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This site will be updated daily by students. Please feel free to read and follow the blog and track our daily progress and reflections starting from the 11th October 2009 to 20th October 2009.
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SUNDAY, 11TH OCTOBER, 2009
Day 1 – Arrival at Wuhan -> Yichang
At 8 o’clock this morning at King George V School, 5 eager staff and 23 even more eager students gathered around in the foyer, waiting for their bus ride to the Chek Lap Kok Airport. “What are their intentions and aims?” you ask; we answer: “To begin a life changing experience - something which would forever be etched in their minds”. Codename of this special mission? Spring Blossom 2009: Hubei.
As most of the day – in fact, the whole of the day – was spent on travelling across from Hong Kong to Wuhan then to Yichang, below we have a collection of the students’ expectations made before the trip. This would then act as a comparison scale to the end of the trip. Parents, look out for your son’s/daughter’s name, and teachers, have a read over what your students wrote… have a good night’s rest everyone, as we, the Spring Blossom 2009: Hubei team, undoubtedly would have ourselves.
Tiffany Chui
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I look forward to meeting the Spring Blossom girls and hope that everything happens way better than we expect - whether it’s the teaching programme, the hike and outreach work, or the food and accommodation, I carry high hopes (:
Tiffany C
I am prepared to go out of my comfort zone and experience a culture that is very dissimilar to that of Hong Kong’s. I hope it will be a learning experience for us, and most importantly make it a unforgettable experience for the Spring Blossom girls.
Laurelle
The days and months of preparation leading up to this trip has stretched out over the past year, and I’m excited to finally embark on the journey which all the preparation went towards. People have already told me how unforgettable and touching the Spring Blossom experience was for them, and I’m excited to take away my own memories from this trip.
Dorothy
Having heard amazing things about this trip from my sister and others who have been on it, I’m hoping that it will be as life changing for me as it was for them. I’m hoping to improve my Chinese speaking while I’m here as well.
Denise
I hope that we will not only meet but surpass the expectations of the Spring Blossom girls we will befriend, as this visit to their school is a monumental experience not only for us but also for them. The most important thing for me is for everyone to enjoy themselves and learn something significant from the trip.
Melissa
I think we’ll gain a lot since Spring Blossom is about us making our own programs and utilizing it. Also I think that this experience will leave us with profound memories which we’ll treasure forever.
Esther
I hope to be able to make a profound impact upon the Spring Blossom girls’ lives, so that the next three days we spend with them will be important for both of us. What I really like the prospect of is the fact that we are able to share what we have with them and possibly inspire them to realize that they can have a better future and they can be whatever they want to be. No one should have a limited future and I’m glad to have a chance to let them see that.
Holly
We’ve prepared and done so much work, spent so much time and effort – now its time to see if this actually works and helps the Spring Blossom girls. We’ve never done and I want the memories to be as beautiful as possible, for them but also for us. Although we are ‘teaching’ the girls, I have a feeling that we will learn even more, we will all mature together as people though this shared experience.
Adrienne
I expect a life changing experience
Alex
To keep it short, I expect an exhausting yet exhilarating experience.
Kyle
Although tiring I hope that the hard work would all pay off at the end, moreover, I expect a memorable and thrilling experience.
George
I hope to broaden my knowledge and have fun.
Albert
I expect the trip to be challenging yet motivational; stepping out of my comfort zone to help those less privileged than I am will hopefully make me more appreciative of what I have now. I hope the Spring Blossom girls will be able to learn from us, and us from them.
Josephine
During this trip I expect to gain a once in a life time experience with teaching spring blossom children as well as gaining the knowledge about the lifestyles of those that are less fortunate than us.
Chelsia
I expect this trip to be extremely unpredictable and quite challenging. I think we would be quite busy but I expect once we see the smiles on the girls face, all the hard work we’ve done will be worth it. I’ll also enjoy the beautiful scenery and the fresh air, a change from the usual polluted Hong Kong.
Christel
I expect to gain a memorable experience especially when teaching the spring blossom girls for three days. I expect to make a strong relationship with the children while teaching them so it will be heartbreaking when we leave Hubei.
Jin Young
I expect this trip to open my mind, broaden my horizon and to gain knowledge. To help people less fortunate than us and seeing them being happy would be my greatest gift back. We will see the difference between our lifestyle and theirs which will be something to experience.
Jeffrey
I expect to gain a lot teaching experience from this trip and more knowledge of the culture difference. I would also like to know what it would be like to live under villages and poorer circumstances. Other than the teaching side of this trip, I’d also like to see a different side of china, where parts haven’t yet been commercialized and the beautiful scenery is kept.
Claudia
I believe this trip is a unique opportunity to experience a completely different culture.
Charley
I think this trip will give me the opportunity to learn new things and experience the joy of helping less fortunate children.
Carol
I think I will learn something beneficial to life and be able to help girls and be very satisfied but also an unpredictable trip with many obstacles emotionally? Also, I will learn to appreciate what I already have rather than what I don’t have.
Tiffany Y
Like every other Spring Blossom trip, I think I will find myself amazed at how different the life is like for certain individuals in certain rural areas such as Hubei Province. I believe this trip will prove to me and others on this trip that “CAS points” don’t matter at all; I will definitely come to realize how lucky and privileged I really am.
