Kelby Alright. Last one. For our last full day in Shanghai we had a wonderful time. Our day began with a nice continental breakfast in the lobby of our hotel. From there, the Sisterhood went upstairs, got dressed, and set out for the day. I was particularly excited because my father’s employee’s (Mingjia) parents (try saying that five times fast) said they would take us to some cool new sites. The first place they took us to was Yu Yuan, an old garden with traditional Chinese architecture, multitudes of flowers, and ponds stocked with giant carp. From there we walked around the area ..read more

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Iona Kelbs described our first day in Shanghai well in her quote “We took to the streets and started singing Shakira”. The energy and excitement the Sisterhood had to be in Shanghai was palpable all throughout the day. I loved my time in Hangzhou, but I felt so thrilled to be on my feet- out exploring a new city again! I hadn’t realised how much I had missed the hotel breakfasts and flexibility to plan our day how we’d like. Our mission for the morning was to get Kelbs to a restaurant which was forty five mins away from the hotel to meet one of Kelbs’ family friend. The walk was great ..read more

Ms Waterman (teacher) Today was a bittersweet day as we left Hangzhou after one full month and traveled to Shanghai for the last leg of our two-month adventure. We traveled by fast train just after noon, so the girls spent the morning with their host families. When all of the host families met at HangGao to say goodbye, our friends Sunny (a member of the Exchange from 2016!) and Dana (the Exchange teacher from 2017) were there, too. We were thrilled to meet Dana’s son, Happy, because we have heard so much about him, but we were so sad to say goodbye to our wonderfully generous and fun ..read more

Iona And the countdown begins, we have had such an amazing time here in Hangzhou and we are desperately trying to take advantage of the winding down days! Yesterday after school, Liz, Kelbs, Sunny, and I met Mrs. Waterman and Dana in the English office at 5:30pm to go out for dinner and shopping together. Before this though, we had a ten hour long school day and it was productive for most of us; finding the time and place to make progress on our school work has been difficult but, VPN willing, we have been managing just fine. Coming home in a matter of days has been both exciting but ..read more

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Ms Waterman (teacher) Since Kelby and I returned to Hangzhou at 10:00 PM on Sunday night after spending the day at HuangShan (Yellow Mountain), I was a little tired on Monday morning for the day trip we took with the Senior 1 (grade 10) class. It's a good thing I had some longjing tea (caffeine!) to wake me up! The trip was their spring outing and the destination was the Nanbei (North South) Lake. The lake is about one hour away from the city. The weather was sunny and warm again and it was great to spend the day outside. The kids spent the day with their host siblings' classes and I ..read more

Kelby It’s confirmed. My host family does not sleep. This past weekend was a true testimony to such a statement. Henry’s mother is a force to be reckoned with. I never knew a woman less than five feet tall could conquer the world in the way that she has. With every corner we turn we seem to be making a new friend. Anyway, this force I speak of willed me, Mrs. Waterman, and Henry to a mountain range (Yellow Mountains) three hours from Hangzhou. Saturday afternoon, we hop in the Jeep, drive to the mountains, and mentally prepare ourselves for the day ahead of us. That is where our jour ..read more

Mr Viz (blogmaster) The 16th Annual China Exchange Banquet is coming soon! Be sure to mark your calendars for May 3 at 6:30pm, and please note that ticket purchases should be finalized by Monday, April 30. See the ad at the top of the blog, and click it for details and the ticket order form.  Or, click here. This Banquet will be a "sweet and sour" one because with her retirement, it will be Ms Viz's final one (but not as a participant, I'm sure!!). If you've had anything to do with the China Exchange over it's last 16 years, this would be a great opportunity to come and reminisc ..read more

Ms Waterman (teacher) In the past two days, we have spent time at the Grand Canal in two different ways and in beautiful weather! When we were in Beijing a few weeks ago (actually, it was almost a month ago- wow!), we saw the Grand Canal as we toured the hutongs of the old city. Our guide told us that we would see the canal again when we arrived in Hangzhou because the man-made canal connects the two old cities and measures about 1,500 km in length. The fact that it is man-made is incredible but the size of the project didn’t really strike me until I stumbled upon the canal on one of ..read more