In October 2006 Mrs Vernau and myself (Mrs Jones) flew out to China.This was Mrs Vernau's second visit but my first. The journey took a very long time. The group of Teachers Aides, Teachers, Head Teachers and Advisors met at 8 am in a car park in Brigg. The coach then drove us to Manchester airport where we boarded a flight to Frankfurt, and then an ongoing to flight to Beijing. The final leg of the journey was from Beijing to Dalian. By this time it was about midday local time and we had been travelling for around 20 hours. We were all extremely tired.
At the airport we were met by a wonderful group of school children who greeted us with big smiles and beautiful bouquets of flowers. In spite of our tiredness their wonderful greeting woke us all up and made us feel so welcome.
Over the next four days we were shown the most generous hospitality by the Dalian Education Bureau and all the members of staff from Songlin Primary School.
We enjoyed watching children perform in drama productions and musical recitals. We were very privileged to be able to watch a number of demonstration lessons. We shared information about our best practice and school management. We were treated to wonderful banquets and entertained in a teacher’s house. We were shown the sights of Dalian and of course a few shops. We arrived back at our hotel every night tired but also happy and excited by all we had seen and experienced.
Sadly the visit came to an end and we flew back to Beijing for a brief cultural visit. Trips to the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City were arranged and enjoyed by all. Then came the day we all dreaded, packing and hoping to get all our things back into a suitcase and yet still manage to make it weigh only 20Kg. A bit of an impossibility in some cases then finally the long flight home.
I would like to send my very grateful thanks to the all the wonderful staff of Songlin Primary School for their magnificent hospitality and unstinting efforts to make our visit as happy and enjoyable as they could. I can honestly say that they could not have worked harder to make us feel more comfortable and at home. Thank you so much all of you.I hope to visit you again one day in the future.
