Virtual China '98

4/20/98

DAY 2 (April 20, 1998)

Mr. Fischer's Group

I am a travelling barber. I travel by bike so I can get business in the villages. The funniest thing happened today:

I was cutting a guy's hair when a bunch of kids wearing red T-shirts came biking down to my where I had been working that day. They were from Hong Kong International School. They had funny looking hats on called "helmets." The bicycles were really nice looking as they were not dirty like mine. When they stopped a lot of the people started talking in a language I had never heard before. I did learn one word: "Hello." Many children were looking at my toolbox, which had all my supplies in it. Though I did not have a lot of customers, I made enough to buy myself dinner tonight. I was really working hard after my 3-day vacation.

Because most of my customers are now getting their hair cut at home, I might raise my price from 2 RMB to 3 RMB. A lot of farmers were working extra hard since the must harvest the rice in 3 months. A lot of the kids had a box that would blink a light when they pressed a button. (I wonder how much those are; maybe I will buy one.) They wanted to take pictures of me working so I let them. Most of the kids only spoke English, but they had a few translators too. Next time I will try to start a conversation with them. Today was a fun, exciting, but very tiring day. I hope I will meet these kids again.

4/20/98

Mr. Fischer's Group,

Day 2 - April 20, 1998

I am a farmer in a small village. Work was going fine until these people wearing red shirts came. They are these weird foreigners biking in the my village, the Huang Clan. I do not like it that much because it is very hard on my body, today it is really bad because it is really hot and humid. Who do these people think they are coming into my village? I wish these people would just leave me alone. I have a lot of work

to do. They have a translator ask me questions about me that really have no meaning to them.

This year the harvesting looks pretty good. In this village there are a lot of different vegetables that I have to harvest. There really is a lot of work for me to do with not many workers here. I like working in the rice paddies the most. I do not get paid that much, but I get enough to live okay.

I enjoy working but I wish I could explore the world like these students in the red jackets are.

Monday,

April 20, 1998

Near Taishan, China

This is Shaalini Ramanadhan reporting for Virtual China, Mr.Fisher's group, day 2. Today we had another exciting and activity filled day. We had beautiful weather, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. The activities that took place in the afternoon were tiring yet fun. We started off biking slowly through streets, then we saw a village that we found intriguing. It had a large, grand building in the middle, but many other smaller buildings around. We went inside and asked about the family and how their lives were like. We learnt a lot and they even invited us in to sit and talk. We learnt that many villagers' relatives are In Canada and they have tried to immigrate, but have been unsuccessful. We biked some more and met another group at a basket factory. We watched girls as young as 15 making baskets all day. We conversed with the workers and asked them about their jobs. We started biking again and had quite a ride. We stopped off at another village that belongs to one of 10 villages. This village was part of the 'Fo She Shan'. There we met a hard working farmer who we interviewed. We also met a girl who had just recently returned from Guangzhou. She also spoke English, which was an advantage. We walked through their village and looked at their crops, they seemed to work so hard and yet they earned so little. After that stop, we rode for quite a bit and met up with the rest of the groups, we also stopped at a fish farm and took pictures, but due to lack of friendliness we didn't chat with the fisherman. We biked more and reached the bus. After we reached the hotel we ate dinner which was interesting, with a lot of pork and meat. Later we took a walking tour near our hotel, we looked at shops and attempted to converse with the locals. This was difficult because the dialects in the towns and villages are really different and all we have is our mandarin!

4/20/98

China Trip

Mr. Fischer

After we finished breakfast, we took a walk through the town because we wanted to see the average Chinese market place. We saw a lot of interesting things in the town, such as fake Reeboks that were spelled Rabooks. It was really funny. When we got into the wet market, we saw lots of things that really amazed me. We saw a muskrat with the mussel of the leg ripped out or something, but it's bone was still sticking out and it made me bit disgusted.

We also saw lots of people that had some very poisonous snakes in baskets. Then we saw people just holding them in their bare hands.

When we finally got out of the market, I saw a really cool butterfly knife and I really wanted to buy it. However, the leaders said that I couldn't bring it back to Hong Kong. So I guess I'll have to buy one somewhere else.

After walking around the streets of Taishan, we visited an elementary school. They were really nice about it too and we were able to ask the Principle a few questions to fill out our School Profile.

Then we went back to the hotel and got ready to hop on the bikes and ride fifty kilometers. We were lucky to have a great day and good biking conditions and I had lot of fun.

Moderator:

Technology Coordinator

Hong Kong International School (M.S. Div.)

Hong Kong, China

Fax: 852-2899-0809

"The wise teacher does not ask you to enter the house of his wisdom, he leads you to the threshold of your own mind." Kahlil Gibran