A High School Student's Traveler's Guide to China

More often than not, "What do I need to pack?" is the number one question we hear from high school students going to China with our two-week overseas program. For some, the trip will be the first time that they've ever been one a plane, to a large city, or to an international city. The students want to look cool in front of their friends and for all the pictures they'll be taking, the parents want to make sure they're dressed according to the weather, and we want to make sure they don't create any controversy with their chosen outfits. How can a simple outfit be controversial? Think back to the Katy Perry dress from her tour that stirred controversy because it was thought to be a pro-Taiwanese statement. Even something simple as what you wear can have profound meaning when you visit another country.

When the students come back to Vermont after the program, reminders of their initial concern and conversations over what they needed to pack suddenly seemed trivial and ...less worldly. As one student pointed out at the 2016 Governor's Institute on Asian Cultures (GIAC) in China program reunion, "spending so much time focusing on what you're going to wear or pack just takes time away from experiencing this amazing country (China)." Most of the alumni of the GIAC-China program would agree that the point of traveling is to be a traveler, not a tourist, and then gave the next cohort of GIAC-China participants a list of tips for when traveling to China.  

The basic packing list would include comfortable shoes, duct tape (trust us), and a well stocked Travel Health Kit, but here's the top five traveler's tips presented by the 2015 GIAC-China high school students. 

1. "Try everything." Whether it was a new food or tai chi in the park with local residents, the alumni of the program repeated to the incoming students that the program was the chance to get out of their comfort zone. Sure, eating crickets isn't what we want to do everyday, but you're not in China everyday. 

2. "Write it down." With a program that is jam packed with activities, chances are that students will see at least 100 new things a day. "Even if you're exhausted at the end of the day, write a few lines of what you did so that you don't forget." suggested Gabe, a 2015 GIAC alumni.

3. "Don't live behind your camera." Although it takes some intervention by the staff, student soon realize that taking 1,000 pictures of the Great Wall is not the same as actually seeing it. Put down the camera, or any technology you might be carrying with you, and take in the sights, smells, and sounds of these foreign cities.

4. "Talk to the students." Our program offers Vermont high school students the chance to talk and hang out with students from high schools in China. As one self-proclaimed shy student said, talking to students in Vermont is hard "but you'll never know if you'll have this chance again, so find out what you have in common." 

5. "Drink water. And then drink some more." Since our program visits China in summer, staying hydrated is key. "But only drink the bottled water," a student was quick to explain. "One bottle in each hand, always."

And finally, while it wasn't it in the top five tips, another favorite tip was "Shower often". Although this comment got everyone in the room laughing, the alumni were quick to nod along seriously to the suggestion. Not only will you feel better after a hot day of walking and sightseeing, "buy your roommate will appreciate it, too, if you don't stink."

Three Jiaozi Recipes to you Need for Lunar New Year

For the past month, my kitchen turned into a jiaozi testing kitchen as I tried, tested and tweaked jiaozi recipes in search for the PERFECT recipe to celebrate with on the Lunar New Years. Jiaozi, or classic Chinese dumplings, is one of the major foods eaten during the Chinese New Year and serving them is believed to bring prosperity. From his memorie, Mao's Last Dancer, I like to recall the image of the ballet dancer Li Cunxin eating plates of jiaozi with his family on midnight of the Lunar New Year in their small house with dirt floors. An entire meal of dumplings surrounded by loving family sounds like the perfect way to start the new year.

As each family has its own recipe for making jiaozi, there are potentially millions of recipes out there, with the cooking technique varying from boiled to steamed to fried, and the fillings ranging from pork (traditional) to seitan (modern) and even a desert jiaozi filled with ganache chocolate. Mmm. The better news is that the ingredients are not complicated and are easy to find, especially if you decide to tackle making the wrappers yourself instead of buying store bought wrappers (and I encourage this, since store bought wrappers are about 50% less delicious than homemade wrappers).

And so, in no particular order, the best porc, vegetarian, and dessert jiaozi recipes!

Pork Dumplings from Epicurious. This may have been one of the first recipes I tried, and I recommend tweaking the sauce by adding a bit of chili paste for those who prefer a bit of spice!

Sweet Potato Recipe from Food. I probably couldn't eat more then six or seven of these, but the novelty of sweet potatoes compared to traditional vegetarian jiaozi will impress your guests. The fresh cilantro is also delicious so even if it is a bit pricey buying fresh cilantro in February do not omit the cilantro!

