Donggang

[Caroline]

On Monday morning, Dad, Bob and I drove four hours to Donggang to visit Donggang middle school, Westlane's partner school. The drive was beautiful and we passed under a bridge about the same size and same style as the golden gate bridge. We arrived and were met by the Headmaster and two english teachers.

We went to a big buffet lunch at a hotel with the two teachers, Ms. Li and Ms. Yuan. It was delicious. We then went back to the school and I got to try three traditional Chinese instruments. I am afraid I was not much good on either. We saw a lot of student art, we visited some of the old classrooms, and I gave a prepared speech in chinese to one class. Then they asked me to sing a song for them! My mind blanked, and the only song I could think of was the ABC's, which is so weird since I am constantly sing all day. If I had been told, I could have prepared a song as well as a speech, but I was only told about a speech. We then got in the car and went to a waterfront section of land and walked a bit. Then we drove to a beach, and I took of my shoes and rolled up my pants and splashed around and ended up getting soaked anyways.Then we went back to the waterfront section and had dinner. It was a feast, literally. Lots of seafood. The shrimps were my favorite. I liked peeling them. Taking the head of and ripping the legs out are actually a really good stress reliever :P

Dinner lasted a long time, and at the end I thought that I was about to burst, not only because of the food, but also because of the outrageous amount of coconut milk I had been served and consumed. We went back to the hotel and went to bed. In the morning we had a very chinese breakfast and went back to the school to say our goodbyes. We then drove back. I was very pleased with the trip and my favorite part was all of the water. The beach and the dinner right next to the water.  

Chengdu-Non Pandas :)

• We arrived in Chengdu and found a taxi into the city to our hotel.

•     We went to the panda research base in the city with our tour guide Jason. He gives lots of commentary. We saw a lot of giant pandas, they were mostly eating and sleeping but super cute nonetheless. We also saw a huge forest enclosure that we could walk through that had red pandas and it sometimes the pandas  with slip out of the enclosure and walk around. There was one walking just next to us on the side walk through the forest. Before we could even stop him, Everett just reached out and stroked it while it was walking past us and didn't even turn around! It was pretty funny.

•  We walked all the way to a place called straight and narrow alleys. It is a food alley similar to the one we have down the street from us in Shanghai, but there were lots of fancy tea houses, and souvenir shops.  We did not end up finding anything we liked at the food allergies, so we walked out of them and walked on the street until we found another place that looked really good. It was really really fun, because the people who work there did not speak much English, and when we were asking if the food is spicy we got a lot of misunderstandings! But it all turned out perfectly. One of the servers taking our order was able to  comment on our order size. He said it was very very big! We agreed, and ended up having to take a lot home afterwards.

•  Dad and I got up very early, and  went to a panda research base in the countryside.  It was the CRCCGP. That stands for China research and conservation Center for the giant panda. This is where they rehabilitated injured or captured a giant pandas and are trying to get them get them back into the wild. We arrive, and went to a room where all of the volunteers were waiting and getting ready. We got a uniform, and a badge so that the staff letting visitors and, new that we got in without having to pay. We started by meeting a supervisor, Elsa. We had a group of five volunteers, and everyone  was very excited. We started by going to our "workplace"  where we would be doing most of our work. We started by cleaning out a panda enclosure. Dad and I sweat, and some people scooped poop, some people pulled weeds, and some people cleaned up eating bamboo. Then we  had to break bamboo. You take a big read of bamboo and smash it as hard as you can on the ground so it  splits down the middle or into a few pieces for the panda. Then we took a little break. Since we got free access, dad and I hopped onto a shuttle bus and took a ride through the mountains to another panda enclosure we spend a few minutes there and walked most of the way back. Then we  got to feed a panda! The panda was on the other side of the bars, and put his hand out on a surgical plate where he had to keep it the whole time to make sure that he didn't grab the food. Then we fed it right into his mouth. Our supervisor, Elsa said that this was the model panda for kung fu panda! He was very sweet. After we fed him we cleaned out his indoor enclosure, and got another little break then we ate some lunch The lunch there was very good!  The Sichuan flavors are very very awesome.  Then we cleaned out another enclosure, but this time I had to scoop poop! Dad had the privilege not to do it either of the times we cleaned out enclosures,  because he says that if he doesn't own an animal, he's not picking up after it exclamation I thought that was crazy. The last thing we did was feed another panda. This panda was three like it. The researchers have found him in the wild all scraped up and looking really bad. It looked like he had been attacked by another animal or even another panda. They had no choice but to  perform an amputation on his leg. He was still Kickin though. He was very gentle. When we fed the pandas, it was looking straight into the eyes of a puppy. They just would look at you and observe you. They were so cute! We left shortly after that, and try to rest on the hour long ride back home to the hotel. 

