Zao Shang Hao (Good Morning),
This past week has gone quickly. We are now at the midway point with our time here in China. Everyone was very tired at the start of this week and there was a bit of a tummy bug going around after our Longshen and Yangshou adventures. Everyone is back to full health after some good bed rest and basic hygiene practices being reinforced.

The Mandarin lessons have been quite challenging this week. There was a lot of content to get through and it required clear focus to keep up at times. Students have learnt dates, days of the week, family members and how to ask about these in Mandarin. In addition to this, revision upon what has already been learnt is expected also. It is pleasing to hear how fluent and succinct the student headcount in Mandarin is now. So far, they have learnt up to 30 Hanzi characters and will need to learn 50 Hanzi characters for the final test, hence there has been a lot of Mandarin homework happening.

This week, students took part in a number of excursions and activities.
These included;
Visiting the Buddhist Temple in Zengcheng – they had a guided tour around the temple with one of the Monks, and extended their understanding of Buddhism. They also got to share a vegetarian meal with the monks at the temple.

Gardening – Students helped the gardeners at the Utahloy School do some weeding in the vegetable patch. A good community service related to sustainability.

Reservoir Hike – This involved a walk around one of the local water catchment reservoirs. It was interesting to see the difference in catchment management compared to that in Australia. It was a hot day with a 10km walk out and back. Students were rewarded with a cool dip in the stream running into the reservoir at the halfway point of the walk.

Kayaking – Students had an introduction lesson to kayaking on the lake at the Utahloy School. This will help with preparations next week in Pak Lap, Hong Kong when they do some sea kayaking.

Pagoda and Wet Market – A visit to a wet market in Zengcheng was experienced, where meat, fish and vegetables are bought as fresh from the fields. Educational for the students, as with the lack of refrigeration in rural China, it is simply the best way to access fresh produce. Students also climbed to the top of a Pagoda, located at the top of a hill in Zengcheng and visited a local family village nearby below. The climb was worth the view.

Globalisation – students had a discussion with a Utahloy teacher, and then had to research and present about an area of interest relating to Globalisation. This has definitely helped the group think of project ideas.

Nature Trail – This involved a walk around the school looking at sustainable farming and gardening practices, such as aquaponics, bee keeping and other aspects of the amazing garden and plants around the school.

Calligraphy – Here students visited the Zengcheng library to view an art exhibition by a renowned artist called Mr Wong. They had a lesson in Calligraphy and practiced some art.

Luo Fu Shan – We took a short trip to the highest mountain in the Region. It is quite sacred and there were many Taoist temples to look at and learn about. There was also a 25 minute chairlift ride to a lookout point. It was a fairly relaxing day and what the students needed after a very busy and hot week.

Opium War fort and museum in Dongguan – Students extend their historical knowledge of the Opium War and visit the Opium museum. The museum is informative comfortable to walk around.

We have also had a one to one mid-way ‘check in’ with students to see how they are going with their goals and discuss how they will apply their learnings from China, back at home when they return. Good conversations were had in these meetings.

Tomorrow we all head off to Hong Kong and Pak Lap for the next five days so will be out of internet or email connectivity until Friday June 3rd, when we return. We are programmed to do sea kayaking, abseiling, raft building, walking and coasteering. We will be camping on the beach in tents, so it will be a challenge and memorable experience.

Finally, my Alpine School staff member Miss Kahra Trower will not be joining us, as she is still recovering from an earlier bicycle accident. Nonetheless, Miss Jo Barton will be joining us in Pak Lap this Monday evening. Jo, is a teacher at our Gnurad Gundidj Campus and has been to China with this program in November 2014, when it was first run as part of our school. She worked alongside myself, Anthony Pike and David Chlebna on that initial program here in China as well. I have every faith in her abilities and she will be a welcome addition to our current staffing team to create a more even gender balance with Aislinn Williams. Jo will be working with myself and the team of students from Ballarat Wendouree and Mount Clear College.