This will likely be my last post as we leave for the airport in Changchung in about 5 minutes.  This afternoon/evening we will fly back to Beijing, then tomorrow afternoon we'll fly from Beijing back to Newark. 

We are due to arrive on Continental Flight 88 Beijing to Newark at 5:30 pm (EST).  Given that we'll need to get through customs, then battle NY and Connecticut traffic during rush hour, I anticipate that we'll probably reach the Met around 11:00 pm (perhaps earlier, perhaps later).  I will have all students call home as we near the final exits in Connecticut to give families a better sense of our actual arrival time. 

Some final thoughts:

This trip has been absolutely amazing due to the careful planning on the part of Hanban, but mostly due to the fantastic behavior and attitudes of all of the students.  It has been an absolute pleasure for Denise and I to spend our summer traveling through China with these students and we look forward to the new goals they will set for themselves in the future now that they know that anything is achievable.

See you soon!

The day of the final exam in Chinese arrived and after some last minute crunch time studying on the bus, our students entered the classroom and took their places.  The written exam was actually significantly easier than we had anticipated.  Next, came the oral proficiency portion and one by one, our students conversed individually with Mr. Wonderful in Chinese. 

Mr. Wonderful graded their exams quickly and I am proud to announce that all of the scores of Met 'Merica ranged between a 98-100! Mr. Wonderful was so pleased with their progress over the course and the final scores. 

The remainder of our time at school was spent in dress rehearsal for the closing ceremonies.  Some were more excited than others about their costumes.  While our Master of Ceremonies (David, of course!) schemed for ways that he'd be able to keep his traditional Chinese jacket that he'd wear for the occasion, some of our dancers chased after anyone that tried to snap a photo of them in costume.  As dress rehearsals sometimes go, the practice was a bit chaotic, but I was certain that the final ceremonies would be a complete success.

The closing ceremonies was held at the Confucius Temple in Changchung.  It was neat to be in that location, given that the Confucius Institutes of the US partnered with Hanban in China to arrange the experience for the US students.  Our students performed their various activities beautifully and the whole event was spectacular.

Since it was our last night in Changchung, Denise, Izzy, Amanda, Dalia, Joel, Courtney, Tiarra, and I headed out on the town.  We came across an amuseument park on the 4th floor of the fancy New World Mall.  Our kids attracted quite a crowd of spectators as they shreiked from the top of all of these rides. 

Today we headed out to Jilin City, about 2 hours away from our home city of Changchung.  The city is known for the surrounding woodlands,  lakes, and rivers.  Before we visited these areas, however, we took a tour of Jilin Number One High School, the top school in the province.  The school is absolutely huge, with almost all of the student body residing on campus in dorms with four people to a room.  The most impressive part of the school, in my opinion, is the music auditorium that not only featured excellent accoustics, but also very comfy seating for the audience.

After lunch, we headed out to the largest man-made lake in Jilin from which mountains rise straight out of its shores.  We took an hour boat ride around this area and took many pictures of the scenic surroundings. 

Our last stop was one of the mountains of Jilin, which the guide suggested that the students climb.  Although our group is usually game for climbing anything (and making a race out of it), at this point, we've climbed the great wall, multiple temples, towers, and have walked all over China.  They're about done with climbing for a while.  Instead, they noticed the pedal boats awaiting them at the edge of the river and spent their time pedaling themselves around the base of the mountain, also an enjoyable time. 

I'll post these pictures soon.

Today was the last day of school before our final exam and the closing ceremonies for the program.  Much of today was spent reviewing and practicing the language and culture pieces that we have learned during our time here in China.

Our whole class participated in Calligraphy today and let me tell you that it looks a lot easier than it really is.  Our teacher demands perfection and just the slightest slip of a stroke can make the character unacceptable.  We toiled over our work diligently.

The evening was spent at a local resort, one exclusively for the elite.  None of our chaperones or teachers had actually ever been there before because it is by private membership only that people gain access.  Our group was allowed in because we are Americans; just another reminder of the privilege our American nationality, particularly when traveling abroad.

