Saying Goodbye to Hwa Nan

I think that this entire experience has been amazing and educational in every way. I loved living at Hwa Nan College, and am grateful for everyone who contributed to the organization of our daily events. It is clear that a lot of work has been put into this trip to Fu Zhou, starting way before we even turned our application forms in.  Everyone at the college was wonderful. Our big sisters were polite, friendly, generous, funny, and to generalize my thoughts, the best big sisters I've never had. The staff members were always helpful and kind to us. I would recommend visiting the Hwa Nan College to anyone who loves learning about Chinese history, culture, and wants to be complimented a lot by the Chinese students there. The education is high quality and real. What the students learn there is applicable to everyday life in China. Many of the students there mentioned that they wanted to become teachers, and most had very good English. I was impressed with the Hwa Nan students and faculty. I am sad that we have to return home today, leaving behind our spoiled tourist lifestyle, but the Sacred Hearts students that we are have reality to face. I hope we will be welcomed back into our true home, Sacred Hearts, on Monday and that our teachers will acknowledge the fact that we have all tried to engulf ourselves, as much as possible, into a Chinese world. Teachers, if you are reading this, have mercy on us and realize we have not had good amounts of time for school work. However, we will all try our best to finish every necessary piece of work missed. Thank you.

We are coming home!

Finally we are here at the Taiwan airport waiting the flight home. I'm ready!!! Although I will not be enjoying the ten hours long flight. But think of back to normal life makes me happy.
 Obviously some of the girls are sad and don't want to leave China and back to reality. 

Here is a picture of them.

Today was really exciting. We traveled to another city and went sightseeing with out big sisters. We visited temples and museums. It was really nice to see ancient artwork. Some of the things we saw are hundreds of years old.

I'm both sad and happy that we'll be returning home tomorrow. I've had such a great time here, but I miss the normalness of home. At least we'll have a day in Taipei before we go back to Hawaii.

Last day in Fuzhou

Today is our last day in China. In the morning we went to Quanzhou a neighboring city did some sightseeing. On the way back everyone was so tired and all felt asleep. 

When we got back, we found us on Chinese TV!!! That was fun to see students on a Chinese TV channel. 

We did a lot and learned a lot during this past two weeks. We met many good people and made some friends. This is a really unique experience for me and the girls. 

Good night Fuzhou!

Our Last Day in China

I thought this trip would last forever - it was so fun! We could live on tasty Chinese snacks and eat rabbit all day... Ah, but we have to return to reality; by which I mean the massive amount of homework and tests we weren't able to do during this time (but we did get some done, don't worry!). I think it's fun coming and going to and from Taiwan to home because it's like TIME TRAVELING! Haha - for us, it's like the Monday we left never happened, and then tomorrow it's Sunday here, but Saturday at home, so we sort of get to redo some of our Sunday when we get home!

Last night was Mr. Bob Trimble's birthday party at a nice Chinese restaurant. Once again, we ate a variety of delectable food. We also performed our hula and "Top of the World" for the last time. I hope it was the best run of all our performances. We also went shopping at Student Street - it is what comes to mind when one thinks of a Chinese market. There were food carts up and down the whole way, and there were shops crammed with cute clothes and accessories (and I mean CUTE).

Today, we went to Quanzhou, another neighboring town in the Fujian province. There, we went to a museum, a Shaolin temple, and another temple. I liked seeing the temples because they're so beautifully built. The intricacy of the carvings and the scent of incense does set the mood of a temple.  I'll have to post pictures later, because it's getting late now, maybe when we're home I can put up a whole bunch from the entire trip.

I've learned so much on this trip! I think my listening has gotten better, but there's a lot of vocabulary I don't know yet. I can sympathize with non-English speakers now, at least the smallest fraction there is. Everyone can imagine that's it's difficult to speak a different language, especially when people speak quickly, but I guess we can't understand it until we go out and do it. This trip has shown me a perspective that isn't from my own country. My opinions from before have changed and I feel like I've grown a little as a person. Many thanks to the Trimbles, our teachers, and our big sisters here in China!

Grand Honor Hotel

Yesterday, we went to the Grand Honor Hotel for lunch. This highly rated hotel is located on Pingtan Island. We went to the restaurant inside after our performance at the Pingtan Experimental Primary School. The food was delicious, and the bathrooms were amazing! We were all very happy that toilet paper was included. So far in our journey, this is the fanciest restaurant we've been to.

The centerpiece of the table

What it looked like after the meal...

The decorations are beautiful!

The remains of a meal eaten by Kennedy

Preparations for wedding party

So cute!

