Nineteen intermediate students from Maraetai Beach School who visited China during the recent school holidays probably didn’t expect that the trip would result in them becoming social media stars.
The students spent ten days visiting the ancient city of Xi’an, accompanied by principal Mark Keenan, teacher Rebecca Norrish and three parents. The 10-day trip was organised through Hua Yi International Education and Culture, which arranged homestays with local families for the Maraetai students. Located a two and a half hour flight from Shanghai, Xi’an is emerging as a tourist destination for Chinese nationals. Mark Keenan describes the city as an amazingly beautiful place.
“It’s a bit like Auckland’s lantern festival, only 1,000 times larger and really pristine.” Student Ella Worthington agrees. “I enjoyed walking to school in the morning, seeing how different it was. There were always people using big mops to clean the pathways, and once I even saw somebody cleaning the trees! Sometimes they spray paint the trees to make them look nicer.” The Maraetai Beach School students each spent a day attending three different schools throughout the trip. Student Miriam Gedge said the schools were so big, the teachers moved around the classrooms while the students were the ones who stayed in the same room all day. “I really liked participating in school there,” says Miriam. “I enjoyed calligraphy, cooking and pottery classes. Most of the students have basic English so it wasn’t hard to communicate.” For Sio Borich and Blake Davis, the highlight of the trip was performing on stage at the different schools. “I liked playing guitar and representing our country,” says Sio. “I really enjoyed performing the haka,” says Blake. The students weren’t the only ones who enjoyed their haka. One of the student’s homestay families shared a video of their haka performance on China’s only social media site, Tik Tok, where it has received more than 50 million views. Student Tremaine Quinn also featured on an educational channel on Chinese television, though his personal highlight was pushing his culinary boundaries well beyond the Kiwi fare he is used to. For other students, highlights were cultural in nature. Dylan Williams Gardiner says his favourite experience was cycling along the top of Xi’an’s ancient city wall. “We learned about the wall before we left home,” says Dylan. “It’s the only big wall in China that’s still intact. I really liked visiting the Terracotta Warriors too. There were so many people there! 10,000 people a day visit, but we still got some really good views.” The Terracotta Warriors were also a hit with Dylan Pedersen. “No two were the same. It was cool how they were discovered too, by a farmer who was digging for water in 1974.” It was the smaller things which stood out for some other students. Honey Reid said it was intveresting to use the ‘squat’ toilets. “There was no toilet paper, so you had to carry tissues around,” says Honey. “They called Western toilets ‘potty’ toilets.” Campbell Norton was impressed by the voice controlled lights in his host family’s apartment building, and by the cashless society - people always pay by waving their phone, and cash or cards are almost non-existent.
“It’s a bit like Auckland’s lantern festival, only 1,000 times larger and really pristine.”
“I enjoyed walking to school in the morning, seeing how different it was. There were always people using big mops to clean the pathways, and once I even saw somebody cleaning the trees! Sometimes they spray paint the trees to make them look nicer.”
Teacher Rebecca Norrish says the trip provided students with a once in a lifetime experience. “They got so much out of it,” says Rebecca. “And when they got on stage and performed, I was literally humble with pride. They represented our country so well. And Mark Keenan did the same when he spoke at an international education summit, where he presented the New Zealand education system to delegates from China, Taiwan and Finland. He spoke incredibly well.
According to PC Times 10 May 2019 reports.
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