Fresh Mango Dumplings by Wholesome Cook. Drool, drool, drool. I am drooling just thinking about these delicious dumplings, and both the steamed and baked ones equally worthy of being on your Lunar New Year's table. Although I was tempted to post the chocolate jiaozi recipe, the mango recipe is fresh and light.

Happy cooking!

Ten Celebrities born in the Year of the Monkey

February 8th marks the start of the Year of the Monkey. People born in the year of the monkey are intelligent, witty, clever, creative and have a magnetic personality (can you tell that the author is a Monkey, yet?). So which famous celebrities are Monkeys?

1. Jake Gyllenhall: Famous actor who was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting role, but we will forever remember him in his role in Donnie Darko. 
2. Channing Tatum: Famous for so many reasons, but we like him best for being the voice of Superman in The Lego Movie.
3. Ronaldinho de Assis Moreira: One of the great soccer players of our times, winning the FIFA World Player of the Year Award in 2004 and 2005. 
4. Miley Cyrus: Well, this is one monkey famous for singing who demonstrates the Monkey's eccentric trait very well.
5. Celine Dion: Our hearts will go on and on forever with our love for the Canadian Celine Dion and her voice! 
6. Guy Fieri: A foodie who showed us where to find the best diners, drive-ins and dives across the US, this restaurateur has the makings of a true Monkey with his love of practical jokes. 
7. Rachael Ray: She made EVOO a household word, this celebrity cook and businesswoman started by showing us how to make a meal in 15 minutes and with her sharp Monkey wit is now a lifestyle goddess. 
8. Tom Hanks: He makes us laugh, he makes us cry, he is an amazing actor that has us forever quoting "Life is like a box of chocolates..."
9. Elizabeth Taylor: Actress, businesswoman and humanitarian, she was known for her love of diamonds and being one of the first celebrities to take part in HIV/AIDS activism.
10. Johnny Cash: One of the most influential singers of the 20th century who may have also had a strong pull towards the Monkey's inquisitive nature (think, "Ring of Fire").

Visiting Scholar Wang Yinghong reflects on her first week in Vermont

On the eve of the new Chinese Lunar Year, Wang Yinghong’s plane was descending at the Burlington Airport. While Wang Yonghing has never traveled to Vermont before, the placement at Randolph Union High School is almost a homecoming since Yonghing had the opportunity to work with staff from the school. In 2009, Dean Meltzer, 8^th grade science teacher, and his wife Dona from Braintree School, went on sabbatical for a year in the Lijiang Province. Wang Yonghing met the Metltzers during their sabbatical and even had the chance to meet with their daughter.  

Wang Yonghing shared these thoughts of her first few weeks in Vermont:

“I'm getting used to being here. I can sleep well at night. Dean and Dona, my host family, cook different foods every day. They try to let me find the foods I like most.

       Everyone in the school are all very nice. I observed different classes last week. I had the most interesting math class here. I enjoyed the Spanish class even I can't understand a word in there. I learned a lot from the science class. I found a new way to teach English. I'm very surprised that the English teacher and the man who teach geography prepared a class together. Students can learn a lot about Africa when they learn from an African novel. I observed the students practice drama, and I joined the students in the gym.

     I will have class soon. I will share Mandarin and Chinese culture in my class. I also want to show them Ljiang (culture & scenic spots). I will teach Naxi dance with the physical teacher. I will do Dongba pictographic characters with the art teacher. I also will go to some elementary school to do some workshop.”

Asian Studies Outreach Program Welcomes Wang Yinghong

Superintendent Brent Kay, Wang Yinghong, and Dean Meltzer 

This week the Asian Studies Outreach Program and Randolph Union High School welcomed Visiting Scholar Wang Yinghong, from Lijiang, China. The young Visiting Scholar, who is a social studies teacher at the Vocational High School of Gucheng District, Lijiang, China, is the 9^th Visiting Scholar to participate in the State-wide Program for Asian Studies in Schools for the 2011-2012 academic year.

While Wang Yonghing has never traveled to Vermont before, the placement at Randolph Union High School is almost a homecoming since Yonghing had the opportunity to work with staff from the school. In 2009, Dean Meltzer, 8^th grade science teacher, and his wife Dona from Braintree School, went on sabbatical for a year in the Lijiang Province. Wang Yonghing met the Metltzers during their sabbatical and even had the chance to meet with their daughter.  

Wang Yinghong will be returning to China in June, but prior to that hopes to learn about Vermont and share her culture at the school.

