Beijing

Its been over a week since we returned but we still would like to share our time in Beijing.  Its like no other city we saw in China, as the political hub of the country it has a completely different vibe and effects from the renovation of the olympics are still very noticeable.

Our first stop in the afternoon on the day we arrived was Tiananmen Square and then the Forbidden City.  This is the south gate of the only section that remains of the old city wall, everything in Beijing is bigger. The Parliament Building on the side of the square. Tiananmen square is massive, but not as open as we envisioned.  It the background you can see Mao’s Memorial Hall, we would visit his body a few days later. The entrance to the Forbidden City. Every year a new painting of Mao is completed, replacing the weathered one. Inside the Forbidden City; all roofs of imperial buildings are all yellow, while most other structures traditionally had red or green roofs. The detail was amazing, but not all of it had been maintained, which is a monstrous task considering the size of the compound.  Beijing lacks the numerous skyscrapers found in all of the other cities in China, but makes up for the lack of height in interesting architecture style of all the modern buildings.   Temple of Heaven, I was getting pretty artsy with my photos. We really have perfected the group picture at this point. Summer palace.  This was rebuilt by Empress Cixi at the expense of the military and as restored is a beautiful complex. Looking at the summer palace and the mostly man made lake that it sits next to. The detail in the artwork in the restored sections matched most of the original work.  Each individual painting was original and amazingly detailed. The roofs, once again in imperial yellow, were adorned with dragons and other figures representing who live there.A marble boat at the summer palace. We stopped at the new building marvels of Beijing, the site of the 2008 olympics.  It was hot and we all enjoyed popsicles while walking through the park. This is the great wall….Duh!! There is a several mile section section that has been restored for tourists.  It is really striking that this was built in the first place, its massive and you can see the older and restored sections snake over the ridges and around the mountains.The quickest, and most exciting way down from the great wall; we supported the amusementification of this historical place.  Just like hiking on Hua Shan or biking in the street, safety is a personal risk one just accepts. We had a rickshaw tour of a Hutong, a traditional neighborhood of Beijing.   Nine dragon wall in Beijing, one of the last group pictures.

Mr. W

It’s come full circle

Closing ceremony today was very similar to what we have at BHS including all of the emotions.

Everyone gave speech and our families were there, it was a nice way to wrap it up after packing our books and study materials.  After lunch we took some last photos of the empty classroom and all went our separate ways, home to finalize/start packing.

One last photo with the Gaoxin students.

As the title mentions we have come full circle; yesterday we went out to lunch with students from 3 years ago, this past fall, and, the youngest of the bunch, the ones that will be coming to America in a few months (students from 2 years ago had class, yes it was Sunday). It was great to be able to sit and meet these students, as well as have them be able to talk to  students from years past.  The teacher is a very enthusiastic lady and is really excited to be part of this continuing adventure.

-Mr. W

Final weekly musings

Sometimes its a real struggle to explain what you mean in a foreign language, either you don’t know the word, or perhaps one doesn’t even exist.  I was trying to explain to a fellow teacher today during lunch that the fact we are leaving so soon is surreal, and was stumbling through other vocabulary attempting to accurately describe this feeling that I have had since Tuesday.  I don’t know what it was about Tuesday, but everything finally hit me then; whether it was everyone else talking about returning or I was unable to continue blocking out the ‘real world’ that awaits me in Boston, my mind set changed.  Up to this point everything about home (the food, people, events, etc.) had been in a dream like state, there but untouchable, comprehendible but not truly known or understood, in the same way that the only real way to fathom the taste of a new food is to try it.  On Tuesday what has been the tangible life I have lived for the last 4 months switched places, and became this dream that I am, slowly and at the same time abruptly, waking up from.  Half of me is ready for a bucket of water so I can snap out if it; while the other half is squeezing my eyes tightly shut attempting to make the inevitable never happen.  While it is far from over, one last weekend in Xian and several days in Beijing remain, it is all happening so fast all over again, much like pretravel week. I will try to post a few more times before we touch down at logan; hopefully you enjoyed following along with our adventures in China, they have been GREAT.

