Chinese Journey

By Mr. Greg MacPherson

With a sense of excitement and just a little bit of nervousness, 13 intrepid LCS students - Kathleen Logie, Leonie van Haeren, Jasper Zimmermann, Kaitlin Gillis, Kelsey Slobodian, Alex Goldbloom, Kyle Gardner, Steve Davie, Jon Markovich, Abby Allen, Maddy Cooper, Liam Graham, and Noah Rosen, along with chaperones Manal Stamboulie and Greg MacPherson - set off for China on their Me to We service project during March Break.

The first few days were spent in Beijing getting to know the Me to We facilitators Alison Olson and Jameson Voisin, getting acclimatized, and seeing some of the sights. These included the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Birds Nest Olympic Stadium. And there was a memorable trip out to the Great Wall; a trip made more memorable by the fact that the group had to climb it in a snowstorm. Indeed, coming down the stairs at the end was less of a walk and more of a “ski”.

Students also began their leadership training with activities in places like Zhong Shan Park next to the Forbidden City. International students doing “goofy” things in public in China are always guaranteed to draw crowds and this afforded many opportunities for cross cultural interaction. The group was also introduced to China’s spectacular cuisine. Food on this trip was certainly one of the highlights with opportunities to eat everything from Peking Duck to dumplings to everyone’s favourite, spicy Gong Bao Chicken.

The next phase of the trip took the group out to the countryside where the service project began in earnest. The students spent three days teaching English in Free the Children schools in two impoverished villages in rural Hebei province. The stark contrast between the wealth of Beijing and the poverty of these villages did not go unnoticed. Without these schools, it is unlikely that the children of the villages would have access to any formal education. With lesson plans in hand and despite being very nervous on the first day, our LCS students headed into their respective classrooms and began their teaching careers. They tackled everything from the ABCs to numbers, colours, and animals. By the second day, nerves were gone, confidence had grown and games and songs became the order of the day. No doubt, the Chinese students learned a great deal, but our students learned a great deal as well. “Hey, Mr. MacPherson…How do you do it everyday…teaching is really hard!”

Another of the many highlights on this trip was our three days at the Shaolin temple at the top of Song Shan Mountain. After a long train and bus trip, we were met by Shaolin monk, Tong Liang (affectionately known to the group as “Tony”) who hosted us for our stay. This was one cool monk. I mean, how many Shaolin monks do you know who have a cell phone with an Eminem ringtone! “Hi, my name is…What? My name is...What?” We toured the temple and were given a lesson on its history. We meditated, ate lunch with the monks, and had lessons in Gong Fu. We also hiked in the surrounding mountains and climbed to a Buddhist statue at the top…997 steps later!

As part of this stay, we visited a local orphanage being run by former Shaolin monk and Gong Fu master, Liu Gang (known locally as Gong Fu Daddy). We were entertained with a spectacular show of Wu Shu Martial Arts put on by the students. This was followed by more English lessons from the LCS group. A recurring theme of the trip was the notion that there is no “Us” or “Them,” but only “Us.” A spontaneous basketball game that broke out with LCS students playing with the students of the orphanage really brought that message home. One of the sadder moments of the trip was saying goodbye to the orphanage, as well as to Tony and the Shaolin temple - a very special place indeed.

It was then back to Beijing by train. One has not experienced train travel until they have taken an overnight sleeper train in China. Our final day was spent action planning - deciding how to put into action the many lessons learned on this trip. The group looked at issues ranging from Poverty to Education to Stereotyping. As a reward for a hard day’s work, that evening was spent celebrating at a KTV with pizza and song. A KTV is an upscale karaoke establishment where private rooms are provided for groups to eat and sing in comfort. Many a pop star was born that night!

A final night’s rest and a long flight home brought to an end an incredible journey to an ancient land suffering from many modern problems. Over the course of two weeks, many adjectives were used by students to describe how they were feeling. There is only one adjective to describe this trip – Unforgettable!