China Trip Update 20 April 2014

Dear friends and family – Ni Hoa

So far: the China trip has begun in earnest and the students are finally starting to get their clocks adjusted. Waking early [although a group managed to miss the bus this morning by sleeping in…. not SKC] and feeling very tired early in the evening.

A ‘blow by blow’ account:

• The flight was uneventful but very long 12.5 hours with a 2 hour bus trip and 5 hour bullet train ride tacked onto the end. It was 30 hours until we arrived in Wuhan. The students were tired, hungry and ready for bed. We had a meal and then were off to sleep. 
• Wednesday saw us at the welcoming celebrations with speeches, filming and a haka by Christchurch Boys; the students were then hosted to a lovely lunch followed by a tour of the university. The campus is huge 70000 acres, 60000 students, 100 basketball courts and is 1 of 3 universities in Wuhan alone. Again, it was a bunch of tired students who went to bed that night. 
• Early the next morning we visited a local city school of only 2000 students, they were quite reserved it was a school of privileged students from ‘only’ child families and to see the small classrooms with 50 plus students sitting at the desks we an eye opener, apparently these were small classes. That afternoon our students went to the university lecture theatres for their first language lesson this lasted 3 hours and consisted of oral work, with a practical activity asking people in the market their names- Sean Daly won collecting 70 names from the locals. The class finished with calligraphy lessons, apparently involving the boys painting themselves with ink.

Today, Saturday was a real experience, contrasting the reserved city students we visited a rural high school 2 hours bus ride out of town. Frankly, it was like 44 rock stars had arrived at their school. The clamour, pride, excitement, buzz, energy was something I cannot write down or express appropriately, 1000s of photos, autographs, hugs. We were the first foreigners to ever visit the school and it showed. 4300 Chinese students, all clambering to shake hands and have photos taken. All our SKC students prepared a lesson and spent 2 hours in a class teaching and interacting with the Chinese. It was hugely well received and the school did not want to let us go.  Many friends of New Zealand were made today. 

Life on campus: each of our SKC students has a smart card to buy food at all the canteens and supermarkets on campus. The food is very cheap and very Chinese- steam buns, noodles, dumplings, fried rice etc. They are having lots of practice using chop sticks as knives and forks are few and far between. It’s funny how quickly you master the art if you are hungry.

Our accommodation is basic but more than fine. The students have individual bathrooms and a Chinese TV to watch kung fu movies in Mandarin :) 

Tomorrow, Sunday is a full day of Mandarin lessons followed by Tai Chi lessons in the evening so I expect more tired students tomorrow night.

We have set up one of our phones with a Chinese sim, the number is 00 86 155 2707 6941 this will connect you directly to Nicky or myself. Please remember we are 4 hours behind you in NZ, if you call at 8am it will be 4am for us.

In typical SKC fashion our students have befriended the 2 girls from Columba College and the boy from Lincoln High they have quickly become part of our family and operate nicely with us.

So to summarise we are all well and safe. The 11 plus 3 of the SKC gang are well into the language school.

Zai jian

Kerry and Nicky Ryan