The First Week and Welcome Ceremony

This was a busy week! On Monday the students met their new classmates when we got to school. (In China the students stay in the same room all day, and the teachers rotate.) Then it was time for Sunday, June 18, 2006 9:05 PM area and do exercises, but we also had to give short speeches in Chinese. Then the students were told to welcome us in every way.

After the exercise period we were taken to the bank to change money (a very long process as each check, or bill was scrutinized) and then to buy minutes for "our" cell phone. Each of us has a phone lent us by the school (except me since I have my own) and the students only need to pay for the minutes they use.

We got back to school in time for lunch. So far we have been eating in the staff/senior dining room where there is an endless variety of food. The students also buy soft drinks downstairs at the student cafeteria. They even have ice cream! The first day Meng and Yuan ate with us. I had seen Jia and Li Yuan (m) who has a broken leg from his leg being run over. Another day Long joined us. It was great to see them all!

After lunch we meet in "our" room in the administrative building. The first day we talked among ourselves about impressions, experiences over the weekend, etc. Then we had a class to paint Chinese masks. The next afternoon we had our first Chinese class with "Grace" a beautiful young woman, then the next day paper-cutting class, and on Thursday cooking. We learned to slice potatos very thin so that when they are cooked they look almost like short noodles. Everyone learned how not to slice fingers with the sharp cleavers. Then we watched the chef cook the food over a furnace-like wok, and then tasted it. Afterwards we learned to make dumplings. Ours didn't look like the ones made by the chef, but they were delicious.

When we arrived we expected daily Chinese lessons, but the schedule only gave us two afternoons. Ms. Mullen and I spoke with the administration and next week we will have daily Chinese lessons. Of course the students listen to Chinese every morning, but they don't understand much as of yet. (Of course they are very happy when they are in English class!) In the meantime Ms. Mullen and I have been "teaching" the students Chinese in a book the school lent to us. Actually we are all teaching each other, but the students have homework and had their first quiz on Friday.

On Friday we were told that we needed to give speeches in Chinese for a ceremony. Ms. Ma and other teachers helped us practice many times so that it sounded fairly good. Still we didn't know exactly what to expect. At 5 p.m. we were ushered into a multi-purpose room with a stage and a huge banner welcoming us. Madame Jiao, the principal made a speech, and then we each had to speak. We were also give a gift bag with a dictionary, a map of Xi'an, a notebook and a pen. Li Y uan (f) who spent the fall at Saugus also gave a speech! Later in the show we sang "This Land is Your Land" that we had been practicing, only we modified the last verse to include Chinese cities, the Yangtse River and the Great Wall of China. Following that Eli performed a song he had written which everyone enjoyed. Also on the program were a girl's singing group, a violin soloist, a flautist who was exceptional, a Chinese opera style song and dance, and then the Gao Xin version of the Backstreet Boys. They were hilarious and cute and we all enjoyed them. Then we were ushered out to go home.