Our very own David Costa really stepped up regarding leadership on this particular evening.  The staff noticed his large group hosting ability early on and secured him as the Master of Ceremonies for the event.  David and Mr. Wonderful did much of the planning for the evening including the various activities like Man Hunt, karoke, musical chairs, roasting marshmallows around a bonfire, and more, all of which were hits with the students.

While David's role was key, he wasn't the only Met 'Merica student to standout on this particular evening.  Met 'Merica paricipated in every activity of the evening and typically represented the majority of the students on stage.  I'd like to highlight a few of our "performers".  Both Xavier and Angel did some inpromptu performances on stage; Xavier chose to sing, while Angel did an interesting dance with flowers.  Dalia was the champion of musical chairs.  Izzy was the first member of the guys' manhunt team to make it safely back to base.  Keith was the overall manhunt champion by lasting the longest, then making a critical leap over bushes to safely arrive on stage.  The pictures of his victory lap around the stage are particularly enjoyable.  Overall, it was a great evening and everyone went back to the hotel exhausted.

Today we headed out to the countryside to see all of the farmland that we flew over when we landed in Changchung.  It was neat to get out of the city for a change and see the acres upon acres of cornfields.  When we arrived at the farm, it was interesting to see how they had created a hotel setup as well for people who would like to come and work on the farm as a working vacation.

While we were there, we saw corn crops, apple trees, pear trees, bean plants, grapes, and more.  The weather was pretty hot though and there isn't much shade on a farm.  The kids were happy to reboard the bus.

After lunch at the hotel, some of our group headed out to Changchung's Provincial museum.  For me, the most interesting exhibit was the clothing one.  They had historic robes and shoes that emperors would wear.  I also enjoyed the exhibit of ancient furniture that once sat in the emperor's living quarters.

Today is a Saturday and we spent the day as many Chinese do, having fun in the National Park of Changchung.  After a 40 minute drive, we hiked up to the bell tower, where in ancient times, a man would ring the bell each hour so that the commoners would know the time.  Many of us took turns ringing the bell.

Next, we headed over to an amusement area and to our students' delight, they had motorized go carts.  Hardly anyone could resist the opportunity to hop in and speed around the track.  I must admit that I was a bit nervous, especially at the rates they were speeding around the turns, but there were no incidents and the smiles on their faces when they climbed out were priceless. 

After the amusement area, we headed off for our picnic.  Then there was an opportunity to partake in various games like volleyball, a Chinese version of hacky sack, tug of war, jump rope, and the limbo.  Our group was active as always and by the end of the day we boarded the bus and slept for the rest of the way back to the hotel.

Thankfully, we didn't have a planned event tonight because we have been going and going and going.  We were able to rest in our hotel and just hangout, which was priceless. :)

We began the day with a double session of Chinese language classes.  Today's lessons focused on question words and writing Chinese characters.  There is a lot more than meets the eye to this task.  What looks like a beautiful character to an American is all wrong because one of the lines isn't perfectly perpendicular to the other.  I left with a new appreciation for such a precise written language.  You'll notice from our pictures today that the kids were deeply focused throughout most of the class.  Many of them are hunched over their notebooks in deep concentration.  It's a beautiful thing!

After Chinese class, we all headed off to the different activities we will perform at the closing ceremonies on Wednesday.  The groups are as follows:
Paper Cutting: Dorothy and Joel
Calligraphy: Brandee, Izzy, Courtney, and Tiarra
Kung Fu: Angel and Keith
Traditional Dance: Denise, Amy, Amanda, and Dalia
Music: David and Xavier

Following dinner, we headed out to Culture Square, a huge open space with grass for flying kites, and a large open space for various performances.  As it was a Friday night, the square was packed with the people of Changchung who were out enjoying the evening with friends and family.  We saw all sorts of performances from a huge group of middle aged women doing a form of line dancing, to an old man doing karaoke, young people playing basketball, others rollerskating, and a stage with various performers and music. 