-Mr. W

 

7,133

Brookline is half a world away: both literally and figuratively. It’s hard to remember what it’s like to walk the quiet streets of Tappan or Corey Farm, Coolidge Corner or SoBro. In every way shape and form, Xi’an is our home. We know  高新路 better than we know Beacon Street, and when we hang out, we go to the Red Brick market or the 回民街 instead of Coolidge Corner or Washington Square. The high school is 高新一中, Amory Park is Lotus Park, and Anna’s is the 包子 shop by the北门儿. The parallels are all there, but the nuances that make China, China are what are going to be so hard to explain once we touch down in Boston.

One of the things we realized on the first week was that the weirdness that makes up China is unexplainable, but we never expected it to become a part of our lives as it has. It doesn’t matter how many conversations over coffees, pizzas, or burritos we have in America with old friends; the only thing we will be able to do is tell stories. Even those, however, cannot fully encapsulate the intensity, adventure, and spontaneity that characterized our time in China.

One of our most dreaded questions upon return will be, “How was China?” Open-ended questions like these are always impossible to answer because any answer more than one word is an unwanted time commitment, because there’s no other way to understand it besides experiencing it firsthand, no better way to respond than “Great!” The stories and the words that we’ll begin to use to answer this question every time it’s asked will soon become ‘set phrases,’ as they call them in China, repeated until they lose much of their meaning, a funny story for everyone who hears it, perhaps, but unrepresentative of our actual time. “Great” doesn’t mean anything; but the “Great”s that we’ll be repeating time and time again will have more meaning and more stories and more depth than any “Great” that we’ve ever said before.

-Diego, Josh, Rachel

 

Talking to people about our experiences in China will be like using words to describe colors to a blind man. We can walk through the motions of illustrating our lives in Xi’an, but the colors are lifeless, and don’t do the picture justice. How often will we be asked, “How was China? What was Xi’an like?” The thoughts that fly through our minds encompass everything from using squat toilets to conversing with strangers as we bargain for goods. Even in this blog post, these two dimensional words cannot properly express the memories and feelings we associate positively with even the most mundane of tasks.

Although we won’t be able to tell every story to our friends, families, and peers, we can share experiences through our actions in the Brookline community. Instead of talking about how fun it is to dance in public, we’ll just start doing it anyway when we return. Maybe the best way to show everyone how great China was is by showing how it has allowed for us to grow and mature as people.

To have been able to share our experiences, thoughts, and pictures on the group blog was a duty we took on with pride. Not only as something to show friends, family, and curious strangers, but also to serve as a reminder for us in the future. Unfortunately, the blog won’t be a substitute for the real thing; China can’t be contained within posts and pictures, a hard reality we will face from the moment we hear “How was China?”

-Amir, Borja, Izzy, Roy’al, Yeolim

Weekly Musings

Student thoughts from our adventures over the past few weeks (haven’t had a Friday in school to reflect in a while).  Had a lot of pictures lately, so unfold your glasses, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy.

Hua Shan

We arrived at the South Peak, and, like in every other pagoda, vendor selling luke-warm diet cokes stood atop it. Looping around the side of the peak, ending behind the pagoda, was a large line of people; the only thing preventing them from falling off the mountain was a fence, only thigh-high, made of old, grey stone. Under the misleading presumption that the line was descending the mountain we joined it. As we approached the front of the line it became clear that this line was on anything other than the beaten path. At the beginning of the line there was a man. “30 kuai,” he told us. We looked past the man trying to figure out what he was selling, and saw another man putting nervous, sweating people into mountain climbing straps and clipping them to a yellow rope adhered to the side of the peak. It dawned on us that we had found the infamous Hua Shan mountainside trek. Some of us were discouraged by our fear, while others thought of this obviously near-death experience as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, impossible to turn down for the price of 5$.  Those of us who were not faint of heart then commenced the scariest experience of our lives.

After we were violently and carelessly strapped and harnessed to the thin yellow rope we walked down the steepest set of metal bars that have ever been referred to as such, moving along a set of foot ledges carved into the mountain. This lead to a wooden plank ramp, stapled together, and nailed to the mountain. This was probably the most difficult part, because people coming back in the other direction were also desperately trying to get around without risking their own lives; all the while unclipping and reclipping our carabineers every two meters.

