Chinese papercutting

I spent Monday visiting our new sister school, Weier Road Primary School in Jinan.  Jinan is a very large city filled with many friendly people.  In many ways this school is very similar to ours but also different in other ways.  It is a large school of 1,000 students in grades kindergarten to 6.  The students stay in one classroom for most of the day like us, but the teachers change for each subject.  Every 40 minutes or so there is a new subject and the teacher for that subject comes to the room.  We would think the classrooms are very crowded with around 40 students in the class.  Students work in workbooks by themselves or sometimes with a partner or group of 4 to discuss their work or solve problems.

Making dumplings

Teaching how to make Chinese tea

The school day is longer than ours but many children go home for lunch from 11:30-1:30.  There are no school buses. Parents or grandparents bring students to school, usually on the back of a bicycle or motorscooter!

Calligraphy

Connecticut facts

I visited many classes and most had special presentations and gifts for me.  One class even did a report about Connecticut!  I visited classes in reading, writing calligraphy, math, science, Chinese, art, music, PE and English.  All Chinese children take English lessons which begin in first grade.  As I visited the school, children practiced their English with me by asking my questions like “What do you like to do on the weekend?” and “What is your favorite color?”  Some students gave presentations to me in English.  I know that it must have taken lots of work!

Reading time

In the evening on the first night I stayed at the home of a fifth grade student and her mother.  The mother was a teacher at Shandong University and they live at the college.  On the second night I stayed at the home of a sixth grader.  She and her parents live in a very tall apartment building with a beautiful view of the city.  Her grandfather and little boy cousin came to visit me there.  Both families were very kind to me and treated me like I was a good friend.

Friendly students

I have much more to tell you about the schools.  I will save that for when I see you!

The Great Wall - a long way up

I spent Sunday visiting the Great Wall and the Antiques Market.  We drove for about an hour through Beijing and arrived at one gate to the Great Wall.  The wall was very crowded and we were probably the only tourists that were not Chinese.  Since I did have a bit of a fall at the Imperial Palace (I was looking up and taking pictures and stepped in a hole – very embarrassing) I was a little worried about tripping again and knocking down a whole domino line of Chinese people.  Luckily, I kept my feet under me!  The wall was amazing.  When you see how it climbs up and down over very steep mountains and you remember that it was made between the 5th century BC and the 16th century, you really can’t imagine how they did it.

The Great Wall - a long way down

Outdoor Antiques Market

We also went to the Antiques Market which is an outdoor market that sells artwork, jewelry and other items but mostly it’s like a big flea market where people sell old items.  Take a look at the photos for an idea of what it looked like.  In the photo of the toddler you might notice that his pants are split.  That’s not a mistake.  Babies and toddlers in China don’t wear Pampers so I’ll let you just think about what the split pants are all about!

Chinese toddler

I planned to put up a blog entry every day.  However, I’ve found that Internet is unreliable and I have no access to the blog.  I am emailing a friend who is putting it up for me.  So there might not be an entry every day.  But, I’ll do my best!

Chinese signature stamps called Chops

Chinese tiger painting

Painting with only the hand as a brush

Dragon kimono

On Friday we started our day by heading off to The Confucius Institute and Museum. At this museum I learned about China’s history and saw many pieces of Chinese artwork, musical instruments, kites and clothing. I liked dressing up in a red Kimono with a dragon on it. After that we met the people who run the center. Their job is to help people around the world learn to speak the Chinese language. They talked about coming to schools in Connecticut to teach Chinese. Would you like to learn Chinese? It’s a tricky language!

Tiananmen Square

Next we went to Tiananmen Square which is a huge square that can fit one million people. Can you imagine one million people coming into a square for a parade or ceremony?

Imperial Palace

The square opens up to The Imperial Place which is also called the Forbidden City. This was the palace of the emperors of China for about 500 years. Now it is opened up for Chinese people and tourists to visit. The palace is really big. Guess how many rooms it has. 999,999! That is one room less than 1 million. I didn’t count but I can tell you I walked forever and just kept seeing more and more palaces. Big stone lions guard the entrance to the royal palace. There are also statues of a tortoise and a crane. The Chinese believe that these two animals are lucky for a long life and the emperors wanted to live a long time. I think they needed a long life just to visit all the rooms in their palace!

Emperor's Palace

Rickshaw

After we left the palace we took a rickshaw ride. Do you know what that is? Since we wanted to see the traditional neighborhoods of China we couldn’t take a car. The roads are tiny, probably narrower than your driveway. So we had to hire rickshaws, which are little fancy wagons that are pulled along by a man riding a bicycle. I’m glad there were no hills!

