Panda-monium, Farewell Chengdu

Our last full day in Chengdu certainly was a full one. Let me start by saying what wonderful hosts the folks at Chengdu Experimental Foreign Languages School are.
They have really taken us in and shown us the sights. Today we headed north toward the mountains to the town of Dujiangyan to see a 2100 year old irrigation project. Now that may not sound too exciting but just consider the technology available two millenia ago. This system was designed to provide water to all of the Chengdu basin, and it is still functioning today. Li Bing was the architect and he is still revered for his ingenuity, and for good reason. The system works entirely based on built in controls that allow just the right amount of water to flow to Chengdu, wet or dry season. I would go into all the details, which I found fascinating, but my guess is most of you would doze off before I finished. Suffice it to say that we were all once again impressed with the innovation and creative thinking of the Chinese. Still in Dujiangyan we headed to lunch. The kids have been here long enough to have developed favorite foods, and today's menu of choice was dumplings. All were devoured in short order and then it was back on the road.

The afternoon was spent at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center. This is where most of the Pandas in zoos around the world come from. With their natural habitat disappearing, and their naturally low reproductive rate, there are only about a thousand Pandas left in the wild. This center is set up to preserve the species, and provide a firsthand look at the life of the Panda. Panda's spend most of their day eating bamboo and sleeping. Once a year they take time out of this demanding schedule to reproduce, if they can find a mate, and then it is back to eating and sleeping. At our first glimpse of a Giant Panda their was a flurry of "cool" and "ahs" and "they are so cute." And that was the boys speaking.
Our kids couldn't get enough, with visits to see adults, juveniles,who were much more active than the adults, and 6 month old youngsters, who had the same teetering awkwardness of young humans. Our stay at the Panda Center was much like our stay overall, much too short and leaving us wanting more.

From the Pandas it was back to Chengdu for a final dinner. We each received yet another gift from our gracious hosts, along with an exceptional dinner. We can't possibly express the gratitude we feel, but we would all like to say "Xiexie, zaijian, hou hui you qi." My Mandarin is still pretty rough but hopefully that means "Thank you, goodbye, hope to see you again." That is certainly how we all feel. Farewell Chengdu.

Tom Whittington

Our last day in Xi'An

We have just returned from our farewell dinner with the teachers, the head of school, the vice principals, the host families, the host students and our students. We, Mrs. Donovan, Mr Baker and I are beaming! We are so proud of the way the students represented themselves and our school! We can't stop talking about it! To a person they were poised, gracious, fun, involved the host families in the conversation at the table, which is not easy when they don't speak the language. Plates and plates of delicious food were brought to the six tables of revelers, speeches were given, toasts proposed, and hundreds of photos were taken. At the close of the dinner, every student, on their own, approached the head of school, shook his hand, and thanked him. Bliss!

To backtrack a bit- this morning we all met at school, and we were introduced and formally welcomed to the school in the courtyard. Fifteen hundred students, grades 6-12 were standing in formation during speeches by Mr. Zhang and Mr.Baker, and then our students introduced themselves, and we were off to classrooms to speak English.

After lunch at school, we boarded the bus and headed to the Goose Pagoda. Legend has it that a monk was hungry, and had no food, and a goose fell from the sky and he ate it, and as a sign of gratitude, he built the pagoda. It is a magnificent Buddhist structure, surrounded by gardens.

Everyone is back at their host families, packing and getting ready for a 6:00am departure. We have had a great time in China; we have tried new foods, seen new sights, climbed thousands upon thousands of steps, experienced the similarities and differences of our cultures, and grown in confidence, courage, and the wealth that comes from new friendships. We would go anywhere with Henry, Safya, Tobias, Max, Lily, Blake, Sam, Margaret and Tuti anytime- they are terrific travelers!