-Rachel and Borja

 

Would you please chu fa_* already?!

Mahjong has turned us all into old, cranky Chinese women and men that live for nothing but to swindle money and patience from each other. When we are all seated around a mahjong table, the clanking of tiles and the occasional swears substitute for sleep. Inevitably, the next day despite the bags under our eyes, we are back for round two.

We’re practically addicts.

Mahjong, a traditional Chinese tile game, is a four-player game of mind and might. There are some rules that are standard throughout each province’s own gameplay, but there are differences between say Shaanxi rules and Fujian rules.

Mahjong has gotten us into some fun situations, like when Roy’al, Izzy, Borja, and Amir started a game at the Xiamen train station, while waiting for our overnight train to Wuyi Shan. What started as a game on the floor quickly transformed into a crowd-gathering spectacle, where a cleaning lady brought over a bucket and sign, to build a makeshift table. From then, began a 40-minute mahjong session consisting of a few games, during all of which passing Chinese women and men offered their advice. Sadly, our game ended as we boarded the train. While on that 16 hour ride to Wuyi Shan, Amir and Yeolim spent a confusing two hours playing mahjong with the strangers in their compartments according to their native Fujian rules.

Nothing makes us feel as old or as Chinese as mahjong does. We’re all very grateful for Mahjong now being a part of our lives and will never let it go.  We hope to be playing in our old age and to be chu fa-ing as we were in our youth.

*Chu fa means to send out a tile

-Yeolim and Roy’al

 

Impressions of a Jungle Graveyard

Gu Lang Yu is the most tourist-centered place in all of Xiamen. After we toured the island we fractured into groups. Diego, Izzy, and Amir, found the most unique place on the island. They encountered a missionary graveyard.

Diego: When I was a kid, my father always used to take pictures of my sister and I in graveyards, so I have always had a strange and nebulous connection with such places. Do you know that grey feeling, as in an awkward conversation, when you do not know where to put your arms? that same feeling overtook me as I stepped into the graveyard. Light leafy emeralds, dappled in sunlight, surrounded us on all sides as we left the main clearing, and ventured deeper into the jungle. The path through the wilderness led us to a tree covered hillock, which we proceeded to climb; the journey through the thick underbrush was not easy, and slips and stumbles were abundant. Once we reached  the paramount view, the landscape stretched out before us, an ocean to our left, mountains to our right, and jungle everywhere in between. The sound of faraway tourists crept along and tickled our ears – vastly overpowered by the innumerable and varied sounds of the forest below us. This place was magical, and so, to preserve the mystery, just as the religious cadavers below were waiting to come back and uncover whatever truth they had not found during their first visit, so too were we leaving, so we could have something to come back to.

Izzy: Diego, Amir, and I were walking along a stone path on the island down to the beach to join our friends when we passed by a small iron doorway in the side of the wall. I walked by with out giving it a second though, but Amir noticed it and we decided to go in. The graveyard we found was quiet and filled with stone graves of varying sizes that were overgrown with trees and tropical plants. As we walked around we examined the stones and tried to read the characters printed on the graves. The graveyard had a mysterious and magical air, and when reached the back of the clearing the writing switched from simplified characters to traditional. Quickly, we passed through the back wall of trees and discovered the graveyard was much bigger then it had first appeared. As we hiked around we found large stone graves hidden in the underbrush, spider webs, and a hill. When we reached the top of the hill, a giant jungle, or so it seemed, stretched out below us, along with the tourists who were climbing to the island’s peak off to our left, and the ocean. After a little more exploring we found a large drop that would have taken us more time then we had to explore, and we left the graveyard, leaving nothing behind but some footprints.

