Thursday, June 5, 2008

Day 9...

We started the morning with a presentation about Singapore to our fellow classmates in China. We felt welcomed when we were standing on the stage because they paid full attention to what we were saying and cheered us on whenever we got stuck.


The presentation was followed by a quiz. The students were very enthusiastic to answer the questions, their hands shot up before we could count to 3! We ended the presentation with an invitation to visit our school and country soon.


At 9am every morning, the students will go for their morning exercise if the weather is good. The exercise lasts for about 25 minutes, where all students are supposed to do a regular dance routine. The teachers are very strict about this routine, any students found not doing it will be punished. We found it to be a fun activity and we enjoyed it very much. Hope we will be able to teach all EVGians the steps when we come back!

Lesson resumed after the morning exercise. As can be seen from the picture, Yong Jian is doing his job as a translator for Ina so that she can understand what was going on in the class.


The students get to enjoy a different fruit everyday during their break time. Today is banana day! The banana must be sweet because Olivine’s facial expression told us so. Jokes aside, the fruits that we had in Changchun are really nice. Ganggangde!


The afternoon was spent visiting the Jilin Nature Museum. It is similar to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum although it is much smaller in size. In addition to the exhibits that we have seen in Shanghai, there was a special exhibition on the flora and fauna that can be found on the Changbai Mountains.


The “Primitive Cow” (the best that we can translate for you) is the most valuable collection in the museum. It is one of the five or so complete skeletons that can be found in the world so it is really precious.



The Changchun Sculpture Park was next on the itinerary. The sculptures in the park were crafted by numerous artists around the world. The national flags of these artists are flown proudly beside the entrance to commemorate the efforts of the artists.

The words “Friendship”, “Peace” and “Spring” were carved onto the tallest sculpture in the park. All of us took turns to pose in front of it, it was truly a sight not to be missed.


Closing up, we saw 5 pairs of statues playing musical instruments or dancing around the base of the tall sculpture. The couples represent people from different continents. This serves as a reminder to stay united even though we live in different parts of the world. As we were unable to capture all 5 pairs of statues, we had to resort to posing as statues ourselves!


Dinner was settled at the Hong Gao Liang Village Restaurant. This restaurant is unique because it is decorated to look like rooms in traditional Northeastern homes.


This is our lovely guide, Yan Fang. She is sitting on a Kang, a traditional concrete platform with firewood burning underneath it to provide warmth for the Northeastern people during mealtimes in Winter.


Satisfied smiles coming from all around the table. Dinner was a sumptuous spread!
Till tomorrow, this is group 4 signing out.


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