Day 5

Today is Thursday. We have now been in Xi'an for 5 days and everyone is doing very well! The students are all happy with their host families and are learning a lot of Chinese! Each day we arrive on campus by 7:30. Some of the students take the bus while others are dropped off or take a taxi (an inexpensive and practical way to get around). Today the rain stopped and there is a hazy sun in the mist. Today all the students participated in "morning exercise" for the first time. After 3 periods all the students go out to the quad/playground area, line up, and do group exercises to music. Each day they do the same routine. Now that our students have school uniforms they blend in a little more. (I'll try to post a picture soon.) School rules require that all girls wear hair longer then ear-length in a pony tail, so Katie has begun to do the same. (She looks so cute!) Even Aida tried but her hair is too short. (The first day of school Katie's host-sister was aghast to see her head out the door with her hair hanging down.)


Our two Chinese teachers take turns every other day but do an excellent job coordinating with each other, so that one reviews what the other taught. As this room is quite well equipped in electronics they do most teaching with the aid of power point presentations. We have learned a great deal in a short amount of time as the students do their homework and work hard. On the other hand they also have a lot of fun with their host families. During our afternoon Chinese lesson yesterday we learned about the Dragon Boat Festival which will take place next week. This is a traditional festival, but up until now has never been a national holiday. The festival celebrates a poet, statesman and scholar who lived more than two thousand years ago who could not accept the government of the time and so jumped into a river holding a rock, thus drowning. The local people threw food to the fish so that they would not eat the body of the poet. They also raced up and down the river in boats trying to save him. Typical activities for this festival (May 5 in the lunar year) include "dragon boat" races (boats with dragon heads and up to 40 rowers) and eating green bean cakes (like cookies) and a kind of sweet rice dish wrapped in leaves and steamed called zong zi. It ends up looking somewhat like dark, thick jello, but is delicious.

As I said this will be the first year that it will be a national holiday, so to make up for "lost time" there will be school all weekend and then we will have off Monday through Wednesday. On Saturday we have a previously planned outing for the day, but then will have regular classes on Sunday. :)