Summer Camp report by Catherine Nyambura Machang’a
I’ll first say thankyou to the Almighty God for making everything possible,secondly I would like to acknowledge the efforts of all our teachers and moreso parents for supporting us in every way possible to see this trip happen.
Special thanks to the Government of China,the Embassy,the Confucius Institute headquarters for financing everything.Thanks also to these eight friends for making it fun and more memorable!
非常感谢你们(Thank you very much.)
我们都很开心（we all very happy.）
It’s a journey we had all been waiting for.Getting our passports done and visas made was such an achievement.A reason to smile,an expression that can be seen on our bright faces.
It was really exciting flying together.We made every minute memorable by taking many photos.Our flight first stopped at Bangkok Thailand,later at Guanzhou China.It’s really amazing having been in 3 different countries at a go!
肯尼亚(Kenya)－泰国(Thailand)－中国(China)?
We landed at Guanzhou Baiyun airport.Do you know what Baiyun means?Well,it means WHITE CLOUDS.The airport architectural design is like white clouds.very beautiful and breathtaking.From there we changed to another flight which took us to Pudong airport located in Shanghai,where we were picked by a bus direct to our destination and host campus,Donghua University,International Cultural Exchange School.
HELLO DONGHUA!
Donghua is such a big campus whose location makes everything convenient for students who want to explore Shanghai.The environment is very conducive for learning.We had an amazing time interacting with teachers ,non-teaching staff and fellow classmates.This has made our spoken chinese to improve greatly.We had chinese language classes and Cultural classes every afternoon.Here are some pics!
E-班
It’s too unfortunate I didn’t fall in the same class with my other eight friends.Nevertheless I had an amazing time in E-class with my classmates who most were Koreans,2 from Thailand and 1 from Sylvokia.Studying with them made the class very interesting.
想尝尝中国茶吗？ Would you like to taste some Chinese tea?
China has different kinds of tea,some are black tea,green tea,white tea and even flower tea.The most interesting thing about all these kinds is they have different values they add into the body.If you want to get mote prettier,I suggest you go for Flower tea……花茶
Quite interesting isn’t it?
你猜猜我站在哪儿 Can you guess where I am standing?
During Beijing Peking Opera,the characters put on some masks.Zhang Laoshi gave us an explanation what the colours on the mask stand for.For example,a character wearing a white mask means he’s evil or potray bad character.Red on the other hand means the character is a good person,Green means the character is very clever and so on.
This was really amazing to see how different the chinese culture is from ours.In Kenya we wear red during burials which is a ‘sad event’ and put on white during a wedding ceremony “happy event.”
During our free time we would all use the sub-way to visit different places withing shanghai,we would go for shopping in different places sometimes just to take some photographs.Transportation in China is really advanced.From aeroplanes,electric buses,sub-ways,taxis to bicycles.I hope with the help of chinese government,Kenya in some years time can be like China.
外滩－THE BUND 非洲的美女- African beauties!
This is a common phrase we would hear from the chinese anytime we went out.It feels good when someone appreciates your skin colour and beauty in public.This day we visited The Bund,the Shanghai Landmark.The place is very beautiful especially at night but there are so many people!
We had fun interacring with the locals and taking pictures with them.
THE WORLDS LONGEST BRIDGE
We were very privileged to travelled along the worlds longest bridge which is on the way to Zhejiang Province.Ningbo a city in this province is well known for manufacturing of electronics and motor vehicles.The bridge connects this city to the port where they export their manufactured goods.We had a chance to visit a car manufacturing industry but unfortunately we couldn’t get in as it was under renovations.
We also stopped by a very beautiful hotel located at the center of the bridge!The hotel attracts many tourists for its spectacular location on the sea.The scenery is very overwhelming.I hope in future I will get to go back there and enjoy the view and the serene of the sea in the evening and morning hours.
The park of love in Zhejiang province
We went for boat-riding,saw beautiful flowers,waterbucks but the most amazing thing about this park is its name.The park of love.The name is derived from a famous movie that was shoot here on ‘Test for true love’.The feeling of the park is nothing but love!
Having had a good time at the park we later went to Wuzheng,a water town.The houses at Wuzhen are build on the water,there are so many bamboo trees and people of Wuzhen have maintained their traditions thus making this town have many tourists throughout the year.