Jane
I came into this trip in search of inspiration and motivation to make a difference in this world. Although the limited time frame of three days is understandably insufficient in making any tangibly significant difference, I believe the impact that this trip carries would move each one of us to act for the greater good.
Javier
I expect 100% effort and 100% commitment will result in 100% satisfaction … at least.
Mr Ensor
I expect this trip to be as memorable and amazing as it was the first time I joined the SB trip.
Michelle P
I’m looking forward to meeting the girls in the school, and seeing our students working with them – from what I’ve seen so far, I think it’s going to be pretty amazing.
Mrs Kadri
I believe this trip is going to make benefit not just to the Spring Blossom students but also to the whole community of the school that we work for. Our students are doing a great job and I’m really confident we are going to make a great one.
Ms So
Having been involved in twelve previous SB trips, I get the impression that this is going to be one of the finest ever SB ventures. The spirit present amongst this group is exemplary.
Mr Boyce
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Day 2 - Arrival at Wu Feng County & Last Minute Preparations
Today was mainly a day focused on last-minute preparations and fine-tunings for tomorrow’s Spring Blossom visit, as we wanted to ensure that we could give the Spring Blossom girls the time of their lives. Though we had already spent the better part of the past year preparing for this momentous trip, we were aware of our shortcomings and were determined to spend every last minute we had working on eliminating them.
There were some unfortunate incidents throughout the day, including a slight collision with another truck on our way to Wu Feng, but not even these incidents were enough to dampen our spirits or our determination – instead, we seized the opportunity given to us, while waiting for a new bus, to practice and polish our Spring Blossom song and dance routines. Neither was the perpetual downpour enough to diminish our appreciation of the beautiful natural scenery or our appetites as we enjoyed lunch at a restaurant of authentic Tujia cuisine.
The rest of the evening was spent running through every aspect of our 3-day programme to make sure that there were no overlooked problems or obstacles. We made considerable progress and focused especially on how to make our interaction with the girls as inclusive and meaningful as possible. However, one important lesson we learned was that even preparation has its limits! It was a major disappointment to hear that Jennifer Chow, the founder of the Spring Blossom programme, had been held back at Guangzhou Airport because of bad weather and would not be able to arrive in Yichang at the expected time.
Overall, however, any inconveniences or setbacks we experienced were accepted as simply part of the journey. Despite the forbidding, overcast weather and the interminable bus rides, we were energized and focused during our rehearsals. Ultimately, we look forward to our time with the Spring Blossom girls as the greatest reward anyone could ask for, and hope that their experience with us will be just as rewarding and profound for them.
Dorothy Yang
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Day 3 - Working at Spring Blossom School: Day 1
Today was Day 1 of our Spring Blossom program. One whole year of preparation finally came to life this morning when we arrived at the school from an hour-long bus ride up the bumpy mountain roads. Excited, anxious and slightly cold from the chilly weather, we entered the school hall under the warm welcome of waves and applause by the school children.
The opening ceremony commenced with an exchange of speeches from both parties; Melissa Zhang and Kyle Yan of our Spring Blossom group, a Spring Blossom student representative and lastly the school principal whose speech Alex Su quite deftly translated for us. The principal and students expressed deep gratitude and anticipation for the Spring Blossom program. After the formalities, we performed our Spring Blossom dance and song, which was reciprocated by an excellent dance and musical performance from some of the school’s students.
Our program began with the icebreaker; the name game. The Spring Blossom children set off to their assigned groups and engaged in an activity where they called out their own names in English and learnt the names of others. We gave them name tags to identify one another. The response was quite enthusiastic, though not unanimously as some groups had to improvise to implement more energetic, physical elements into the activities to compromise with the less active students.
After the icebreaker, we commenced our program activities. The Spring Blossom children split into their different groups and participated in the Health and Games teaching programs that our KGV students had put together. Exhilarated cries and laughter could be heard from the school court as the games group carried out the “Rats and Rabbits” activity. “The games session could be described as analogous to pushing a ball down a hill.” said Alex Su in our sharing session, “It was hard to get them started as they were quite unenthusiastic at first – but once we made that effort to give them a push, it kicked off like a ball rolling down a hill.”
On the other hand, the Basic Hygiene group was doing well with their role-play activities. The children enacted the scenarios on health hazards and their proper procedures, which included sneezing, coughing and washing hands before eating. I sensed that by placing themselves in these roles and putting thought into these issues, the children positively received our message.
After these activities was the lunch break, where we enjoyed quite an extensive meal prepared for us by the locals.
Following the lunch break we commenced the second session of activities: a jewelry session by our arts and crafts group and an English session on occupations & transport. The jewelry session was a great success thanks to the zeal and interest of the students. They were very eager to learn and each student produced their own piece of jewelry, which they took away as souvenirs.
The English session enjoyed considerable levels of success as well, although it heavily deviated from the original plan as the students’ levels of proficiency in English were not as we had expected. We used pictorial flash cards to review basic types of occupation and transportation, and then placed them into groups to let them produce their own story using these flash cards. Due to the wide disparity in English-proficiency of the students, not all were able to carry out the activity ideally, but many did indeed step out of their comfort zones and produced excellent performances. Nevertheless, it encouraged each of the students to speak out and communicate in English, which I believe had, no matter great or small, a positive impact on their confidence in the language. With the younger group of students, the English group employed the more active game of “Traffic Lights”.
In the team building session, the students were given the challenge of arranging themselves in chronological order of birthdates without being allowed to speak. The response was great, and all the groups successfully solved the challenge whilst having lots of fun.
