Field Trips

April 18, 2007

Spring is here and it is the time for field trips. I took the Grade 9 and 10 classes out for a field trip to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and Beihai Park. The purpose of the field trip was to give the students a chance to document their city for a photo essay they are doing. The day turned out to be a wonderful spring day with blue skies (miracle!) and highs around 18 Centigrade. We set off with 33 students and 4 supervisors. After surviving traffic jams and being ticketed for driving by the square without the proper permit, we strolled though Tiananmen and into the Forbidden City. We spent about 2 hours touring the Forbidden City. You’ll be pleased to know that Asian students are the same as kids anywhere and some appreciated the iced coffee from Starbucks at the north end of the Forbidden City more than the historic scenery. Anyway, we congregated at the north gate and drove the short distance to Beihai Park where we ate our packed lunches. We let the students wander through the park, visit the beautiful pagoda and hopefully get some great pictures. We were back to the school and downloading our pictures by 3:00. 33 students out, 33 students back in. Successful field trip in my view!

This past weekend, March 14th was an adult field trip. We hit the airport for a 5:30 flight to Shenzhen Friday night where we met our friends, Don and Eve. We were visiting with our friends at our sister school n Shenzhen by 10:00 PM. The weather in there was a beautiful 25 degrees. We had a short tour of the neighborhood and visited with our colleagues who were having a sing-along on their balcony. We found the staff accommodations there quite different; they consist of a dorm-style room with ensuite bathroom and minimal cooking facilities. Couples have two adjoining rooms of the same type. The nice thing is that the weather is so warm that the open-air hallways and courtyards become lounges and extended living space. The campus itself is older than CIS and more in the style of Concord college except that this campus is right in the city. It is a short cab ride down to an area called Shicot down on the waterfront, which has a lot of western restaurants and shops and other services.

Saturday morning Don and I hit the golf course. We had hoped to play the famous Mission Hills, but our plans fell through. We were fortunate that Jill, the principal of the international school, arranged a starting time for us as guests of the parent. The course we played was very near the airport and was really quite nice with lush fairways, lots of water and sand. I managed to break 90 for the first time in China, so I was happy. Our host, a Korean lady, was quite charming and peppered us with questions about English. After the round, she treated us to lunch and arranged for our discounted green fees. Saturday evening we went to dinner with two Shenzhen teachers and their Chinese partners. It was a Brazilian barbeque-style restaurant, so all our meat cravings were sated. Sunday morning we arose late, had a leisurely brunch in a French wine bar, did a little shopping and then hit the airport again for the flight home. It sounds quite rushed but actually it was quite relaxing and really got our minds off schoolwork.