2016+Trip+to+teach+in+China

==== My first entries will serve as a travel log, but mostly my intention here is to record my experiences teaching music in China. We will spend the last 12 days of our trip in Zunyi, China, at Carey International School. ====

==== __Tuesday, June 28th__ - Wednesday, June 29th - Left Tecumseh at 6 a.m. -- nice trip to Chicago on a bus (thank you First Student). I was excited to be traveling so we talked most of the way and the drive seemed to fly by. Shortly after we arrived at O'Hare Airport, we found out that our flight would be delayed for 3 hours. It was a long day since we spent about 7 hours in the airport before leaving. I was pretty low on sleep anyways, so mostly my group made fun of me as I tried to stay awake before the flight departed. ==== ==== We arrived in Beijing at 10:43 p.m. (Luckily I slept most of the 13.5 hour flight so I was ready to go). We were bussed from the airport to our hotel and checked in around midnight. Carrie, Hallie, and Kelvin (teachers from the school in China - our friends and colleagues who will be working with us at camp and visited us in Tecumseh this past spring) bought a snack of KFC for us at the airport, so we enjoyed that in the hotel dining area, and all went to bed. We saw a bit of the city on our trip to the hotel, but it was dark and quiet. There was an armed police guard on each block as we walked to our hotel. One of the teachers from our group had been to China last summer and described the climate as "swampy." This already seemed true even though we arrived in the middle of the night. ====

==== __Thursday, July 30th__ - We were up early and Carrie, Hallie, & Kelvin took us to a Stuffed Bun Shop for breakfast. It was a short walk from the hotel which made us realize how close we were to everything -- the heart of Beijing, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City. The breakfast was delicious - a porridge of beans and nuts and a bun filled with a mushroom & maybe garlic-y mix. The red bean porridge was called Eight Treasure Congee, and Carrie told us that it had 8 ingredients .......8 being a lucky number in Chinese culture and all ingredients selected for health. Yum! ==== ====  ==== ==== We then walked to Tiananmen Square with our guide, LiLi. She was phenomenal about getting us through the crowds and explained that she is here 3 times a week with a group so they know her and she's able to go around lines to get to the main attractions without fighting the crowds. It was definitely hot and "swampy" as we toured Tiananmen Square (translated "Gate of Heavenly Peace"). I really only knew the area from the protests of 1989, but we never heard those stories. Clearly what is preserved here and in the Imperial palaces are a history of China's greatness - from the Ming dynasty to the People's Republic of China, our attention was focused on the large portrait of Chairman Mao and the fortress that was constructed to protect the palaces of the Forbidden City. While in the Forbidden City, our guide led us through gates and palaces and gardens describing the ceremonies, life of concubines, and various aspects of the traditions and culture of Imperial China. We learned that the numbers 6, 8, and 9 are lucky in their culture and that 4 is considered unlucky. Many stories about 9s and other traditions were told throughout the tour. I enjoyed the descriptions of why the roofs were painted yellow and that it was a color only to be used by the emperor -- if a common person would paint his home yellow, he would be beheaded. Imperial China sounded like the place to be - all things were done to please and protect the emperor -- endless palaces, lavish gardens, traditional ceremonies, thousands of 14-16 year old concubines... ====

==== Our next adventure was a crowded bus ride. Our tour guide quickly helped us navigate the public transportation to get us through the streets of Beijing to a shopping center/market. We started with a meal at Subway - not exactly authentic cuisine, but satisfying and suggested by the tour guide. At the Pearl Street market, Chelsey and I bargained and even swapped goods with merchants. We felt that we navigated the system pretty well and after our first purchase of a set of chopsticks, we learned to not give in to their prices and quickly refined our negotiating skills making several inexpensive purchases. ====

==== We had a few hours to rest back at the hotel and then walked with the group back in to the main streets and hutongs to Feng's Kitchen for dinner. Carrie, Hallie, and Kelvin ordered again for us, and we were served endless authentic Chinese and Taiwanese dishes - chicken, beef, vegetables, rice, and thinly sliced tofu noodles.......all delicious and more amazing than the one before. We were stuffed, but ate and ate to be polite. ====