Beautiful garden outside the hotel

We leave Grand Honor Hotel with full stomachs.

Pingtan Experimental Primary School: Such Good Singers!

Oh my goodness! We were so shocked at how wonderful the singers were at the elementary school! The little boy at the far right sounded like a professional opera singer! We took many pictures together, and some of the children knew a little English. I was very impressed with the students at this school.
*Don't know if the video will upload. Maybe I can post it on Youtube.

Pardon my weird faces.

I was very excited.

Karaoke and Badminton

A few days ago, Malia and I decided to go explore the campus. We went to the rooftop, and then continued to climb up to the bell tower. It was a bit terrifying because it was so high up, but the view was beautiful.

A picture of Malia climbing up the ladder

The view from the bell tower

Later that day, we had our first performance. We all helped each other apply make-up, and Zhang Laoshi mastered the art of applying fake eyelashes. We sang "Top of the World" and our alma mater, and the rest of the girls (plus Zhang Laoshi and Mrs. Normand) danced the hula. Aimee and I played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Jasmine Flower." The Chinese students at Hwa Nan put on some amazing performances too!

After a long day, we decided to take a break and go out to karaoke with some of our big sisters. The place was really fancy, and each room looked different. They had a wide selection of songs in many different languages, so everyone was able to sing. I wish we could go again!

The next day, we went to Pingtan Island. We read to some little kids at an elementary school, and we performed again. They also put on a few performances for us too. I was very surprised at some of the talents they displayed! Afterwards, we went to a fancy lunch at a place called the Grand Honor Hotel. The food was great, and I really enjoyed it!

After dinner, we played badminton for a couple hours. I'm not very good at it, but I enjoy playing anyway. We also made lots of new friends because many of the students there wanted to come and join our game. Ellen (Malia's big sister) also came down and played with us for a while too. Before we went back inside, we took some pictures with them. It was lots of fun!

Busy Days

We went to Karaoke! It was amazing and it was fun to hear each other sing. Zhang Laoshi is a great singer! She has a nice singing voice.

We went to the Yuxian Experimental Primary School on Pingtan island. The children were all so adorable! They did an amazing job! I was really impressed.

 After the visit to the elementary, we went to have a fancy lunch. There was a lot of seafood and new dishes that I tried. It was a nice meal.

The next day, we went to Student Street! Everything was so cheap! I wanted so many things, but I was to shy to buy them. I regret not buying everything I touched!!! I want to go again, but I doubt we will. We do not have any time. After the shopping, we had another fancy meal for one of our sponsors, Bob Trimble! I enjoyed this meal more than the one I had the day before. There was plenty of seafood at this meal as well.

Earthquake?

Taiwan had a 6.6 magnitude earthquake last night. We also had a small one here in Fuzhou, but no one noticed except for Mrs. Normand and Mrs. Zhang-Micco who had dinner with the president of the college. Today we have nothing scheduled in the morning so Mrs. Zhang-Micco is going  to take us shopping at H&M! I hope it is cheaper than it is in America (hehe).
Since Yoko-sensei asked about toilets, I will just say a few things. Yes, there are squat toilets, they are everywhere so we have done our best to adjust to them. The first few days we were a little timid to use them but it isn't so bad. Most places also have one western toilet amidst all the squatters. In our dorms we have a western toilet. On the trains, there is no western toilet. There is only a squat toilet and you can only use it when the train is in motion because it empties onto the ground below. I think the worst part about squat toilets is just the smell, but other than that there isn't really any big issue I have with them.

We're Safe, Don't Worry!

So if you've heard about the earthquake that happened in Taiwan (magnitude of 6.6 - wow!), yes, there was one over here, too. But don't worry - it was really small. It was so small, in fact, us kids at the dorm didn't even notice. Mrs. Normand did, though, at the dinner our teachers attended last night. So to all those who might have been worried, be at ease. So far, the people in Taiwan haven't reported any casualties either, so that's good (thanks, USA Today).

The Rooftop and Chinese Paper Cutting

A few days ago we attended a paper cutting class. It was really difficult for me, but I tried my best to make it look nice. The teacher is extremely talented, and the paper she cut as a demonstration was beautiful. Before the class, we traveled up to the roof. It has a really nice view of the campus, but way up is scary.

Here's Mabel on her way up to the bell tower.

This is the bell that is on top of the faculty dorms. It's really big.

This is the view from the top.

This is my paper cutting. I tried my best, but it still looks a little weird.

 This is us with some of the students from the paper cutting class.

This is the paper cutting that the teacher demonstrated to us. It has a flower design in the middle and butterflies on the outer part of the cutting.