This morning, our first ‘sleep in’, started at 7 am. After a traditional Chinese buffet of buns, congee and some particularly spicy dishes we all loaded on to our plush orange bus for a four hour journey to Haibei.

The majority of the bus ride was filled with nodding heads, opened mouths, deep breathing and the occasional sounds of singing (Wheels on the Bus and several renditions of Beatle classics). As the day wore on and slowly the bus began to come to life we stopped at several locations where Mr. Ensor, Mr. Boyce, Mrs. Graham and Jonathan were greeted and presented traditional white scarves by local tribes.  

Mr. Boyce:  On Ilkla' Moor Baht 'At! On Ilkla' Moor Baht' At!  On Ilklaaaaaa' Moor Baht' Aaaaaaat!

Half an hour from Haibei we stopped at our first tourist attraction, Turtle and Buddha Rock. Unaware of the gradually increasing altitude the climb to the top of the relatively small hill left many of us breathless. After the ‘oohs’, ‘ahhs’ and a mad rush to find the most attractive background, we versed into the school song. It became apparent that not all the group knew all the words but this was compensated by the echoing volume of the chorus.

Honestas ante Honores!   Honesty first than glories...

Arriving in Haibei we then visited the memorial for the 9 scientists bomb. The monument is situated on the original site of the research center and represents the dedication and commitment the scientists gave towards the project.  

Lunch at one of the only restaurants in the county replenished our energy and a quick stop at the hotel for government officials exceeded our expectations. Though some rooms lacked electricity, smelled of smoke and, OK we might not have clean or even hot water but the sitting room, bathroom and TV impressed us.

After the quick stop we got back on our bus and headed towards the Spring Blossom School, nearly 40 minutes away by dirt road lined with fields of gold and mountain ranges in the distance.   

It’s probably safe to say the welcome we received as we disembarked from the bus amazed each and every one of us. Hundreds of children lined the path, waving garlands of flowers and chanting words of welcome. The whole community appeared to have turned out to witness our arrival, with people of all ages crowding the narrow street.            

Followed by the children, we proceeded along the path, to a small dirt clearing at the center of the village, where we took seats as the official welcome took place. Government officials, representatives from Spring Blossom, and the KGVers gave several speeches followed by the presentation of a check and our school lion.  Out of the many speeches one stuck out in the memories of all those who were present…a young Spring Blossom girl, no more than ten, thanking us from the bottom of her heart; she touched us all by telling us that she felt that their thanks were not payment enough, and that they could not offer us anything in return, but that they hoped that the welcome they extended us could compensate. Little did she know that just her words were enough to make us feel all our work over the past weeks was worthwhile.  

It was then on to the entertainment. Our hosts treated us to several breath-taking dances, including several traditional songs and dances, as well as some more modern ones. KGV responded in style, with our acapella singing and our dance clearly impressing our audience. They were particularly amused by the fashion in which the dirt transformed our costumes from black to white!

Most of the Spring Blossom girls then returned to class, leaving the group of around 50 that we were to work with over the next few days. We started with tree planting, with KGVers and the girls taking it in turns to shovel soil on the hole we had placed our tree into. It was becoming very apparent that the girls were slightly fazed by us; they were obviously very shy. There were few smiles among the sea of faces staring at us, and many of us were beginning to wonder if everything was going to work out as planned.  

Ice-breaking games were next in line in our programme, and we were hoping for a miracle. We started with Fruit bowl, and by the time we had run through “Sister/Brother I love you” and Guess the leader, we were all delighted, not to mention greatly relieved, to observe that the girls had not only completely relaxed, but were enjoying themselves immensely; the emotionless masks on nearly every face had been replaced with wide grins.

With the sense of fun and excitement growing with every passing second, we moved on to the creation of nametags. Each girl was given a nametag, on which she wrote her name. We then got into a large circle, both KGVers and Spring Blossom girls, and we went around the circle, each person saying their name while performing an action; Jonathan Wang caused a bit of a stir with his extremely painful-looking attempt at the splits.  

And then, before we knew, the time allocated to us for our first day with the girls was over. The procession that made its way back to the bus was a far cry from the one that took us away from it; the girls were now chattering excitedly, and smiles abounded; everyone was amazed by the amazing transformation that what little we did had brought about. The farewell was touching, with both the girls and the KGVers waving vigorously and shouting “Zai jian” as the bus pulled away. Though tired, we were all extremely gratified after a great day.

After a short bus ride from the school, we stopped at beautiful grasslands, covered with a plethora of small tents. We made a beeline towards an area where several dwarf horses were being hired out for short rides. Many of us enjoyed bumpy yet fun rides on horses controlled by their trainers, and some of the braver among us galloped off on our own. Tired, but in extremely high spirits, we piled onto the bus, looking forward to dinner. 

But the story doesn’t end there. As soon as we set off up the narrow path leading away from the grasslands, a section of the path collapsed, leaving one of our back wheels spinning in the air and the bus slightly tilted. So we piled back off the bus, and, in a few minutes, were whisked off to the hotel by several cars belonging to the government authorities and the Women’s Federation.        

The day ended with debriefing and the sharing of our feelings and emotions. Everyone agreed the day was an experience of a lifetime, one which will never be forgotten and will be forever cherished in our hearts.

By Janet Lee and Aniruddha Nagendra

For more pictures of DAY 3 click here.

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