100610 - Day 3

Today, we left the Cheng Hai Lotus Hill Resort and checked back into Hua Qiao Da Sha.

Some of us were late when we took a long time to prepare in the morning, implicating the rest as everyone had to be present to start the breakfast. The importance of punctuality during the trip was emphasized through this incident.

After breakfast, we hoped onto the tour bus and set off for Shantou Chinese High School. During the hour long trip on the bus, the tour guide gave us a short introduction about the history of the school and bits of background information before we reached the school itself.

Upon our arrival at the school, the principal and the local students gave us a warm welcome before we were ushered into a conference room where the principal introduced us to the school in great detail. We were paired with a local student and we interacted with our new buddies as they brought us around the school. They were friendly and hospitable. To our surprise, they have two separate sets of uniform, one for summer and one for winter.

# An average sized classroom is shared by over 40+ students!

At the same time, they study ten subjects while we study eight subjects and they have to juggle their co-curricular activities. Their day begins at 7.30am till 11.30am. They enjoy a break before continuing their lessons until 5.30pm. Compared to our school day, theirs is much more hectic and tiring. We really shouldn’t be complaining about after-school lessons and CCA as the local people do not enjoy facilities as good and high-tech as us, yet they are even more enthusiastic and passionate about learning than we are. There is indeed much we can learn from them. We also noticed that they place a lot of emphasis on arts and culture. We exchanged souvenirs and email addresses to keep in touch.

We later had a scrumptious lunch at a restaurant close to our hotel. The food was delicious and healthy.

# We learnt to help our friends serve food (:

After eating Teo Chew meals a few times at a few venues, we even had a chance to help them. Next, we observed the skillful knife work of the students as they used various equipments to crave beautiful decorations out of normal ingredients like carrots. Following that, we were very lucky as we had a hands-on experience whereby the students taught us how to conduct a tea ceremony which is the process of brewing the tea to serving it.

# Ting Jia learning how to serve "kung fu tea".

I have always thought that serving tea was just to pour the tea out and to drink it. The truth cannot be further from that. There are different ways to preparing the tea and drinking it; each move must be precise and the actions must remain graceful and polite throughout the ceremony. We could see that it takes years of practice to train such a skill and learning it is very meaningful. We gave our ‘buddy teachers’ who taught us the tea ceremony a souvenir to remember us and to thank them at the end of the little lesson. After which, we proceeded to a little banquet room to enjoy some tempura prawns that the students had earlier demonstrated how to make. There were different platters with different dips, and eat platter’s prawns were fried to a different shade of golden brown. It was very delicious and we ate to our heart’s content. It was a great school with very strict discipline.

# Kia Ling and Yixuan with the two Hong Kong news reporter :D

On the way back to the hotel, we made a little detour and ended up at one of the most famous temples in Shan Tou. Unfortunately, it was raining and thus unwise to visit it. As an added bonus to our good behavior, the tour guide brought us to a newly-opened shopping center near the hotel. We went to their supermarket and brought things at a bargain!

# How rice is sold in Shantou :O

早上，由于我们花了很多时间在准备和收拾行李，延误了大家吃早餐的时间，结果被老师们训了一顿，老师也一再叮嘱及强调准时的重要性。吃完早餐后，我们离开了澄海莲花山温泉，回返汕头去参观华侨中学。在途中，导游也给我们讲解了有关学校的历史和背景等。

到了那里，校长和学生们都很热烈的欢迎我们的到访。校长在会议室里详细地向我们介绍了学校的办校方针和历史背景。我们也跟那里的同学进行短暂的交流，同时他们也带我们参观了学校的一些设施，他们都非常的热情与亲切。令我们惊讶的是他们竟然有两种校服，一种是夏装，一种是冬装。他们修读的科目总共有十科，我们却只读八科，上课的时间是从早上七点半到十一点半

过后，他们有三个钟头休息时间，然后再从两点半上到五点半。 和我们比起来，他们的生活忙碌多了，他们刻苦的学习精神，非常值得我们学习，我们也发现他们非常重视艺术与传统文化的学习。我们过后互相交换手信和电邮地址，希望往后能保持联络。后来我们在酒店附近的一家餐馆吃午餐，那里的食物非常美味，我们也发觉潮州菜肴很注重营养的均衡。 每一餐都有菜、汤、鱼和鸡肉，有时还有其他海鲜、鸭肉 或鹅肉，但多数都是用清蒸或焖炒来烹调，据说这能达到养生和养颜的效果。接下来我们前往粤东高级技工学校参

潮州菜烹调课。在参观时，我们看到学生们的好刀法，他们用各种不同的刀具把普通的蔬菜水果材料雕刻出美丽的装饰。潮州功夫茶的泡法和喝茶的基本礼仪。从这我们领悟到茶道不止是华人的传统文化，它其实也是一门深奥的学问，有其意义和存在的价值。为了表达谢意，我们送了教我们泡茶的同学一个记念品。过后，我们到了会客室品尝了同学们刚才做的炸虾，美味的食物让我们吃得津津有味。当要和我们一起拍集体照时，我们观察到学生们很有纪律地排得整整其其，静候老师的发令。

回返酒店的途中，我们前往汕头一间最有名的庙宇参观。可是老天爷不作美，竟下起雨来，在抵达目的地时，我们无法下车游览。晚餐后，在导游的陪同和带领下，我们到一个新开的购物商场。我们在那里的超市，买了许多价廉物美的日用品和当地的零食来品尝。