On Monday morning Sarah left with 35 of her classmates and 4 teachers/administrators for a 5-day trip to Xi'an just outside of Beijing (see 'The Demise of the Helicopter Parent'). All weekend Sarah was a little weepy saying she was going to miss us and did not think she could make it away from us for 5 days. Monday early afternoon she texted to say they had landed in Beijing and that she was already having a great time. I had told her that each time she texted she should include a rating 1-10 of how much fun she was having. This first text: 8.5. She texted later that evening to say they were getting ready to eat, again 8.5.
Tuesday came. Throughout the day Jeff would call me and ask "Any word?" and I would tell him no, and remind him that it was a good sign. He couldn't stand it, so he called her about 4 p.m. Still no texts that day. Wednesday came. No texts. Finally I succumbed and texted Sarah mid-afternoon to say "You must be having a blast!" At 8 p.m. I received this response: "Yeah. 8.8"
Luckily, the teaching team is sending daily emails with updates on the kids' activities - so I am going to attempt to share them with you. Here goes...
Day One:
Greetings from Xi’an!
The Year 7 EOTC trip kicked-off to a great start today. Excitement was in the air from the moment we left the school gates, but as we descended – through blue skies and bright sunshine – into the beautiful mountainous region surrounding Xi’an, the students really became animated!
Their energy was soon put to good-use: from the plane, our coach took us straight to a pottery workshop. The students produced some fantastic work (and generally fared far better than the teachers in this!) and great fun was had by all. From here, we drove into town for dinner, followed by a visit to the historical and spectacular Big Wild Goose Pagoda music and water show. Finally, we settled into our hotel rooms for some well-deserved rest. Lights were just turned-off on some tired but very happy faces and the general feeling is: ‘I can’t wait for tomorrow!’
Day Two:
Our second day in Xi'an has perhaps been even better than the first!
After a hearty breakfast at our hotel, we were on the road by 8am and en-route to our first destination: a fascinating mausoleum dating-back to the Tang Dynasty (I shall leave our budding Chinese history experts to provide you with more specific details on their return!) From the mausoleum, we drove straight to our afternoon appointment (lunching on the bus) where the students were taught to paint in the Huxian County Farmer’s style (photo attached). Finally, after dinner in town, we returned to the hotel to burn-off the last of any surplus energy in the swimming-pool, the gymnasium with Dusten ‘Termintor’ Kent or playing badminton and table-tennis (not simultaneously – despite some students’ best efforts!)
At just after 9pm now the students are making their way to their rooms for some well-earned rest ahead of our visit to the Terra Cotta Warriors tomorrow.
Day Three:
At the risk of sounding repetitive... another great day!
In many ways the focal point of the trip, today’s visit to the Terra Cotta Warriors surpassed expectations. The site was spectacular and the students learned a lot from the educational film that preceded our viewing of the Warriors. After visiting the sites, students had an opportunity to barter with local vendors for Terra Cotta miniatures and other memorabilia – honing their skills ahead of our visit to the Muslim market tomorrow!
In the afternoon students worked-up an appetite with a hike up to another historic mausoleum, before dining on local specialities and finishing the day-off with a trip to the bowling alley. Tomorrow is probably our busiest day of the whole trip – ‘kicking-off’ with a visit to a Martial Arts school in the morning... Which means it is now well-past bed-time for teachers and parents alike!
While I was downloading these pictures, I received a phone call from Sarah - the first actual phone call. She was on the bus heading for the martial arts school. She was happy and full of stories (more about her interactions with the other kids than about the trip!), but said she was looking forward to coming home. Me too - ready for her to be home.
