High Five!

We are almost fully over jet lag and making our way back into the Culver routine, but before our memories of China slip too far into the recesses of our minds, I wanted to give all of the students who participated in the trip a big high five!

High Five!

You all made it easy to be chaperones and you represented our school well.  I hope in your efforts to become responsible global citizens, you will continue to seek opportunities to travel, learn and improve relations with others.  All the best as you finish off the school year!

Thank You,

Mrs. Tulungen

It’s a Geyser Not a Geezer

Four score and seven years ago, we awoke to the all familiar smell of the one hundred year old Culver barracks. Today, eight action packed days later, we awoke to the smell of the one million year old sulfuric hot springs that lie within a stone’s throw of our hotel. After a quick shower and a breakfast buffet, we gave our coachman Max a wave and boarded our vessel of adventure (the tour bus). After a quick 45 minute bus ride (aka “bus nap”), we were woken up by the all familiar Maori greeting “Kia Ora!” We departed the bus for a tour of Te Wairoa, more famously known as the “Buried Village”. Lost in 1886 due to a horrific volcanic explosion, Te Wairoa was once a thriving resort village, where the elite, privileged, upper class citizens of Victorian England took honeymoons and holidays. The man who led our tour was a native Maori; his family had been giving tours there for three generations. His great grandmother was an eyewitness to the explosion that decimated the town. He took us on a guided tour of the area, and thoroughly explained how every bottle, brush, and board excavated was an important part of the area’s history. After observing the sacred ground and taking a short hike to a breathtaking waterfall, we again boarded the bus and were on our way.

Some of the group in front of one of the excavated Maori homes.

The boys showing some love.

The group listening to our tour guide in front of an old home.

The bridge that over looks the waterfall.

The waterfall.

Our next stop was Te Puia, a Maori owned and operated guided tour facility that houses Kiwi birds and the Whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao Thermal reserve. The word Whakarewarewa (shortened slightly) literally translates into “The Gathering Place for the War Parties of Wahiao”. After a quick walk through of the Kiwi habitat, we were led by a local woman through the thermal reserve where ancient warriors used to come to be healed. We saw bubbling mud pots, rushing hot streams, and gushing geysers, all from the safety and comfort of a wooden boardwalk. After an hour of steamy sightseeing, we headed back to our hotel for a free afternoon of shopping and snacking in the nearby downtown area. Now that the day is almost done, we are all preparing for a cozy night’s sleep by doing a quick soak in the hotel hot tub. We are all excited for the last few adventures to come.

Part of the group at the reserve.

While we were waiting for the geyser we got to rest on naturally heated stones.

The geyser.

By Adam Stathakis

China SBM Video Clips

Final Reflection and Dinner

China National Stadium or Bird’s Nest, Beijing

Forbidden City, Beijing

Tiananmen Square, Beijing Egg, Monument to the People’s Heroes

Temple of Heaven & Qianmen Street

Great Wall

Ling Yin Temple and Fei Lai Feng Mountain

 

Shanghai day five to seven video clips

Touring Shanghai

Video at Lu Xun Park, International Financial Center, Huangpu River and The Bund

 

Good Bye China: After 11 Days Nesting in China, the Eagles Fly Back to Culver

By: Hannah Buggeln and Austin Welch

Currently we are on the plane ride home and it seems as if we were all just arriving in Shanghai!

Although we only had half a day in Beijing today, that did not keep us from filling the day to the brim—Trace and Dr. Buggeln made sure of that. Today began with a delicious, half western, half oriental meal at the hotel. Next, we all drove to a market and haggled nearly all of our money away buying “name brand” items.  The most popular purchases were Beats headphones (the real ones are very expensive and high quality in America). While the Beats were originally almost $125 the students brought it down to $50—with much help from our local Beijing friend, Kate Feng (CGA ’11). When you’re spending Mom and Dad’s money, the time certainly flies and nearly two hours felt like merely minutes! After reconvening at the bus, we had a brief fashion show highlighting all of our pro shopping. By this time it’s safe to say that we are all certified professionals when it comes to bargaining.

