The China Exchange’s Excellent Adventure
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Walking in the China Exchange classroom, I noticed a photograph of a squishy pink blob on the projection screen. “That’s a squid,” Mrs. Lynda Sorensen, a teacher of the China Exchange class, said. “We got to try some in Chinatown.” Mrs. Armiger and Mrs. Shortliffe also co-teach the course with Mrs. Sorenson.
The 10 students and two teachers from the DHS China Exchange Program recently traveled to Chinatown in New York City for their midterm project. The students’ assignment was to observe the Chinatown culture and take part in cultural activities: they visited a temple and ate Chinese food, and took pictures of the experience.
The unfamiliar squid is a common food in both Chinatown and the Chinese coast; its close proximity to water gives seafood a prominence in the Chinese diet. “There was so much fish [in Chinatown]. There were a lot of fish markets in the streets, and it was all fresh,” sophomore Rose Phelps said.
Everyone had the opportunity to eat authentic Chinese seafood, different from the sweet and sour chicken commonly found in Chinese restaurants throughout the United States. Everyone agrees the most memorable food they encountered: jellyfish. The students were initially nervous to eat this foreign food, but it didn’t induce gagging for everyone. “It was better than I expected,” sophomore Britt Gordon said.
The hard part wasn’t eating new foods; it was trying to properly use chopsticks. In their China Exchange Program class, the students are practicing chopstick skills: a key skill needed on their upcoming three-week trip to China in April. “Chopsticks! We’re still working on that,” Phelps said.
To follow up their meal, the class went to a Chinatown candy store. Anticipating a yummy snack of fortune cookies and “thank you” mints, they were in for a culinary surprise. Chinatown locals enjoy the sweet taste of wasabi peas and dried fish.
After a taste of Chinese cuisine, the group experienced Chinese religious culture on a visit to a Buddhist temple. The moderately-sized temple featured a big Buddha statue in the entry and an interior filled with red prayer cushions. “It wasn’t as grand as I expected,” notes Phelps, “But there was a lot of red.” In fact, the entire village of Chinatown was covered in vibrant reds, China’s signature color.
Sophomore Justin Marks takes a realistic viewpoint about the Chinatown trip. “It’s still New York…I think it will be different when we go to China.” Nonetheless, Chinatown acted as a cultural bridge between the familiar America and the unfamiliar China.
The kids, none of whom have previously been to China, are aware of the challenges they face when they go across the world. After the day in Chinatown, Gordon realizes the hardest part will be “turning down food…and controlling emotions [towards food].” Sophomore Lynnie Strother disagrees. She believes the biggest hurdle will be communicating with the Chinese people. The China Exchange class has only learned a minimal amount of Mandarin. They are relying on the English the Chinese people learn in Mainland language programs.
Sorensen chimes in, guiding her class, "You have to learn to let yourself try things...get out of your comfort zone." The midterm trip to Chinatown was the class's first big step.
Phelps makes the point that China is newer than Chinatown. Shanghai, the China Exchange Program's destination, is going through rapid remodeling because it's going to be one of the sites for the 2008 Olympics in August, so "it's not dirty and grey like [many American cities]; it's clean and red." Phelps plans to explore this aspect of city development for her research project. Each of the students has to pick a topic of interest to observe and study while in China. Phelps is "comparing the architecture and development of [the US] and China because they're doing a lot of work for the upcoming Olympics and it's really modern."
Senior Michele Doying is looking at a different component of Chinese culture; Doying is researching the role religion plays in China, “why and why not people have a religion.” Doying explains that aside from the Chinese government’s official religious standing of atheism, China’s five main religions are Taoism, Confucianism, Catholicism, Buddhism, and Islam, but China discourages its citizens from practicing religion. “To enter a temple you would have to have a foreign passport,” she explains. Doying plans to examine how the role of religion in Chinese society. “I’m going to ask my host family if they have a religion; if they say they’re atheist, I’ll leave it at that. I’m also going to survey the kids about their religions. I also want to visit a Buddhist temple.” This will help her get a grasp on the realities concerning religion in China.
Aside from doing research on their topic, the kids will be able to see their friends from Shanghai No. 3 Girls School, who visited DHS in early October. They’ve been keeping in touch through Facebook. Because of the Chinese government’s Internet restrictions, the girls only have 30 minutes each day to use Facebook to communicate with their DHS friends. Unfortunately, they might not be able to see each other that often in China because the housing situation is still not arranged. Many of the girls board at Shanghai No. 3 Girls School, so their homes are too far, and some others' parents work most of the day. The girls in China don't have a specific class for the program like DHS does, so it's harder for them to come together to arrange the visit.
Until the Darien China Exchange Program departs for China with chaperones English teacher chaperones Nancy Herman and Alex Speiser, the students are working on using chopsticks, learning Chinese etiquette, and attempting to figure out what to expect on their 2008 China cultural adventure.