The last place I went was the Silk Market. At the Silk Market people sell everything you can imagine including clothes, toys, jewelry, handbags, dishes, suitcases, and rugs. Each person has a tiny booth and they usually sell one thing, like tablecloths. As you walk by the workers step out a yell, “Lady, lady, lady”, “good price”, “buy this”. Sometimes they take you by the arm and try to get you to go into their little store. If you think you want to buy something you have to ask the price. The worker will tell you a price like 800 RMB (Chinese money). Then I had to do some quick math and figure out how much American money that is. The first price is always really high, 5 or 6 times what it is worth. Then you have to bargain. You say a price, they say no, they say a price, you say no. There’s lots of acting and yelling of things like “no way, too cheap”. Sometimes I just said forget it and tried to walk away. The worker would follow me and keep trying to get me to buy the items. At one place I was going to buy a silk scarf but thought the price was too expensive. When I said no, the clerk pulled out a picture of Hillary Clinton in a scarf and told me I’d look like her if I bought it! Finally, we came to a price. And I bought 3 scarves for less than the first price for only one! You will have to let me know if I look like Mrs. Clinton! It was kind of fun but also really crazy!

We went to two restaurants, lunch and dinner. Guess what? Chinese food!!

North Pole

Let me start by saying it was a long flight. Our plane flew from Chicago just east of the North Pole. There was only snow and ice for many hours as we went over northern Canada, Greenland and then the Arctic. Once we passed over the North Pole we headed south over Russia and it was still lots of ice. We then passed over mountains in Mongolia and the Gobi Desert. The Gobi Desert is very cold, with no trees and only sand and a few roads with a few buildings. Then it was mountains again and finally the flat plain that leads into Beijing, China.

Chinese meal

Beijing is a huge city. It goes on for miles. Most road signs and business signs are in Chinese characters but often there are also English words as well. On the first evening we went out to eat. Guess what we had?? Chinese food! Actually we went to restaurant that specializes in Peking Duck. Do you like Chinese food? If not, you’d better not come here because we’ve had Chinese food at every meal, even breakfast! In restaurants here food is served in bowls for the whole table. There is a big round disk in the middle of the table that rotates (we call it a Lazy Susan). Everyone at the table takes turns spinning it to make the food go past so everyone can taste all the yummy food. I’m still working on using chopsticks so I drop lots of food sometimes.

I will try to write again. I have lots to tell you. I just hope the Internet keeps working.

In only a day I’ll be starting my long trip to China.  First I fly to Chicago.  Then I change to a bigger plane which will take me to Beijing.  We will fly over the North Pole and over Russia into China.  Take a look at a globe or map and you will see my route.   I leave early on Wednesday morning and I get to China on Thursday afternoon!!  How does that happen?  The flight to Chicago is a couple of hours long and the  flight to China will be over 13 hours long. Since China is in a different time zone that is 12 hours later than us, between the long flight and the extra 12 hours, it will be Thursday afternoon when I arrive.  On the other hand, when I come back home, the clock will be only one hour later than I leave China when I get back to Chicago!

I want to say a big thank you to all the Toffolon students who made bookmarks for me to give to the students of Jinan Primary School.  I know they will be pleased to get a gift all the way from America.

Be sure to check back on this blog site in a few days.  Hopefully, I will have Internet and be able to tell you all about my trip and maybe even add some pictures!

I’d like to give you a little more information about my upcoming trip to China.

• I will be going to Beijing and to Connecticut’s sister school province of Shandong.  I will be traveling on this 13 day trip with about 20 other principals and teachers from around Connecticut.  The trip is sponsored by the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS).  The partnership between Connecticut and the Shandong Province schools was established in 1986 and Connecticut boasts over 15o school partnerships.

I am very excited to be visiting Beijing, the capital of China.

• From what I have read I know that Beijing is a huge city with a population of more than 22 million people! (This is much larger than New York City has 8 million.)  I expect it will be crowded!
• Beijing is also known for beautiful palaces, temples and gates.  It is considered China’s educational, cultural and political center.
• While I am there I will visit the Ministry of Education, Silk Market, Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and the Olympic Village.

The other place I will visit will be Jinan, which is the capital of the Shandong Province.

• Jinan is also a large city with a population of 6 million.
• It’s nickname is the “City of Springs” because of all of the natural water springs that are in Jinan. (Which seems kind of funny since we were told only to drink bottled water!)
• While I am there I expect to visit the Shandong Department of Education and Qufu, the home of Confucius.
• I also expect to spend five days visiting the local schools, expecially our future sister school of Jinan Wei Er Road Primary School.

Gifts

• It is part of the Chinese custom to bring gifts for new friends.  I don’t know yet if I will be staying in someone’s house or in a hotel when I go to the school but I need to be ready with plenty of gifts for the teachers, principal and students.
• The Toffolon students are making bookmarks for me to give to our new Chinese friends and I’m also bringing books about Connecticut, chocolate, a few Toffolon tee shirts and other gifts.

Language and Customs

• I’ve been busy trying to learn some survival Chinese.  I went to a few days of classes to learn some words and phrases in Chinese.
• I also learned a few customs so I’ll know how to act.  Did you know that you should never spear your chopsticks into your food or leave them poking up out of your food?  Also, the number 8 is lucky but 4 is considered unlucky.
• I’ll have an interpreter at the school but I’ll need to learn some of the language to manage on my own for a bit. (So far, I only know how to count to ten and I know a few greetings… I’ve got a long way to go!).

I’m going to China!  While I’m there I will be visiting a possible sister school for Toffolon.  It is in Jinan in the Shandong Province of China.  I leave on April 13th.  Follow my trip through this blog!  Zàijiàn!