Logan Armes ’20 describes the groups return to classes after a weekend full of sight-seeing activities.
Today was our 13th day in Beijing. After an action packed long weekend filled with travel and sites, today was a day we got back into the classroom. After breakfast we had our first class, Seal cutting. The class objective was to design and create a stamp by carving whatever design we choose into a stone block. The process started with drawing a perfect square onto a piece of wax paper then coming up with a design. This design could be anything from an animal to a Chinese character that you thought would look nice. From there we rubbed the graphite from the wax paper onto the flat square surface of the stone block. Then retraced the graphite to be more bold on the block. Once that was finished we brought out our cutting tools and began to dig in to the block so that our design was now edged into the stone. Once we had made the lines deep enough, we pressed our stones into a bowl of ink and then made a stamp on a piece of parchment by putting the ink covered stone on a soft piece of paper. We then put our finished products together in a very nice box.
After our Seal cutting, we had our second dance class. In this class we continued with what we had already learned from our first class. Learning new steps to our routine as well as cementing the ones from before. In this session, we learned the beginning to the dance where a select few were chosen to be the sun and its rays. The rest of us then filled in and did the routine through to a grand finale, which was really a sight to be seen.
Next we had lunch, followed by a Chinese class where we learned more about how to go about buying items in Chinese. This was immediately followed by a Kung Fu class. In this class, members of the trips strength and endurance was put to the test. By starting to practice punching, kicking and other maneuvers we saw how everyone was a born Kung Fu master. After this final class, we went to dinner at the school and took a well deserved and needed rest for the evening.