Checking out the market for a good bargain

With our goodies in tow, we departed for the Beijing Olympic Park—the gorgeous landscaping and architecture blew our minds.

The Bird’s Nest

One last group photo on the Beijing National Olympic Stadium

In hindsight, while each day was long and chock full of activities, the trip went by in no time at all and no one wants the trip to be over yet. This 12 hour flight has certainly been a wonderful venue to reflect and relish in the fantastic moments that we had in China. Without a doubt it was all the people that took part in this trip working together that made our voyage a success– the Culver students and faculty, our home stay families, SFLS students and faculty members, drivers, waiters, parents, and all the smiling and friendly Chinese people we met.

We have cultivated memories and experiences that will last us a lifetime. Fun memories include the doing the Eagle Rumble (a traditional Chinese dance) in the wrong place, at the wrong time, as much as possible, and having way too much fun with the Chinese phrase “bu yao!” (don’t want it!)  The entire group feels that the most important thing we’ll take away are the many friendships we made. Many of us were complete strangers as we boarded the flight to Shanghai but now, on the way back, we’ll skip through US customs arm in arm with gaping smiles on our faces. No, there was no brainwashing, but we certainly did experience an incredible journey which created some lasting, new friendships. On Wednesday morning, we will all return to class, our groups of friends, our roommates, and we will go on with our lives. However, every time two China SBM group members pass each other during our busy days, even if it’s just a nod or a wink, we will think back to our China adventure, all the fun memories and jokes, and smile.

The China “Sunshine” Team Boarding the Airplane

Good bye China……………. Welcome Culver……….

Check out our movies on the next post.

Last Day in the Big Eazy

Today we left the house at 7:30 AM. Cafe Du Monde’s bignets were on the menu for breakfast. Then we started off our final day with a haunted cemetery tour. Here we learned of how the cemetery has been moved and expanded from place to place. It started out on Basin Street and then moved to St. Louis Street. We learned how the cemetery manages to avoid filling up while more people are being buried. We learned  that St. Expedite doesn’t actually exist, but he is still a religious figure in New Orleans representing the Saint of expediency. We had lunch at Angeli’s and then wondered around the town. We finished off our time in New Orleans by packing and having a celebration dinner and ice cream dessert with our Common Ground relief friends.

Here are some more photos from throughout our trip!

We would like to thank Common Ground Relief for setting us up with the house to stay in, all the meals they made for us and for teaching us how to construct houses.  They are truly great people with large hearts helping a city that still needs a ton of work to this day.  I’m sad to leave New Orleans and I can say for all of us that we will miss this city and the great people that we have met throughout our journey!

New Orleans stay EAZY!

Sunday reflections: Spoleto

Some reflections and candids will go up today, as well as additions to earlier postings.

Sky:

Italy 2011. What an…experience. There was good, there was bad, but definitely no ugly. Everything was gorgeous. The mountains towering over our small temporary home of Spoleto. The crowded stone streets only a few feet wide where you could bet your trip’s gelato dollars that someone will yell”Machinability!” and a car will rush past you, practically grazing your fingers in the process. The Italian bambini in their strollers , the cutesy gelaterias and pizzerias, even the cosy convent with it’s Discovery Channel– worthy view–everything-is-beautiful.

I could go into detail about the historical sites and reflect on the cliche but true stories about how I made some of my closest friends ever on this trip,but I will not. Everyone’s experience was vastly different, and mine was no exception. WhatI will take away most from Italy is a particular aspect of their culture: their family dynamic. I truly admire the priority placed on community, as evident from everything from the Palio in Siena to the emphasis placed on famiglia. Everyone places great value on family. The delicious meals, modest homes, the necropolis and the decorated modern cemetery, and family-run shops all reflect this ideal. I never considered myself to be such a “materialistic American” until I came to Italy. Family truly is everything, and I will come home tomorrow with the surest intention of becoming even more connected with my own. My mom and grandma mean the world to me, and have given me the world, as well. My baby nephew, Ian, is the cutest bambino I have ever seen and coming to Italy has made me want to spend as much time with him and the rest of my family as possible. I think living in Such a wealthy country has skewed my priorities a bit, but Italy has helped me to get them back on track.

