Mr+Stanhope's+Group

= The Peeling Oranges = =  = = = = =

media type="custom" key="4733059" align="center" =4 November 2009= What a busy day! Silk Museum, Tie Dye, lunch at fancy restaurant, school visit, and magic show. Along the way, I learned more and more about your lovely children. 1. Chloe is an absolute wizard at creating tie-dye patterns. Hers was amazing! 2. James continues to be addicted to cheese-in-a-can and is now bringing other members of the trip to the dark side! Another of his addictions is stepping into other photos 'by accident'! 3. Dante, Emi and Jamie played a mean game of basketball against the students from the Chinese school today. Jamie is an absolute dead-eye, while Emi is a lot tougher than she looks. Even the though there were usually 3 or 4 boys draped all over her when she had the ball, she still did fantastic. Dante basically did all the work for our team! He was everywhere doing everything! Maybe that's why he was the one pouring with sweat when it was all over. 4. The girls continued with their musical genius, making up new verses for their rap about the China Trip. I believe Dante and James kicked in with some of their ideas too, but we try not to mention those too much!

See you tomorrow.

Mr Stanhope =3 November 2009= Another great day in Hangzhou. Tai Chi and Kung Fu this morning were fantastic, even though it was so cold. I was really pleased to see the members of our group doing their best to learn the tai chi moves. The hike this afternoon was challenging, but again, it was completed with smiles and laughs. Some incidents of note from the day: Tomorrow we will be visiting the silk museum and doing some tie-dying. We’ll also be going to a local primary school. I hope you’re enjoying all the updates! - Mr Stanhope
 * 1) Another great ‘Peeling Oranges’ theme song was created and performed by Robyn, Phoebe, Erin, Chloe, Alexia, Jamie and Emi. There was also a great China Trip rap made during free time. I’ll hopefully have those videos on the site some time tomorrow.
 * 2) Jamie and Emi were the first to use bribes as a means to earn a perfect score on room inspections. How they knew chocolate was the key, I’ll never know.
 * 3) James continues to pay more attention to his ‘cheese in a can’ than to the rest of us. He nearly drowned himself in cheddar when I told him the Yankees lost.
 * 4) Dante spent much of the afternoon perfecting a mandarin phrase to get another pack of Oreo cookies from Mrs Tse.

=2 November 2009, 8.35pm= We are all safe and sound in China, after a busy day of traveling and taking in the sites around West Lake. The group is really coming together well, if only I could stop mixing up Erin and Phoebe. A few quick notes about our group - The Peeling Oranges.

1. Yes, that is our name, created by Robyn! There's a story... and it involves a video ad in the HK airport and a few over-excited students. 2. James and Dante, after their initial fear of being the only two boys in the group, are happy but still trying toe find time for 'man stuff'! 3. While waiting for our flight, most of the girls in the group videoed someone peeling an orange! As I said...over-excited! 4. James loves cheese - especially from a can. He even took it to dinner with him.

Tomorrow should be a great day, as long as we all survive the cold.

- Mr Stanhope

=27 October 2009= I'm really looking forward to our China trip this year. Although I loved Yangshuo, I think our Hangzhou trip sounds even better. We will be doing so many fantastic activities. Here's what I'm wondering about the trip so far: - Will anyone in my group speak enough Mandarin to get me by (I stink at it!)? - What will the weather be like? So far, Hong Kong has been so warm, hopefully Hangzhou will be the same? - Will they have a bike big enough to actually fit me? Something tells me...NO! - What will be the treat of choice this year? For the last two years it's been Airheads. Are they still popular?

- Mr Stanhope