The last activity of the day was the Organic Challenge, where our task was to teach the children a section of the OC: Spring Blossom Dance. We received participation from our leaders Mr. Boyce and Mr. Ensor as well as the school principal, which was quite entertaining.
Exhausted, inspired but most of all satisfied, we pulled ourselves back onto the bus and made our way back to the hotel. Soon after we returned, we set off again to attend a forum with several local government officials and Ms Jennifer Chow, the founder of the Spring Blossom program. At the forum we received very encouraging compliments by the officials commending us on our day’s excellent efforts, and then giving us a brief delineation on some of the issues and ambitions that they had on local education and the Spring Blossom School. Speeches were made by Jennifer Chow, the local officials and our leaders Mr. Ensor and Mr. Boyce – Mr. Boyce producing a speech of surprising eloquence and concision. Melissa acted as a translator to the officials, and Kyle Yan said some brief words on behalf of our group.
When we returned to the hotel, we held a sharing session where we reflected on the day’s experiences. Several valuable comments were made for improvements, and we also reflected on what we thought was the high point of the day. Many of us thought that the Organic Challenge was the high point of the trip as it “stimulated the sense of team spirit in the groups” as Jin Young put it. However, productive criticisms were also made, such as Jo Jo’s notion that our attitude may be too patronizing, and we should take on a more friendly and immersive approach. Nevertheless, I believe the sense of warmth and welcome that we received was felt by all of us, and as Tiffany Chui stated, “it was like one big family.”
Jaiver Leung
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Wednesday, 14th October, 2009Day 4 - Working at Spring Blossom School: Day 2
Bright fresh faces welcomed us into the SB school on the second day of work. The children were markedly more at ease around us. They readily and cheerfully talked back, especially the cheeky boys, who took pleasure in returning our jokes with cheeky comebacks. Some KGVers received presents and friendship letters from their favourite SB children, who truly moved us.
After an energetic morning warm-up of Catch, the games group launched a World Wonders puzzle tournament on the first floor between the Reds and Greens. While reluctant to represent their teams at first, the children gradually fought for their individual turns. Their chants grew louder and louder, punctuated by laughter when someone thought Stonehenge was Yi He Yuan, one of the most magnificent Summer Palaces in Beijing. The session ended with a riddle: There are 2 fathers and 2 sons plus 3 apples. How do they each have one whole apple without cutting or touching the fruit? (See answer at bottom*)
Simultaneously, the English and Health class upstairs was in full force- the SB children enthusiastically mimicked brushing movements as their KGV teachers taught them the basics of dental health using 2 plastic crocodile models. These huge croc mouths were given away to 2 children (Jack and a “Wilson-lookalike”) at the end, much to their delight. In addition, we also taught the children about countries and weather.
The team building activity Giants, Elves, and Wizards involved all 80 kids (split into 2 teams) squeaking, roaring, and “bzz”-ing. The game is similar to stone, paper, scissors, except that it requires a whole team to decide which component to play; the winning team tries to catch the losing team. For the first 4 rounds, both teams “coincidentally” played Wizard. After the children grasped the gist of the game, their shrieks of enjoyment filled the air even though many people ran in the wrong direction repeatedly.
Apart from the 4 scheduled lessons, 2 extra activities were organized today; the first one was singing (here, allow me to commend Tiffany Chui for doing a stunning job in teaching the song “A B C You Later” to all the classes). The children were never passive, pouring in generous participation throughout. To warm up, we stirred the children into singing some of their familiar Chinese songs. The Chinese National Anthem boomed out of the classroom, followed by Chinese pop songs like “Lao Shu Ai Da Mi (Rats Love Rice)”, “Tong Hua (Fairy Tale)”, and “Gai Si De Wen Rou (Tenderness Deserves To Die)”. It was karaoke in pure unison and great fun. Also, the children were endlessly amused by Javier, who had mud marks splotching his shorts due to a monkey bars failure incident. The harmlessly high spirits in the room were infectious.
The other extra activity was the Art Project, something brand new, innovative, and destined to be a smash tomorrow when it will be completed. The children each got 2 bowls and their job was to paint them and stick foil scales on them. Tomorrow, all the bowls will be threaded by string and attached to a head and tail to form a fantastic hanging Dragon of Dreams. The children’s interest towards the blue paint and yogurt-like glue was unmistakable. In fact, they were surprisingly able and completed the set task within 15 minutes. Moreover, every child received a palm-sized “Wishing Star” on which they wrote down their dreams. These dreams and wishes really touched us because they revealed how deeply they loved their families and that, just like every other child, they have ambitions and wishes. We sincerely hope we can keep helping them to solidify and achieve these goals. The gold stars will be hung around the dragon- kudos to Christel, Adrienne, Josephine, and Denise for such a wonderful idea.
Next, we taught them how to make origami figures. Most of the boys went for the boat while some challenged themselves with the 3D owl, with success; the girls flocked to the lotus flower station littered with origami paper of lush pink and orange shades. I am certain that every single step of creasing and folding the origami paper will be engraved in all the students’ hearts forever.