Amir: An entrance to a jungle graveyard appeared in my peripheral vision and I was helpless to refuse. Immediately me, Diego, and Izzy entered. The plaque, covered with overgrown weeds, told me that there were about 500 Christian graves in this missionary resting place. The jungle that stretched out on our right beckoned and again, I was shaken with the mere thought of refusal. We trekked upwards, as we entered the jungle, childhood memories of Little Mogli popped up like bubbles calling me farther into the treenery. The place felt like Miyazaki drew it with the intent of creating an environment more mystical than all his previous works. Bugs bit and stung our bare calves, the smell of the sea tickled my nostrils: my eyes were basking in the sight of these historical, Christian, Chinese graves- some large, others magnanimous, some unknown like their lives or social positions, all of gray rock. Stone and bamboo formed roofs over the buried souls; paths to the unknown jungle drove us on, charmed with adventure and crazed with a feeling of helplessness I have looked for everywhere in China, I left the graveyard through the way I came: with no connection to the floating land and a sense of bewilderment at seeing so many tourists with wide gazes which I imagine had to have been akin to my own.

-Izzy and Amir

 

Happy Birthdays

Six cakes, countless 生日快乐s, and a week later, Josh and Diego continue to celebrate their birthdays.

Josh’s came first: on May 7^th, we boarded a flight to Xiamen that took us there in a little over two hours. His family had celebrated it with him the night before, preparing seven dishes and ordering a cake and then showering him with gifts—from an expensive tea table to a Chinese chess set, all of this recorded by camera. He was swept away and touched by his first experience participating in a Chinese sense.

That night, we met up with Ted’s dad and he took us unexpectedly close to our hotel to eat some of the Xiamen classics. We walked in to the restaurant and Sunny tried to get Josh to choose food, but he had no idea what was good, bad, amazing, or awful. Eventually, they all returned to our huge room encasing us all and we feasted on our first fresh seafood. After our meal, Josh had his second cake in two days.

Several days later, on May 11^th (the last night before leaving Fujian), Mr. Wolf took Diego to reserve a Mah-jong table—nothing out of the ordinary; we had done the same thing every night since we arrived in the province. Upon our return upstairs from the lobby, Diego went into the room to get everyone to play Mah-jong. Instead, Mr. Wolf called a meeting. They sat him down in a chair by the door, and commenced to conduct a denunciation meeting. Each of the other members of the group took out a Little Red Book and made fun of him like only friends who had been together for four months could. The cake came out afterwards, and we ate to our heart’s content, finishing the day with a couple of hours of Mah-jong.

The week of our return we had a few more celebrations—Diego’s host family got him yet another cake, and then on Friday, May 16^th, the school brought a cake in the middle of what was supposed to be Chinese class and we proceeded to paint each other’s faces in whipped cream and frosting. The presents have been plentiful, the people beyond kind, and it is easy to say that celebrating a birthday in China has been an experience all on its own.

We’ve learned one thing above everything else, however: cake here is just not that good.

-Diego and Josh

 

Fujian #2

Whole bunch of random photographs from the students and dinner in Xiamen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5tcqUHJvPoUnknown location…but having fun regardlessPretty awesome place to spend your birthday  Tuluo Quick game of cards One of the bamboo raft guides, who was incredibly entertaining, even when he was running off the boat to go pee. Our incredibly fun and relaxing  float down the river I don’t know why diego looks so mean, hes really a nice kid A graveyard on Gulangyu, island next to Xiamen, perfect setting for a horror movie. I don’t know why there are so many pictures of Amir, it must be his impeccable style. Climbing one of the mountains in Wuyi Probably one of the greatest experience of the trip.  While waiting in Xiamen for our train to Wuyishan the students set up our travel mahjong set to play a few games.  In no time at all, there was a crowd of Chinese gathered around, tapping them, pointing at tiles, yelling in their ears, and giving them all sorts of advice.  Again taking the train is the best, because you are with the average citizen, and have time to build a relationship and talk; planes are too fast and full of people that have no interest in reaching out.  If you ever travel in China, or anywhere with trains, hard sleeper (6 beds not private) is the way to go. -Mr. W

Fujian

We spent the last 5 days tramping all around the southeastern coast of China, so close to Taiwan you could actually see one of the islands.  Even though we were barely able to stay dry, it was an amazing trip, beautiful sights, great food, and wonderful people.

