Dear Parents,
Today was our last day with the Chinese children in Huairou. After breakfast, we all went to the gym where photos were taken of all roommates of each room. Then Bonnie led the Chinese children and Saisai led the American children in discussions of Chinese-American differences. I joined the American group discussion led by Saisai. Saisai focused on five complaints lodged by American children, namely (1) Chinese children watch way too much TV; (2) Chinese children are willful (tai4 ba4dao4); (3) Chinese children sit on others’ beds and do not respect others’ space; (4) Chinese children use rough language; (5) Chinese children (especially girls) change their clothes in front of their roommate. Saisai attempted to attribute these phenomena to Chinese children’s academic pressure, family structure, and cultural upbringing. She was so invested in these issues that before she completed the first topic, she broke down in tears. Since she spoke in Chinese, not all of our children got all of her messages in the fullest measure intended, but I think all of us appreciated her sincerity.
After the discussion, by way of celebrating the completion of this week’s activities, the four teams resumed their performance and competition that began the other night at the camping site. Many of the American children repeated the performances that they gave at the graduation ceremony held on August 4 which I missed (thanks to Chloe’s mom for a beautifully rendered report on that event!). The Chinese children entertained us with er-hu and shan1dong1 kuai4ban3, among others. All performers earned credits for their teams and the accumulative total score for each team was calculated. The grand winning team was Luo2bo Dui4 (Team Carrot)! All members of Team Carrot got to enjoy Domino’s pizza for lunch.
A very special part of today’s graduation party that I liked a lot was when each and every child (both Chinese and American) was individually recognized for their specific strength as exhibited during the past week and each child received an individualized certificate stating his/her particular strength. Just to give you a flavor, the children received titles such as “Little gentleman”, “The best team builder”, “The one with the greatest potential”, “The best team leader”, “The wise one”, “The most loving soul”, “The best collaborator”, “The best partner”, “The best team member”, “The most talented”, “The most graceful”, “The fearless”, “The adorable”, “The most creative”, etc., etc. When your children come home, be sure to take a look at their certificate!
We finished lunch at about 2pm and had to pack in haste as the bus was to leave Legacy Inn at 2:30. The Chinese children accompanied their American roommates to the bus and everybody said goodbye. Many asked for each other’s contact information and several asked for signatures and exchanged gifts. In spite of the differences, some friendship has been forged in the past few days. In my mind, I was envisaging a future scenario twenty or thirty years from now when these children will meet again, as business partners, academic collaborators, or just global citizens somewhere in the world…
We returned to Beijing before 4pm; Gong Laoshi was waiting for us. For today and tomorrow we are staying at the International Students Building at the Science and Technology University (ke1da4). We are put on the 14th floor—yes there is an elevator. Bonnie made it possible for the children to change their roommates if both desired so. So there have been some changes. Before and after dinner, Bonnie gave the children another leadership training session, this time focusing on an immediate problem of significant scale—with the exception of maybe 5 or 6, most children in the past week violated the rule of not buying anything (especially junk food) without permission. (Apparently there is a convenient store on the premise of Legacy Inn, which I didn’t even see, and many children conveniently made use of it during their free time.) What was worse, it involved conspiracy, cover-up, and corruption. Bonnie asked every child to write a piece, reflecting upon what went wrong, what lessons they have learned, strategies to handle temptations and ways to build courage and integrity to shoulder consequences for wrong choices.
By the time most children returned to their dorm, it was 9pm. Gong Laoshi told us that we can sleep till 8am tomorrow. I must end here as a child has just knocked on my door telling me that their shower does not work. I’ll go downstairs to ask the front desk for help.
The great things inhabit the details of the mundane,
Agnes (aka He laoshi)