Perfect or imperfect, the organic challenge was a spectacular sight to behold. Think 200 stamping, clapping, and loud-noise-making students standing in 18 circles surrounding one central circle within an area of 2 basketball courts. Chaotic? This rhythm game was anything but. To me, it embodied unity. We split the 200 or so year 6s, 7s, and 8s into 19 groups. Each group created its own beat. On “5 6 7 8”, group 1 tapped out its rhythm, and one more group added on to the thickening rhythm every 8th beat. Through a gradual palpitating crescendo, 200 voices, clapping hands, and stamping feet melted into one single discordant yet unified harmony. It was alive- like a heart beat linking individual to individual. Of course, it was not all solemn: if you had listened carefully, out of the pitter-patter popped “Jelly. Jelly”, “Sweet potato! Sweet potato!”, “Dong dee dong dee [in varying pitches]” and “Nom nom nom nom”, plus an undertone of giggles. The organic challenge was definitely a highlight of the day. I cannot help but feel sorry for the journalist tomorrow who will have to write about it because tomorrow, the whole school will participate- that is 407 students not counting KGV staff, KGV students, SB School staff, Wufeng Education Officials…
The day ended with an eye-opening visit to a local clinic. As part of the SB Outreach tradition, KGVers donated boxfuls of sanitation items, such as tooth paste, tooth brushes, soap, and face masks, and over 5 woolly blankets which the KGVers themselves knit. The clinic/hospital was very basic, receiving around 20 patients a day. The in-patient block is now derelict and only incidental illnesses can be treated. The only electric sterilizing machine was used since 1976. Touring the tennis court sized block, we reflected again on how fortunate we are- it really stirred up guilt because we should be raising more awareness and GIVING.
As Mr. Ensor said, I feel that as an SB team, we had become more complete, committed, and confident day by day. Today was no exception. We had significant, breathtaking moments, such as during the organic challenge, and pea-sized, comical funnies, like when everyone squealed over (and terrified) the Tiniest kitten ever (literally sock-sized) in the clinic’s backyard. Spring Blossom just brims with rewards and surprises. For tonight: keep up the great work, guys! Tomorrow will carve itself into a milestone.
*Answer to riddle: There are actually 3 people- a grandfather, a father, and a son.
Melissa Zhang
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Thursday, 15th October, 2009
Day 5- Working at Spring Blossom School
Who would actually believe that there really is love at first sight?
Who would actually believe that even the most hardcore of all men could cry? And who, I ask, would actually believe that unlike Rome, deep bonds really can be made in a day?
Today was officially the last day of the Spring Blossom Programme at Zhang Shui Ping Middle-Primary School – to celebrate this grand event, as well as having a touching closing ceremony with grand performances and speeches from both sides and an extremely successful organic challenge, we also held a grand display of – not fireworks - waterworks.
Undeniably, at the very start – when the people who were going onto Spring Blossom 2009 were firstly recognised – not one single person believed the previous SB trip goers that it was “a life changing experience”. It’s true that a trip such as this would touch us, but how could it possibly change our lives? Some of us were even sceptical about their testimonies – if the previous trips were so successful and heart warming, then why aren’t you all coming back?
But it did change our lives.
And we also found the reason why our seniors didn’t go to the Spring Blossom trip this year: it’s because it breaks you. The emotional rollercoaster ride which the trip provides us will break anyone, through and through.
As I am still emotional, I shall be brief (or else Yichang would be completely flooded).
Starting the morning with some warm up stretches and the linking hands catch game, the four coloured groups split up – both the Yellow and Blue teams stayed on the playground for a games session of Capture the Flag (or rather, as it would be more befitting, Capture the Frisbee) whilst the other two teams, the Red and the Green, went up onto the first floor for the second session of the Water Dragon Art Project. The main objective of the games session is to, surprise surprise, capture the Frisbee: splitting the playground into two halves and the children into their respective team colours, there are 2 marked out areas at the back of the two sides – one being the “treasure” place where the Frisbee is held, and the other is “jail”. Both sides would attempt to run over to their opposing team’s side to retrieve the treasure without being caught (if you do, then off to jail you go) – the main objective is to retrieve the Frisbee before the other team does. Laughter filled the entire playground when the children kept tossing the Frisbee into the construction area, and giggling erupted from them when some of the KGV students joined in the game but got caught within seconds of joining in.
After swapping the two groups for different activities, they were brought together for a health session – today in particular, we explored the food pyramid. Starting off with showing them a blank pyramid, we asked the children to form little groups and draw on the paper we provided what they believe should be in particular sections of the pyramid. Whilst walking around to see if they need help, I couldn’t help but laugh out when a group of boys on purposely put “peanuts” down at the carbohydrates section as a joke… funnier still, they put “bananas” in the proteins section (this was done to capture my attention, for I was known as “Banana King…Queen” on the trip to the children). Following up that activity, we explained the importance of the different foods we eat and its proportions in relation to living healthily and had ended the session with a small game of sticking on images of food onto the pyramid: in all the session was great fun.
Just before we broke up for lunch, we had the last session of team building. Not dissimilar to the Giants, Wizards, Elves game, today we indulged in a game called Knights, Princess, Riders – to play this, the children first had to form pairs and name themselves either as A or B. They would then link hands with other children to the respective character and form 2 concentric circles (ie. all the “A” children link hands with all the “B” children forming another circle standing around them); music is then played and one circle moves clockwise whilst the other moves anticlockwise. When the music stops, then either Knight, Princess or Rider is called out; the children then had to find their original partners and do the pose for the instruction – the last fe pairs would be eliminated. Whilst most of the younger children loved this game, the older ones (especially the guys) found this game too trivial and chatted to some KGVers. Finishing the game, the children went back to their teams and were each given a gift bag containing stationery such as writing materials and candy.
