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Published: September 4th 2016
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homestay-yanfeng-ella
YanFeng and Ella - my homestay family in Chengdu Behind each of these student stories, there are many teachers from the Chengdu school and three very busy teachers from Australia. I would like to share one of these stories as a teacher from Cairns Hinterland Steiner School who is on this amazing rollercoaster ride we call an International Exchange.
What you may not know is that we have homestay families as well. In my home in Australia, my husband and I shared our home with Elsy (XieYue) for four weeks in Australia and now here in Chengdu i am sharing YanFeng and Ella's home. Just like the students i am making mistakes and unsure about many things. Although i didn't get the opportunity to learn mandarin, so i bumble along with lots of animated hand gestures and exaggerated facial expressions. Fortunately Ella speaks both mandarin and English very well and YanFeng has an app on her phone that translates individual mandarin words to English. Like the students, I am also intrigued by the food and try everything that is cooked or washed. Friday night we went out to dinner with the Chengdu teachers and i tried intestines cooked in hotpot and have to say i prefer the sticky rice
homestay-mimi
Mimi who loves to fight with my shoes and is a lovely comfort for me when i miss my doggies. and the potato noodles more😊
YanFeng is teaching me about heating and cooling foods for my body and i have discovered that chilly is good for circulation and i need to eat lotus root and cucumber with mung bean soup and of course more fruit and vegetables. Isn't it interesting that i actually really like eating these foods... I am enjoying discovering the green tea varieties with their delicate flavours, colours and aromas. I even had the chance to share tea with LiZewu the other day - such a treat. Yashoda introduced me to barley (not sure if that is correct) tea and then there are all of the flower based non-caffeine varieties... Ella has also shared a novel with me 'A Short History of Chinese Philosophy'. I am not sure when i will find time to read this, but from the first six pages i have read, it is quite fascinating.
The teachers at our Chengdu school have been so supportive of our exchange. We were introduced to approximately fifty teachers of the Chengdu community on Thursday and I have been greeted by warm smiles and welcoming nods ever since. The high school teacher team have been
homestay-yanfeng-art
YanFeng is a wonderful artist - this piece of hers has captured my imagination. receptive to all of our requests and made changes that have made our first week a really inclusive and broad representation of a Waldorf High School. We have had taiji, main lesson, English, Mandarin, art, choir, music (three different electives), basketball, volleyball, and physical education classes. Next week we have plans for even more interesting classes...stay tuned.
On the plane trip over here, i watched some TED talks on how to be happy. One was about simplifying your life by downsizing and the other was about taking different routes on your daily travels to make the most of each trip. I have experienced both here in practice. Each home i visit has no unnecessary clutter and i wonder how they do it. It means everything is easily accessible, there is beauty in the space and there is an order and cleanliness. It is functional and aesthetic. I look at all of the possessions i have in my packing and wonder how they do it?
Travelling a different route i have experienced twice now. There is a straightforward route that gets me from home to school in just a short ten minute walk and i feel quite comfortable walking
homestay-greenroute
A tree-lined path from home to school - the perfect way to start a day! this way now. One afternoon, Yashoda took some students to a foot massage (and i came along) and so afterwards i travelled home a different way. It is exciting and alarming being in an unfamiliar country and when i am by myself i feel very vulnerable with my lack of language skills, no phone and no map (although i have a map now so feel much better). But how rewarding to meet a teacher en-route to ask directions and discover new shops and make it home by my wits - very empowering. On Friday i was feeling quite confident to try another route to school, so was about to leave early when YanFeng asked me to walk with her. Imagine my surprise when she showed me the 'healthy green route' which travels right past our building and finishes just around the corner from school. It is a tree-lined passageway that buffers the accomodation buildings from the link road. I am a tactile person, so went to stroke one of the leaves when i noticed the leaves covered in a sooty coating. Is is pollution, smoke, dust...? I wondered about my lungs and how short of breath i feel each day. I must admit i felt a bit nostalgic about our home with its bright blue skies and I wondered if you can see rainbows here? I was so overjoyed to find a green path to school that i am going to try and leave a little earlier in the morning as much as possible to enjoy this beautiful little treat each morning. Perhaps i might even get to school in time to join in with taiji (tai-chi)?
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