9am this morning. I decided to head down around 8:30am to meet those who were already there. We had porridge, spicy cabbage, green beans, and hard boiled eggs. As more people trickled down to join us, we started our meeting with Dr. Paik. She mentioned preparing for our lessons and to practice with our partners so we are able to teach to the best of our abilities. We were also given out campus food cards to use for our lunches at the university. When the meeting ended, we all headed to our rooms and met up with our partners. Salima met me in my room where we thoroughly went through our activities. We then went to meet Shanti and the rest of our crew to go on campus for lunch. On the way there, we saw many different boba places, a bakery, few shops, and a market place selling fresh products. As collectively walked into the entrance of the university, we hear a man shout in Mandarin. Everyone seems to pay no attention until he continued to yell. That was when many of us turned around to see a security guard trying to ask us something. Majority of us started to call out for Ben who had walked ahead, but Salima was quick to think on her feet and showed him her campus food card. Once he saw it, he laughed and let us go freely. We continued to walk until we reached our destination. We got to this place that looked like a giant food court. Apparently this was 1 out of 13 on campus! We all walked around to see what delicious meals we could end up getting. All you had to do was grab a tray, point to what you wanted on your plate, and scan your card. We all met in the middle to seat and eat. All our plates were filled with different types of meals. As some shared plates, the rest of us picked at each other’s plates to try the different sides we got. It ranged from different types of noodles, fried rices, skewers, and vegetables. Some were really yummy and others were just nice to try just once. After eating we walked back to the hotel. On our way back, we stopped at the shops near buy. I decided to hold off on the shopping and headed to the bakery to try their super delicious egg tarts. The rest got ice cream at another place that looked extra yummy in this humid weather. Once we got to the hotel, everyone continued to work with their partner to review their lesson plans while Salima and I went off on a mini adventure.
Back in my room, Salima and I decided to message Sean who is one of our student helpers on our trip. I needed to print out copies for one of my activities in my lesson. We met him downstairs and we all walked to a print shop that was more like a hole in the wall with two guys on a computer and a regular printer in between them. Sean relayed our message to him and they were able to finish it in 20 minutes. Sean said to meet back at the print shop then as he needed to meet up with someone else. So Salima and I walked around to kill some time. I wanted to get some boba so we walked next door. We approached the counter to find the whole menu will only a few pictures and rest written in Mandarin. We stand there dumbfounded and immediately leave and laugh at ourselves for not even attempting to order. So we decide to go to the ice cream place even went to earlier to get boba. We head back to the print shop to find out they still need more time. Now, Salima was craving boba. So we attempt to got to the first boba place we originally went to. We both head in ready to try to communicate with the guy at the register until he blurts out, “How may I help you?” In shock, we start to laugh and wonder out loud why he let us struggle and look like fools the first time LOL. Salima gets an amazing lime/lemon drink that was made super fresh. It was so good, I’m pretty super we will be back. We go back to the print shop with no site of Sean still, so we decide to just wait there. The guys offered us seats, we sat, and attempted to communicate with them as we waited. One spoke a little English and the other didn’t at all. We carried our communication over an online translator. Once our prints were finished, we bargained our way for a cheaper price. We got back to the hotel and saw Sean in the lobby saying he never got a text back to meet us, but we believe the print guys were too busy trying to talk to us during that time (hehe). Dinnertime came and we all met downstairs at 5pm. We headed to a restaurant and filled almost half of the restaurant. We had a lovely range of different dishes like mapo tofu, kung pao chicken, spicy eggplant, and etc. Afterwards, the cohort and student helpers all came up with a plan to meet up for karaoke. At the karaoke place, we were given a beautifully decorated room to ourselves. Everyone was singing their hearts out even the student helpers! We were all surprised at the variety of American songs they had in their system. During this time, I had Cyn come with me to use the restroom. I was in for my first experience: the squatting toilet! Cyn and I were laughing endlessly at my struggle to squat and pee, but I finally managed to conquer it (yay me!) We returned back to the karaoke room and continued to sing with everyone until the end of the night! Sydney Sy Those of us leaving from LAX boarded quickly and found our seats spread out around the plane. We entertained ourselves on the 13 hour flight by watching movies, playing card games, and, of course, sleeping!
We had a 2 hour layover in Hangzhou. China from a bird’s eye view is amazing, and the reality of our trip started to set in as we flew over a tiny part of this massive and beautiful country. Our flight from Hangzhou to Chengdu was much shorter - only 3 hours. We were thrilled to step off the plane right into Chengdu ground and meet the rest of our group who arrived shortly before us. After we all met up at the airport, we took a 2 hour bus ride to our hotel in Mianyang. We had a little time to get settled and freshen up (some of us had been traveling for 34 hours straight, myself included) and then enjoyed a delicious hot pot dinner around the corner from our hotel! After dinner, we stopped by a market to get some supplies to make our stays a little more comfortable, such as laundry detergent, hangers, and water jugs. We dropped our new supplies off at the hotel, and our incredibly helpful and friendly student volunteers gave us a tour of part of the campus we’ll be teaching at, Southwest University of Science and Technology (SWUST). It’s an expansive and gorgeous campus, with multiple little forests and ponds. We are all thrilled to finally be in China and can’t wait to start teaching in a few eventful days! -Jessica Gugg I am writing this post on the DAY WE ARE ON THE PLANE!!! (Well, arrived by the time this blog post goes up.) I flew in from LAX with 11 of my other classmates and we are all definitely super excited!! The emotions are high, we are all energized and happy for our new journey to start!
I am so excited but am trying not to talk as much because I have a sore throat. It sounds like I’ve been to 5 concerts in the span of 24 hours. This is the first time I have lost my voice but that won’t stop me from having a good experience. :) Many of us have never been on a plane ride for this long (14 hours), so it will be a new experience. All of us are excited to start teaching the kiddos and experience a new culture. We can't wait to hit the ground running and we are all so blessed to be on this trip! Next time I see ya’ll, we’ll be in China…. (How cool!!!!) -Carolina It is 4am, just an hours away before we make our departure on this amazing journey we are about to embark on. I have so many emotions running through my head as I still have so much to do. I'm currently packing and moving apartments, trying to make everything organized as possible. I started moving 2 weeks ago but somehow it feels like time is speeding 10x faster these last couple of days. Throughout all this, the thrill and excitement of traveling to a new country has given me so much energy. Providing services to children and family in China, sightseeing, new foods, and new friends is plenty of enough keep myself excited. I know we have so much in store for us, as this will be an exciting, fulfilling journey. I’m looking forward to meeting the kids as I can learn from them as much as they learn from us. Predicting what the next 3 weeks will unfold is a hard task as each day will be a new adventure and new learning experience. But, I hope you will continue following our journey.
Salima Skander Dear friends and family,
Today we had our last class before our departure, a sweet celebration for the graduates of the cohort, Salima and myself and a guest appearance from Tommy (2018 study abroad participant). We spent class taking photos, bonding and eating delicious foods brought by the entire cohort. Everyone seems excited and a little nervous in different ways. I feel as though this year's cohort is very strong. Everyone communicates clearly, has big hearts and is helpful to one another. We are all looking forward to working with our Chinese colleagues, teaching our SWUST kiddos, eating delicious food and experiencing this adventure together. Stay tuned for our daily updates starting May 28! Much Love, Shanti R. |