Whilst we KGV students had fun working with the children, our female staff also had a good time: enthusiastic, the younger children at the school approached Ms So in hope of having contact with a foreigner. Like a basket of new born puppies eager to be named, two entire grades of eager eyes looked at Ms So, hungry to be the proud owner of an English name. Starting off by naming the children after letters of the alphabet (Anna, Betty, Chris… etc), Ms So eventually ran out of names and took out her own mobile phone, looking up friends’ names that she could give to the children. Touched, the children bounced (literally) with joy all over the playground.
Similarly, when Ms Kadri and Michelle were giving out bars of soap, this simple gesture got the children excited and the giving slowly became desperate grabbing: because of this, whilst some children ended up having 2 or 3 bars of soap, some others were left staring at an empty box. Panicking over what they can give to the empty-handed, Ms Kari and Michelle’s worries were put to rest: seeing their fellow peers without soap, the children with extra started putting the bars of soap which they held so preciously tight to their chests previously back into the box, hoping to share the immense joy with those around them.
I am sure, even without me putting this into words, that this seemingly little matter, had struck our hearts with deep emotion.
Before we knew it, lunchtime arrived. Once again, we walked to the nearby local restaurant and enjoyed our last stay in that restaurant (and many took photos of the pig next to the lavatory as a farewell gesture).
Returning to the school, we began one of the traditional activities of all Spring Blossom trips – the murals. Rolling out 2 long pieces of cloth and setting up platters of paint, both the KGV students and the Spring Blossom children were to write messages, wishes, hopes and dreams on the two prepared murals – one to be hanged up at their school, and the other to be taken back to KGV. We began this project with a rocky start – the children were unsure of how much space they were allowed to use and were extremely polite and waited in turn for the few paintbrushes available. To shake off the unease, a few fellow KGV students including myself, Jeffrey, Laurelle, and Claudia took off our shoes and zoomed up and down the mural to encourage the children to draw on whatever and wherever they want with hands. This activity blossomed into a face painting session, and a few of us KGV students were reported to have looked like a completely different race entirely… our faces were mainly awkward colours like blue and green, so perhaps we looked alien like? Brought into the science labs to wash our faces, many year 3s and 4s crowded around us and 6 pairs of hands scrubbed each of our faces – a few of them even pulled out their precious soap, willing to sacrifice it in aid of helping us remove the paint.
Prior to the closing ceremony, the Art Project student leaders went up to the first floor and along with the mural, the Water Dragon and the over 4metres long mural was hung up. Many of the students gasped at the mural, but their jaws immediately dropped when they saw the magnificence of the Water Dragon they put together – at this point, I would like to give a big thumbs up to the KGV students who helped in any part of this project: be it that you were a leader and organised this successful project, a student who had time on their hands at night and flattened out the foil scales in the hotel, or the friend that help tie fishing line to the stars with the children’s aspirations on them; your actions were commendable and because of all your taking initiative, the Art Project became a living triumph.
After hanging up the two pieces of art, a ceremony was held. Speeches were made: one in particular, which grabbed our hearts: the speech made by the student representative on their side was written and presented in English. Uncontrollable tears rolled down many of KGV students’ faces upon hearing the flow of English words sewn together with not only time and effort but also heart. Presenting their school with the King George V School shield, a small round of gift giving took place: both KGV staff and students alike received packets of Yichang’s renowned green tea, and a few selected Spring Blossom children presented us with stationery – yet another heart wrenching gesture, as the children gave us so much, and our gifts seemed pale in comparison. Performances were shown: the year 9 students performed a traditional Chinese song “Descendants of the Dragon”, and a particular staff on their side performed the pop song “Chinaman”. To reciprocate, the KGV side performed the Spring Blossom Song “The River of Dreams”, the Spring Blossom Dance, the now very well known “A B C You Later” song, and last but not least, the KGV school song, marking the end of the closing ceremony.
To draw the Spring Blossom days at the school to a beautiful stop, we attempted to repeat the Organic Challenge but with the entire school – that is to say, 407 students on their side plus the 23 KGV students and an unknown number of their staff members, making a total of 430+ people participating in this activity. With each group suddenly stretched up to over 30 students per group, with mine, Group 1 (of the basic 8beat clap), going well over 45, everyone quickly organised their group with help with the year 6s, 7s, and 8s who had the general gist from their experience yesterday. It was undeniably a huge success. Having discussed the problems and weaknesses of the Organic Challenge yesterday and having a quick rehearsal early this morning, this huge orchestra of clapping, stamping, shaking of bottles, and voices of students from ages 6 to 16 became one and slowly built up to a huge crescendo, as if a river was flowing down a rapid, reaching the edge of a waterfall. Rushing over the edge, echoes of “nomnomnom”, “gwan”, “potato”, and tremendous stamping and clapping could be heard, everyone tied together in unity because of our love for each other. With each group slowly being pulled out one by one again, the river flowed slowly, its sound finally singly singing Group 1’s basic 8 beat clap… and then there was silence. After accelerating down meandering streams and experiencing the incredible exhilaration and excitement of waterfall, the River of Rhythm finally took its rest in a lake, taking with it all our hopes and dreams from the future. There are no possible words in any language whatsoever which are even seemingly close which can fully describe the sheer capacity of the Rhythm Challenge. It was a collaborative project which required great intensities of teamwork, and there is no denying that it was an activity which was loved by students and staff from both sides.
