Activities Journal

After long flights, most of the student volunteers arrived at Chengdu, China. After a brief introduction and the formation of teaching teams during a brief meeting, everyone goes back to the room to prepare for the rest of the schedule.

Volunteers take bus to go to Mianyang, China. Here, student volunteers will teach six classes, which train attendants for China high speed trains. at Mianyang Institute of Technology School. Both students there and volunteers performed for the opening ceremony. Volunteers sing, dance, and perform a skit. Students at that school sing, dance, and have a cosplay show. After the lunch at school cafeteria, volunteers start teaching for the afternoon classes. They then return to the hotel and eat dinner. After that they have a group meeting, in which they consider how they have done the first day and determine whatever they could improve on. After that, they went to bed.

Volunteers wake up in the morning and then go to school after preparation. They had breakfast in the cafeteria and starts the teaching for morning. The teaching in the morning involves three classes, with forty minutes long each. Noon, volunteers eat lunch at the cafeteria and return to hotel for lunch break. After the temporary rest, everyone goes back to school and starts the teaching for afternoon again. This time, it involves two classes, with forty minutes long still. After finishing the dinner at the cafeteria, everyone goes back to hotel for group meetings, thinking about mistakes and looking for improvements. Then people have free time until bed.

The first part of day is similar to that of the previous day. Volunteers go to school, eat breakfast, teach, eat lunch, go back to hotel, and come back to school to teach. After the teaching is done, it is the time to leave. Students at the school send the volunteers gifts, including Chinese chess, Chinse knotting, Chinese fans, and Chinese traditional foods. Then volunteers group at the playground, and take pictures with classes. After that, students from different classes take photos with teachers they will miss, and ask for contact information from them. Then everyone eats dinner at cafeteria and return to hotel. They pack up their luggage to prepare to move on to the next place.

Volunteers all get up, eat breakfast and get into bus. This day there is no teaching. Instead, everyone goes to Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, a place which got destroyed by the Wenchuan earthquake on 5/12/2008. There was over 20 thousand deaths and over fifty thousand injuries. After the earthquake, there were also multiple mountain slides because of all the mountains around it. However, this place is the most well-preserved after-earthquake ruin in the world. Volunteers took the bus to the ruin and started walking instead of taking the tourist car for lament. People walk around the whole place and grieve over the loss of the county. In the end, everyone stands in front of the public tomb of the people who passed way and lament their death. Then, everyone goes back to Chengdu to teach an elementary school. There the dinner is eaten at the hotel and then everyone splits into groups and has free time until bed.

Everyone first eats breakfast at hotel then goes to the elementary school. Student volunteers split into four groups, each with a leader and an assistant leader, to teach four 6th grade classes. The teaching mainly focuses on the use of conversation. The morning class starts from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM, then there is the lunch at cafeteria and a break. The afternoon class starts from 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM. Then there is the dinner at the hotel, the meeting, and free time until bed.

The computer group splits from the big group and works individually from this day. Volunteers in this group first go to the computer store to buy things they need, such as power strip and router. Then we went to Dujiangyan. Once it arrives at the hotel, the group checks in and takes a break. After that, we went to Boresi temple to get familiar with the environment. After setting the necessities such as the internet, a monk leads everyone around the temple to get familiar with it. They first get to the main hall, then go to the field at the back, where a lot of people studying Taoism recluse as well. Then, everyone eats noodle at the temple to try the Buddhist vegetarian meal. Everyone then goes back to the hotel and has meeting discussing the making of the website. At last, it is free time for everyone until resting.

The computer group continues to make the website of Boresi temple. Early morning, the group comes to the temple to attend a religious ritual which releases souls from purgatory. The ritual lasts for about three hours, and include process such as putting incense on stove and reading Buddhist religious studies. For lunch, the group eats the Buddhist vegetarian meal following the customs, which includes having segregation by sex, the prohibition of talking, and special hand gestures for adding foods. Afternoon, everyone continues to make the website based on the work they were given the day before. Some are baking the frame of the website; the others are writing articles for the website. Everybody then goes back to the hotel, finishes dinner and starts the meeting about the website. At last, everyone has his or her free time until bed.

The computer group continues to make the website of Boresi temple. In the morning, after arriving at the temple, people continue to split up based on their roles. Some continue to make the frame; some others continue to write articles for it; the others go to take pictures of the temple for the website. For lunch, the group eats the Buddhist vegetarian meal again. Afternoon, people continue to work like how they did in the morning. Then everyone eats dinner, goes back to hotel, and keeps on working on the website. In the end, there is free time until bed for everyone.

Similar to previous days, volunteers finish their breakfast and go to the temple. They work for a while and then go to the field to do works, which basically is getting rid of weeds for the fruit trees for summer. After that they come back to the working place and work for a little bit more, they then go to eat the Buddhist vegetarian meal for lunch. The afternoon involves working too, but then there is a group that was interested to the volunteering the comes. They are apparently reporters and bring the group to the field for videos and interviews. At the end of the day, there is the dinner with the group coming and free time until sleeping for all the members.

This day, volunteers, after breakfast, go to China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda, or CCRCGP, to experience the life of taking care of giant pandas. They first get the equipment and then briefly tour around the campus. After the lunch at the cafeteria, volunteers go to take care of pandas, which includes making their foods, feeding them, cleaning their place, and carrying the bamboos they eat. After that they went back to hotel for dinner, and merge with the teaching group again.

This day, volunteers go to Dujiangyan Senior High School, one of the best high school in Sichuan, after breakfast. Everyone prepares for subjects related to environment. In the morning, everyone starts with talent shows, and then watches videos about environment. Then, everyone starts discussing the reasons and solutions of the world environment crisis. After the lunch, everyone continues the discussion of world environment crisis with things such as mind maps. Then, students make speeches. After that, volunteers eat dinner and go back to the hotel having free time.

This day, volunteers in computer group work at hotel. After eating breakfast, they work at hotel the whole day. They eat lunch and dinner during this period.

This day, volunteers in computer group work at hotel. After eating breakfast, they work at hotel the whole day. They eat lunch and dinner during this period.

This is the last day for volunteers. Early morning, everyone takes bus and arrive at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. After sincere farewells, everyone starts their journeys to the next destination.