真美
This indeed is a place to visit whenever you visit China.The scenery is just so beautiful.I love it.
After touring all these places,we travelled to Beijing via Speed train.We went across different provinces making everything more amazing.On reaching there we found our tour guide Diana who would take us to various places.
This is Hanban,The Confucius Institute Headquaters,where our HSK exams are marked,a place where we get our Confucius teachers from.It was such an honour.
The second day in Beijing we visited the Forbidden City,A place where the emperors lived together with their families.The structures are very unique thus attracting many tourists.There were so many peple including kids who had come to visit and i made friends with two kids who were practicing their spoken English!
可爱吗 ISN’T IT CUTE?
We also visited the Confucius statue,located in an educational center.
MY FEELINGS ABOUT SUMMER CAMP.
Summer camp is not only for having fun.The value of experience is more important.I feel that CI has done an amazing job to introduce this to our study curriculum.This camp has not only taught us about the chinese culture and lifestyle but along with this we have learnt to work efficiently as part of a team,we have learnt to socialize with other people and develop better communication skills.This camp was memorable experience for us all!
bye bye china
MACHANG’A CATHERINE NYAMBURA 马凯妮（小马）
MOI UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Summer Camp report by Jerusha Cheruto Kones
From the 14th to 30th of July, I alongside eight other students from Confucious Institute at Moi university had the priviledge to visit China for the 2018 summer camp after successfull selection by our professors, Professor Huang Peixi and Professor Simatei.
We had a wonderful stay in Shanghai where we studied at Donghua University from 16th to 26th of July. We attended classes on a daily basis from 9:00am to 3:10pm where we were taught the chinese language course for the morning part and thereafter the chinese culture in the afternoon.
On the chinese culture we were taught the chinese calligraphy,sachet making,mask painting and chinese tea making.
Chinese tea making
Sachet making
Calligrapy
We were also priviledged to experience the advanced technology whereby we used the Metro train to move around shanghai,the fastest electric train in the world from Shanghai to Beijing,travelled on the longest brigde in the world and also the aeroplane
We also visited the scenic spots around Shanghai and Beijing,the Waitan,Wuzhen waterTown,Geely Auto,CI headquarters, Forbidden city and Imperial academy
Forbidden city
At the CI headquarters
Waitan
We also had the chance to have a taste of the Chinese dishes.
The trip gave us an opportunity to immerse ourselves more in the Chinese language and culture while making new friends all over the world
This trip widened my thinking of the outside world and gave me the urge to wish to study and thereafter work in the Peoples Republic of China.
JERUSHA CHERUTO KONES 叶书华
MOI UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
Summer Camp report by Hannington Odido
The Confucius institute Summer Camp that took place on July 15th was as informative as it was entertaining. It was a new experience for most of the students as they got to immerse themselves in a new culture and way of life without knowing what in particular they were to expect. The division of classes into language and grammar classes in the morning and history and culture classes in the afternoon provided a kind of balance for the students to see the scope of China from both the sides. It also enabled us students to put the HSK classes provided by the Confucius institute into practice, since in normal circumstances we need only study for the examinations, however, in this situation, as students we had to take a more practical approach. This also allowed us to test our limits since situations as basic as communicating with the locals require a level of understanding of the Mandarin language.
Each student came back with a more progressive way of thinking since it’s common speak that you learn more of yourself looking from the outside in. A recurring revelation was Kenya’s overreliance on Western influence which became apparent with how independent the Chinese people -especially when it comes to their language and media. This acted as a wakeup call for where we need to move both as a nation and as individuals, a kind of ‘self-pride’ needs to be brought about in the mwananchi since it is impossible to fully grasp and enjoy a foreign culture without first encouraging that which is yours.
The activities in the camp included intensive grammar classes and learning more hanzi-chinese characters, field studies to improve on communication skills and education on historical Chinese monuments, these include; the 1300-year-old Wuzhen Water Town, the Forbidden City, and the Confucius Institute Headquarters among others.
Above all else, it was a good learning experience and without a doubt each student came back more learned and better versed in the language and the histories/philosophies of China.
HANNINGTON ODIDO 欧寒
SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES.
