Blogs from Chengdu, Sichuan, China, Asia - page 90

Dear Parents, The boys were given a morning call at 6:50 am in the morning. They quickly washed up and got ready for breakfast. They were shocked when were told to make their beds, and sweep/mop the floor. Apparently, some boys do not do house chores back home. They didn’t know how to fold their blankets. The caregiver ‘auntie’ came in and award points for the cleanliness/tidiness of their room. She simply shook her head and asked me if she needed to grade them. “Give them 3 days, before grading them”, I said. Hopefully, by the end of the third day, they’d know to how to do simple house chores. The boys finished their chores and waited until 7:30 am for their breakfast. However, the girls arrived far behind the scheduled time (around 7:50 am). They ... read more

Dear Parents, Today has been a long, tiring but enriching day (That explains why I’m only able to post this entry at midnight). My apology if you’ve stood up late to wait for my entry. Our anxieties and worries last night vanished when we met our students this morning, together with their buddies and families. Although many of them had reservations staying with strangers last night, they shared enthusiastically with the teachers how well they were taken care of by the families. Many of the families brought them out for dinner. Some even brought them to shop, paying for all their expenses. They watched the fireworks display and some played computer games with their buddies. For some families, communication was a problem, but they overcome it with the use of electronic dictionary and handphone. At 830 ... read more

Finally we are able to post some photos from Day 1 onto our TravelBlog! :) More to follow soon! ... read more

Warm nieuws vanuit Chengdu Eerste dag buiten zonder jas aan! Zelfs in je t-shirt was het nog aan de warme kant. De eerste mug...Na een geweldige treinreis vanuit Pingyao gisternacht in Chengdu aangekomen. Van droge vlakke natuur werd alles steeds groener en bergachtiger. Hoe lang zijn we ook al weer in China? Welke dag is het eigenlijk..welke datum? De tijd hebben we onderweg achtergelaten. update 6/03: Al weer drie weken geleden zijn we de grens bij Rusland overgestoken naar China. We waren voorbereid op een lange dag met veel wachten en controles. Het was inderdaad lang wachten vanwege alle formaliteiten, maar gelukkig geen boetes omdat we niet genoeg registraties hadden. Alleen een vriendelijke glimlach and that's it. Piece of cake dus. En dan opeens in China! Vlak na de grens voor het eerst kennisgemaakt met de ... read more

I arrived in Chengdu after a 20-hour train ride, which wasn't so bad except for the businessman across my bunk, who had a 2-hour Chinese yellfest with his colleague (according to Philipp's translation, "Why are you unhappy with your job?!?!"). My ipod helped drone it out... so my sleep was not entirely sacrificed. We checked into Mix Hostel, which is a nice place I would recommend for travelers on a budget (Y15/$2 for a 6-bed dormroom) or for meeting people. It has a clear openness to it, but the Bob Marley/Jack Johnson on repeat got old after awhile-- but added to the hippy atmosphere. It has a diverse crowd of Chinese travelers and foreigners from all over, and a nice fireplace pit to chat all night (till they turn off the music and the nights). I ... read more