Jan Baker

Chendu 2: Today was a day of sightseeing

We traveled about 2 hours by van to Leshan where we saw the famous Leshan Grand Buddha, aka Giant Buddha. This impressive statue is 71 meters tall and was build during the Tang Dynasty. It is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. We climbed many stone steps until we were looking straight on at the Buddha's head. Then we carefully made our way down the side of the cliff (don't worry - there were stairs and handrails!). Along the way we had a great view of the rest of the Buddha's massive body. Some of us were surprised to see that this Buddha did not have a big belly! Many of us took photos at the bottom where his gigantic toes could be seen behind us. The weather was cloudy but comfortable and everyone seemed to enjoy this visit. After a nice lunch in a nearby restaurant (Doug thought the fish was great) we got in the van for a 3 hour journey to the "Dujiangyan Scenic Spot."
This area made the news in 2008 when a terrible earthquake struck this part of China. We were able to see an irrigation system that was build in 256 bc and is still in use today. Although the dam was not completely damaged by the earthquake, many of the temples were. During our visit, we could see workers continuing to repair the extensive damage. The grounds of the scenic area were beautiful - we enjoyed the bright colors of the early spring flowers and the peaceful fountains. We certainly reached our exercise quota for today between the steps at Leshan and the long walkway of the Dujiangyan Irrigation site. We piled into the van and went back to Chengdu to enjoy a farewell dinner with the host families. We ate "hot pot" with our hosts and many of us tried a new beverage - warm, sweet corn juice! Everyone has now gone back to their host family home to pack and get some sleep. We will rendez-vous with Chengdu 1 at the airport at 6:30 am for the first leg of our trip: Chengdu to Beijing. We'll see Penny and Ji Gu off as they make their connections from there and the rest of us will continue on to San Francisco, Boston, Portland and BETHEL!!!

PS A big thank you to Jason Chase and Tucker Kimball who have posted to the blog on our behalf.

Darcy Chase

A Trip to Ancient China

Monday brought us all together again. We started our day with a visit to classes and then got an up close look at morning assembly, Chengdu style. Following the ceremonial raising of the flag we all trooped up onto the flag platform to be introduced to the school. That may not sound like much until you consider that the school is 4000 students, and all were gathered to greet us. It was quite a sea of blue and white school uniforms. After some remarks by yours truly and the CEFLS Assistant Head, the school presented our students with their very own CEFLS uniforms. They donned their jackets for group pictures and then it was off on our next adventure. Martha and I got a treat, as many of the Chengdu students who have visited Gould were eager to say hello and share greetings with the folks in Maine. The very loquacious Tony translated my remarks for the gathered masses.

Our next stop for the day was Jin Sha archeological site and museum. While digging a foundation for a new building, in 2001, construction workers happened upon some old relics. Worked stopped and the archeologists moved in. What they discovered was the remains of a village that dates to 3000 years ago, complete with human and animal remains, pottery, and beautiful gold and jade artifacts. The most famous is a paper thin disk made of gold, in the shape of the sun surrounded by four birds. It is exceptionally beautiful, and has become the symbol of Chengdu.

After lunch it was off to Huanglongxi Ancient Town. It is a settlement that dates back 2100 years. For much of its history it was an important river port, but with the advent of modern transportation it has taken on a new role as a historical and cultural attraction. The Chinese have blended old and new, with significant restoration and new construction in much of the town. You may recognize the village, as it has been a setting for over a hundred movies, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As a cultural center there are the ever present craft shops and teahouses, but a wander down one of the side alleys quickly leads you to places where time has seemingly stood still. The kids enjoyed the wander in the sun, the dragon in the river and for a couple of boys, the opportunity to buy swords. I’m not sure they are as interested in the historical significance of ancient weaponry as they are the cool factor of playing warrior. After a little posing the swords were put away, hopefully not to be seen again until they get home.

Our day ended with a trip back to school for “English corner.” Because of traffic we were a little late and the kids were quickly surrounded by eager students wanting to practice their English and learn about American schools and culture. I’m afraid that I didn’t get a chance to take pictures for the blog because I too was inundated with questions and I just couldn’t say no to so many willing students wanting to learn. After a very full day we said our goodbyes, one day closer to our return to the States.

Tom Whittington

Chengdu 2 update for Monday

It was nice to be reunited with our students again after a weekend apart. It turns out that almost all of our students had visited the Panda Research Center over the weekend, and a few of the kids ran into each other there. Erick told us he took about 200 pictures of pandas! Some of our kids accompanied their host families in celebrating the Lantern Festival. Penny and her host sister had some fun with fireworks. Doug visited his host brother's grandparents and Avery went to dinner at the home of his host's friends. Madame Leff and Mrs. Chase fell asleep to the sound of fireworks last night.

This morning while Mrs. Chase visited an English class, Madame Leff and our students had a Chinese language lesson and learned some greetings and basic phrases. The teacher was great and our kids seemed to enjoy this experience. Later they spent some time chatting and playing volleyball with some Chinese students. In the afternoon, we had a lesson in origami - let's just say some of our paper cranes looked like birds and others...well, there was a learning curve. This activity was followed by a conversation session with a group of 14 Chinese students and their teachers. These were students who are preparing to go to college in the US and were very interested in learning about American culture. The two groups exchanged questions. The Chinese students wanted to know: "What kind of food do Americans eat?" "Can you bring your cellphone to school?" "What do you do in your free time?" Our questions for them included "What kind of religions are common in China?" "Have you ever seen a blue sky?" and "What American movies do you like?"
Many of the Chinese students were very shy but everyone seemed to be having fun. One Chinese girl stood up and said that she thought American boys were very handsome! (They also think Obama is very handsome!) Everyone returned "home" with their host families for the evening. We hope they are getting plenty of rest because tomorrow we will be leaving the school about 7:30 am for a field trip to see an ancient irrigation system and also a giant Buddha. We are not sure what to expect but it sounds interesting. Today the weather was pleasantly warm and the sky was bright gray. We hope for another nice day tomorrow.