Well, you can't say the word "performance" without catching David's attention.  As soon as he saw the stage and the hundreds gathered around it, he vowed to perform up there.  So, with the help of Mr. Wonderful (who has really lived up to his name), David made his way to the organizer's booth and managed to get on stage.  The rest of us didn't realize that he had actually made it up there until we heard David's voice over the huge speakers saying, "Hello Changchung!"  We rushed the stage (Denise leading the way) like a crazed group of fans, shouting his name.  David proceeded to freestyle a song and was quickly accompanied by 2 male Chinese hip hop dancers who acted as his backup.  It was quite a sight.  David confessed later that it was the largest group he has ever performed for and that his knees were shaking the whole time, but you certainly couldn't tell from where we were standing!

In Chinese class, we learned key phrases like "Where is the bathroom?", "How much does that cost?", and "That's too much!"  Students had the chance to practice the buying phrases when our papercutting teacher returned to offer us some intricate papercuttings that she made.  It almost seemed like robbery to purchase the beautiful wall hangings for 15 RMB (about $2), but she was delighted that for the business and that we were so interested in purchasing her artwork.

We also began learning vocabulary for food.  Our students' performance is still impressive to me.  This teacher has a way of making everyone feel like they can learn Chinese and none of our kids have showed any timidness with trying out the phrases.

Following Chinese, we headed out for our Kung Fu lesson.  The boys in our group and Amy were the most enthusiastic about the experience and our martial arts teachers were delighted to have such engaged students.  Our whole group participated in learning defensive tactics.  Angel was the standout of the group, since he had participated in martial arts workshops at the Met.  Nevertheless, the martial arts master was able to predict each of his moves.  At the end of class, reporters from a local newspaper took pictures of our students and interviewed them about their martial arts experience for the newspaper.  Our kids have truly been treated like celebrities during our entire stay in Changchung. 

Next, we headed off to the International Sculpture Museum and Park.  Our kids quickly posed for pictures with many of the sculptures, sometimes seemlessly blending into the piece.  In the park, the attention to detail was fantastic; we were surrounded by a large lake with fountains, carefully placed rocks, large sculptures, and brilliant sunshine. 

After a quick stop at the hotel, we headed off to a traditional dumpling restaurant, where the principal of the school treated us to a delicious meal.  I have never seen so many kinds of dumplings: fried, steamed, boiled, mushroom/pork, cucumber/shrimp, leeks/eggs, celery/pork, and the list goes on and on.  While dumplings is one of my favorite dishes that I've had in China, not all of the kids have the same admiration for them.  I was most impressed by Courtney's personal growth in this experience.  When we first arrived at the restaurant, she said that she would sit at the table, but didn't plan to eat anything.  As the meal progressed, she asked for a few recommendations.  Later, she had a full plate and was encouraging other students to do the same saying, "I know it doesn't seem like it will be good...I didn't think so at first either.  Try it, you'll like it."  I was very proud of her healthy risk-taking and leadership.

Following dinner, the group headed out for a shopping excursion with our guides, but I was exhausted and retreated to the hotel.  I'm sure that they'll return with all sorts of wonderful trinkets and I'll get to hear the stories over breakfast tomorrow!

Our day began by viewing the partial solar eclipse that could be seen from Changchung.  In southern China, there was a full eclipse, but since we are in the North East, it was only partial.  Nevertheless, it was really neat to see the astronomical phenomenon.  It tied in well with what we learned at the Museum of Natural History this year. 

Following the eclipse viewing, we continued with our Chinese language and culture lessons today.  Most of what we're learning in language class is a review from our class at URI, but since Mr. Wonderful (as he prefers to be called) is so engaging, it reinforces the old material and students feel much more confident applying it.  Today students learned to count from 0-99 and reviewed how to say their name, "pretty girl", "handsome boy", greetings, and goodbyes.  We continue to be shadowed by lots of cameras and video crews because of the students' energy.   