__Friday, July 1st__ – We boarded the bus and headed out to the Great Wall.
==== The section that we visited is a park called Badaling. I read later that it is the most visited and photographed section of the wall. We climbed the wall for about an hour and took many pictures from stops along the way. It seemed that no picture was able to take it all in – the magnitude of the wall winding through the mountains, the knowledge that we were only able to see a fraction of it, the inability to grasp how much work it took to construct, and the beauty of the mountains. The stairs were often uneven, sometimes long and shallow, and at other times almost impossibly steep and tall. It was a bright, sunny, hot, and humid day which was great for viewing the mountains, but treacherous and almost made me wish for the cover of smog that seemed to follow us in Beijing. After climbing we decided to relax with a beer in one of the many shops and restaurants – of course, even the Great Wall is an opportunity for endless gift shops and vendors. Next Carrie, Kelvin, and Hallie took us for a traditional Chinese lunch. This time I felt the meal was similar to what one might be able to order in an American Chinese restaurant, but we enjoyed a few things that were new to us as we shared many entrees. “Tu dou si” was sort of a potato stick that was definitely appealing to a typical American palate and “hong dou sha” was popular with our group. I would describe it as a fried wrap stuffed with refried beans and sugar sprinkled on top. ====

[[image:IMG_0147.JPG width="178" height="134" caption="The Great Wall - Badaling "]][[image:IMG_0192.JPG width="175" height="136" caption=""The Bird's Nest""]]
==== Our next stop was the plaza where the 2008 Summer Olympics were held in Beijing. It was a short stop so that we could make it back to the airport though rush hour traffic, but we had time to walk around and see the Beijing National Stadium (the Bird’s Nest) and “The Water Cube” from the outside of the buildings. The Bird’s Nest will be used again for opening and closing ceremonies when Beijing hosts the 2022 Winter Olympics. It apparently takes $9 million dollars a year to maintain and is funded with ticket sales from tourists like us. I was also impressed with the 4 high-rise buildings that are shaped to portray a dragon. The tallest has a section cantilevered above the park in the shape of a dragon’s head and is the IBM headquarters according to our guide, LiLi. She then explained that the middle two are apartment buildings and that the tail of the dragon is a 7-star hotel making us curious about what exactly a “7-star hotel” might be. ==== ==== On the way to the airport and in traveling to the Olympic site, we passed what seemed like endless “villages” of standard high-rise apartments in clusters of maybe 30-40 and possibly around 30 stories high each making us aware again of just how many people live in Beijing. ====

==== __Saturday, July 2nd__ – We arrived very late at night in Chengdu (capital city of the Sichuan province in Southwest China), but it was clear that the city was far more affluent than what we had previously seen in the Beijing area. Our accommodations at Youke Hotel were top-notch and in the center of the city. The next morning we had a Chinese breakfast buffet at the hotel and then took taxis to the Chengdu Panda Base. ====

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Our next stop in Chengdu was shopping in the Wide and Narrow Alleys. Wendy treated us to another amazing meal with a variety of traditional treats including dumplings and spicy noodles. My favorites were very spicy slices of tofu and the spicy noodles. Even though our morning with the pandas was in the high 90s and incredibly warm – the hot tea and spicy entrees were perfect. Wendy arranged for us to watch a traditional Sichuan opera in which the actor quickly changes faces several times. In Chinese, Bian lian literally means “face-changing” and as someone who gets to dabble with costumes and theater a bit back home, this was my favorite part of the trip so far. The opera included comedy, singing, and dancing as well as a dance with a large spouted can of hot water that the actor used to pour tea for audience members in between impressive twirling. The host for the opera was clear to point out that Michelle Obama had also been a guest at this very opera house when she was in China. After the delightful meal and performances, we spent some time shopping and posing for pictures in the broad and narrow alleys. (It turns out that as Americans traveling in China we are asked to pose in pictures with Chinese often).

