Art Classes at Beijing Huaxia Girls' School

Today our China delegation attended several art classes at Huaxia. The classes focused on several traditional Chinese art forms - ceramics, Peking opera and watercolor painting. We can report that the students displayed far more talent and patience than their teachers. Nevertheless, we all did our best, learned a lot and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  

Building Sisterhood (and Brotherhood) at Broa Sports & Leisure Ranch: Day 1

After driving about an hour and a half outside of Riberao Preto, our Brazil delegation arrived at Broa amongst some much needed rain for this part of Brazil. Though feeling a little waterlogged at times, it did not dampen the spirits of our adventurous students.

 

UA Delegation with an actual jet fighter from the Brazilian Armed Forces
at the collection of aviation and military transportation at Broa



Brazilians and Americans together in a decommissioned Brazilian military
transport plane that only needs about 40 meters to take off and land

Hanging out with Brazilian sisters during the dry afternoon

UA students + Brazilian students = Futebol

Um belo por do sol (a beautiful sunset) at Broa
on the Represa de Lobo (Wolf Reservoir)

After freshening up from an active day, Ursuline sisters come
together for dinner and some Brazilian dancing.

Welcome to Beijing!

Our China delegation arrived in Beijing this evening. Our students were met with posters, flowers and more from from their enthusiastic host families. It was a joyful and special welcome!

Dr. Yang's family was also there to meet her!

Our leaders finally meet ! 

Oi from Riberao Preto, Brazil

After everyone in the delegation made it safely to DFW amongst the freezing temperatures and rain, our plane was finally able to take off after 3 hours of waiting in line at the de-icing station, getting de-iced at said station, having our left wing checked because of a bucket incident, and then going to the de-icing station again .

We arrived safely at the Sao Paulo airport and were met by our dear friend Rafael and his crew of luggage elves from our sister school Colegio Santa Ursula.

 

The crew of luggage elves also decorated the bus with festive balloons to celebrate our arrival. :)

 

Upon arriving into Riberao Preto, our delegation was met by Sister Helenice and the host families with much fanfare.

We are all very much looking forward to our time with our sister school in Brazil and we will keep you posted!

Exploring Shanghai

What a fantastic day to be in China ! We were blessed with a beautiful day and with relatively small crowds since the Chinese have just finished their most important holiday celebrating the Lunar New Year. In fact, everywhere we went, we saw evidence of the excitement over the year of the sheep / goat (it's the same word in Chinese so both animals are honored). We made the most of this great day and visited many of Shanghai's most famous buildings, neighborhoods and scenic places. It's hard to believe that we've only been here one day since we saw so much of Shanghai! It was a magnificent day in one of the world's most magnificent cities!

Hanging out on the Bund, Shanghai's beautiful waterfront area

Our official delegation photo 

Ms. Kane at the base of the Pearl Tower, Shanghai's TV Tower 

Our fearless leaders

Our delegation plus one non-UA student (these girls are making lots of new friends!)

The view from the TV Tower

Inside the Pearl Tower

Looking lovely with the Chinese lanterns

Happy New Year! 

Discovering treasures in Tianzifang, an arts and crafts enclave in Old Shanghai 

East meets West 

The glorious view during our nighttime cruise

Ni Hao from Shanghai!

Greetings from Shanghai where our China delegation has just arrived! As those of you back home know, we had quite the adventure even before leaving Dallas. It was a bit rushed and crazy but we decided to spend the night at The Great Wolf Lodge near DFW airport because of the incoming winter storm and, oh my goodness, what a storm it was! It was a bit challenging to get into the airport but it was wonderful that we were close-by and that we were able to get to the airport on time and safely. Our flight left a bit late but was otherwise very smooth. We have checked into our hotel and enjoyed our first delicious meal in China. Now we are ready to sleep and to begin our adventure in Asia tomorrow morning! Good night from Shanghai!

How we left Dallas....

Ms. Kane enjoying her first meal in Asia! 

So happy to be here! 

Tired but enjoying the lovely meal 

Mastering chop sticks and trying new foods

a fuzzy but funny photo - good times! 

Brazil and China Delegations

It's been an icy and cold couple of weeks for us in Dallas but nothing can keep our Spring delegations down! Today, our Brazil delegation departed for Sao Paulo and tomorrow, we hope our snowed-in China delegation will depart for Shanghai and Beijing. Stay tuned to our blog to follow their adventures! 

The China delegation, camped out at the Great Wolf Lodge before departure

Our Brazil delegation - now on their way!!