Following language class, we headed off to our lesson on the Gu Zheng, a traditional Chinese string instrument.  Quite a few of our students couldn't wait to get their hands on the instrument.  Following a beautiful serenade by our instructor, students had the opportunity to receive some instruction.  David, Angel, Xavier, Izzy, Amy, Dalia, and Amanda jumped at the chance.  The highlight of the class for me was a duet with Amanda and Xavier.  Our teachers were so impressed by how quickly they picked it up! 

While we were in music class, Dorothy's group was receiving Kung Fu instruction.  I was happy to snap some photos of her engaged in the ancient art.  I can't wait to see my group give this a shot tomorrow!

Next, we headed out for gym time.  Keith enjoyed playing as a member of the Chinese instructor basketball team against the American students.  He commented later, "Man, those Chinese can play!"  Xavier found his home in the pingpong room on the 2nd floor.  Due to his experience playing ping pong occasionally at his internship, Xavier quickly beat out all of the student competition.  Later, when the Chinese pingpong instructor arrived, he realized that he still had a lot to learn.  Despite the fact that he was "schooled" by both his advisor and the instructor, Xavier was greatful for the practice and picked up some new tips.  Since there were no soccer balls to be found, Amy and her friend improvised and played soccer with a basketball out on the school field.  From their drenched shirts and ear to ear smiles, you could tell that they had a great time.  At the end of the class, we got a quick photo of most of our group posing with basketballs in front of a huge billboard for Yao Ming, Chinese basketball superstar. 

That evening, we headed out to South Lake Park, a scenic location with distant views of the city.  There were so many people!  It reminded me a bit of Central Park in New York.  There were bridges that crossed the lilypad-filled pond and gazebo-like structures everywhere. 

As we crossed the second bridge, our boys spotted these inflatable donut-shaped tubes resembling gerbel wheels resting on the river.  For a fee, you can fit into the small opening and run, spinning the tube around and around.  Well, our kids could not go home without having experienced this.  So after some intense persuasion, our group leader agreed that it was safe and they could try it out.  Our brave students include: Dorothy, Amy, Dalia, David, Joel, Angel, Xavier, Amanda, Tiarra, and Izzy.  As always, the employed such energy, that a whole crowd gathered to take pictures of the crazy American teenagers in the inflatable tubes. 

The evening concluded with Xavier, David, and Angel dancing with a huge crowd of Chinese people to a popular song that we've heard throughout the trip.

Today was our first day of school at Changchung Foreign Language School.  We started with an opening ceremony (yes, really, our third one), where I made a speech about how generous the organization has been, how much we've enjoyed our stay, and how proud I am of our students for pulling off a trip that many people called impossible. 

Following the opening ceremony, it was time for our classes.  We began with a paper cutting class, taught by a woman who is absolutely amazing at it!!  What took us a half an hour to do, she could do in 1 minute and of significantly higher quality!  This is certainly an art that you perfect with practice.  It was fun to see the students hunched over their designs working to get their cutouts exactly right.  Even students who struggle with focus typically were silent and engaged throughout this whole activity.  Many of them talked about sharing them as gifts with family members when they returned, so one of you may receive these hard earned creations!

Dorothy, a student from South Kingstown who joined our group, was in another class since she hasn't had any Chinese language instruction yet.  I went to observe her group and got a sneak preview of one of our next activities - traditional Chinese calligraphy.  We're so excited!

Following paper cutting, we had lunch back at our hotel, and then returned for our second round of classes.  We had our Chinese language class taught by our teacher named Wonderfung, who prefers to be called Mr. Wonderful.  He is absolutely hysterical, uses his whole body, voices, and funny faces to teach Chinese.  He's totally outgoing and a perfect match for our group.  They loved him!  When it was time for us to repeat a phrase, our students would respond loudly and proudly.  The principal of the school commented that we had the best group (of course)!

We're headed off to see a Kung Fu movie now, a preview for tomorrow's Kung Fu class.  When I return to my room, I'll post the pictures from the day. 