==== After some time back at the hotel to shop in the square (very modern and commercial – similar almost to Times Square in NYC), we gathered again as Wendy treated us to the traditional Hot Pot meal for dinner. This was an amazing culinary treat, but also a social and cultural experience. Each table is fitted with a caldron of boiling broth and then, for hours, the guests add meats, noodles, and vegetables to their liking and can add spices and seasonings to taste. Lindsey and I shared the spicy broth and embraced the opportunity to cook our own meal with more spice than the others in our group preferred. What a fun night! We finished the evening with a somewhat expensive scoop of Hagen Dazs (33 yuan) in the square on our walk back to the hotel – perfect way to calm the amount of spice that we enjoyed at the Hot Pot restaurant. ====

==== __Sunday, July 3rd__ – We woke up and flew to Lijiang (prefectural-level city in Yunnan province and much smaller that Beijing and Chengdu with just over a million residents). This time we flew Chengdu Airlines for our short trip to Lijiang. I got on the plane and realized that I left my camera somewhere – probably during the security check, and Wendy, of course, was able to make a few phone calls and have it on it’s way to Zunyi so it will be waiting for me in a few days……unbelievable. As luck would have it, I am without my camera and now in one of the most beautiful places I have ever encountered in the entire world. ==== ==== It’s difficult to describe Lijiang. We are staying in what I would call a very Zen and peaceful hotel. The Dongheju Inn is nestled in the Old Town of Lijiang and though many streets are filled with commercial vendors, it feels like we are in the most peaceful garden in the quaintest of cities. Our room is gorgeous and finely appointed, and from our room we walk out to charming decks, gardens, and water features. We are just steps away from all the Lijiang has to offer. Amazing. ====

==== Our group had a delightful lunch of noodles (I opted for spicy again) and then spent the day shopping and relaxing in the gardens. Wendy prepared an enjoyable dinner for us right here at the hotel. She took over the kitchen and prepared a meal of endless varieties of fresh mushrooms, vegetables, and other meats all purchased just a street or two away from our hotel. ==== ==== In the evening we went to what Kelvin called the most famous bar and dance club in Lijiang. Their staff brought us dozens of beers and Hallie taught us a drinking game so needless to say, the night was incredibly fun amid the blaring Asian pop music, screaming MC, and neon lights of the dance bar. ====

==== __Monday, July 4th__ - We were served delicious noodle bowls for breakfast and boarded a bus to the Yulong Snow Mountain. We were told that we'd be taking a cable car up the mountain, but none of us had adequately researched the mountain and it's magnitude. Our tour guide passed out parkas (it's been crazy warm since we arrived in China so this should have been our first sign that we were in for a treat), bags of water and snacks, and a personal oxygen mask for each of us. After a few more shuttle busses and standing in line with hundreds of tourists, we hopped into a cable car and nearly flew up the side of the mountain. It was breathtaking and a little terrifying as we ascended through the clouds and up the mountain. After the short ride, guests have the option of hiking a few hundred more steps up the mountain, but this was something that we all did very slowly. Knowing that we had an oxygen mask in hand was comforting because every few steps to the next platform did cause each of us to become a little light-headed. The views of the clouds, peaks, and glaciers were amazing, and this day trip was truly an unforgettable experience. ====

http://www.visitourchina.com/lijiang/attraction/yulong-snow-mountain.html
==== We spent the evening relaxing and eating in Lijiang knowing that we'd be leaving this paradise in the morning. Chelsey and I spent a few hours walking through the shops of old town area one last time -- as important as the hundreds of new shops, is it's rich history. Lijiang was significant in the ancient Silk Road and tea trading route. ====

