Hubei

In Jingzhou we visited an elementary school, one of two schools in China adopted by Viking Cruises, which provides generous financial support. The children were charming! They began by presenting a little program that depicted their daily activities and finished by singing in English, “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands.” We visited in their classrooms, and I wrote in some of the children’s autograph books in English followed by a Chinese translation. In China students begin studying English in third grade, so none of our second graders had received any formal language instruction. Nevertheless, several of them said “hello” and followed up with, “It is good to meet you.” I returned the greeting in Chinese and told them that we were traveling on a big boat on the Yangtze River. The little girl who invited Glenda to her desk gave her a stylized drawing she had made for her. It is a pencil drawing of an abstraction resembling a stained glass window showing trees, lakes and meadows. Its quality is remarkable for a second grader. On the left hand side are characters reading, “I cannot dream of going to the place you have come from.” Following the characters was a sad face with a tear under each eye, then another sad face with two tears under each eye, and finally a sad face with three tears under each eye. Our meeting these second graders was a high point of our trip. They were so precious that everyone on our tour fell in love with these wonderful children.Read more