What a day!  Today we were very warmly welcomed by officials from the Department of Education from the Changchung Province, as well as students and teachers from 3 different high schools.  They performed an amazing, 2-hour welcoming cermony with tons of student performances.  The energy in the room was great and each performer received a resounding round of applause.  It is overwhelming how excited the staff and students of Changchung are to have us here in their town.  We are being treated like absolute royalty with welcome banners and performances everywhere we turn.  We were even on the 6:00 news tonight!

Following the cermony, we headed to a second school, Changchung Foreign Language School, where our students will begin their Chinese classes tomorrow.  Again, the campus is quite modern with a beautiful athletic field at its center.  We had lunch there today and will return tomorrow for a tour and the start of classes. 

We ended the evening with a trip to Walmart (about a 15 minute walk from our hotel) to pick up some essentials like Oreos, M&M's, and dental floss.  The kids have been so good at eating traditional Chinese food with their chopsticks at every meal, that it was okay for us to go "American" with our snacks tonight.  In the middle of our after dinner walk, the skies opened up and it POURED on us for about 10 minutes.  As is the theme of the trip, the kids were great sports about it and we trudged through the ankle deep puddles.  Finally, we made it back to our hotel where everyone took hot showers and got ready for bed.  Everyone moaned and groaned a bit as I reminded them that tomorrow was a "school day" and sent them off to their rooms at 10:00.   

This morning I held my breath as each of our kids went through the temperature screening for swine flu and to my delight, everyone passed!  We continue to be swine flu free and were able to depart for the next leg of our journey, Changchung, the capital city of the Jilin province.

After the short 1 1/2 hour plane ride (truly anything seems short after the 13 hour ride from the US), we arrived in Changchung city.  The kids immediately remarked on the difference in the air quality; you can actually see the sun in Changchung, whereas in Beijing the smog is so thick that it blurs even our brightest star.  The city is also surrounded by forests and lakes; the students oohed and aaahhed about them as the plane descended. 

After collecting our luggage, we headed out to the exit and were greeted by students from our host school waving banners.  Our kids started to feel like celebrities and that sentiment didn't disappear when we arrived at our accommodations. 

The intent was for our whole group to stay in a lovely 4-star hotel (The Tongxin Hotel), but dignitaries from another province arrived and needed to stay at our hotel.  So, they split up the guys and the ladies; the guys stayed at our original hotel while the ladies moved 5 minutes away to a 5-star hotel (The Paradise Hotel).  Denise stayed with the guys and I am chaperoning the ladies.  All of the students are enthusiastic about their rooms, particularly since they've been staying in dorms for the past 3 nights. Also, for some of our students, this is their very first time in a hotel...what a way to begin! 

We also had a very tasty dinner at the Tongxin Hotel when we arrived.  The velvet chairs and the sparkling chandeliers went quite well with the delicious food!

Tomorrow we will visit our host school and participate in 2 welcoming ceremonies; one is given by the Department of Education in Jilin and the other by the students at our host school. 

Today all 1500 students in the China program were contained on campus and not able to visit the Summer Palace as planned due to the Swine Flu scare.  Our students developed a bit of cabin fever, but overall kept in good spirits and made it through the day.

In the evening, all 1500 students and teachers gathered on the field for the Opening Ceremonies of the Chinese Summer Bridge Program.  After the welcome speeches given by Hanban officials, the principal of the school, and the president of the university, the performances began. 

There was a combination of performances from the US, UK, and China.  Some of the Chinese performances included: giant sized dragon and lion parade, Kung Fu performance, spinning plates acrobatics, and the Beijing opera.  The evening concluded with fireworks and almost all of the US kids dancing on stage to the Cupid Shuffle!

Tomorrow, so long as all of our travelers pass the temperature tests, we'll depart for Jilin at 12:00.  Keep your fingers crossed that everyone will be healthy!