==== __Tuesday, July 5th__ - After sleeping in and having a late brunch of spicy noodle bowls, we boarded a plane again and flew to Zunyi. This time the flight was only an hour and we were welcomed by Wendy's friends and employees who drove us to the hotel. While in Zunyi we are staying at the Fox Hotel which is also owned by Wendy. It was later explained to me that she and her husband own the entire block in the heart of downtown Zunyi. The hotel is very modern and convenient -- within walking distance to the school and the bustle of downtown. ==== ==== After resting for a bit, we gathered on the third floor at Magic Coffee (a very Western and upscale cafe that they recently added to the hotel) for a party with the teachers from Carey International School. It was so great to see Shelly, Helen, and Benny again. The four of us (all music teachers) spent some time catching up and comparing classes. Both Shelly and Benny had visited Tecumseh in 2015, and Helen was part of the team of Carey School teachers who visited this past spring. ==== ==== __Wednesday, July 6th__ - We gathered downstairs again at Magic Coffee, and enjoyed a breakfast of noodles, various pastries, and melons. Chelsey, Molly, and I walked with Carrie to the Carey International school to unpack some of the boxes of supplies (and in my case - instruments) that we had shipped to use in our classrooms. It was the last day of regular classes at the school, and since Carrie was busy with a few of the teachers, Chelsey and I took the opportunity to meet and mingle with some students. Chelsey joined a group playing soccer on the turf field in the courtyard, and I opted to play ping pong with a group of 11-13 year old boys inside. Needless to say, I should have brushed up on my table tennis game before I left for China. ====

==== We met back up with the group at Magic Coffee and then walked to yet another amazing restaurant for lunch. Our afternoon was then spent relaxing in the hot springs water park which is owned by Carrie's father (Wendy's husband). ====

==== Our supper was simply pizza and beer at Magic Coffee, but it was delicious and a nice break from noodles. We spent some time rehearsing our musical number for Opening Ceremonies at summer camp. The Tecumseh teachers are planning to sing a medley of "One Love" by Bob Marley and "Zhao Peng You" in traditional Chinese. We rehearsed the lyrics, sign language, boomwhackers, recorders, and ukulele parts. We think it's a fun mix of elementary instruments with a great message of friendship so let's hope our performance is well received by the kids Thursday morning. We will only have about 10 minutes to work with and introduce ourselves to each class tomorrow after the opening ceremonies, and classes start on Friday. ====

__ Thursday, July 7th __ -- We got up early to have breakfast and walk to Carey International School. During Opening Ceremonies the Tecumseh teachers performed our rendition of “One Love” and “Zhao Peng You” and were welcomed formally to the school community. Today’s ceremony marked the end of the school year, graduation for the oldest students, and the beginning of summer camp. Shelly’s students performed beautiful dance and theater pieces and in many ways, were the highlight of the ceremony. Afterwards we gathered for snacks and toured the new campus. Because of the climate, large windows are open throughout the school and there are often passageways to the courtyard that are open without doors, but in almost every other way, I would consider it to be very much like Western schools. The new classrooms are beautiful, air-conditioned, and are equipped with the latest technology including a series of sliding whiteboards with a projector making them interactive. I was able to connect my music to the one in the Shelly’s room and spent our free time becoming familiar with what will be my classroom during camp. The other two music rooms are equally amazing. Helen’s classroom is essentially a keyboard lab with 30+ keyboards, and Benny’s music room is set up with chairs and is the space where more traditional Chinese instruments are explored. In the front of his classroom is a guzheng – a plucked instrument with 21 strings. There are beautiful pictures of traditional Chinese opera and instruments in his room and a collection of traditional recorders and various other instruments. I should also mention that since Shelly is the dance and vocal music instructor there is a very large dance studio adjacent to her classroom. I’m so excited to have a space to use for formal instruction with all of the technology and a space to dance with students next door. I’m planning to mostly use these 2 rooms for the camp, but am welcome to use any of the spaces I like. There is also a performance venue at the end of the hallway which is under construction at the moment. Honestly, the 5th floor of this building is amazing – I would consider the regard for the art and music classes and thoughtful ways to equip and appoint classrooms top notch and actually nicer than in any of our buildings back home. Shelly’s classroom is also decorated in a very contemporary style, and has a display of music symbols and signs as well as a wall with framed pictures of a few significant composers. I smiled because amid the Chinese composers - Huang Tzu and Nie Er, my favorites were also represented… Beethoven, Mozart, and Michael Jackson. In the afternoon the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes each arrived for a 5 minute introduction. It was really just enough time for me to introduce myself and attempt to do something fun, so with each group I got them up and dancing and taught them the “Cupid Shuffle.” Students were quick to catch on and each group sang along as we danced “to the left, to the left, to the left….” Gary (one of the principals at Carey School) explained that I shouldn’t have his teachers translate for the 6th grade students, and actually, we only stopped to translate my directions with the other classes a few times. I chose to dance with each group today. The modeling was a quick way to break down any language barriers, but it’s clear that the main focus of the school is to teach and immerse the students in the English language. After meeting a few classes we were whisked off to tour a nearby and high-achieving middle school. The 12th Middle School of Zunyi was also very impressive, and we were able to meet with their administrators following the tour. The purpose was for us to exchange ideas and questions, and one main difference is that their superintendent and school is governed by an appointed Communist official who sat in on our meeting – no school board of elected community members. The classrooms seemed packed with 45-60 students sitting erect and reciting facts and formulas with the teachers, but they explained that the class sizes here are much smaller because of new initiatives. We were shocked to hear that only 10% of the students would score high enough on the formal test to go to the best high schools and many would then join society having finished their education at the 8th grade. As we’ve traveled we’ve always been in crowds, and it’s always clear that the country is highly populated. At this school we now hear of the bitter facts – there simply aren’t means or expectations to educate the masses. As bleak as that sounds, there were many bright spots in our tour. The students were well behaved, seemingly engaged and on task, and we were treated to an impressive student dance performance in the courtyard before we left the campus. We then headed to the old downtown area, walked through a very new memorial park, and had dinner at RBT. Many ordered American dishes like traditional spaghetti, but I opted for spicy pork and rice.