MAP

After getting picked up at the airport in tha afternoon, we toured a Buddhist temple, which included a short hike, and then headed to the beach.  We all took off our shoes and then splashed a bit in the water, it may not have been the cleanest of all oceans, but it was still the ocean.The first of two birthdays celebrated on this trip, Josh turned 16.  The student that Josh hosted in the fall, father took us out to a restaurant to sample some of the local cuisine and spoiled all of us.The second day we took a bus ride into the center of the province to see the historical Tuluo, earthen buildings. They still have people living in them, and thriving off the tourism, but it was an interesting look back at history, the local Chinese version of the European castle.The buildings are round, at least the older ones are, which is really gives an interesting feeling on the inside.  Whole families, or clans live in one, and several hundred people can reside in a single building.You can’t walk by a snake museum and not go in…The Tulou from a hill nearby.  This may have been the nicest weather we saw all trip, but it would start to sprinkle about 30 minutes later.Group by the Tulou, never in my life would I have guessed I would welcome the humidity, a nice change from Xian.Playing Mahjong late into the night takes its toll, however it became a nightly group activity during this trip and even earned us some fame with locals.Our second full day in Xiamen, we headed to Gulangyu, a small island just of the main island.  A small island that is a great place to walk around since there are no cars.Gulangyu was home to several consulates after the opening to the west as a result of the Opium Wars and many of the old buildings have been turned into hotels or are rented to local businessmen by the government.The streets wound all through the city, a map couldn’t prevent you from getting lost.A pair of brave souls taking a dip in the South China Sea, I was pretty jealous.The food was delicious.  Lots of interesting seafood including fish balls, oyster pancake-like-thing, and our new favorite, squid on a stick(none of these are pictured). The old consulates of Gulangyu in the front and the new construction of Xiamen in the back.The island could be circumnavigated in a half day on foot, and a little hill offered great views of the island city of XiamenAfter an overnight train, which is the best way to travel around because of the people you meet, to the northern part of Fujian province, we began our two-day exploration of Wuyi Shan park.The park consists of over 30 different peaks, of which we climbed 3 of them. Below are 3 pictures of the peaks, whose beauty my camera could not capture, shrouded in mist and clouds, the lush green scenery was gorgeous.Descending down from the first peak.One Thread in the Sky chasm, this thin one way path cut right through the middle of the rock cliff. Kind of feel like Indiana Jones here.After lunch we boarded bamboo rafts and floated down the river.  We could take our shoes off and relax as we meandered through the peaks.  The front guide had to pause for a cigarette, so Amir and Yeolim took over.  The amount of smoking here is uncomprehendible for someone who was alive prior to the ’85, the guide in the back must have smoked half a pack, he always had one in his mouth.This trip was just great in that it allowed us to escape the dust and ‘haze’ of Xian, which I have sadly grown accustomed to.View from the river looking up.The next day, our full final, was by far the rainiest, but we still slogged through it to the top of one of the highest peaks.  Here in the clouds we are looking down at the rafts floating by, where we were yesterday.The end of the hike had us far away from the masses near a beautiful temple, the rain was just part of the experience.Even though heavy rain wrecked our afternoon and dinner plans, we still had each other to enjoy a nice relaxing and game filled evening. Having the equivalent of ramen noodles on the 4th floor of the Su Min hotel, something that won’t be forgotten for long while.We celebrated one more birthday, Diego’s, on that final evening; which of course meant more Mahjong late in night.One last look a Wuyishan as we get ready early the next morning to head to the airport for Xian.  What a fantastic trip despite, and at times because of, the rainy weather.

 

-Mr. W

Acting and Singing

Its been almost two weeks since the performance itself, but I have finally pulled together all of the videos and edited everything out.  I am really upset my camera ran out of memory in the middle of the play, it was hilarious and the audience was loving it.  We really didn’t have much time to prepare for this and its really amazing what the students were able to do with so little practice.  Newton South’s choral group was there as well and they were fantastic, in terms of singing they were a tough act to follow, but we were more for the comedic value. Enjoy the video.

