Stickergate, Presentations, Paper and PE.

Well, I will never be able to watch another child receiving a Head Teacher sticker in assembly ever again, without smiling and thinking about this trip!
I know that the children in our school value them greatly, but when Miss Butler suggested that we give a few out in Wuhou School dining hall, she could never have realised that it would result in a stampede similar to the opening scenes of Rawhide! (Another one for the kids to google.) I managed to escape the melee with just a few pushes and some squashed toes, whilst Mrs. Thompson took more of a trampling, as a bunch of over-eager Chinese children clambered for one of the valued stickers. Miss Butler and Miss Harrington were not, however, quite so lucky, and disappeared completely under a mountain of enthusiastic children until sticker supplies were exhausted. Well, almost exhausted, as they did manage to save a couple for the uniformed guards on the front gate of the school! I’m not really sure who was the most pleased to receive the stickers, although I think the guards probably just edged it!
 

Start of Stickergate.



Proud guards - with stickers!



The trauma of Stickergate must have carried over to later in the day for Miss Harrington, with her possibly suffering a concussion, leading to temporary blindness, as she seemed intent on tripping over everything for the rest of the day, including a large stone ball on the path. It was only one metre high I suppose. I better not make too much fun of her, as later that day we were taken to look at some shops in town, where I almost caused havoc. It had all started as a simple trip to look at an old shopping area, but during a stop for photographs, I leant against a very imposing black lamp-post. It was one of those double suspended lights type, with decorative ironwork and a great circular base plate, about eight metres tall. Normally, those sort of things are either buried into the ground about two metres, or are securely bolted to the floor by the base. This one wasn’t! It was only a gentle lean, but more than enough to elicit a loud scream from Miss Butler as it started to fall, sending Chengdu locals scattering away in panic! Thankfully, I was able to push it back upright before I quickly walked away, red faced; to the sound of rattling light shades and chains and a bit wiser about lamp-posts.

One thing we have all tried to do since we arrived is to take as many photographs as possible. I have been videoing and snapping away at every opportunity, apart from during the road trips to and from school. For most of those, I have had my eyes closed! Mrs. Thompson has, however, been photographing constantly during the trips, so I have decided that she is either much braver than me, or just used to the unusual driving techniques we are experiencing!

I better stop writing now and give the others a chance, as well as needing to get to bed. We all need to get as much sleep as possible as we have been getting up very early each day, to be ready for collection at 8.00am. This means breakfast has been at 7.15am, although both Miss Harrington and Mrs. Thompson have each done a five to eight dash once! Perhaps it will be Miss Butler’s turn tomorrow?
The jetlag is taking its toll!

Mr. Golightly



All of our teachers felt very proud when we were asked to talk about our school to the primary aged children at Wuhou School. The children absolutely loved looking at the photos that some of our children in Year 3/4 had put together into a Powerpoint presentation. A great achievement! The children cheered so loudly when they first saw the photo of Ashby CE Primary School and also they loved the photos of the Pet Show with all the different animals and the Foundation Stage’s guinea pig, Dora. They were fascinated by our Centenary Celebration photos, especially how you all were dressed so smartly! The children at Wuhou School asked so many questions about our lunchtimes, how we celebrate Easter, the size of our school and field, too. The final question was when can they come to visit our school!
We are going to Chengdu Panda Centre tomorrow after school, so will hopefully be able to post lots of photographs of our visit.

Miss Butler.

 

“Do you eat paper?”

Since writing to you all yesterday, we have eaten several times and therefore have much to tell you! After the school day ended at 5pm yesterday, Lara and Irene, our English speaking teachers at Wuhou School, whisked us off for a special welcome dinner.  We were taken to a nearby restaurant which specialises in ‘Sichuan hotpots’.   These are famous across China as they contain the famous hot and spicy Sichuan red and green chilli peppers.  Lara and Irene ordered a selection of foods for us to try and whilst we waited they told us about the importance that Chinese people place on food.  Lara told us that they are very careful as to what they put in their bodies and that many Chinese foods have many medicinal qualities.  Large, terracotta pots were placed on gas rings in the middle of the table.  These were full of soup and meat and throughout the meal, vegetables, including the root of the lotus flower, were added for us to cook and eat.  The soup was regularly topped up using a teapot!  We all tucked in with enthusiasm, and were a little surprised when the body, feet and the head of chicken, frog and dove were ladled out into our bowls. This is part of their culture and we were happy to try it out! 
Using chopsticks were a different challenge all together!  Miss Butler settled with the stab, slide and hook technique, using her chopstick like a fork whilst Miss Harrington persevered and mastered the technique, although, she did refuse to put them down in case she forgot how to hold them!  Mr Golightly and Miss Butler were washing their clothes until the early hours of the morning due to the new speckled effect on the shirts!  Luckily, their coats were safe after the restaurant placed special chair covers over the backs of the chairs and on top of our coats!
  



Chopstick time.



As for paper…there was slight confusion on Miss Harrington’s part whilst discussing what she was able to eat being vegetarian.  “Do you eat paper?”  “Yes, of course!”  she replied politely and never wanting to disappoint! (I think Miss Harrington misheard, mistaking pepper for paper!)

It was a wonderful opportunity for us to sample some of Chengdu’s favourite dishes, certainly an experience we will never forget. 

Mrs. Thompson

Yesterday seems like so long ago as so many experiences are packed into one day!  After today’s class we were summoned to the playground for exercise by the sound of fan-fair music played over the school class speaker system.  The children were lined up in class order for their daily exercise routine.  Without any fuss at all the children began their exercise to the music played over the speakers.  It was so surprising to see that all the children were moving exactly in time without any direction at all from adults!  As fashion correspondent, it is my duty to comment on their uniform!  The younger children tend to wear their own comfortable clothes that they can easily move in for all activities including PE.  The older children wear a grey and orange tracksuit.   



PE - Chengdu style.


After being so cold yesterday, we were all so pleased that it warmed up today.  However not quite enough for us to take off our coats!!  We seem to be wearing them in every picture….apologies for this! 
After school today we were taken to a shopping area where we visited an old square which has been a shopping district for over 200 years.  We stopped for Lara to take a photograph of the four of us and were surprised to be snapped by other locals too!  We must have been very interesting to them…..or maybe it was the infamous coats again!! 

 

Photo time in Chengdu - for everyone!



Our guides, who are the English teachers at the school, have been fantastic!  They have told us so much about their school, the education system, school life and Chinese culture in general.  Their names must seem very English but this is their ‘English name’.  They all are assigned an English name as their Chinese names are very hard for English people to pronounce.

Miss Harrington