Blogs from Sichuan, China, Asia - page 6

My class and I went on an all day trip. We used the school bus to drive to the Dujiangyuan Mountains. It took around 2 hours to get to the bottom of the mountains. There were beautiful temples and people dressed as Micky Mouse and monkey people. We posed with them and afterwards they charged us, even though we didn’t know we had to pay them, but it was going to a good cause. Before we started walking up the mountain, the teachers said we should sing ‘Land Down Under’ in front of everyone. It sounded ok and people started videoing us and staring. The walk was really pretty and people kept asking to take photos with us. We crossed a long, suspended walkway that stretched across the river. The water was flowing so fast and ... read more

So, first night of camp, Sienna, Che’la and I thought it would be suitable for all of us to sleep in the same tent. Sleeping in the same tent sounds fine until we realized that it was a one-man tent that we planned to squeeze in (as well as having heaps of luggage shoved in the back of it). It was at night when we were playing a game with the Chinese students, and it started raining, so we all went to our tents, fixing anything that could cause water coming in. Once all of us were sitting quietly crammed in the tent, I’m pretty sure we all came to a telepathic conclusion that none of us were going to sleep well. I lay there with Sienna and her long limbs on my left, Che’la on ... read more

We went on camp for three days and two nights. We slept in tents and on the first night it rained so hard that Faith and Bethany’s tent leaked. There were four different groups of Chinese and Australian kids. I was in a group with Ebon, two Chinese boys and two Chinese girls. We spent half a day orienteering. My feet were so sore and everywhere we walked was slippery and wet. The campground was beautiful but had rubbish littered all over. One morning Avalon, Faith, Ebon, Arlene and I cleaned around the campsite and a Chinese family walked past and started helping us. On the last day, we walked through an old village and Bethany and I found a really cute puppy. A couple of Chinese boys tried to teach Ebon and me to play ... read more

It was with great trepidation that I joined the class on the recent camp to Tangjia Mountain Forest. I have not been camping since arriving in Australia 8 years ago, and was not sure if I could manage. Of course, I could have opted out but, instead, I set myself the challenge to just do it. And I am so glad I did. The mountains are beautiful. I have a whole new perspective of life in rural China - the simple villages and homesteads, the small plantations dotted in amongst the 'forest' where they grow crops of all kinds and where chickens and ducks roam freely. While the students were busy with Orienteering activities, I had the chance to take in the beautiful surroundings and make new connections with Chinese colleagues. Sadly, the one thing I ... read more

I was really surprised when, after school, Daniel, my homestay student, told me we were having dinner out; we usually have dinner at home. But, I was even more surprised when we stopped at some market filled with traditional looking buildings. It was raining most of the time, which was good because everyone was inside so I could see. The stores were mostly those tacky rip-off shops with fake artifacts and paintings. But there were also a lot of street food stalls, traditional silk stores and mini restaurants. The homestay dad, Yao I think his name is, randomly disappeared and came back after Daniel got me a peach toffee-on-a-stick thing. He led us to a restaurant and we got a table. It was in a traditional building, and the waitresses all wore olden style clothes. We ... read more