Huashan #2

After a refreshing and energizing lunch we headed up to the South peak.  The climb was relatively short compared to the morning, but again their were the stairs.Looking back on what we had accomplished in the morning, the West peak.  Notice the camera in the foreground on the post, China is always watching, or maybe its for show just like the metal detectors; I wore my leatherman knife on my belt this entire trip through the subway and train stations.   As mentioned before, the weather was beautiful, and combined with the mountains themselves, made from an amazing day.  We even felt a little bit above the haze that has become such a part of our lives.Teachers and Rachel, and oh are those two heads by the outcropping in front…There were carvings like those in the foreground all over the rock faces around us on the mountain, every turn seemed to have a new one.Roy’al enjoying the summit of the South peak.Somewhere in this multitude of locks is a deep love for someone. On top of the South peak.I have an awesome group of students with me, and some wonderful Chinese teachers; just below the summit of the south peak.Scattered all over the mountain are several different temples (Daoist I think??).  While many are newly constructed, like this one, they still hold a special aura when you walk by them.  It is impossible to miss the significance that many years ago, before modern connivence, people ascended, lived, and worshipped on top of this mountain.  Most of what you see now represents the efforts of modern Chinese tourism.Diego, Josh, Roy’al, and 张老师 talking with a monk about their life devoted to another power.  If there was ever a place to practice a religion, the top of this mountain would be it, close to the heavens and steep as can be, although not that secluded anymore.Surveying the cliff face enroute to the East peak.Hmmmm…I know you are not wearing a harness because of the sunshine, no matter how bright it is…Oh thats because you are on a sheer cliff face about to climb out to a viewing point via the appropriately named plank road in the sky.  If you are terrified of heights, you may just want to skip to the end.The ladder down to the path across was no less terrifying.  It didn’t help that the safety lecture consisted of a guy putting a harness on you, clipping it to the safety line and then pushing you forward so he could help the next person.  Common sense was something that I stressed the entire day, maybe we were a little crazy…Remember hearing about the tour guide from Yunnan…The craziest part of this whole thing, was that there was only one path, so you return the same way you went out.  This meant you had to stop to wait for the people to walk around you while heading out,There is a saying teachers use when a student leans back in their chair, “Four on the floor’, referring to keeping all the legs down so you don’t fall back.  Borja is not following that. Its almost like Titanic; except on a foot wide platform, a couple hundred meters up a sheer cliff, holding onto a chain, while a light breeze blows through your hair.They say never to look down, I don’t always listen, sorry mom (she is absolutely terrified of heights).Most of this was about the journey, and what a journey it was, to a small vantage point, but the views were amazing along the way.5 students, 3 chinese teachers, one bad ass Kung Fu teacher, and me; safe and enjoying the views.We had to make sure the harnesses still worked before we headed back.  This was a once in lifetime mini adventure in our excursion to 花山, something you will never find in the US, and I am proud of the students who completed it, and even more impressed by the students who knew their limits (and had more common sense).After this we headed up the East peak.  While it seemed like just another summit, is was equally spectacular.  I can only imagine how great the sunrise must be up here.I am here in China with a fantastic group of students, we met at the bus stop at 6 AM and didn’t return home until around 10:30-11 that night; they conquered this mountain in day, never complaining, and continuously interacting with the people and nature around them.  It is great to see how close they have become with their teachers and each other, and how much they are working to improve their language, even while clambering up stairs. I am a lucky person to be here with them.花山 is an amazing mountain; while it may not be the tallest it is one of the most spectactuar in both the views and steepness.  This was a fantastic day that really will not be forgotten for a long time.