Grazie Mille, Italia.
See you tomorrow, United States.

Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City

By: Elise Pare and Jordan Berger

After waking up sore and somewhat exhausted due to our trek up the Great Wall, we enjoyed a partially Western breakfast in the wonderful Holiday Inn. The Western style of this breakfast pleased our picky eaters. At the conclusion of this delicious meal, we flagged down a couple of taxis to begin our transportation adventures for the day. We arrived at the subway station and after navigating the labyrinth of the subway station, we joined the chaos of the Beijing commuters. After successfully boarding and surviving the Beijing subways, we briefly visited a temple.

Here we began to appreciate the arrangement of the entire Beijing city which revolves around Fengshui, which in this case means the balance between all 4 cardinal directions. In the afternoon, we fought the urge to perform our usual Eagle Rumble, in fear of starting the next Tiananmen Square Massacre. We then saw the Egg, which is an enormous fancy concert hall and wished we could experience a performance there.

We proved our place in society when we entered the Forbidden City. Had we actually taken residence in the maze which the emperor called home, we would have been lost and never found. After departing the Forbidden City, we began the scavenger hunt of foreigners finding 5 taxis for our whole group.

When we arrived for the hotel, we had time to relax and dress up for our formal dinner at Wang Steak. At dinner we were joined by Mrs. Lilly Wang, a CMA parent for a spectacular multi-course Western meal. While we ate our delicious steaks, soups, and salads we reflected upon our most influential experiences on our ten day trip to China.

Firenze (the city, not the centaur):

With students presenting in the Brancacci and at the Duomo (the latter in competition with an impromptu performance of Italian opera by a student musician), a trip to se Michaelangelo’s David, and practice using newly acquired Italian skills to bargain in the markets, students had a busy and lively day in Florence. While we did spend a lot of time negotiating deals for material goods, nevertheless all also took note when Liz today quoted Paul Johnson, who refers to the Florentine Renaissance idea that, due to the conjunction of art, architecture, religion, and humanism, Florence was ” a heavenly city” where “God lives among men”.

Student site reports and photos will follow. Dinner has been delayed tonight, and while a 9:15 meal may be in the spirit of the host country, everyone is hungry and ready for bed.

Eunice wrote:

Today seemed like whirlwind of our presentation, Liz and Danya’s presentation, and haggling in Italian at the San Lorenzo Market. We started the day early because Florence is three hours away from Spoleto, but those three hours went by rather quickly due to our anxiety of the upcoming presentation. The stop at the Auto Grill cooled our nerves as we grabbed expensive snacks and water to ease our pangs of hunger. Then we stopped at what seemed to be a “checkpoint” of sorts for bus drivers. While we patiently waited, we peered outside our windows to look at the amusing middle-aged Chinese tourists exercising for their blood to flow. They stretched, squatted, stood up, twisted, and turned. It was quite the entertainment for those seven minutes that we waited. Then, we were off to see Florence. When we finally thought we had arrived, we were actually at the top of the city, overlooking a beautiful view of Florence. While I was taking some unsuccessful pictures of the Ponte Vecchio and Duomo with my instant camera, one Italian boy stood stupefied, observing me observe the picture develop that came out too bright. Ashley pointed him out to me, and I unfortunately glanced at him. At the same time, he told his friend in Italian that I took instant photos and regrettably, our eyes met. He begged me in Italian to take a picture of him and his friend. So, because I am a kind person, I agreed to it, and took a picture of the two uncomely Italian boys and gave it to them. As soon as I did it, I regretted it and wished that I had asked for money, but it’s okay, because I saved a lot of money by haggling later that day. Then we took a short bus ride to the city, and walked what seemed to be a great distance, to the Brancacci Chapel. Ashley, Mrs. Battersby, and I went in first and organized ourselves, while the others waited outside. The chapel itself looked much different than how it did in the pictures. The paintings really came to life from the walls, the colors were so bright, and the chapel was so… small. Mrs. B told us that we would have to push the audience to one side to see a painting on the other side of the chapel. After about five minutes of matching up the paintings with their titles, the group came in, and it was show time. Ashley and I introduced the history and background of the chapel to start, and moved into the explanation of the paintings. Although, we could only get through the first three, Mrs. B said we did a great job, which was alright with us J.Then we went to the immense Duomo of Florence and listened to Liz and Danya’s presentation. They also did a good job, but they were interrupted by a semi-pro opera singer in the middle of their presentation. The singer was amazing, and Andrea knew the song, so he sang along with him. It was awesome to see the entire piazza silently focus its attention on the singer only. I had been to Florence three times before today, and I had never seen anything like that. After that, we were free to shop. Melissa, Kendall, Ashley, and I set out on our shopping adventure. It was nice because I spoke Italian to the shopkeepers, so they were friendlier to us, than they were to the other girls in our group. I ended up becoming friends with the shopkeepers at the market and with painter on the street. It felt wonderful to speak Italian again, rolling my R’s, and using Italian hand gestures. The day came to a close as hands and arms were heavy with presents for families, friends, and for ourselves, of course. Overall, Florence was a great city to end the trip with. It was laidback, we shopped a lot, and the presentations were quick and to the point. Florence has always been my favorite city in Italy, and now it is only even more so.

