AROUND CAMPUS
China Trip In October, Director of Admission Allison Price, had the opportunity to spend ten days in China traveling with a group of New England educators. The group spent time in Beijing, Fuzhou, Haining, and Shanghai visiting schools and learning about the Chinese educational system. Below are the recollections from Allison’s trip that she shared with the community: Having never been to China, I wasn’t sure what to expect on my trip—it’s hard to separate myth from reality in the media when it comes to this nation. My firsthand experiences helped me to understand that while our cultures certainly have very differ‐ ent values and traditions, in many other important ways, “kids are kids” wherever they may live. Our actual school visits varied from extremely formal—a G20 summit model with flags on the table, Communist Party officials, and formal tea ceremonies—to speaking with mid‐ dle school students about Justin Bieber (they seemed very disappointed that I did not know him personally). Almost all of the students I met asked me about my hair (wavy) and my eyes (blue)—apparently they had never
Allison Price posing with Chinese students.
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seen someone with these features in real life, only on TV! It was always interesting to ask stu‐ dents to tell us what they knew about the United States; Disney, Hollywood, Desperate Housewives, the NBA, the White House, and President Obama (“Yes we can!”) were common respons‐ es. When we asked school administra‐ tors about the philosophical differences between the two countries, Chinese students were described as more respectful and hardworking than their American counterparts. In contrast, American students were portrayed as more creative and playful, the results of a “more modern” educational system. As foreigners, we definitely stood out in many of the places we visited, and we never quite got used to this feeling. Often people would take ran‐ dom pictures of us, try to practice speaking English, or simply just stare. The rituals associated with formal meetings also created some amusing moments at first—the rules for busi‐ ness cards (“Read cards slowly and carefully, place on table”), conversa‐ tions (“Do expect to be treated rather like a supplicant to a powerful emper‐ or”), and eating (“Never leave chop‐ sticks upright in bowl”) had me fre‐ quently trying to “save face.” Every evening I’d pack my rucksack full of Derryfield gifts in preparation for these exchanges—I felt a bit like Santa Claus doling out ice cream scoops and flash‐ drives all over China! Although our daily schedules often ran between twelve and fourteen hours
Allison Price on the Great Wall of China.
long, we did manage to squeeze in a few blissful moments for sightseeing. Crazy jet lag allowed me to take advantage of an evening opportunity to tour Tiananmen Square. I also stomped around The Bund in Shanghai, the Confucian Temple in Beijing, and the Saturday Night Food Markets, but wasnʹt actually brave enough to try the live scorpions or cockroaches! However, my favorite memory of my time in China involved the quintessential tourist destination: the Great Wall. On the day of our journey, we awoke to a blackened sky; our trip was in jeopardy because of the rem‐ nants of Typhoon Megi. However, intrepid travelers that we were, we plowed ahead. One of my travel col‐ leagues from Millinocket was being featured in a front page article for The New York Times. Thus, we found our‐ selves standing on the Great Wall, in driving wind and rain, participating in a two‐hour photoshoot. Although I climbed back into the van that after‐ noon wet, wind‐burnt, and cold, I left with a priceless visual souvenir (see above) and a great story to tell!
Derryfield Today – Fall 2010