Busy Day in Beijing

We started our day at Ba yi Middle Highschool where we learned about the achievements, past founders and successful graduates from the school. The school was very magnificent and grand looking with fancy buildings. We were shown the different rooms for choir, band and the other arts before we were sent into the English language classrooms. We sat through a 45 minute lesson with thirteen year olds who spoke English quite well. Then we went outside to watch them do morning exercises. It was so neat because they were in perfect formation in matching uniforms with different colored stripes to determine the different grade levels. After watching for a few minutes, we were guided into a traditional Chinese watercolor painting class where the students who were our age, taught us how to paint lotus flowers. From talking to the students, we found many similarities between us. We met a lot of new friends at this school and we felt so welcomed from their great hospitality. After our visit to the school, we ate lunch then went to Tiananmen Square. I was so amazed by its grandeur. After walking around the square and learning about the significance of the various buildings, we walked to the Forbidden City which looked almost exactly like other traditional Chinese temples. At the city, our wonderful tour guide, Charlie, explained to us the Chinese significance of the different buildings. The Forbidden City was built to such a monumental scale that visitors feel so small compared to it. The buildings were all so grand with beautiful decorations. After walking through the city, we went to a large tea house called, Dr. Tea. We learned about the differences between traditional Chinese teas and we learned about the uses of the teas. The most interesting part of the tea house visit was when we saw this “pee pee boy” that is a clay figure that when hot water is poured onto him, he literally pees. Overall, today was a lot of fun. I can’t wait for the adventures that await us tomorrow.

- Jasmine

Today was better than yesterday; going to Ba Yi High school was impressive. Although it was a public school it is better than the ones in Hawaii. The school was large, clean, and orderly. We visited some classrooms which included choir, band, ceramics, and tie dye rooms. We even went into a room that was filled with electric drums which we were allowed to play with; going inside the room was interesting because you don’t see that type of sight often. After seeing the rooms we got to actually experience the academic atmosphere that the classes in China create for the Chinese students. During our time in the classrooms we saw how the teacher and students interacted. Students were expected respond to the teachers questions about the lessons, it seemed like they were having a fun time. We learned how to do Chinese morning exercises, and paint lotus’ using the Chinese water coloring technique. After our visit at the middle high school we went to eat lunch at a restaurant that was close by to the school. The bathrooms were beautiful and don’t have graffiti on them, many of us have already experienced the technique squatting to use the bathroom, while some of us refrain from trying new things. We visited the Tianamen square and Forbidden City, these sites were huge! Charlie, our guide told us about the movie, The Last Emperor, and how it was filmed in the Forbidden City. Charlie and our bus driver are awesome! We visited a tea shop called Dr. Tea, where we watched a presentation and tasted the different types of tea as well. We then went to the Chinatown and ate at the restaurant, the food was good but it seems that everyone is getting tired of the continuous type of foods. We always have fun during meals though.
Tomorrow we will visit the summer palace in the morning and then in the afternoon we will go to the airport to go to Xian.
So don’t worry about us, we are fine, we are in good hands. Wait for the next blog, and until we see you again bye bye!

- Meddie