We began our introduction to Chinese Culture with a very fascinating and interactive traditional Chinese calligraphy lesson from an outside presenter. Our teacher, Raymond Zhu (Zhu Laoshi), was quite well-versed in the art of calligraphy and Chinese fan painting, and he brought in a family heirloom to show: a centuries-old book of handwritten Chinese poems. Our group got to try our hand at these stunning art forms, and some proved to be quite talented! At the end of our time with Zhu Laoshi, he gave one lucky winner of our lottery-style auction an original fan he painted during our lesson.
After our creativity-filled morning came to an end, we headed over to Akira for lunch. There, we had an array of American-Asian cuisine ranging from vegetable spring rolls to sesame noodles to General Tso’s chicken. Everyone was more than full when all was said and done, and we then rolled ourselves back to campus after a leisurely ice-cream pit-stop.
For the remainder of our afternoon, we were on the fields flying kites in the shape of all sorts of animals, most notably the high-flying octopus that could be seen all the way from the main building. Some gave up trying to master the task of kite-flying, but others met grand success. For those who became exasperated with the kites, they either kicked around jianzi, dubbed shuttlecock in English; tried out diabolos, a challenging Chinese toy that spins around a string; or enjoyed the beautiful weather.