Thursday, June 01, 2006

Day 9 - Duan Wu (Dumpling) Festival

I didn't leave together with the kids for school this morning. I did some work before taking a taxi to school. It cost 5 rmb (S$1). I enquired about booking the taxi for a day trip to Shenyang. It cost 300 rmb (S$60), includes toll fees. Later when I mentioned it to Mr Yao, he said I could bargain for 200rmb (S$40). hmmmm.....

The kids were having Mandarin lesson. They were not as rowdy as before. They were attentive. The Chinese teacher was pleased with them, so were our teachers.

The kids had their first singing lesson with music teacher Mr Guan Xiaobin. He is a well-known artiste in Fushun & he owns a music production studio.

The kids learnt to sing the school song of Xue Yuan Fu Zhong. The lyrics was written by Principal Chen. Wow!











It was the Rice Dumpling Festival today. The kids received hard boiled eggs & rice dumplings from their Chinese friends. The school prepared rice dumplings for us too. They were mini sweet dumplings. Sweet glutinous rice filled with raisins & a honey date.

When the girls were having their dance practice, I went up to take a look. They were practising the formation of the dance. Not too bad for a week's work. You have to give them credit for their perseverance. They have gruelling 3-hour practice every day. Some of them complained of aching muscles & painful soles. Ms Xu, the dance instructor is a very serious teacher, she drives them real hard. To achieve our dream, there is no room for sympathy. I quietly closed the door of the dance room.







Jaymes, Widi & Simon were helping teacher Zhang Wei to put up a slide presentation on Singapore for 6 classes of Secondary students. I went into the IT room to help but Jaymes shooed me out.

I was getting bored, one of the Chinese teachers suggested I go to the bookshop near their school. A staff brought Ms Poh & I to the book store.

It was a 2-storey building. The books on display were quite dusty. I picked a few self-help books. There weren't much choice for me. There were a lot of Chinese Literature books, sold very cheaply, I know I would have no time to read them. I went back to the hotel after my purchases.



I had my dinner at 6.30pm. Mr Yao had gone to Shenyang Airport to fetch Mrs Er & Mr Tan. After dinner, I went up to my room to watch TV.

Ms Poh was doing some packing & tidying up. She would be going home tomorrow & she is handing over to Mrs Er tonight. Ms Poh went down for debrief & came back again.

VP Xuan had brought Mrs Er & Mr Tan for dinner. Ms Poh went down to wait for them with Mr Sum. She didn't come back even after 12 midnight.......

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