Visit to St. Pauls

Today we visited St. Paul's High School. I do believe Ben, Will, Robert, and Malcolm have a huge female St Paul's fan base.

Arriving at St. Paul's HS LeaAnn Ross and I were quickly escorted to the open air courtyard where several hundred students were gathered around the stage. Boy were we glad to see familiar faces up on the stage! We only had a few minutes to get a quick report from the delegation as teachers were making many announcements and many young girls were squealing and trying to take pictures of the delegation.

The general report was some delegates were in posh living arrangments and some were sleeping on mats; some had private baths and some were learning to operate a bucket shower system; etc. They all looked good even though they are working through jetlag, and they were very positive about whatever living situation they were encountering.

After watching St Paul's High School students perform traditional Chinese string instruments, a break dance crew, two student rock bands, some elementary students recorder players, and more, the PYA performed their songs and dance and were joined by Taiwanese students to dance. The delegation met the principal and presented him with a gift. Next on the agenda was knot making. The folks back home may be surprised to discover who the champion knot maker was. Several students who had recently graduated accompanied us for the day. We went to Little Ding Dong Science Park for paint ball and lunch, worked many of the science puzzles, and stood for many pictures with the middle school students who happened to be at the science park for a field trip. We headed to the coast to ride bicycles. The students were of varying degrees of adventerous as they learned to operate two-, three-, and four-man bicycle buggies. The breeze from the ocean offered some relief from heat. Our host schools are providing many bottles of water to help the students stay hydrated which has been important with the many physical activities in this humid climate.

The blog takes some trial and error because after opening the home page the prompts are in Chinese. Robert has helped walked the students through the process because, of course, the students are hesitant to just start clicking on random things when they are using their host parents' computers. I know you are much more interested in hearing their tales and perceptions so please hang in there until we get this glitch worked out. Meanwhile I will just mention some of my impressions -- every minute is fascinating.

I visited main land China three years ago and had seen from a distance some of the public schools. At first sight the Taiwanese schools looked very similar. However, once inside the gate the difference is obvious. The Taiwanese students are very similar to American students. Although they are clad in uniforms, their behavior and reactions to an all school assembly in an open courtyard were exactly what I would have expected from my students had we gathered the entire population into an open air courtyard. I think you can guess which activity the students preferred when they were first expected to sing school required songs and then allowed to listen and play popular songs from the radio. The students were polite and cheered for the delegation, but there was all the normal jostling, giggling, and talking one expects when hundred of students are gathered together. When the delegation asked for volunteers to join them in the dance, there were eager students and reluctant students. So far, I've noticed far more similarities than differences!

I am anxiously awaiting the return of the students after their weekend with their host families!