All good things come to an end, and that is no exception for the days we spent at Zhang Shui Ping Middle-Primary School. Immediately after the Organic Challenge was completed, the children from my group started sobbing: having held back throughout the entire activity, the Rhythm Challenge changed from claps and stamps to wails and keening. As we were told previously that we had to leave as soon as possible right after the Organic Challenge, all 407 students of their school lined up on two sides of the path to the school gate to see us off. It was an emotional moment – even tears welled up in the eyes of children that we never taught – and only (I just calculated) 30% of KGV students did not cry at that particular moment (this is not to say that they weren’t touched, this I am definite that 100% of us felt the emotional pangs in our hearts at that moment). Being my ridiculous self, I went on mission impossible to hug every one of them whilst friends promised me to get my bag for me (which, unfortunately, I did not succeed in and only managed around 380+ students). All the notes, little gifts and messages were touching – a few in particular which are particularly stuck in my mind at this moment: Javier, for example, had received a small toy aeroplane with a note attached to it, from a boy who was in his group for some activities; the note had read “Hello, I am giving this toy plane to you so you can fly back and visit me”.
“Parting is such sweet sorrow” said Juliet.
Well said Juliet, well said.
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As mentioned before in Day 1’s journal, our expectations would be compared to the reflections of the students and teachers after working at the Spring Blossom School: below are the newly made comments. Parents, teachers and fellow students alike, please take your time to read through them and discover the joys of the Spring Blossom 2009: Hubei trip goers.
Tifany Chui
As mentioned before in Day 1’s journal, our expectations would be compared to the reflections of the students and teachers after working at the Spring Blossom School: below are the newly made comments. Parents, teachers and fellow students alike, please take your time to read through them and discover the joys of the Spring Blossom 2009: Hubei trip goers.
I deeply enjoyed every minute and every second, I want to pause this moment and replay.
- Jeffrey Tsang
Seeing that the kids are happy with almost anything, it would just be such a shame if we didn’t take anything away from this experience.
- Albert Jiang
(words cannot describe)
- Esther Sun
This was the first time my heart was into something for the whole time.
- Jinyoung Hwang
A reflection of my own fortunate life.
-Christel Chan
Characters and friendship molded by short yet intimate relations.
-Laurelle Cheng
Strange, funny, heart-wrenching, everything I expected and so much more.
-Charley Chen
Rome wasn’t built in a day…but who knew that such deep bonds could’ve been made in 3 short days. The past few days will forever be unforgettable and treasured. The trip was indescribable. It was so worth it.
-Tiffany Chui
It was very hard work which took a lot of preparation-most of our plans were changed last minute too- but to see our efforts bring a smile to the girls faces was truly rewarding; happiness can be very simple.
-Adrienne Diu
My throat hurts, my legs cramped and my eyes are sore- in short; I love it.
-Alex Su
Merely acknowledging that there are people less fortunate than ourselves is nothing compared to meeting, conferring, playing and most of all having fun with them. During the past three days, I have experienced this in the many magical moments of the relationship that had developed between the children and myself, and I believe this has profoundly affected me in a way that will linger on for years to come.
-Javier Leung
Truly an eye opener – an opportunity to broaden my knowledge and a life-changing experience.
-George Wan
Not only was this an educational experience, but also a heart-warming, fun-filled one, ‘we are going to miss them’
-Kyle Yan
I have been getting out of the hotel with eyes half awake for the past three days; but as soon as I reached the school, I would literally feel my eyes twinkling with such awe at these amazing children – I love and miss this too much, too soon.
-Jane Kim
Having experienced many emotions through my entire life, but seeing those children we had only met for 3 days; crying and waving goodbye was truly an emotion that was simply unexplainable.
-Chelsia Lau
The growing of unity between us through a rich experience, money can never buy.
-Tiffany Yeung
For me, the thing that stood out regarding the last 3 days was how real it was – although we had prepared activities and materials for the past year and heard about other people’s life-changing experiences with Spring Blossom, it was not possible for us to truly grasp the immensity of the task we were undertaking until we were really interacting with the 80 real, unpredictable children who were not always easy to handle – however, it was this reality, rather than any idealistic preconceptions we might have had, that made the friendships we forged real too.
-Dorothy Yang
I have no idea what to write, but I do know that I NEED to return to WuFeng, to Zhang Shui Ping Middle & Primary School, up the path littered with voluptuous chicken, to the winding testify of the growth of the children (King, Angel, Tian Tian, Dong Jun etc.) After what has been exchanged us in the past three ineffable days – tears, learning and the 2 unbreakable ends of an unbreakable bond.
-Melissa Zhang
The most striking thing about this trip was, although we had been told countless times by previous Spring Blossomers and the teachers, how our visit seemed to affect such a large part of the school, including those that didn’t even have much interaction with us – our parting farewell from the school was a chorus of sobs spanning roughly a hundred meters long… my biggest regret on this trip was that I didn’t get to interact much with the children, as for a great majority of the time I was rushing around cleaning up, preparing and finishing off the craft lessons and art project
-Denise Lee
Waking up every morning these few days at 6:00am felt like a chore, even on the last day but when it was time to leave of the one and for all, I wouldn’t mind even waking up at 4:00am just to see them again, this experience was really inspiring & one of a kind, I really felt their warmth when everyone said bye to us at the doors, even the younger ones that I only saw once or twice or not even once, I think I will take these 3 days with me forever, and always now & then reflect back on it, I think my feeling towards the child and the school is beyond words.