__ Friday, July 8th __ – Chelsey and I headed to the school early so that we could prepare for our lessons. I wanted a little time to familiarize myself with the technology and found it all compatible with what I brought with me. It’s been interesting in that when I first log on to a website (like our Quaver Music Curriculum) it takes a few hours for that website to actually fully load. My hypothesis is that everything on-line is closely monitored and because many of my music tools have never been used in China, it takes a bit for them to be approved somewhere in the digital land. I’m not sure exactly how this works, but by the afternoon most of the Quaver curriculum was accessible from the computer in the music classroom. The kids seemed very excited to come to music class and are, as a whole, very bright. In today’s lessons I mostly used call & response songs as an assessment to see where they were musically and in their use of the English language. We have a long break in the middle of the day for lunch, planning, and resting so I compared notes with the ELA teacher in our group and then decided to help her out by working with my afternoon classes (K-1st-2nd) on some fun alphabet songs. Overall it was a good day. Though my classroom is air-conditioned, I spent my entire day sweating, dancing, and singing and was wiped out afterwards. Gary, Clare, and Roe took us out for another delicious dinner and all of us turned in early that night.

__ Saturday, July 9th __ – We headed to Carey School early again this morning, and I was excited to create some new slides to use with my older students. The students were very quick to jump in and read the projected notes on the boomwhackers – they did a fantastic job and really liked the novelty of these cheesy American “instruments.” I explained that we use these in my class “just for fun” and that it’s simply another way to practice a song we already know. The older students were fantastic at dividing into parts as we sang 3 “partner songs” that can be combined and sung with “Wimoweh” or “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” As a whole, I was impressed with their strong solfege skills and felt like they were very engaged in the lessons today. We also built chords with the boomwhackers and the students really seemed to have a strong foundation in all music skills. My afternoon classes (K-1, 2) continued songs with lots of letter recognition. They already sort of knew “B-I-N-G-O” so I added the Class Play version from Quaver – great visual aide and allowed me to clarify what they were singing about. In lots of ways, I think the littlest kids are mainly repeating and reiterating English phrases without necessarily understanding what they are singing or saying. It’s a lot like when I teach my Tecumseh students how to sing in another language…. they are always quick to pick up on the melody, but taking the time clarify pronunciation and learning what they are singing about is key.

