SSTers arrived in Chengdu late on August 31, tired after two long flights, but also eager to start their China adventure. We checked in to the Dreams Youth Hostel on the edge of the city’s Tibetan quarter and got some sleep.
We arrived in Nanchong August 24 and spent a week unpacking, setting up our apartment, and doing a variety of things to get ready for SST – buying bus passes for the students, setting up a bank account, registering at the police station and meeting with key people who will help us with logistics this semester. Nanchong is a city of almost a million people, with another 6 million in the surrounding prefecture of rural areas and smaller towns.
Late on August 1 we touched down at the Chengdu airport after nearly 17 hours of flying, eager to prepare for another Goshen College Study-Service Term in China. Our arrival marked a return to China on several levels.
Our final day as a group in China was crisp and relatively clear. We headed out by bus to the Jinshanling section of the fabled Great Wall. This section is located in Hebei Province, about 130 km outside of Beijing. Although a wall existed here at least as early as…
To start off Sunday, we all went to the Chongwenmen Christian Church. Originally a Methodist mission congregation, the congregation today has about 10,000 worshipers each Sunday, spread across 5 services. We attended the third service. Green-jacketed volunteers gave us an introduction to congregational life, and had reserved several pews for…
After locating the bus that would shuttle us about Beijing for the next few days, we stopped for a nice Chinese breakfast (porridge for some, dumplings for others) along our route. Despite cold temperatures, our first destination in Beijing was the Summer Palace. The visit here was the first of…
After our visit to Xi’an, on Friday evening, Nov. 25, we again boarded an overnight train, this time headed for China’s capital Beijing. Although the distance we had to cover was greater, the train was faster so we were looking at just a 12-hour ride. A delay enroute, got us…
On Nov. 23, we met at the Nanchong train station, bid farewell to our generous host families, and boarded a fast train to Chengdu. There we met a friend who kindly offered to babysit our luggage while we headed out to find our evening meal. Our May Term language teacher,…
On Nov. 23, we met at the Nanchong train station, bid farewell to our generous host families, and boarded a fast train to Chengdu. There we met a friend who kindly offered to babysit our luggage while we headed out to find our evening meal. Our May Term language teacher,…
Sunday found our students returning on two different buses from four service sites to Nanchong. On Monday we gathered to talk about some of our service experiences and to hear about each other’s projects. The variety of projects reflects the variety of students in our group. Some chose topics related…