-Claudia Ngai
Exciting and unforgettable, the Spring Blossom experience has inspired and motivated me in so many different ways; my horizon has been broadened and my mind opened, emotions that I did not think I would display after 3 days were completely exposed – I loved every minute of it and the amazing memories and smiling faces of all the children I encountered on this trip will stay with me for a very, very long time to come.
-Josephine Cheng
Out-of-this(our)-world different… but in a good way, of course. I wouldn’t change a second.
-Holly Urquhart
Stronger bonds were made, we had greater understanding of the children and the feeling of being able to give happiness to the Spring Blossom girls was awesome.
-Carol Chu
We received such a warm and generous welcome from people who have so much to teach us – staff who are still trying, despite such difficult conditions, to create exciting lessons for their students, and children who despite the obstacles in their way are still aiming for the stars (in some cases literally – one little girl wants to be an astronomer when she grows up, because she loves to look at the night sky.) Hopefully our visit will have helped give to the community at Xiang Hai Ping School a boost, which it more than deserves.
-Mrs. Kadri
Out of my previous trips to rural China, this is the most touching & memorable trip I’ve had so far! I’ve never cried so hard when we were leaving the school! Though I’m not one of those doing the teaching & games, I did enjoyed doing other stuff with smaller kids like taking photos with them & letting them to take photos for me, giving English names for girls, playing ping-pong with them, etc… (was also impressed by what KGV Students have done. Their effort truly made enormous impacts to the SB students! This is definitely not the end, but the beginning of what I/we could do to make this friendship last forever. After all, SB Hubei 2009 is superb!!!
-Leona So
To see the trip grow from nothing but curious minds & a dream, inspires me to dream bigger (but not for myself)
-Michelle Poon
Once again KGV Spring blossom students extend the boundaries of what is possible
-Mr. Boyce
As close as it is possible to get to a complete educational experience…
-Mr. Ensor
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Friday, 16th October, 2009
Day 6- Travelling from Wu Feng County to Muyu Zhen
Today we left the hotel at Wu Feng at 8.30AM and visited Wu Feng county’s National Park which had an amazing view of the mountains, some examples include the Thousand Books Stack, the Sword of Tuwang, and the Malan Spring. After that, we went on a road trip and arrived at a rural town called Muyu Zhen at exactly 12 hours after our departure this morning. During the road trip, many things happened (as everyone was trying to find something to entertain themselves with): this included playing card games such as Cheat, Poker, and Killer; exchanging ghost stories; and blaring music in the bus whilst singing along to tunes… but the most memorable incident has to be when one of the SB children, Jet, texted and called us, just for a casual chit chat and gave us he wishes.
Chelsia Lau
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Day 7- Sightseeing and trekking in Shennongjia National Geological Park
Off the top of my mind, I can think of three words to describe today’s trekking tour: cold, fun and breathtaking – literally. At a towering altitude of 3100 meters, today’s trek along the beautiful mountain trail of the Shennongjia National Geological Park left us panting for breath when we reached the peak to watch the spectacular sunset. The day began with a two-hour long bus ride up the mountain roads where we got a taster of the stunning vista that was to be offered; a wondrous display of scenic mountain peaks that stretched above the natural Hubei terrain. As soon as we got off the bus we were struck by the unexpected 15˚c climate – swiftly pulling on several layers of clothing to keep ourselves warm. The first part of the trip took us on a tour through the surrounding woodlands where we absorbed the tranquil, unmarked beauty of Mother Nature as we passed all types of plants and wildlife. After a quick packed lunch, we started our uphill trek on the trail – a wide road that stood against the spectacular backdrop of oriental mountains – and set off towards our destination while singing jolly songs and bursting into spasms of laughter. The weather was quite pleasant despite the breezy chill. At the end of our trail, we came to a small acclivity that led up to a peak – upon which we sat and made a rendition of the Spring Blossom song before the beautiful golden sunset.
Javier Leung
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Sunday, October 18, 2009
Day 8- Visiting villages and Shopping
The day started off wet and cold but it didn’t stop us from visiting the villages. We were driven up the mountains in search for small rural villages. It took 45 minutes to drive up the slope where the villages were situated. We then had to hike up, through the muddy path with our rain coats. During the walk, we saw a beehive, a few pig pens and many beautiful wild flowers that glowed through the bushes. Because of the weather, the mountains had a layer of mist and fog covering the valleys like snow, it felt like a scene from a fairytale. It created spectacular scenery of hazy mountains.
We visited three houses; the first one had bright yellow and orange corn hanging from above. They also had a corn grinder which some students tried using. The second house is home to a larger family which offered us nuts and they insisted on leading us to another villager’s house. The villager of the last house was plucking corn off the stick. Outside the house laid a big straw woven pan of red chilies out to dry. We toured around the inside of the houses and gathered more understanding of the villager’s culture and lifestyle. On the way back to the bus, we learnt how to recognize the tea leaves plants.
After visiting the villages, we headed back for lunch at the restaurant and were given 3 hours to shop in the small town of Muyu Zhen where stayed.