To the Window, to the Wall, Stop, Drop and Rumble

By: Paul Tulungen and John Henry Buggeln

After an overnight adventure in the high speed train from Hangzhou, we woke to the sound of my father (Mr. Tulungen) poorly singing “♫To the wall, (to the wall), to the window, (to the window).♫”  We had a relaxing morning packing our things in our small sleeper compartments.  Just before 8 a.m. we arrived into the brand new Beijing station.

Our bus picked us up and took us to our first stop, a traditional restaurant where we met Kate Feng, a Culver senior from Beijing.

Next, after a scenic ride through the countryside, we arrived at the Great Wall where many vendors tried to sell us items ranging from “I Climbed the Great Wall” T- shirts to stuffed pandas and chopsticks.  Even though the stores may have been distracting, we bought our tickets and started our steep climb up to the Wall.  Much of the group took the west path up to the Wall, but Joel and Josh took the longer path and went east on the wall to the pedestrian border.  The view was tremendous as we walked along.  We took many pictures of ourselves, and even videos, including another rendition of the Eagle Rumble.  The remnants of the wall and the views reminded many visitors of the power of China, and the time and energy it took to build and protect this magnificent country.

Back in Beijing we visited the 789 arts district, a new contemporary art center housed in former factory buildings, ate lunch, and walked around.

When we re-congregated to leave, we started a small group juggling game with the feather hacky sacks that my father bought.  The locals found it amusing that a bunch of foreigners would start playing with a toy in the middle of the sidewalk so they started taking pictures and videos.  After we took roll, we were off to the hotel.

When we arrived at the hotel, many took time to clean up before eating at the buffet in the restaurant. It featured Mexican food as well as many deserts. All of us engaged in deep conversations , but the day was pretty tiring so we gradually (group by group) made our way upstairs to get ready for sleep.

Mountains and Trains

By: Davis Payne and Roanveer Mitra

Today was our second day in the Paradise City of Hangzhou. We left in the morning to go visit some vast Buddhist temples. At first the temples did not seem to be so large, but as we got closer the buildings seemed to grow. We entered the temples and were awe-stuck. The statues beauty and size cannot be expressed in words nor in pictures.

 

The statues beauty and size cannot be expressed in words nor in pictures. After this tour we split up into two groups. The larger group faced a challenge as they had to speed through the temples and then climb up well over one thousand stone stairs. When we reached the top, one of our students had the honor of sounding the large bell at the top 9 times. At the top it was quite humid and there was a great amount of smog.

Afterwards we climbed down the mountain and left to head towards the tea museum. At the tea museum we observed a great multitude of teas and how tea leaves are grown and cultivated.

After the tea museum we went to eat another great dinner at pizza hut, than it was time for the train. The train was quite an experience, it was very smooth and not what was expected. We were split into separate rooms, 4 people per room. We had two sets of bunks that were quite comfortable to sleep in overnight. After a 10 hour train ride we arrived at Beijing at 7:45 the next morning.