Xi’an, China (Day 5 – Day 9)

Day 5 through Day 10 in China was spent in Xi’an with our exchange students. We attended our exchange student’s classes, toured around Xi’an, ate the local food and more. Below are descriptions of our final city in China. Hope you enjoy!

Wesley Pergament

Today was an extremely eventful day. It started off very early, 6:30, so we could make it to the morning assembly in time. As soon as we arrived, it started to rain, so they cancelled it and most students left the field to get ready for class. I attended my host student’s class for only 20 minutes. In this time, the students read their morning passage in Chinese, in unison. This was very interesting to see because everyone read at the same time, and no one went too fast or slow. Then, all of us took a bus to 西安市经开一中学 (another school in Xian for children attending elementary school). There, we first sat in on a 8th grade English class and they were amazing at the language. After, we took a tour around the school where we joined a gym class and played 太极柔力球 (a sport that involves Tai Chi like movements in which you balance a ball on a tiny racket with a stretchy net instead of strings) Finally, we taught the first graders at the school, who were all beyond excited to see us. We taught them colors, animals, sports and songs in English. It was a lot of fun. After this, we returned to our exchange student’s school to eat lunch. This was also very nice. Still eager to do more, we attend two of our student’s classes. They were very respectful and it was interesting to see the way the teachers taught. In addition to all of this, the school had a kind of museum-like tour with different almost extinct animals. All of these animals, including fish, birds, pandas, and sharks, are all being protected by the government through a partnership with the Xian school and many others. After the tour, we had a exchange with the Xian students about environmental sustainability, as this is something China cares deeply about. Many ideas were shared between both schools about further plans of collaborating with each other in the future. To finish the night, each Jericho student went home with their exchange student for dinner. Today was an amazing day filled with an immense amount of activities. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring!

Emily Shi

Today was an action packed day. My host student and I arrived at school to find Stephanie rocking the volleyball court. Soon afterwards, we made our way to class 18 of grade 11 to wait until we had to leave for a tour of the Xi’an History Museum. The tour brought on a scavenger hunt about the museum with everybody being winners. Then, we headed to lunch at a traditionally decorated buffet. The food was quite delicious! After lunch, we went to see the Terracotta Soldiers. Who knew that the earth could hold so much history!? Although the place was really crowded, we eventually got to take some nice pictures once the crowd parted. Once we filled up our phone storage with thousands of pictures (with even more pictures to take afterwards) of the Terracotta Soldiers, we were off to dinner. After dinner, we met up with our host students to watch a over the water performance, set up around a traditional chinese love story. We were very tired (and a little cold) by the end of the night. Up next tomorrow is school! Let’s get excited!…

Kelly Wang

It was a very fun day today! We first arrived at school and watched the students do their morning workouts, then took morning classes with them. We then had lunch, which was delicious as usual. After lunch, Stephanie and Dylan went to do the TV interview, and the rest of us learned paper cutting. We made beautiful flowers and a double 喜 character. After that, we attended P.E. and art class with the other students. We then went to attend the second meeting discussing environmental protection, which was very productive. We all threw the correct trash into the correct trash can after that! We then went to karaoke with our exchange students. It was very fun, and I wish it could have lasted longer. I’m sure tomorrow will be just as fun!

Matthew Lecher

Wow. What a day. Starting with a quick breakfast, we were on our way to Xi’an Middle School. Today was composed of multiple field trips. Our group, class twenty, travelled to two agricultural centers throughout the day. I was lucky enough to have a Jericho student, Wesley Pergament, in my class group. With Wesley being a firm believer in environmental protection, I had known that I would have a resource to ask questions throughout the trip. The first excursion was to the Yangling Agricultural Center. This property was composed of multiple museums, including that of botany, etymology and even farming history. Gorgeous grounds with neatly trimmed grasses and shrubbery provided an elegant and simple setting for this enriching experience. After this, we boarded the coaches again for another agricultural site, this time in alternative ways of farming. After a farm-to-table lunch in an ornately decorated greenhouse, we were ready for a tour of the vast campus of greenhouses. Beautiful flowers and vines hugged the transparent walls as we gazed in awe how diverse the wildlife of plants this place had to offer. Seeing new species of flower that I had never even heard of were intriguing and enriching. After a stroll through the greenhouses, we played a Chinese hand game while learning cheers and songs, ultimately developing a sense of comradery between the Jericho students and the Chinese students. For dinner, my host family got together for a dumpling extravaganza, enjoying some of the best dumplings in my lifetime. The crispy outside complementing with the delicate inside made for an absolutely phenomenal combination. Afterward, my host student and I met some other students from Jericho for a stroll in the city. All in all, it was an outstanding day which allowed us to savor the last days in China.

Avery Porges

We did a lot of stuff today! At first we planned on going to a museum, but instead we went to the city wall. There, we all met up and took a bike ride around the top, and ran into Mr. Grisham and Dr. Margarita. Later, we went to Muslim Square, got lunch, experienced street life, and ran into them again. After, we and friends we met up with along the way and traveled to the bell tower. Finally, we ended the night with some KBBQ and prepared for tomorrow’s journey back home. It was a very emotional event for us all, knowing that we would be leaving the following day, so we stayed close together and talked about the good times during our trip.

To conclude, all of us had an amazing experience in China that we will all never forget. I’m sure many of us learned an enormous amount of information about China’s ancient history, language and culture. Until next time, 再见！