Darcy Chase

Red Lanterns and Fireworks

Well, the weekend is over, and with the passing of the weekend the Spring Festival has also come to an end. This is our first visit to China during the Spring Festival and what a treat. Over the weekend there were red lanterns everywhere and last night the fireworks lasted until well past midnight. Since the Chinese invented fireworks I guess they are entitled to a little showing off. It seemed like there were fireworks on every street corner in the city, and some of the boys reported that they had a chance to get firsthand experience with this long standing Chinese tradition. By noon Monday the lanterns were starting to come down and the ubiquitous firework street vendors had closed up shop for another year. It sounds like the kids had a good time this weekend with their host families, with reports ranging from trips to the amusement park, gatherings for group and family meals, and karaoke.

Tom Whittington

Monday in Xi'An

We went to sleep last night listening to the thunder of fireworks celebrating the last night of the New Years festivities. Just like the Fourth of July, there were a few remaining pops of firecrackers this morning, but for the most part, everyone was back to work and back to school. The huge red and gold lanterns were being taken down from the fronts of shops, homes, lamp posts, everywhere they have been brightening this city that is waiting for Spring.


We met our students at school this morning, and were off on a bus to the outskirts of the city to view the terra cotta warriors. An hour's drive brought us to what was a farm, and is now a huge complex of buildings that protect the warriors, chariots and horses that were discovered in 1974. A farmer, digging a well, found not water, but broken pieces of pottery. He had stumbled upon the site of Emperor Qin's terra cotta army of more than 8000 elaborately decorated life-sized figures created over three decades in 200BC. The figures had been carefully arranged and covered over with wooden beams, woven rush mats and fine soil. After the Emperor's death, his Dynasty was overthrown, and the chambers were heavily damaged by angry peasants. Two thousand years later, what remained were huge piles of smashed terra cotta figures- a mind boggling three-dimensional puzzle. In the decades since the discovery, hundreds of figures have been reassembled, but more await repair. Putting all the king's horses and all the kings men together again takes upwards of a year per figure. It was sobering to be in the presence of such magnificent craftsmanship, on such a huge scale, from so long ago.

We stopped on our way to the museum to see a studio where small and large scale terra cotta reproductions were being made in the same manner as the ancient ones. At this same shop there was a woman making a handmade silk rug. At two hundred knots of silk thread per inch, we were mesmerized. She made each knot and cut the silk so quickly we couldn't see her do it!


It was a cold, raw day, and the buildings are unheated, so after three hours of museum going, we were ready for something hot to drink, and our guide brought us to a tea house where we were introduced to the tea ceremony. We sat at two round tables, and our host had us select three types of tea per table. Our table chose lychee, jasmine and ginseng. Tiny cups were warmed, the tea was placed in the pot, hot water was poured over, and then off, to "open the tea leaves." More water was poured into the pot, steeped briefly, and then our tiny cups were filled. We first smelled the tea, held the cups just so, then sipped the tea. We tried each of the three teas, had a rest and then left the tea house. We all agreed that the process not only warmed us up, but relaxed and refocused us.

After lunch we returned to school and met with about 150 students for English corner. This is an opportunity for Chinese students to practice their English with native English speakers, and this time, it was us. Each of the students and faculty from Gould spread out in the huge courtyard in front of the school, and the Xi'An students gathered around us in groups of 10-15. They asked us questions, we asked them questions, we sang songs, told jokes ( many of which were completely lost in translation!) and had a great time for about 45 minutes.

After English Corner we went to the fourth floor of one of the classroom buildings to a gymnasium space where a Physical Education teacher taught the students Tai Chi. He spoke no English, but he got his ideas across, and in a few minutes, students were moving very gracefully. He was the only one who could lace his fingers together and touch his palms to the floor in a standing position, but not for lack of trying. Then it was on to table tennis. Ping pong balls flew around the room, we found out who gets competitive with a paddle in their hand, and there was plenty of laughter.

The students departed with their host families for the evening, and we had dinner in the school dining room.

Jan Baker