Continued from page 31
Unesco World Heritage Site at Leshan
Panda sketch by Parker Robinson
Host Buddy and CSB student at Qizhong Yucai Middle School #7 in Chengdu
Harvesting tea leaves
APRIL 13: CHENGDU, LESHAN, AND YA’AN We get up far too early for a flight, bus and boat ride in Leshan to see the largest Buddha in the world. This Unesco World Heritage site features a 233-foot Buddha first constructed in 713 A.D. From there, we drive through the rural countryside to the tea farm. We don traditional straw hats, tie baskets around our waists, and head into the fields to pick tea as demonstrated in the courtyard presentation. After picking tea, we eat fresh tea leaves with some of our dinner entrées. Following dinner, the boys run around in the courtyard or play Mahjong. Some purchase tea and listen to an explanation of the differences between black, green, and jasmine tea. Thirty-minutes later we check into a very nice hotel where boys immediately get ready for bed. It was a long and glorious day. APRIL 14: BIFENGXIA PANDA RESERVE AND YA’AN The Bifengxia Panda Reserve gives us plenty of time to observe pandas eating bamboo, sleeping in the nursery, climbing trees, lounging about, and eating more bamboo. Pandas can eat up to 40 pounds of bamboo a day. Later, we are driven to the gorge for a 40-minute hike where we encounter waterfalls, rushing water, and streams trickling down moss-covered boulders. The area was a feast for the senses and a pure joy to hike. After a spicy lunch, we go to a rural school in Ya’an where their students see non-Asians, in person, for the first time in their lives. Blonde, red, and curly-haired visitors captivate, and
we are treated like celebrities–signing autographs for hours in between lessons, basketball, poetry reciting, and singing. Our boys see the rural conditions and expand their appreciation for our school and its abundant services and facilities. APRIL 15: CHENGDU After a Chinese breakfast buffet, we head to Qizhong Yucai Middle School #7 in Chengdu, one of the top schools in the province. We’re given a tour of the school and enjoy a paper-cutting class, fan dancing in PE, plus a basketball game. Finally, we take a history class and watch a movie featured on the Chinese version of YouTube about the glory of American business and innovation. It jumps between decades and has brief interviews with people such as Tom Brokaw, Colin Powell, and Bill Maher. I think this display was meant to make us feel welcome. From there we are taken to a conference room where host families meet their CSB student. I documented these meetings with a photo of each CSB student and his host buddy. There was much bowing and many thank-yous when the parents came to pick up their CSB student. By that point, our boys had spent six hours with their host buddies in a variety of contexts and they feel comfortable to leave and spend the night away. Meanwhile, the chaperones are taken to a restaurant that specializes in local Sichuan cuisine. After dinner, Mr. Chou and I call to check in with each boy and find that many are already asleep.
Pencil sketch of panda: Parker Robinson, CSB seventh grader
Fan Boys
APRIL 16: CHENGDU TO SAN FRANCISCO (VIA HONG KONG) We drive to the airport in Chengdu to fly to Hong Kong. We wait in line for an hour and a half for passport processing, luggage checks, and boarding pass issuing. Their airport check-in system would surely benefit from the organizational expertise of a friendly librarian. Eight security checks later, we are on the plane and touching down in time to stock up on some Hong Kong snacks and to go through more security checks. Cathay Pacific decides they will cross-reference the boarding pass of every passenger, yet somehow we still land within 15 minutes of our intended arrival time. It is a joy to be home, to see the adoring families, and to know that we are different people than the ones who left just over a week ago.
Part of the goodness of traveling is the way we change during the journey. Breaking from the familiar allows for personal transformation, expands perspective, and brings a new appreciation for the lives we often take for granted. Sending children halfway across the globe requires a leap of faith that all will go well. Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible: Especially our dedicated Headmaster, Burns Jones, who came to the airport to bid us farewell, showed patience with my frequent questions in preparation, and did all he could to make this trip a success; the students’ parents, whose trust and clear devotion made this trip possible; my fellow chaperones Isaac Chou, Judy Hilbrich Sheppard, and Paul Bertrand, who went above and beyond every day for our boys; and perhaps, most importantly, the 23 seventh- and eighth-graders who looked for, and found goodness throughout our trip. You all spark inspiration.
32 | CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS
FALL 2016 • RED & GOLD | 33
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