__ Sunday, July 10th __ – Today I tried to experiment with having each class try to creatively write short melodic excerpts. With many of the groups I started with songs like Quaver’s “Let’s Get Started” and folk songs like “Bounce High” and “Starlight, Starbright” to get the kids listening for so-mi or so-mi-la. They had to aurally figure out what we were singing (so-mi, etc.) and then manipulate the plastic caps on the paper music staffs (each kid had his/her own) to show me their guesses as I quizzed several solfege passages. This quick assessment made it clear that the older students were definitely ready to start composing a bit and that the younger students were still in a listening phase where they’d need more practice putting notes on a staff. All of the students seemed happy to use their own manipulatives to show what they were hearing and singing. After school today we met back at Magic Coffee and the Chinese teachers taught us how to make wontons. We got to make lots and then enjoyed another amazing meal eating the fruits of our labor. Again, Lindsey and I followed the lead of our Chinese peers and spiced up our wontons with a fantastic mix of the spices and sauces that were available. Our evening ended with “foot massages”. Wendy arranged for the 8 teachers to enjoy a few hours to rest. It was, of course, way more than a foot massage. We were given comfy silk pajamas to change into and then enjoyed back and neck rubs while our feet soaked in hot water and salts. I can’t begin to effectively describe the series of pounding, soaking, twisting, kneading, stretching, and reflexology-inspired massaging, but I was impressed that it lasted for about 2 hours. I will likely forever be unimpressed with American “massages.”

__ Monday, July 11th __ – I started this morning by successfully teaching my 3rd grade class the folk dance (from New England Dance Masters) to the song “The Noble Duke Of York”. The 3rd graders speak limited English and it seemed like none of the words that I needed for dance instruction were in their vocabulary, but with good modeling and some help from their teacher with the translation, they were successfully dancing in 2 lines and with partners in about 15 minutes. They seemed to really like it, so we’ll continue tomorrow with some more singing and dancing of this song. My 5th grade students were incredibly successful at working in teams of 3-4 to create an original melody with the plastic lids and paper staves. They were excited to perform their short pieces and seemed to work really well together. The 6th grade group has been a bit tougher for all of us, but I may have won them over today with a bit of American pop music. They speak English very well and mostly understand almost everything I say in class so I thought I would throw some pop lyrics their way. They are decked out in hip clothes, phones and watches that are phones, and teenage attitudes – so this turned out to be perfect. We experimented with everyone taking a turn at playing a C chord on the ukulele as we repeated the lyrics for the verses of “The Best Day of My Life.” I’m hoping to arrange a version of this song for them to perform for their parents at the closing ceremonies of camp – we’ll see if the pre-teen group cooperates.

__ Tuesday, July 12th __ – Another great day of teaching. Since I now know many of their names, the students are starting to feel like my own. Again, everything I’ve planned for class musically goes way faster than in my classes back home – the kids have amazing music skills. It seems that all of their training is solfege based, but it’s fantastic. They can sight-sing the pitches for anything that I project on the board and we mostly spend time on the English translations. For fun, each class played some excerpts of Beethoven’s music on the boomwhackers, and seemed to enjoy my stories about the life of this composer. Most impressive today were the 5th graders who worked very productively in small groups to create short melodies. Because of their strong music skills it was fun to watch them argue about how each pitch might fit better into their melody. My students back home often just try things out, but these kids were very serious about what notes would sound the best and were very creative at the same time. Several groups completed the task of moving their lids around on the staff and writing long melodies. Many got to a point where they liked the piece and after editing were able to write it over onto staff paper. One group of boys even got into an argument about their piece because they couldn’t agree on the pitches – though I didn’t think it was worth fighting about, I think it’s interesting that they were so serious about pleasing me and completing the assignment.



