Good News...and Bad - Sunday 7/1 6:15pm

Good news first:
We have made it to Dallas.  We made it through the train station, the bus ride across Shanghai, the 13-hour flight, and switching terminals at Dallas. 

Now... for the bad news:
Our flight from Dallas to Indy is delayed.  Significantly delayed.  We are now scheduled to leave at 10:05pm, with an arrival in Indy at 1:13am.   (This is subject to change, so please go to the American Airlines website and sign up for a Flight Alert, so you can receive updates in real time.)  

The girls are tired, but eager to see you. 
We have been traveling for about 25 hours as of right now, so I look forward to seeing everyone waiting for their student when we land, so we can all get in the car and head home!

See you at 1:13am. (Fingers crossed!)

A Tearful Good-bye - Sunday, 7/1

We have just bid good-bye to our host families and friends and boarded the van to head to the train station.  All of the girls' discussion on the van is about the relationships that they have made and the memories that they have shared with their new Chinese friends and families. 

Thus, we embark on the long journey home:
We have a few hours to Shanghai and a two hour busride to cross Shanghai to get from the train station to the airport.
At 5:00pm, we board a thirteen hour flight to Dallas.  We have to hustle through the customs' rigamarole in Dallas to catch our connection.  At about 8:30, we will be heading for Indianapolis, scheduled to arrive in Indy at 11:37pm on AA #2711.
(If flight disruptions occur, I will update here.)

And so, we have a lot of traveling left to do, but we are on our way...

A Chopsticks Lesson, Friday 6/29

We went out for dinner tonight with some kids from the school who had accompanied us today and helped with translating. 
They had some suggestions for the girls on how to use chopsticks.

At the Shore... Saturday 6/30

Just a morning on a boat in the East China Sea.... nbd.

Thoughts on a Host Family - Tuesday 6/26 (Lena Alt)

All of us were scared out of our minds at the idea of coming to stay with a host family. I was so scared because i had no clue what to expect. 
Once we arrived we were greeted with singing and confetti, and my fears suddenly melted away. I have never seen a group of people so happy to see me. Let alone a group of strangers. 
My family welcomed me into their home and handed me slippers that matched theirs to wear around their house. I went to bed soon after. The next morning when i was woken up the mother of the family said good morning to me. This surprised me because the night before she knew no English. She had learned it that night so she could talk to me. Every morning i am given a breakfast to take to school with me and every night the mother prepares a special snack. 
Tonight i tried sticky soup(it was amazing!). My sister played the piano for me and helped me play a few songs. Her mother sang along. 
The family is constantly telling me how much they love me and i feel so welcomed. They shower me in gifts and smiles! (Today they fitted me for a dress they are ordering!). 
The school is the same way. Every time you walk down a hall or into a room you are greeted with the most welcoming smiles and showered with love notes and gifts!
 I am really enjoying my time with my family!

Immersed in Culture - Tuesday, 6/26

The Chinese take great pride in their traditions and their cultural, and they carefully nurture learning of the traditional Arts.

Our school friends here in the Sister City have put together some cultural demonstrations and some special lessons in their Arts so that we can learn more about their cultural traditions and experience them ourselves.

We have had a Chinese Calligraphy lesson, a paper-cutting lesson, a seal carving lesson, and a lesson on a special regional kind of Chinese Opera.

The girls have attempted it all, with greater and lesser success.  They had to overcome some self-consciousness, and they had to struggle to achieve what didn't come easily for all of them, so in many cases, they learned more than just the Cultural Art that they were practicing; they also had to practice patience, perseverance, and good grace; through travel, we often can learn as much about ourselves as we do about the people and place that we are visiting.

Our Taizhou hosts have been so gracious in sharing the beauty of their city and of their Arts with us, and it has been a privilege to participate.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Below are some pictures from our Culture lessons of the last few days:



A Caligraphy Lesson:

A Chinese Paper-Cutting Lesson:

A Chinese Opera Lesson:

Little Body, Huge Heart - Sunday, 6/24 (Jazmyn Davis)

If there was one part of China I could bring back to the US, it would be the willingness and excitement to learn from and engage with people of different cultures. Only on week one, our group has been approached by many Chinese strangers. All of these individuals have wanted to take pictures of, or with us and multiple have engaged in conversation. By far, my favorite experience with a native has happened to be with a five year old boy. Lydia and I were walking around Lakeside park when we discovered a pavilion. Intrigued, we approached the and took a few pictures. We continued to scope out the area before returning to the pavilion.

As we walked past, we could hear a small yet assertive voice say “apples”. I turned to see a young boy repeat the word apples then tell me he’s 5.  As I listened to him impress me with all of the english words he could say, a big smile crept across my face. “Airplane, Juice, Bananas” (which he pronounced bananers, so cute!).
His father who spoke seemingly perfect english explained to us that the boy was learning english and he was excited to practice with new people who speak the language.
As we took pictures with this boy I showed him how a polaroid worked, which he quickly fell in love with. He waved his arm back and forth as fast as he could taking short breaks to see how the picture had developed. I ended up giving him one of the polaroids that he seemed to like very much. He said thank you so many times and was truly a man of manners.
I will take this little boys eagerness and big smile with me everywhere that I go and I can’t wait to tell this story many times again.