Two newly educated Norwegian teachers travels to China to experience a whole different world. What do they meet on their journey? Stay tuned for the latest reports....
Last weekend (25th-27th of April) we attended FK China's network meeting in Kunming, a beautiful city in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. Saturday we had a social trip that involved former and new network members, and Sunday we had meetings where both FK partners and participants attended.
On Saturday we visited Jiu Xiang – some awesome caves south west of Kunming. These caves are on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The caves had underground rivers and waterfalls and the walk through them was fascinating.
After that we visited Shi Lin (The Stone Forest). In addition to enjoying the scenery all the participants had a meeting where we talked about what we had been working on since the last FK meeting in Beijing.
On Sunday we had meetings and discussions with all the partners. It was nice to meet the people we met on the last meeting, and to meet new participants and partners.
We had a great weekend in Yunnan. When we came Friday we visited a café that had western food, and we decided to try it. The pizza was good, but we especially liked the menu they had there.
Yunnan is known for its many minority groups, and beautiful clothing. These nicely dressedwomen we encountered at Jiu Xiang. We also saw people walking in Kunming city with colourful dresses.
It was a very interesting city, and the surroundings, with red iron-rich soil, rice patties, and water buffaloes was quite different from what we are used to from the northern part of China. Getting to know other FK people and exploring different areas of China are things we really will miss when we leave for home within a month.
We would like the readers of our blog to get to know some of the people we work with a little better. Therefore we have interviewed some of our students from the different places we work. Meet Tao Jun, He Qing, Yong Hui, Qiao Xiao Hui and Yu Ji.
The Ningxia Red Cross: Tao Jun (James)
What is your name?
- My Chinese name is Tao Jun and my English name is James
How old are you?
- I am 30 years old.
Where are you from?
- I am from Yinchuan, in the Northern part of Ningxia.
What is your job at the Ningxia Red Cross?
- I work as a district communicator.
How long have you been working at the Red Cross?
- I have been working here for seven years
How long have you been learning English?
- I have been learning English for ten years.
What is your favourite food?
- My favourite food is porkmeat.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
- I like to do outdoor activities and especially fishing. I am also found of tea culture.
He Qing (Anne)
What is your name?
- My Chinese name is He Qing and my English name is Anne.
How old are you?
- I am 27 years old.
Where are you from?
- I am from Zhongwei in Ningxia province.
What is your job at the Ningxia Red Cross?
- I am in charge of the volunteers.
How long have you been working at the Red Cross?
- I have been working four years at the Ningxia Red Cross.
How long have you been learning English?
- I have been learning English for fifteen years.
What is your favourite food?
- Boiled chicken with sauce.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
- I like to play badminton and to travel.
Yong Hui (Peter)
What is your name?
- My Chinese name is Yong Hui and my English name i Peter
How old are you?
- I am 30 years old
Where are you from?
- I am from the city of Zhongwei, in the Western part of Ningxia province.
What is your job at the Ningxia Red Cross?
- I do advertisements among teenagers, and recruit volunteers for the Red Cross How long have you been working at the Red Cross?
- I have been working at the Red Cross for two years now.
How long have you been learning English?
- I have learned English for ten years.
What is your favorite food?
- Small peeled noodles.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
- I like to watch movies, TV and to play basketball.
XinhuaCollege:
Qiao Xiao Hui (Alice)
What is your name?
- My Chinese name is Qiao Xiao Hui, my English name is Alice.
How old are you?
- I am 20 years old.
Where are you from?
- I come from Guyuan, in the South of Ningxia.
What do you study?
- I am majoring in English.
How long have you been learning English?
- I have been learning English for eight years now.
Why did you choose to study English?
- Because I like English, and in the future I hope to become an English teacher.
What is your favourite food?
- Rice, fruit, potato and meat.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
- I like reading, go shopping, sleeping and to write in my diary.
Prep School for Ethnic Minorities
Yu Ji (Robert)
What is your name?
- My Chinese name is Yu Ji and my English name is Robert
How old are you?
- I am 20 years old.
Where are you from?
- I come from the city Yantai in Shandong province
What do you study
-I am majoring in Science.
How long have you been learning English?
- I have studied English for ten years.
What is your favourite food?
- My favourite food is watermelon.
What do you like to do in your sparetime?
- In my sparetime I go to the internet bar, I read books and play basketball.
This will be our most important connection with the "outside world" while working in China. We are having a great time and are looking forward to every single day of this adventure. Enjoy! We will be holding lectures about our year in China when we come back to Norway. If you are interested in hearing from us in the end of May or in June 2009, please send us an e-mail and we will book it into our schedule.
