Day 3. The students have arrived.

The students arrived at their host families' homes at about 3:00 AM and, after just a few hours of sleep, were surprisingly cheerful and ready to go at 9:30.


The parents of the four girls from Yanshan University Attachment School who attend MV are hosting our students for the week: Lindsay, Tierney, and Margaux stayed with Michelle Yang's family; Cameron, Michael, and Henry stayed with Rose and Rebecca Ding's family; and Izzy, Justine, and MacKenzie stayed with Ye Zhang's family.

Although it was Sunday, the entire staff and student body (over 1300 students) came to school to greet us. In addition to the school principal and his assistants, the Director of the Economic Development Zone and the Director of the district we are in (as near as I can tell, he is the equivalent of a mayor) were on hand.

Each morning students begin to gather at 5:30 AM on their "playground" to do calisthenics as music is played over the sound system. The students line up with quickly, and orderly, without any direction from the faculty. The school is the tall building in the background. Most of the YUAS students board at the school.

Their students sang and played traditional Chinese string instruments as our students watched on, the the MV students sang "America" and taught the Chinese students how to do the "Hokey Pokey." Our students were successful in getting everyone up, dancing, and laughing. It really broke the ice.















Here we all are in front of the Economic Development Zone building. We were escorted here with vans equiped with sirens indicating that we were important foreign dignataries. When we arrived they played amplified music and turned on the fountains. The officials all took turns having their pictures made with me and the teachers in front of the building.


Jarin and I were measured for these Chinese silk jackets on the day we arrived and they were delivered in time for our dinner celebration with the entire group. Seated with the students are the interpreters that accompany each group at the homes of their host families.

After dinner there was a brief rest back in our hotel and houses before heading out to a party with a group of YUAS students. The students, parents, and school officials all sang karoake and danced.