• We walked to a tex-mex restaurant which was amazing. We walked to Sichuan University from there. We walked to the track where there were groups dancing and children playing and people running/ walking. We walked a few laps and blew some bubbles. We stayed there a while and had so much fun with the little babies and toddlers who loved the bubbles.

• We climbed a mountain and took a cable car. We blew bubbles at the pagoda on the top of the mountain. Then we climbed down another mountain and ended up at one of the first ancient irrigation system.

• We flew home and on the subway, a man next to me kept falling asleep and coming two inches from my shoulder and then jerking his head back up. It was a vicious cycle. We made it hme safely.  

Chengdu-Pandas

[Caroline]

This week we went to Chengdu in the Sichuan province. I got to see Pandas, the staple of Chengdu, on two different occasions.

The first time that we visited them. we drove to the research base in the city. We saw pandas. They are so fluffy looking. You just want to hug them every time you see one. We walked around for a few hours watching them eat. We got there early because they are most active in the morning. We saw some red pandas. They had an enclosure, but often slipped out and had free rein. One was walking on the sidewalk next to us. Everyone was taking pictures and Everett Reached out and stroked it while it walked past us. It didn't even notice, but we were horrified! Everett totally didn't realize that he probably shouldn't touch it. It was lots of fun and I got some good polaroids too!

The second occasion was when My Dad and I volunteered at the CCRCGP, (China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas) in the country. We were up in the mountains. We got there, and got uniforms and gloves. We started by cleaning out one enclosure by sweeping, raking, and pooper scooping. Then we broke bamboo for the pandas by slamming big reeds of it as hard as we could on the ground. Then we fed one! I got to feed the panda that modeled for Kung-Fu panda. We fed him pieces of bamboo and "Panda Cakes". Panda Cakes are little pieces of bread made of corn and wheat. The Pandas love them. We cleaned one more pen and fed another panda. He was three-legged, He had been found in the wild all scraped up and hurt and the vets had to perform an amputation. He was so gentle and cute. They just sat down on the other side of the bars, and we put the food right in their mouths. I now want a panda for my birthday :)

Tadpoles and Frogs

[Caroline]

This week I will be studying the cycle that turns Tadpoles into Frogs! I know it sounds like a project for younger kids, but we have been raising tadpoles for the past few weeks, and I thought I could dive a bit deeper into the cycle.

First, let me explain our Tadpole's background. There is a park right by our apartment called the Jing-an park. Across from the Jing'an Temple. We got our tadpoles by using a net to dip into a pond in the park and collect them. They were all at the second stage in the cycle:Tadpole. Here are the four stages in the cycle to turn a Tadpole into a Frog.

1) Egg- The female frogs lay eggs in the water in slimy masses amounting anywhere from one to several hundred. The Tadpoles grow and break out of their eggs. After 7 to 10 days, the tadpoles begin to swim around. when they are young, they often swim in groups and schools like fish.

 

2)Tadpoles- Tadpoles have tails, not legs to help them swim around the water source. They will later develop arms and legs. In this stage, Tadpoles scrape algae off of rocks and eat it, and they feed off of the remaining yolk left from their eggs. The tadpoles will swim around feeding on algae, leaves, and smaller life sources. When they are 5 to 9 weeks old, they start to eat smaller insects. They soon sprout legs and their tail begins to grow smaller and smaller until they are full grown frogs. They now eat insects, various plant life, and in captivity, they enjoy lettuce.