Yuchen's Visit - Day 2 - Putting Time in Perspective

Yuchen's second day with us - Sunday - has come and gone. Our family woke early, in anticipation of talking & visiting more with our guest. However, we overlooked the fact that 4 full days of traveling across thousands of miles might take its toll on a 16-year old boy - which it had! Yuchen woke - and greeted us all with a cheerful "good morning" - and was absolutely shocked when he realized it was 3:30 PM! We considered waking him earlier - but thought it might be best to let him fully catch up on his sleep - as we have LOTS planned for the days ahead!

Yuchen speaks English very well. He has much to share, and uses an electronic translator to help bridge the gaps when he is unsure of words or expressions. This has helped our ability to communicate with him immensely! He is extremely proficient in his knowledge of computers (although he has only been using them for about 4 years!). We have been using the laptop to help us communicate - often showing eachother pictures and words to get our points across. Yuchen helped us download a language translator on the computer - and we are now able to translate English words into Chinese symbols! As a result - Yuchen was able to log on to a chat center used by his family. His mother, father, aunt, and grandparents were on line and we had conversations with them all! Yuchen's mother and aunt, and I have web-cams and so we were able to see eachother! So here we were - on a Sunday afternoon in California - visting with Yuchen's family - thousands of miles away in Ji'An City, China! Clarisse showed Yuchen's mother two of her latest school projects (a fully detailed, handdrawn map of China and an "ancient" Chinese seismograph she made from clay); Alexann brought down one of her teddy bears to show on camera. Yuchen's mother was delighted to see them and "chat" with the girls! Yuchen's youngest cousin - aged 1 year - was being held by his doting grandmother in the background where his aunt was online. We could see the child's smiling face - and his enthusiasm as he tried to "hug" the computer when he saw Yuchen & Alexann! So cute!!!!!!
It was an amazing experience for us all!
Later - as we talked and visited with Yuchen - he remembered he had brought some materials for us about his school. We were astounded to discover his school was founded in the year 1241! Yuchen spoke enthusiastically about the history of Bailuzhou Senior Middle School and many notables that have attended there. When Rob and I explained that our whole country is only a fraction of the age of Yuchen's school - he exclaimed with much pride, "China has 5,000 years of history"......this was really and truly humbling and enlightening all at the same time!

The Beijing Olympics Mascots!

Yuchen gave us a delightful gift set of Olympic-themed chopsticks and rests. He told us that the names of the characters,if put in order, mean "Beijing welcomes you"!

Yuchen's Visit - Day #1

What an amazing experience - already! We met Yuchen at the University of California Cooperative Extension program. He traveled from Ji'An City, China by train to Beijing (a 19-hour ride!) - then flew from Beijing to San Francisco (11 hours) non-stop. He and the other 5 delegates, plus their adult chaperone (Jane) arrived in Fairfield at 3:30 PM. All were excited and it was an eventful first hour.
We brought Yuchen home and visited with him. He speaks excellent English, having taken an English class for over 6 years - and our communication has been a great learning experience. Clarisse and Alexann seem to be quite at ease talking with Yuchen - and they've been conversing through the evening.
We all certainly have one language in common: BASKETBALL!! Yuchen is quite good - although he is humble to say so - and he played a couple of games with Rob and the girls tonight.
Much more to share in the days ahead......
Cheers!

Yuchen Jiang & students from Ji'an City, China