-Mr. Wolf

Work hard play hard

With the busy weekend and the rough draft of the Independent reserach Paper due on Friday I pulled some strings and yesterday we headed to hike 花山 for the day.  Mount Hua’s reputation is of being one the the steepest, most precipitous, mountains in the world; along with an incredible religious significance.  So we woke early, got on a bus to the subway, which we took to the train station, took a train to the town, and had another bus bring us to the entrance of the park, and the final bus (pictured below) brought us up to the cable car loading station.Everyone was surprised that we said we were hiking 花山 in only one day; lots of people hike up during the night or in the afternoon and camp on the top, all so they can watch the sunrise.  For us logistics didn’t work out so the cable car made our lives easier.We really covered a lot of different types of transportation, and were happy we didn’t have to do the full hike up.This view from the cable car gives you a good idea of how they have built stairs on the mountain, lots and lots of stairs.  Its not like hiking in the Whites of NH.We covered some elevation pretty quicklyOne of the first things we see is this hostel/hotel built on the mountain and of course the rest of 花山.  There are several places to spend the night and the amount of construction, including the stairs themselves, is impressive on such a steep mountain, OSHA would not approve of many of their methods.The cable car drops you off close to the North Peak, which provides a good vantage point of the other peaks.  花山 is made up of at least 5 separate peaks, depending on your definition of peak; West is on the right side, East is the high point on the middle left, and South (actually the highest even if it doesn’t look it from here) is between the two.This was taken on top of the North peak, and between here and the east peak is another small summit.We had a beautiful day, it was amazing, we are so luckyThe locks are for lovers who want their relationship to last forever.  Secure them to the chains that are at the top and then throw the key over the side.The problem with hiking up stairs is you any time you look up you are staring at someone’s butt.  It was crowded by American standards, but not by Chinese ones, I can’t imagine being here on the holiday weekend that begins tomorrow.The steep reputation is well deserved.  The views were fantastic on this gorgeous day, and I think we may have even been a bit above the ‘haze’.Hiking up towards Jinsuo Gap, everywhere you go stairs.A look back at what we have done so far, the cable car is the silvery building in the right half farther back in front of the North peak.Our group was a little more prepared for the stair climbing, I mean hiking then most others; not completely because we were in shape, but mainly due to their clothes.  While I only saw one woman with about 4 inch heels, the majority of everyone else seemed dressed so that they were ready to go out for dinner. Some points were steep enough that it was almost a crawlOur Kung Fu teacher came with usAlong with 5 out of 6 of the college students who are our Chinese teachers, here is 张老师 and 邰老师。It was bright out, but not this bright, my camera got put on a strange setting. Here we are at the summit of the West peak.Caution Slip, I guess that means the edge of the cliff is on the other side of the chain…Oh directly on the other of the chain, lasting for about a few hundred meters.  This would never happen in the US, and I hate that; its common sense, which we need more of at home, it should be simple survival instinct,don’t stand too close to the edge (This coffee is HOT).Amir and the teachers, or most them at least.Found a great spot for lunch, in the shade and away from other people.  This is a coffee bar, which appeared closed, that happens to be built on a cliff right next to a buddhist temple.  The after lunch goals, South peak on the right and East peak in the middle. View from the top of the West peak.  The afternoon’s adventures will follow in a second blog tomorrow.

-Mr. W

Model UN

Students participated in a Model UN conference on human trafficking over the weekend, impressing both myself and all of the others in attendance.  They were role models for the entire conference in their abilities to debate and at the same time work together with others to try to reach a resolution.  For those unfamiliar with the MUN, like myself before Saturday, students represent countries and try to solve a real world issue, while sticking the the beliefs of their country.

Here are the opening ceremonies, with words from the assistant headmaster.Its almost as if this auditorium was built specifically for this. This is an actual flag from the souvenir store of the real United Nations I was told. Probably the only picture of Yeolim really smiling this whole trip, she loves her funny faces, and Diego the MUN leader of our group, this is one of his many passions at BHS, representatives of China. Zambia, represented by Amir and Borja, would use all of their diplomatic ability over the 4 sessions to establish themselves as a world power, they really did some tough negotiating.Iran, Josh and Roy’al, and Syria, Izzy and Rachel, listen to a motionSyria presents their case for more education.An unmoderated caucus where the countries try to agree on their goals.  Our students English gave them a clear advantage for the conference, however they were really able to benefit everyone involved while working on their debate skills,Syria continued to present strong arguments throughout the two daysOne of the best things for me was passing notes since I was just an observer, but this was also a major way to get things accomplished between countries (or decide where to go for lunch). The awards section: Zambia, by far the most persuasive country, and winner of the best resolution contributor.  The resolution is what a coalition of countries will write in an attempt to solve the issue presented.  It is then voted on by all of the countries; two very well written resolutions did not make it past the majority vote, each failing by less 2 votes. Shows just how important compromise is.Surprise!! China won best delegate, I like to think its because of the duo below  Closing ceremonies The leader of the MUN club and the best guide/friend we have met so far here in China, 石老师 Kevin

-Mr. Wolf