Virtual China '98

This last week reminded me of how little I know of China and how much I have forgotten about middle school kids. The people of Southern China have time to give a friendly smile when you pass by and little desire to keep their country free of garbage. The kids of HKIS have endless energy and little desire to go to sleep.

Krystal and Elaine our Cantonese speakers broke down the language barrier and helped the rest of us learn the details about how the village residents live their lives. We talked to primary school teachers, brick makers, and electricity generation plant works, storeowners and many others.

The team work of Tyler, Kotaro and Jeff helped build a 2 story brick house in a village while Sal played with 3 year old kids in a sand pile on the construction sit. After each day, the boys would help load all the bikes in the truck for the next day's trip.

The trip opened all of our eyes to the things we take for granted in Hong Kong and other countries we have lived in. This week is more than a bike trip, it is a once in a life time experience! Great memories for all!!

Reflections from our Nurse

A week of biking in China with the 7^th grade students...

I think I was as excited as the students. Contemplating all the adventures we would have together. Biking into villages, seeing all the curious faces, the smiles and waves: Hello, Hello, Goodbye, Goodbye... (Although I was a bit nervous about the bumps, scrapes, and tears that might occur.

And yes there were a few bumps, scrapes, bruises, and tears... Rx a little antiseptic cleanser, a little antibiotic ointment, a bandage and lots of TLC...........

The Nurse: Mrs. Starling

What a week! Our group of 23-7^th grade students, and 6 adults biked over 150 kilometers in 5 days through the Guandong Province of the Peoples Republic of China. Of course we could've easily doubled that if the trip was just about biking, but it wasn't. Biking was the medium of instruction and the classroom was extended to encompass all the sights, sounds, and smells that the PRC had to offer.

We were able to experience the rural life of China, as students helped farmers' labor in the fields. It was a staggering reality for all us to experience the labor necessary to make such a small contribution, and then to see the hundreds of acres of rice paddies, and realize that they are all planted and cultivated by hand. One young woman laboring in the fields said with a smile and appreciative tone that we were the first foreigners who ever stopped to help her. We often saw Chinese women carrying buckets of produce, hung from a bamboo pole over their shoulder. As they casually walked barefooted down the street towards their destination it was easy to think that their load was light. They make it look so easy! One barefooted women gladly allowed us to attempt to lift her load. The extremely heavy load surprised everyone - even the adults.

Each time we rode our bikes into an old village we were greeted with, double takes, stares of curiosity, fear, excitement, and intrigue. I'm of German and Scandinavian decent and quite fair skinned. When the Chinese people saw me they stared as though they were looking at a ghost. Once I broke the ice with a "Nee-How" (hello in Mandarin), faces lit up in relief - he's human - and people smiled warmly and responded with "Nee-How." Within minutes a crowd of local Chinese people would gather and continue to stare. The people in the small rural villages were so generous and hospitable. They greeted us warmly and offered us a place to sit and rest, tea to quench our thirst, and food for those who were hungry. On several occasions we were told that our group was the first westerners to ever set foot in their village.

Old in China takes on a different meaning than in the United States. In the U.S. people sell antiques that are 40 years old. Items in China are typically hundreds of years old to be classified as antiques. Many of the villages and pagodas we visited were hundreds of years old, and one temple was 1,200 years old. On the other hand some of the hotels we stayed in were only 5-10 years old and looked like antiques.

Safe exploration of China was our goal. We managed to end our trip with only two relatively minor injuries. One girl will need several stitches when we return to Hong Kong. She hit the road hard while biking down a hill. Another boy will require an x-ray and further treatment. He may have broken a bone from jumping in the bed. Otherwise, we had only several small cuts and scraps. So the adult leaders shared a collective sigh of relief knowing that we were able to return safely richer from the experience.

Special thanks to my adult leaders, Steve Fisher, Pion Ng, Teresa Lam, Benita Pfeiffer, and our nurse, Candace Starling. They were outstanding!

Phil Koester

Counselor

Hong Kong International School

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