This morning we awoke to rain downpours.  It was a bit sad since our destinations were all outdoor activities.  Nevertheless, our tour went ahead as planned, each of us donning our umbrellas.  We started at the Beijing Zoo where we had a chance to see the famous Giant Pandas.  Luckily, the pandas have their own indoor houses, so the rain didn't damper that aspect of the trip.  Here are some student quotes upon seeing the pandas:

"He's so cute!!  Do you think he'd fit in my carry on?"  
"It's moving!  It's moving!"
"It looks just like my teddy bear!"

It's funny how cuddly-looking animals can send our seniors in high school right back to being little kids again.

Unfortunately, most of the other animals do not have houses that can accommodate visitors, so we left the zoo rather early and the pandas were the only main attraction we were able to see.

Next, we headed to lunch in a restaurant and then to the Great Wall of China.  As we boarded the bus from lunch, the kids were feeling a little down from the rain and asked, "Brandee, do we have to go to the Great Wall of China?"  I responded that indeed, we did.  We didn't come this far to skip the Great Wall because of a little rain.  Even better, the rain let up as I finished my phrase and by the time we reached the wall, the skies were overcast, but the temperature had cooled a bit and the rain had stopped falling. 

As our coach bus pulled in to the Great Wall's parking lot, excitement had filled the air.  You could hear gasps from every direction and the kids were challenging each other as to who was going to reach the top of the Great Wall first (it was quite a climb!).  We headed up the long and twisty stairs.  The top tower was about 1 mile in distance from where we began, but it was a very steep mile! 

I am proud to announce that the following travelers from our group made it to the top (in this order): David & Xavier, Keith, Brandee, Amy, Courtney, Tiarra, and Joel!  I was so proud of all of them and they were quite proud of themselves as well.  It is a pretty amazing thing to be able to say that you climbed to the top of the Great Wall of China!

Student behavior continues to be the highlight of the trip for Denise and I.  Even though it is amazing to see all of the sites and experience the culture here, it is even more enjoyable to observe the students do it.  The success of the trip thus far is entirely attributed to their fantastic attitudes.

Today we traveled into downtown Beijing to do some site seeing of major historical monuments and sites.  The idea that these historic sites have been here for hundreds of years and are still in excellent condition is simply amazing.  It was great to see the students listening to our tour guide's lecture on Chinese history.  They were much more engaged being there and learning the information than they would have been if they had learned from a book in the US!

Perhaps one of the most memorable experiences of the day was the students' first interactions with Chinese street & marketplace vendors.  Even in my extensive international travel, I have never seen anything like the relentless and aggressive nature of these vendors!  At first, our kids were intimidated and a bit frightened - they stuck very close to Denise and I.  As time went by and they learned the phrase, "Bu you, she she" which translates to, "I don't want it, thank you", they relaxed a little. 

Later, when we traveled to the Pearl Market to do some shopping, the students not only were comfortable speaking with the vendors, but they had learned the art of bargaining for significantly better prices.  Some students used their suave nature to reduce the prices, others showed a ruthless stuborness to pay high prices.  It was hysterical to observe and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them thrive in this new and different environment.

The Met School China Group has safely landed in Beijing and are getting settled in to their accommodations.  Everything went super smoothly at the airports, the kids were amazing on the 13 hour flight, and no one got quarantined for swine flu (woohoo!). 

Right now we have a few minutes before our first welcoming meeting at the Beijing Foreign Language School.  It is a very modern school with computer labs for the kids to use, a large swimming pool, gyms, fields, etc.  We're here for just a few days before we board the airplane and head to Jilin for the longer stay, but so far so good.  

Everything about the program has been super organized. Our guides met us at the airport on time and are very friendly and speak English very well.  We had a nice touring bus (although the AC died part way through the drive) just for our group.  They had room numbers ready to go and even a bell hop service for our luggage (the kids were really confused by the other people taking their bags and I had to explain the concept of a bell hop lots of times :)  

So far, the students attitudes have been excellent, despite the hot weather, lack of sleep and long plane ride.  They're really excited and keep saying, "I can't believe I'm in China".  Well, I can hardly believe it either, but here we are.  We made it!