Shu Guang Senior High School

My only regret on this trip is that the parents are not here to see their children experience this incredible journey. Shu Guang is a Catholic girls school and we received the royal treatment here (as we do everywhere we go). I will post the pictures of our audience as soon as I can.

As I'm sure you are reading Ben's log I won't repeat our activities, but I will tell you some of the glimpses I had. When we had finished t-shirt making and were ready to go down to the courtyard to perform, Ben needed to change his shirt. Due to the intense heat and humidity the boys are literally going through at least two shirts a day so they have started wearing their own clothing in the a.m. and changing into their group shirts in the afternoon or whenever we are performing as a group. Since we were in the conference room, I told him just to wait until everyone left and to step over to the corner out of sight to change his shirt. Yesterday, we were at a coed school and the rugby boys simply stripped right out of their shirts. However, after being at the Catholic girls school for an hour, Ben and I knew that would not be appropriate here. As we were leaving the room, one of the teachers asked me if Ben was coming and I told her yes but I thought he should wait until the young female Taiwanese students left the room before taking off shirt. She jokingly replied, "Oh thank goodness yes, they might never have recovered." Truly, our kids were rock stars at this school and I would not have been shocked had some of the young ladies actually swooned. That is the type of reaction we are getting.

Chinese students take a short rest after lunch each day and we usually have activities with the staff during this time. Yesterday, we were taken back to the conference room, the blinds were shut, the lights were turned off, the air conditioning was turned on and our students were asked to take a 40 minute rest. It was a welcome respite for students and chaperones alike!

We enjoyed trying Tai Chi and cooking with the students in the afternoon. We were then taken back to the conference room around 3:50 to wait for the next break for students. The delegation was exhausted from the heat, humidity, activities, and just being "on" all the time, but when they found out that there were Taiwanese students standing out in the sun hoping to catch a glimpse of them, they put on their "game faces" and greeted them with enthusiasm. Ryan Dillon who was a delegate last year told the students that their cheeck muscles would be tired from smiling. They did not realize he was speaking literally; they really do have sore muscles in their face.

It is time to get ready to go to Kuang-Fu Senior High School which is Wil's host student's school. Another little side note -- it is fun to see the different variations the school's believe the nickname "Wil" must stand for. I told him I was going to start calling him William Wilson Wilton Wilbur Callison.