Special for Teens--- Extended Stay in China & Universities Tour in China

[Fiona]

By Fiona Liang

There’s a saying goes like this “East or west, Guilin landscape is the best!” It is no doubt that most foreign tourists come to Guilin because of its beautiful scenery. Yet there’s a small group of people who come to Guilin to teach or study at schools besides enjoying the impressive scenery.

As a graduate from a university in Guilin, I have had chances to meet foreigners from a number of different countries. I’ve even asked one of my foreign teachers “Why did you come here and teach in a small city like Guilin?” This professor said the reason he came to Guilin is the gorgeous landscape of Yangshuo. Several years earlier he had visited the city for a just few days and left. However, after he came to Yangshuo, he loved the life there. He told me his thoughts, “Every day is a beautiful day and I can slow down for a while and learn some Chinese besides working”, he said to me. Then he came and settled down to teach at my university. Now, he’s been teaching at my school for several years. And, I think he did a really great job at teaching English. At the time I was in college, the students love to visit with him! And, during the years of his teaching his Chinese is improved a lot! I think it is a smart way to approach his work and establish his way of life: touring, working and learning can be all done together in a wonderful place.

I once met two girls from a university in Texas, when I was at Guilin University. They had come to Guilin to complete some research. As it turned out, my classmate and I showed them around our school to see our classrooms, recreation area and dorms. We also invited them to have lunch with us at the dining hall. We ended up having a really had a good time sharing what we learned in our English classes. They discussed many things with us, including about the origin of Christmas and Jesus Christ. That was really fun. My classmate and I really enjoyed the brief visit immensely because we were exchanging our ideas and opinion about things.

I think this might also be the choice for some adoptive families. It might even have a special appeal to those adopted teenagers who really want to get an insight of their birth country. They can extend their stay at city like Guilin, experiencing the real life in China and practice learning Mandarin in addition to touring. Here in China, one can visit the colleges or universities pretty easily and meeting and making new friends with university students is not difficult because most university students in China speak English. And they are always friendly to foreign people and would like to talk, if somebody comes to them.

My thoughts are that visiting various universities can be fun for adopted teens. They can see the real school life of students at their age, in their home country and even contemplate what life they might have had in China. It could be an interesting excursion.