Gary, Clare, and Benny took us out to eat at a very nice restaurant and arranged for us to have a private room to dine in. There was also a Mahjong table in the corner and we found out that both Gary and Benny are experts at this game. After a few games with them all of us were playing the game and we used the table in Linzsey & Lindsay’s hotel room to play for a few hours that evening. We asked the Chinese teachers to accompany us to the convenience store before heading back to our rooms so we could purchase a few snacks and drinks --- this required a bit of translation since often there are only Chinese characters on the bottles and packages. Once back in our hotel rooms, we continued with a night of Mahjong – sort of like poker, but with 144 dominoes-like tiles. The game is fun, but it’s even more fun because everywhere we go is equipped with the very cool Mahjong table. It has features where the tiles drop, are shuffled, and then rise up again from slots in the table and are ready to play. We’ve been scouring the internet and Amazon.com to see if a Mahjong table is affordable enough to purchase when we get back home, but apparently Wendy’s hotel rooms and our own homes are on different budgets.

__Wednesday, July 13th__ -- The Cary International students are busy with activities today and tomorrow so we have two days off to rest before teaching the last 3 days of camp. Carrie, Hallie, and Kelvin met us at the hotel and drove us to the town of Maotai (about 75 minutes from Zunyi – in Guizhou province) to tour the museums honoring the very expensive Chinese distilled liquor named after this town and the river that runs through it. Mao tai originated during the Qing Dynasty and was apparently the drink of choice for greeting foreign dignitaries like Nixon, Kissinger, and Obama over the years. Wendy had celebrated our work in China with Maotai toasts a few evenings earlier so we were familiar with the drink. After touring the museums, Kelvin found a wonderful place for lunch and the owner of the restaurant greeted us with small shot glasses of this famous “wine.” Chelsey, Lindsey, and I enjoyed several toasts with the owner, his employees, and family. It’s not something that I need to bring back with me to the United States, and I’d compare it very possibly to a burning shot of something close to tequila or grain alcohol.

__ Thursday, July 14th __ – Today we drove to the countryside about an hour and a half out of Zunyi. We were treated to a barbeque in a “resort” area that was built into the mountains and along a stream. There was an area for dining and gathering that was built into a cave which made the climate much cooler and offered a nice break from the climate in Zunyi. Our hosts had a large spit to roast a goat and chicken for our meal. Both were delicious and served with many delicious side dishes, but my favorite was the “organ soup” and dish with pork liver. While the meal was cooking we enjoyed playing Mahjong and were able to try our newly acquired skills with the Chinese teachers. There were several Mahjong tables so it was actually even more fun to stand back and watch tables of more serious Chinese players involved in quick games and playing for money. We enjoyed a few more Maotai toasts and eventually headed back to the hotel. In the evening Chelsey and I explored dozens of small shops in the blocks near the hotel and joined a few dance parties in the streets of Zunyi. It seems that in the evening lots of locals gather in the squares and dance for enjoyment. Most often it is a group of women engaged in complicated line dances, but sometimes the group is mixed and less organized.

__ Friday, July 15th __ – My classes today mostly reviewed songs, dances, and instruments that we’ve learned so far. For whatever reason, the Quaver Music Curriculum will no longer load on the classroom computer or my laptop so I taught much less tech-oriented classes, and we sang many game or dance-based songs. In the evening, Helen arranged for us to enjoy some traditional Chinese music. While she was in the U.S., my students were learning about the Chinese erhu. She told my class that her father teaches erhu lessons and that her father’s friend is a professional player. Only Chelsey, Dr. Berry’s family, and I decided to ride to the old town area with Benny, Hallie, Rachel, and Carrie for the special performance. We had a private room and enjoyed tea while Mr. Tao (Helen’s father’s friend) performed several beautiful folk songs for us. Benny then joined him on some pieces playing his bamboo flutes and a variety of traditional Chinese wind instruments. Helen sang along on some of the pieces, and this was hands down the best night of the trip if not one of my favorite musical performances ever. The traditional Chinese melodies and the passion that both Benny and Mr. Tao have for the folk music were very touching. Helen had arranged for a very special meal to be served in the same room, and I was able to try to play some of Benny’s bamboo flutes. The ambiance of the evening, amazing conversation, and enchanting music was a perfect way to celebrate one of our last nights in Zunyi.

