To mark Yom Ha'atzmaut, the class went to visit Ganeinu School, our Beijing counterparts. There, students said prayers together and then rotated through some fun activities: making a bead flag, decorating cookies and painting. Afterwards, we enjoyed a picnic lunch of traditional Israeli foods outside on the lawn.

Students swapped autographs with one another before we left, and then we all walked together to the bus to say our goodbyes. We had a timetable to keep and they expected us at the stables!

Just a short bus trip away, we found ourselves at a riding club. Students played ping- pong and ran in the playground as we waited for our horses to get saddled up. Each student had an instructor who helped them trot with the horse and then gallop around the fenced in field. Kellina, who has ridden for several years, impressed even the stable managers. Ayelet, Talia and Ella, however, are horse whisperers, as well. They handled their horses superbly! As for this author, she was off that horse as soon as she proved that she could get on it! 

Afterwards, it was back to the hotel to freshen up and then off to dinner. For our last night together, Dini's whipped up a true Chinese feast. It was course after course of sumptuous fare: sweet and sour chicken, sizzling beef, even some traditional jiao zi were served.

Dini was then kind enough to invite us to her home for an after party. We broke into teams and tried assembling puzzles. Neither team finished by the time we had to leave, but we sure did have a good time trying to beat the clock and get them done. 

"Maybe the sixth graders can come back next year and finish it off for them," Dini told the group, as she slid our finished pieces onto a board. 

Back to the city

"You can do it!" the crowd shouted as Tomer scaled to the top of the mountain. 

We were no longer on The Great Wall, but we were still climbing at Beijing Agriculture University's rock climbing wall. The students spent the morning trying the conquer the vertical wall. Kellina, David, May and Tomer made it to the top, while there were many others who came close to summiting it, as well.

From there, we were ready to see the centerpiece of the city, The Forbidden City. 

Located at the heart of Beijing, everything stems off from here. Students roamed through the many gates and rooms of the palace. Perhaps they were a bit overwhelmed by the size of it all, perhaps the heat had gotten to them, or perhaps they were still tired from our hiking expedition the day before. No matter, within an hour, the students were wilting and crying for a respite. 

All it took to rejuvenate them, though, was a  couple of hours of rest and a great dinner at Dini's. Then, we were ready to go bowling. Students broke into three groups. David showed off some fancy moves, backwards bowling and under a leg, while Theo was impressive at striking down the pins. Mrs. Epstein, however, shocked us all with her high score of 118!

With day three nearly behind us, we're surprised by how much we've already done, and how little time left we have here to do the rest.

Heading North

On Monday, we hit the road early to head out north from the city towards The Great Wall. On the way, we made a pit stop at a local produce market. There, the students were tasked with finding traditional Chinese fruits and vegetables -- a scavenger hunt! 

Students were able to practice their Chinese and bargaining skills as they hunted through the stalls. Godfrey's team had a definite advantage considering he speaks the language. Yet, Tanish and Orie should be commended for driving a hard bargain as they negotiated with the vendors.

The next stop was China's most famous landmark. We started at the Simatai section, enlisting

 a couple of villagers to help us along the trail. The wall dips

 and and curves with the mountains. At times, the trail was steep with vertical climbs or narrow downhill steps, but what remained constant was the beautiful views out into the distance. 

Four hours later, the group had climbed past 30 watchtowers and was in the Jinshanling section. A couple of the students experienced a wardrobe mishap when they sought a quick rest at on a bench: A workman had forgotten to place a "wet paint" sign on the chair. Oops!

After a quick change, we were all back on the bus and heading to our final destination of the day -- The Global Village. There, we met our hosts for the night and were shown to our homes. Our dwellings were similar to hutongs in Beijing and each of us had a room off the main courtyard, which proved to be a great place for a dinner BBQ. 

The night ended on a somber note as we took a moment to remember the fallen soldiers for Yom Hazikaron. Students read poems and told sad 

personal stories as we memorialized those who fought and died for Israel's freedom.

Schedule

Here's our schedule for the next few days.

Day 2 Monday, April 27	Beijing Village Home stay  (N/A)	·       Morning: Transfer toHuairou. Nanhua Market shopping game.  Transfer to Simatai Great Wall. ·       Afternoon: Transfer toSimatai Great Wall. Hike toJinshanling Great Wall ·       Evening: Home stay and BBQ dinner in Global Village
Day 3 Tuesday, April 28	Beijing  Guangming Hotel  (N/A)	·       Morning: Transfer back to Beijing. Rock Climbing at Agriculture University climbing wall. ·       Afternoon: Tour theForbidden City ·       Evening: Bowling at Gongti 100
Day 4 Wednesday, April 29	Beijing Guangming Hotel (N/A)	·       Morning: Activity and Lunch at Ganeinu School ·       Afternoon: Transfer to Shunyi for Horse Riding at Green Horse Riding Club ·       Early Evening: Return to central Beijing
Day 5 Thursday, April 30	Beijing – Hong Kong N/A (N/A)	·       Morning: Transfer to Temple of Heaven; Tour the temple complex and join locals in their morning exercises ·       Afternoon: Visit Summer Palace with painting activity at theLong Corridor

Kite Flying and Flying Acrobats

Most of use had little sleep last night, but that didn't matter much. Grade seven was ready for our Beijing adventure at 7 am this morning. 

By the afternoon, we were out in  Tiananmen Square, the largest open plaza in the world. It was a warm and sunny day with a light breeze, perfect for flying a kite. Our guides handed out kite making kits, and we went straight to the task of assembling them. We had a bit of a crowd watching us ... look at the foreigners making  kites!

At last they were ready to fly. Tanish and David had theirs soaring. Ayelet was also able to catch a good upward current. Some kites were dare devils, not fliers, and they spun and

 whirled in the wind.

Next, we went to see some real stunt masters at the Chaoyang Theater. The Flying Acrobats put on an unbelievable show -- 12 girls on one bike! And we won't easily forget the human hamster wheel, either, with the man walking on the outside of the wheel blindfolded!

Afterwards, we stopped into Dini's for dinner. The linen napkins, candles and water goblets may have been a bit fancy for our group, but the kids were fine with the kid-friendly fare of burgers and fries.

Weary from the day, we arrived at the Guangming Hotel around 8:30 and checked into the rooms. Imagine our surprise to find state-of-the art rooms where everything is controlled by one central remote. Hmmm .... can I program it to make coffee tomorrow morning?   

Multi Multiple Choice Stories

Conferences are on Wednesday, but that's no excuse not to keep studying for our Stanford tests.

Read the five stories on pages 18 - 27 in your Stanford workbooks and answer the questions that go along with them.

Poetry Terms

It's been a month since I've been in front of the class. There was the 8th grade trip to Israel and then, of course, our Pesach break.

We're going to pick up on some of the work Mr. Landauro started with your class on poetry.

Tonight, please write the definitions to the terms below in your Humanities notebook. Be ready to be quizzed ...

Alliteration

Assonance

Blank Verse

Couplet

Free Verse

Hyperbole

Imagery

Metaphor

Meter

Narrative Poem

Onomatopoeia

Personification

Refrain

Rhyme
End Rhymes
Internal Rhymes

Simile

Stanza

Theme

Tone