Xindu

Today,
Ye old china group had another eventful day. It all started when we woke up at 6: 30 am, freezing cold, to the sound of intense Chinese music. A man came over the loud speaker and was counting in mandarin in a quite aggressive manner. The group then proceeded to exit our rooms into the cold Xindu air, where we were escorted to the basketball courts. We received our first lesson in Tai Chi, which evidently is much harder than you would think.
We proceeded to the cafeteria at Xindu #1 for a wonderful breakfast of hardboiled eggs, and who knows what. I have come to find that if you don’t know what you are eating, it generally goes better. Occasionally things taste a lot better than they look or smell, and other times not, all you can do is risk it and hope for the best.
We then boarded a bus and were on our way to Xindu #1 Experimental School. Bus rides in Xindu consist of absolute disorder and chaos on the roads, unending honking of horns, and many close calls. Don’t worry, we are all safe and doing well, you have nothing to be nervous about. Upon our arrival at the school, we were greeted like Hollywood Stars. We were bombarded with screaming Chinese students who were desperate to take our pictures say “Hello”, “ Ni Hao”. This madness continued the whole day, where we were unable to take more than ten steps without someone coming up to us, asking for autographs, pictures and just wanting to talk to us. I don’t know if you can get Carpal Tunnel syndrome from signing autographs, but after a couple hundred signatures in the period of a few hours, I would make a strong case for it.
In our day at the school we were given the opportunity to teach a short class to the students at the Experimental School. In the class time, we taught them songs, games, and a little bit about ourselves and Canada. I was given the unique experience of learning a Chinese song and how to do the moon walk. I would say on a whole the classroom experiences were very positive and memorable.
In the middle portion of the day, we spent a few hours drinking tea, learning the game of Mahjong, and spending time in relaxation ( which is becoming more and more rare as time progresses).
Our day at the school also consisted of learning and playing Chinese Chess, Kung Fu, and seeing a little bit of how there school works. We shared in a short talent show, where we sang a hymn, as well as Justin Bieber. We shared a few of our talents and got a wonderful show of a variety of the students’ talents.
We concluded our day with a wonderful walk through Xindu, to a local park, where we saw many people gathered in courtyards, to dance. Apparently it is common for people to come out in the evenings to get some excersise and have a good time (and boy is it ever a good time).
It is getting late and time for me to go sleep on my paper thin mattress for what will likely turn out to be a short few hours of sleep, and waking up to yet again, wonderfully irritating Chinese music.

Rest assured, the hospitality we are experiencing is unmatched and we feel incredibly welcome. We are enjoying are time here in China and are incredibly excited for the days to come!

Catch ya on the flip flop rubber duckie!
Bubbye!

~Joshua Klassen