Sorry for the lack of posts as of late.  The following pictures are from several days worth of adventures.  The Suzhou Welfare Home visit went over very successfully and the kids had a wonderful time visiting and entertaining the children.  I know that there were some worries from the kid’s families about this visit.  I assure you that it was a great visit and well worth the time.  It was neat to see the compassion that our students have for those in need.  Our visit consisted of our kids putting on little skits and games with the other kids.  There were many smiles and much laughter.  Our visit to this home only lasted a few hours and we were off to Tiger Hill.

    Tiger Hill is coined as Suzhou’s #1 tourist attraction.  As you can imagine it was busy with people.  The kids had to complete a field study that was once again full of interviews, drawings, and reflections.  One different activity that the kids had to do was create and put on a skit that was a love story in one of the various little covered stages.  This was very humorous and drew quite the crowd of people (as always).  I think we all don’t even notice all of the people staring and taking pictures of us anymore. The giant pagoda at the top of Tiger Hill was amazing and the many carvings of Chinese characters were stunning.

    After Tiger Hill we all went to find out what Kojo’s surprise was going to be.  He had booked a boat ride through the canals of Suzhou at night.  The kids had a blast saying “Ni Hao” to all of the people that were on the banks of the river and at other various sites.  The view of the lights at night was amazing.  After the boat ride we all walked back to our hotel to try and get a good nights rest for our trip to Hangzhou in the morning.

    The next morning after breakfast at the hotel we got into our small groups and took the city bus to the train station where we loaded the fast train to Hangzhou.  Once we arrived in Hangzhou and got settled into our hotel we got into our groups and began another field study.  This time we had to find bikes and ride around West Lake find various sites to interpret and answer questions about.  We had a hard time finding the correct bikes to rent and the system was not a user friendly one.  We struggled with this for quite some time.  Part of the reason was how busy it was due to it being a weekend.  Once we got the bikes (with Kojo’s help) we were on our way.  It was a great outlet for the kids to be riding bikes and it put us in the hectic perspective of all the bikes and traffic we have been dodging on foot since we’ve been in China.  Hangzhou was a warm welcome with temperatures in the high 90’s.  It is a beautiful city with much green space and seems to be a bit more orderly.  This visit to Hangzhou was a good view into a completely different Chinese town other that Suzhou.  Our bus ride back home was definitely one of the more interesting rides I have ever been on.  Our bus driver seemed to think he was driving a sports car and not a large tour bus.  Chalk this visit to Hangzhou as another successful experience into the Chinese culture.   Stay tuned for another post coming soon.  Tumblr only allows a certain amount of photos per day and I have maxed out for today.  I will continue with the rest tomorrow.  Until then check out the next eight photo sets. We are all anxious to see everyone back home and are tired.  Wish us luck these last couple of days.

Today we traveled to Shanghai by train.  We were very close to missing our departure due to one of our group members being a late traveler.  ☺  Lucky us, we made just in time.  Our very quick trip to Shanghai was only about 30 minutes from Suzhou.  The kids had a great time socializing all the way there.  After we arrived we found our way out of the train station and onto the streets of Shanghai.  As we approached the exit, we had to present our tickets one more time in order to leave the train station. I suppose they do this to make sure no one rode the train for free.  Problem here was that two of our group members had thrown their tickets away when we arrived.  They would not let them leave unless they both purchased two more train tickets.  Kind of inconvenient and ridiculous in my opinion, but hey I’m in a different country with different ways.  A definite learning experience for everyone, not just the two who had thrown their tickets away.

    After the miniature roadblock, we found our bus station quickly.  This time it was a short ride to old Shanghai.  Here is where the kids completed their field studies.  They broke off into their small groups once again and we met up every so often to make sure everyone was doing okay and to establish more short tasks to complete.  Today’s field study was similar to the rest of the days.  It consisted of more interviews as well as finding different locations to write about.
   
    One of the tasks the kids had to accomplish was to find a certain local Mosque.  This seemed to be difficult as there were many people from out of town shopping in Old Shanghai.  After we ate lunch the kids broke off into their pairs again.  After a bit of the kids asking the locals questions, they found the Mosque.  There were not many people there.  Each group was able to eventually find someone to interview and ask questions.
   
    As usual today was great and the kids were successful and had fun at the same time.  This is a fantastic experience for these guys, and is an extremely valuable experience for everyone.  I am looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure where everyone comes back together and are done with their home stays.  Tomorrow should be another rich learning experience.  We will be visiting a children’s welfare home in the morning and off to Tiger Hill in the morning.  Again stay tuned for more to come.  We are half way done!