The first leg was Shanghai where we were treated with an unscheduled tour led by Yuan, our popular exchange student from last year, and her wonderful mother, Margaret. We had planned to meet up with them, but weren’t expecting them to be so keen ‘to make every minute’ of our ‘time in Shanghai count.’ Highlights in Shanghai were the spectacular Shanghai Museum, Yu Garden Markets and the visually spectacular Bunt area.

After sad goodbyes to Yuan and Margaret, our 7 hour train journey on one of new high speed trains brought us to Jinan where we were greeted on the platform by an entourage of friendly Government officials, including Sam and Joe who looked after our every need throughout our stay. The International Children’s Festival’s cancellation, while a pity, allowed us to have a more personalised visit. The Jinan Foreign Affairs Department, our sister school, Jinan Number 9,  Jinan University and Jinan Children’s Palace extended the hospitality that the school has come to know over the past three years’ partnership with our sister city. Highlights included our visit to our sister school Jinan Number 9, our tour of Confucius’ birthplace, our visit to the Childrens’ Palace and attending the Jinan Acrobatics show, which combined the magic of acrobatics with the spectacle of Beijing Opera. It was also special to visit Jinan University where we met key staff as well as two students who are planning to study at our school.

A three hour fast-train journey brought us through the Chinese countryside to the city which has everyone in the world looking at it right now. Beijing is everything and more that we see on the television in the lead up to the Olympics. The pollution certainly needs to be addressed, but the things that impressed us most were the culture and history of places like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China, as well as the awe-inspiring Great Wall of China which we not only walked on but chair lifted up… and tobogganed down. It was also great to see the Olympic venues and the impressive tree and flower lined avenue leading to it, even though high security prevented us from being able to enter the venues themselves.

As well as all this, we had lots of fun and have lots of stories to tell-from interesting shopping and bargaining experiences to encounters with so many friendly (and some unusual!) people, and food challenges, which luckily the group has survived to talk about. The group hope to share some of these experiences, with photos, at year assemblies soon.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us this year and to the students who were great ambassadors. We are particularly grateful for the generous support of the Jinan Municipal Government and the City of Joondalup. We are hoping that the tour will run again next year. The Jinan Government has told us that they will host a 2009 International Children’s Festival in either July or October, so when it’s time, be sure to express interest.

Carmel Agnello

Barry Manuk