Carol Chu
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Monday, October 19, 2009
Day 9- Boat cruise along Yangtze River, Visiting Dance School, End of Trip
Part 2: Visiting Dance school
After the long boat cruise, the group started to make our way to where a bus awaited us – it was time to visit the dance school scheduled into our trip just a few days ago. Many of us were excited, and before we knew it we arrived at the school.
Led by the school principal and a few members of staff towards the main hall, the teaching body informed us that the school was only established quite recently and that they specially take in students who are disabled – from talented students who are blind, mute, deaf or are mentally disabled, the school had accumulated over ___ students. Watching from the outside through the windows, all of us were amazed at the quality of the performances which they were rehearsing.
After a brief introduction and a few words of welcome, the dance students performed a range of pieces varying from a traditional Teapot dance to modern fan dancing, to patriotic marches and singing, to even a wonderful drumming solo by a young boy who was blind. In response, we fellow KGV students performed the songs “The River of Dreams”, “I Want It That Way”, “A B C You Later” and the school song. To fit in with the theme, we also performed the Spring Blossom Dance and involved students on their side as well when we were doing the Macarena.
Each of these performances left their own impressions in our mind, and one of them which I cannot help but mention was a song which a particular student sang. The song choice was not particularly special, nor was the accompany dancing exceptionally eye grabbing – but there was one thing which made it so unique: the girl who sang the song was deaf. Having learnt the exact same song for 9 years, she performed a song which describes the beauty of flowing rivers and green fields for us having practised the song over and over upon hearing news of KGV students visiting. Another showcase which left deep impressions was the dancer who presented us with one of the typical Tujia dances. According to the introduction made before the performance, this particular student participated in the Paralympics and had won a silver medal – with the exact same dance she showed us. As KGV students watched in awe, our eyes and hearts confirmed that this student deserved a gold.
Although these students may seem disabled by society, but they are no less in any way that we are – we wish them all the best for the future, and hope that they can all achieve their dreams in the near future.
Tiffany Chui
Part 3: "Let's End This With A BANG!"
Our last day in Hubei began at 5:30am. We had a long journey back to Yichang for our afternoon cruise down the Yangtze River. On the way towards the city from Muyu Town there were luscious green forests and
After dinner, we took a short ride to the river side with our Spring Blossom 2009 boat – containing 28 candles, one for every member- made by the teachers. We sat in a circle around the SB boat, and one by one –holding a lit candle- we said our wishes and what we got out of this experience. Such as “there is one word that can describe this trip, and this word is complete”, “it would be shameful to not learn/ get anything out of this trip”, “thank you everyone for this experience, because without each and every one of you, this trip wouldn’t be how it turned out to be.”, “all the hard work every put in this past 6 months really was worth it”. After our turn, we stuck on our written experiences on the boat, then lit one of the candles on the SB boat. When everyone was done, the candles began to catch the polystyrene base of the SB boat on fire and so we placed it in the river (fitted with our theme of river of dreams). Hand in hand, we sang the River of Dreams one last time as the boat floated further and further away.
We sat back in our circle as the teachers presented each other with small gifts. Finally, the teachers surprised us by closing Spring Blossom 2009 with a BANG. Fireworks were shot off to the sky and lit the night with colour.
From the Spring Blossom 2009 group, we’d like to thank Mr Ensor, Mr Boyce, Ms Kadri, Ms So, Michelle, and Jacky for everything they have done to improve and make this trip the a “one of a kind” experience for all of us.
Chelsia Lau
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Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Day 10- Return to Hong Kong
Just as the itinerary says, today is the day of departure. Our flight is at around just after noon, and after stepping into the airport, it really will be goodbye (we are currently taking a rather long bus ride to the airport). The SB trip really meant a lot - after the last day spent at the Spring Blossom school, I genuinely felt, along with others, that our hearts will never feel real joy again – but we were wrong. The trekking at Shennongjia was one of a kind – how often do you get the chance to hike up to 2930m above sea level? In fact, how often do you get the chance to hike up to that height with friends and enjoy a heart warming session of photo taking and singing whilst watching the sunset? The entire trip was a life changing experience, and I can safely say this without any sense of regret: everyone on the trip are motivated to return to Yichang in the future, be it revisiting the children as a friend or sightseeing around the area as a tourist. Back in Hong Kong we will be thrown back into the life of an IB student, but for now, let us just dream a little more and enjoy the rest of the trip in a blissful manner.
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WE ARE BACK IN HONG KONG. Yes, yes we are.
Almost immediately after writing the journal (see above), our wonderful guide, Jacky, had made a small but moving speech: happy for the past 10days that he’s spent with us, he launched into a song as a farewell gesture on the bus, of which was subsequently followed by enthusiastic cheers and applause for his hard work put in. Whilst we were waiting for our turn to weigh our luggage at the airport, KGVers took the chance to exchange contact with Jacky and chatted to him about whatnot. After taking one final group photo with Jacky, we had a group hug and waved him goodbye, with him walking out of the airport, and us towards the departure gates. The plane ride was no more than 3 hours, arriving in Shenzhen. We were then received by another guide, Nancy, to lead us through the mainland immigration, and we all went on the KCR, homebound.
Hopefully we will be having a reunion for the Spring Blossom 2009: Hubei group where we can talk about anecdotes on the trip and share letters and photos – looking forward to seeing each other back in school... but until then, let us all take a well earned rest and freshen up for what awaits us in the future.
Tiffany Chui