Incredible experience with The Greenway

December 8, 2017

The Green Lion

“ QSI International School of Shekou” Camp at Greenway China

In the month of November together with my colleague, I led a field trip of 18 students who came from “QSI International School of Shekou” in Shenzhen. At first, I thought it will be a little bit challenging for me, since they all were students from different countries. However, a 5 days’ trip with them turned out to be a very pleasant trip. Not only was I one of their coordinator, but I also got the opportunity to act as an intermediate who introduced Chinese culture to them, especially Chinese traditional culture, as most of these children had a western upbringing they were eager to learn more about Chinese traditions.

As their coordinator, the priority was to ensure their safety since they were too young to take care of themselves. However, kids are always full of surprises and they surprised me by doing a really good job at taking care of themselves well. During the first two days, the activities we arranged for them were within Fengyan Village, which was done to offer the students a precious chance to experience what life in a village is like. Most importantly, the activities in the village and letting them observe the village way of life was to give them an exposure of how to appreciate small little things, their daily life and learn to treasure it.

By offering series of activities like village tour, farm work, village kindergarten teaching, and hiking the students had the wonderful opportunity to fully immerse themselves in Chinese way of life and traditional culture especially the culture of Yao minority of Fengyan village, where our Greenway China headquarter is located.After the Fengyan village experience we set off to Yangshuo and Longsheng, which is very scenic and famous home and abroad for it’s natural beauty. We had a really good time in Yangshuo, and the kids were really excited about the bamboo rafting, a relaxing tour through the Li River whilst enjoying the beautiful scenery. The kids also got the chance to see the most famous spot in Yangshuo, which is the background picture printed on the back of 20 Yuan Chinese currency.

On the last day, we arrived at Longsheng which boasts of beautiful rice-terrace scenery. In the beginning, we were a little disappointed as it was raining. But we were determined to accomplish what we came for and set off anyway. Suddenly the weather turned in our favor and the rain stopped while we were walking up to get a view from the top of the rice terraces. Even though climbing up required a lot physical effort, and some of the kids want to quit halfway, we kept encouraging everyone and finally all of us managed to reach the top. We were very proud of them and so were the kids themselvess. The view from the top was unbelievably beautiful and all of us were very happy to have experienced something like it.

Finally, on the last day of their trip we hosted a farewell party and all the students shared their feelings, expressed the most unforgettable part from the trip, and what they learnt from this experience. Although, it was only 6 days that I spent with them, I realized I had formed a bond already with them and was happy they had a great experience filled with fun and learning. In the process of being their guide and to teach them something, I realized how I too learnt something valuable from them. I wish them a lot of success and a lot more learning experiences like these.