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Introducing Mystery Class #9 Chengdu,
China |
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Tuesday May 13, 2008 "We are doing just fine in Chengdu. The aftershocks seemed to have diminished, though currently the rains are torrential. I think some people are still sleeping outside, in cars and with friends, though many of returned to our apartment building. The news from nearby areas just gets worse and worse, and it is an eerie feeling to be an hour away from such devastation. There are MANY relief funds being set up. One of our favorites is the Half the Sky foundation, which supports orphanages in China." "Thank you so much for all your well wishes!! I apologize if we don't respond to each and every email, but we will try! I am going to try to catch up on some sleep that I missed last night. The big tremor in the middle of the night didn't wake me up, but the reaction of people shouting, dogs barking, and car alarms did! I have been interviewed by the BBC and by our 'local' (Seattle) radio stations. A Journey North teacher from Kent, WA heard me!!" "P.S. Please be sure to put something in the subject line if you email us. I automatically delete any emails from unrecognizable names if there is no subject listed! Sorry!"
Click on images to enlarge Monday, May 12, 2008 "Mystery Class #9 had quite a "hit" today, but we are doing OK!! Olivia was at school and I was at my Chinese class. There are no earthquake drills here, so most people RAN out of the buildings into the middle of the street. And now that reports are coming in of crumbled buildings, you might understand why! There is little damage in the city of Chengdu, though the epicenter, and extensive damage, are quite close to us. It has been very scary, especially with every aftershock that we feel. Olivia's school has been cancelled for tomorrow. Feel free to pass this on to Mystery Class Solvers!" -- Alyson and Olivia in Chengdu
Click on images to enlarge |
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| "Ni
hao!" You can find out below. Come join us! |
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| Our School | ||||||||||
| That translates to "Hello! My name is Olivia!" I'm 9 years old. I'm living in China for a year. I was adopted from China and usually live in Seattle. This year I'm in third grade at a small Chinese Waldorf school in the city of Chengdu. The Waldorf school started in Germany in 1919 and now there are many Waldorf schools all over the world. The Chengdu Waldorf School is the only one in the whole of China! There are three other girls from the United States here also. In the morning at our school, we have main lesson. After lunch and rest time, we have extra work. We three Americans go to a Chinese class during main lesson. There are other classes like gardening, painting, handcraft, games, calligraphy, and violin. All classes are in Chinese, except for English and German class.
My class in front of our bread oven with my teacher and Julius, one of the German teachers At my school, we have a bread oven, which is our class project. We made it out of bricks. It is on a platform with a curve on top. A wood curve is underneath to support the bricks. Our teacher helped to make our oven. It is still not finished because the third layer is only half way on. The
grade school building has two floors. (The two kindergarten classes
are in separate buildings.) My class is on the second floor, across
from the fourth grade. Down the hall are the sixth, seventh, and
eighth grade class. Our classroom is a bit snug for seven of us
and our teacher. We have to fit in our desks, too. One weekend in
the fall we all came to school to paint the classrooms different
colors. Ours is orange. Our classroom window looks out on our bread
oven.
Painting our classroom; and crocheting with our handcraft teacher At this school, we grow our own vegetables for lunch. Every day the school provides hot lunch, which we eat in our classroom. On Friday we eat noodles. When we start to eat we say a little prayer to the food. When we finish eating we finish with another thank you to the food. Then we go downstairs to wash our bowls and put them in a cupboard.
I really like my school, but I am excited about going back to the United States this summer. "Zai jian!" That means good bye!
End of term music presentation |
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| Our City | ||||||||||
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Chengdu is said to be located in the southwest of China, though really we are closer to the center. Being located in a subtropical zone, our climate is dry and near freezing in the winter, and hot, humid and rainy in the summer. Because we are surrounded by distant mountain ranges, it is often very cloudy here. There is a saying about Chengdu, "When the sun shines, dogs will howl", because they are not used to seeing the sun. Fall and spring are wonderful times to visit our city. No matter what the weather, people are outside, walking, doing tai chi, riding their bikes or playing badminton. Chengdu is experiencing rapid growth. The population is about 10 million, depending on what area is included in the figure. Cars are increasing in number, though there are still plenty of bicycles, motor scooters, electric bikes, tricycle trucks and many other small vehicles. Major construction is underway to build a new underground Metro transportation system. Our city has 3 major ring roads. Downtown is inside the first ring road. At the center is Tianfu Square, a large open area with a lovely fountain, and headed by a large statue of Chairman Mao. Our school is very close to the third ring road, which is on the outskirts of town.
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| Our Country | ||||||||||
| The official name of our country is the People's Republic of China (PRC). Mandarin Chinese is the official language of China, though there are over 1000 dialects. Mandarin is based on the Beijing dialect. With the world's largest population, also comes the most widely spoken language. Yet China is only the fourth largest in terms of geographical size, even smaller than the United States. And there is only one time zone for the entire country!
China has a long and interesting history. If you go to any museum, you will see references to "dynasties", which were ruled by a succession of emperors. The most famous of these dynasties are the Qin, Han, Tang, Ming, and Qing. The Qin dynasty (221 B.C. - 206 B.C.) was led by the first emperor, named Qin Shi Huang Di, who ruled from 221 B.C. until his death in 210 B.C. He was a ruthless man, but left many legacies behind. He greatly feared death and built a massive tomb filled with terracotta soldiers and horses, which you can see today in the city of Xi'an. He is also attributed to the Great Wall. The Han dynasties (206B.C. – 220A.D.) developed a system to run China, which is a very large country! The Han are also the largest ethnic group in China. China’s borders during the Tang dynasty (618-907) extended into many neighboring countries. It is notable for having the only Empress, though she was a mean one. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) the Great Wall was fortified and the Forbidden City was built. The Qing dynasty was China’s last. During the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), arts and culture flourished, but in an increasingly global world, China leaders were more interested in keeping to themselves. The Qing dynasty collapsed in 1911, just in time for the First World War. In
1949, China came to be called by its current name, The People's
Republic of China (P.R.C.), then led by Mao Zedong, or Chairman
Mao. Today, under President Hu Jintao's leadership, the country has continued to flourish. For much of the urban population, this means that living standards have improved and some personal choices have expanded. This also means that there has been a big increase in costs of food and housing, especially in the last year. So many people are leaving the poorer countryside to find jobs in the cities. There are many "great" landmarks in China, including the Great Wall!
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You can also visit our our school's website |
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