__ Saturday, July 16th __ – For the last full day of classes, all of the classes continued with folk dances, game songs, and lots of unplugged musical activities. This was my favorite day of teaching because we’ve built a repertoire of American and Western music, and today the students and I were able to simply enjoy, sing, and play the music and games together. The students in grades 3-6 have enjoyed the folk dances like “The Noble Duke of York” and the K-2 students are masters at the partner dance to “John Kanaka.” The New England Dance Masters pieces are universally popular with this age group and are great for building a sense of community in the music classroom. Each class also reviewed their music for the Closing Ceremonies, and my 6th grade class had a little extra time after rehearsing their pop song so I quickly taught them the African folk song and story to “Che Che Koolay.” In almost no time at all, they were sitting in a circle with me on the floor and passing our “stones” to the beat – this was magical indeed. Everyone was working together and the students were impressed with the results of their collaboration. Though we only played this game for a few minutes, their strong music skills, again, made the activity run like a well-oiled machine. In so many ways these students are like mine back home. Though sometimes there was a language barrier and every once in a while I’m not sure everything we worked on came through in the translation, in the end we were able to enjoy making and celebrating music together. It’s very cliché, but music is truly the universal language. Today this was evident as we sang and danced to tunes that both the students and I enjoy. Wendy arranged for a special dinner outside in a beautiful park for our last meal. The Chinese teachers and American teachers were able to visit, drink, and eat for hours together, and it’s evident that we’ve made lots of new friends. We’ve had incredible hosts and got to know many of the Carey School teachers as they’ve taken turns entertaining us these past weeks. Because it was our last night in Zunyi, we made one last trip to the supermarket to pick up some candies and gifts before going to bed.

__ Sunday, July 17th __ – It had rained and stormed the night before so Closing Ceremonies were even a little “swampier” than most days in Zunyi. The K-1st students performed a dance to their “ABC Rock” with the P.E. teacher, Lindsey. I danced with the 2nd grade students as they showed off their version of “John Kanaka.” Linzey led the 3rd graders in the songs about landforms and continents that they learned in her classes. Chelsey E. had the 4th graders create shapes with their giant cardboard tangoes on stage, and Chelsey A. led the 5th grade students as they dropped the parachutes (that they made in science) from the windows above the courtyard. The 6th grade students sang “The Best Day of My Life,” and in an instrumental break they each took a turn on the microphone describing something they learned at camp. All of the students sang “Listen To The Children” (from MusicK8) as our finale, and we stayed for endless pictures and selfies with students. Helen and Shelly presented me with a beautiful gift of a traditional embroidered Chinese blouse, and Benny pulled me aside to present his gift of the wind instrument I had dabbled with playing a few nights earlier -- a hulusi. He also gave me a book of traditional Chinese music, and I promised to learn a few pieces before the next time I am in China or he is in the United States…….we’ll see – the lesson book is entirely in Chinese, but I was able to work out a few simple pieces back in the hotel room. We met back at Magic Coffee for one last meal of dumplings (with lots of spice for good measure) and then Benny, Lindsey, Chelsey, and I were able to squeeze in a few games of Mahjong before boarding the bus to Guiyang. The bus ride from Zunyi to Guiyang (capital city of the Guizhou province – around 4.5 million people) was often times very beautiful as we drove through the mountains and villages for hours. My favorite part was seeing farms throughout the mountains and countryside and the terraced farming. Once in Guiyang, we checked into a very modern and Western-style hotel and went to dinner with Carrie, Hallie, Benny, and Brian. This time it was a spread of Cantonese style dishes and not as spicy or interesting as many of the dishes we’ve enjoyed, but it was delicious. Chelsey and I walked around the block closest to our hotel and did a little shopping before calling it a night.

__ Monday, July 18th __ – After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Qianling Park which is known for allowing it’s monkeys to roam free among the park visitors.

__Tuesday, July 19th__ -- flying from Beijing to Chicago then driving back to Michigan.