Brett & Megan

OK,  here it is:  my trip to China. Where do I begin? How about a list of our activities:

• Tai Chi with two masters at the Temple of Heaven
• Forbidden City/ Tiananmen square
• Ping Pong lesson with the coach of several Olympians
• Hutongs (the old small alleys of Beijing)– riding rickshaws, cooking our own lunch in Mongolian hotpots (yummmmmm), learning calligraphy & Feng Shui with local families in their houses
• cooking class with a top chef at Du Wong restaurant
• Bird’s Nest & Water Cube Olympic venues
• toured an old factory town turned into a collection of art galleries
• camped at Gubekoi village (fan dancing, serious karaoke, dinner in a ‘Mongolian yert’)
• hiked about 10K of the Great Wall
• explored emperor’s Summer palace, little Buddah temple
• Longmen’s Grotto
• Shaolin Tagou Martial Art School & Temple – taught history of kung fu by the head monk
• Little Dragon Kung Fu school
• Morning prayer/silent breakfast/sweeping courtyard with straw brooms/ tour Pagoda forest
• Grand Musical Zen Performance – a nighttime show in an outdoor theater at the base of a canyon – dance, Kung Fu, music, drums
• Kung Fu routine

This seriously was two weeks packed with activities. What was my favorite part? I would have to say hiking the Great Wall was truly spectacular. It was surreal being able to touch history with our hands. We hiked (and I mean a real hike) about 10K of a section of the Wall that fewer than 5,000 people (including Chinese) have ever been on. We needed permits, and Communist hats which our guides provided so we appear friendly to the soldiers who patrol the restricted military zone we passed through. The landscape was beautiful and shrouded in a fog that set the mystique of the wall’s ancient past. It was exhilarating.

This trip was also full of unique experiences. Like attending morning prayer with the Buddhist monks at the Shaolin temple and joining them after in silent breakfast (they eat this way everyday). In Beijing, we got to visit the houses of local families in the Hutongs:  old, small alleys that remain from the ancient city. I think if I lived in Beijing, this is where I would want to live – kind of a cool, courtyard design and you’re right in the city, yet it was quiet in the alleys – no cars can go through.  One woman showed us how her house was designed around principles of Feng Shui. It’s basically a courtyard with several rooms around it and about 10 of their relatives live in various rooms. As many as 4 families may share one property. In another house, a gentleman who practices calligraphy spent about an hour teaching us how to write on rice paper with traditional ink brushes (which he gave to us as gifts). You couldn’t get this kind of experience on a regular vacation.

Kung Fu school was also incredible. I thought I was in shape before got a serious workout from these hardcore 17yr-olds who taught us a routine. It was the kind of thing where we felt completely like foreigners trying out this exercise we weren’t built for. The routine we learned was basic hand & arm moves and kicks; they told us it was you first learn if you know nothing about kung fu – yeah, that was us. One day they let us try learning a weapon routine. I was excited to be divided up into the sword group. They make it look so much easier than it is. I wish we had more time with it but it was fun even for just a half hour. Maybe Megan will get me a sword for Christmas.

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/photos.DSA/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmharvey/sets/ click on China

Videos: in Facebook, search Discovery Student Adventures

Our experience truly was an amazing adventure. The students totally engaged in every activity and were curious to learn and experience everything. I loved traveling with them and was really proud of the way they represented our school. Here they are talking about their experiences:

Details (why I did this):

Discovery Student Adventures is a new partnership between Discovery and Ambassadors Group student travel. They are launching trips right now where teachers gather a group of interested students to explore other countries. Typically, about 5-6 students pay for a trip and a teacher chaperons for free.

As DSA is new, they wanted to host some pilot trips – where both teachers & students traveled free. I was fortunate enough to be one of nine teachers they selected from 170 members of the Discovery Educator Network who applied. Of the eight destinations they offer, the pilot trips included Australia, South Africa and China. On each pilot trip, three teachers brought four students each (3 teachers, 12 student). On our trip, I, along with my four students, met up with a group from Wisconsin and one from New Jersey.  We also had 4 other adults from DSA and a photographer and videographer.