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Mr. Woo's Small Group

Today we woke up at 6:30 am. We ate a wonderful breakfast of dim sum, tea and soybean milk. Then we got everything ready to go to the Number 1 Elementary School of Taishan. When we got there we were impressed at the quality of the school. We visited their English class. They spoke surprisingly well for their first year. There were about 55 students in the auditorium al l repeating their English phrases for us. We introduced ourselves and taugh t them the "hokey pokey". We had a special interview with the school principal. We learned that there were 1160 kids in the entire school that has been around for 52 years. The principal shared that since the one child policy the students attitudes has changed greatly. Since they are the center of attention in their own family they are spoiled and have a lot of responsibility and expectations.

After that we went to the Tai Shan market. It was nothing like we expected. They were selling all sorts of animals for food. There were eels, owls, snakes, chickens, cats, rabbits, minks, links, turtles (all sorts), herons, frogs, and all kinds of exotic birds. Things were very cheap. It only cost 50 Yuan to buy a real baby owl. They were also selling opium pipes, knifes and swords, and bamboo mats.

At 12:00 we went back to the hotel and walked to a restaurant by a lake to have lunch. Some people did not want to eat any meat after the market. But I (Tyler) cleaned off two platters of sweet and sour pork!

-We got on bus and rode 24 km south of Taishan.
-It rained so we had to put on rain ponchos. But I didn't have one so I wore my wind breaker. It was getting filled up with air and it was hard to bike. I took it off.
-We biked back to Tai Shan and stopped at a village. In the back there was a little duck farm for baby ducks. There were lots of them. The people had wood hanging above the door and windows. It was a superstition to keep away ghosts and spirits. It was a very rare wood only found in the mountains in very tall trees. It is very difficult to harvest. The bark was covered with spikes. They gave us a small piece. They gave our tour leader a whole branch of it.

There were lots of baby chicks running all over the place.

We kept on biking and we heard thunder and lightning. We say a huge flash and I thought some one was taking a picture. But it was lightening. We stopped because of thunderstorm and waited under small concrete pavilion. We waited along time for the storm to pass and we talked and told jokes. It was still raining and thundering so we put our bikes on the truck and got on the bus. We went back to the hotel and went to our rooms for about and hour. Then we went to dinner. Which was O.K. We had rice noodles, and curry potatoes and some vegetables.

After supper we went to a market by the school and bought some battery powered model cars. They were really cheap, 15 Yuan compared to Hong Kong 40 Yuan.

And now it is bedtime which is at 10:00.

Wow, look at all the kids in the red shirts. Most of them are from America. I've never been there before. What happened was, first we told them what we do everyday in school. Then we sang a song called Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to them. Those kids clapped for us very loudly, and I got embarrassed.

Later, I was very surprised because they got up on the stage and did a funny dance called the Hokey Pokey. They showed us all the body parts. It was very interesting. Then they left and we thanked them very much for coming and listening to our days at school and hearing our song.

"Eeeeu! Sick! Nasty! Look at that nasty worm on it." Well, like I can help that. All I can do is sit here and watch the people say stuff about me. It's not my fault. It was the way I was born and raised. It's not my fault that there are worms and dirt crawling all over me. I really can't help it. Hey look, a hand. Now I am being peeled and, oh my! Everything is turning black. Oh dear! My upper section is gone. I am now discombobulated. Life has now reached its peak! Good-bye. I am now an eaten mango.

Virtual China moderator: Jim Zahn Technology Coordinator Hong Kong Int'l School (M.S. Div.) Fax: 852-2899-0809
		Biking Study Tour	Xi'an Study Tour	VC Home

Information Contact: Patti Weeg, Title 1 Computer Teacher, Delmar El. School, Delmar, Maryland, USA. Home Page: http://www.intercom.net/local/weeg

KIDPROJ WWW Contact: Grant Dougall, Educational Consultant: Technologies, Saskatoon Board of Education, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CANADA. Web Site: http://198.169.140.21/

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Created 1:40 PM 4/19/97

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