The Art of Double Happiness

There are many traditions involved with celebrating the Lunar Chinese New Year. During her stay at CVU this past month, Visiting Scholar TaoYe from China shared with the high school students the practice of making paper cutting decorations for the New Year.  While paper-cutting may sound like an easy task, the activity involves an understanding of Chinese calligraphy, patience, and a fair bit of skill. Visiting Scholar comments on the activity below:

“The CVU students are amazing, after they learned how to  build up Chinese characters with different strokes, they drew these difficult Chinese symbols, and then cut them down, glue them on a piece of colorful paper, they took these paper- cutting home and decorated room for Chinese New Year.”

The Chinese characters the students learned how to write included “Spring”, “Double Happiness”, and “Good luck”, all important words to know if one wants to celebrate the Chinese New Year well!

Check out the pictures below to see Visiting Scholar Tao Ye and the students sharing a great cultural tradition!

Shaftsbury Elementary Students Celebrate a Thai Mother’s Day

In each country and every culture, the tradition of “Mother’s Day” is celebrated across the globe with different traditions. The students at Shaftsbury Elementary school had the chance to learn about how families in Thailand celebrate Mother’s Day with the help of Visiting Scholar Parisa.

“Mother's Day in Thailand is on August 12^th, and it is also Her Majesty Queen Sirikit's birthday.” Explain Parisa. Since 1976, celebrations for the Queen’s birthday and for mothers are celebrated on the same say as the Queen is regarded as mother to all Thai people because of her benevolence towards the needy and poor in the nation.

In Thailand, Parisa explained, preparations for the Queen’s birthday start a few weeks before August 12^th, with people all around the country raising national flags and decorating their houses with the portrait of Her Majesty the Queen.  On August 12^th, Thai people also thank their mothers for her unconditional love by giving alms to monks and presenting their mother’s with white Jasmine flowers. In Thailand, white jasmine flowers are the symbol of maternal love. 

During the lesson, students made their own Thai Mother’s Day cards and attached a piece of white jasmine on the card. As in Thailand, the mothers’ of the Shaftbury students were encouraged to respond to the cards with a small comment. As Mother’s Day falls in the month of May in America, the mother’s of the students were surprised by the showing of love, and the beautiful flowers.

Vermont International Festival

Visiting Scholars from China

 The first weekend in December was extremely for the Visiting Scholars and the staff at the Asian Studies Outreach Program. For the third year in a row, ASOP and the Visiting Scholars participated at the Vermont International Festival. We hosted five tables: two were used for displays, and three were used by the Visiting Scholars who had hands-on art activities ready for the thousands of Vermonters that visited the 3-day event. According the the organizers, over 1000 students attended the School Programs Day on Friday, December 1st, and another 5000 participants attended the event in total over three days. Below, one of the Visiting Scholar from China, Jianhong, shares her thoughts on the event.

Thitima and Sukanya at Festival

From December the 2^nd to 4^th we took part in the Vermont International Festival at Essex Junction.We four Chinese teachers divided the tasks. One wrote Chinese calligraphy and one folded lucky stars and one folded paper butterflies and the other did blow paintings. Most kids are fascinated with writing their names in Chinese calligraphy. They kept saying, “Beautiful!”, “Amazing!” One Chinese teacher also performed Taichi while the others were singing an ancient Chinese poem song. These activities offer the Americans the opportunity of being more exposed to Chinese culture.

Seeing the big crowds standing in front of our booth, I think it necessary to have more exchange activities between American people and Chinese people, because these activities can enhance understanding and enrich cultures.

Church Bazaar

Life in Vermont, especially as we get closer to the winter holidays, means weekends filled with crafts bazaars, bake sales, and communities gathering together to share in community spirit and cheer. Visiting Scholar Jianhong had the chance to attend her first Church Bazaar in Vermont, and shares her thoughts about the benefits of community in the following reflection:

It is Saturday today but I got up early because I will be going with my host family to the bazaar in the United Methodist Church in Brattleboro. This is the first time for me to go to a church bazaar.

Our preparations for the bazaar lasted several weeks. Last month, we picked some apples in the orchard and made ten apple pies and more than forty bottles of apple sauce. Last week we spent some time making some crafts. On Friday night we also baked some rolls. All these were for sale at the bazaar to collect money to help those who are in need.

The bazaar was held from 9am to 1pm on November 19^th. Many people came to the bazaar. The food stands and the personalized ornament stands were the most popular.

I stayed there the whole time and I tried to be helpful. I chatted a lot with people from all walks of life. What impressed me the most is that plenty of grandparents came to buy some Christmas presents for their grandchildren. All the people who work for the bazaar were volunteers.

If everyone is happy to help others, our world will be a much better place.