The Chicago Urban League is proud to announce that it is once again hosting a student mission trip to China! For the next two weeks, 24 CUL students are being immersed in the Chinese culture, customs and cuisine. This is a journey is an adventure of a lifetime that is sure to change their lives.
The great news is that we get to be a part of their journey through the blogs they are writing. Check out the second entry below:
Tuesday June 21, 2016
Hello to the United States of America, our names are Khaleb Keller and Karl Blanton and we’re coming to you live from Beijing, China! Today was actually an interesting day. We woke up at 6:00am, ate breakfast and began our day. Our first adventure began at the Beijing Language and Culture University where we learned Chinese Mandarin. Did You Know, that there are 4 tones, 21 initials and 35 finals in the Chinese language? We played a game where we learned how to pronounce and figure out the different tones. Fun Fact: if you mess up the different tones that make up the Chinese language, people can misinterpret what you’re trying to say because different tones cause some words to mean very different things. We also learned about China’s Internet Development and differences between China and the US during another lecture. Fun Fact #2: In China, most people don’t carry wallets because all of their payments/transactions are made electronically as they find it much easier to just tap and go.
Our next stop was to the Bank of China, thanks to one of the Chicago Urban League’s board members, Mr. Reynolds from Loop Capital. During the tour, they showed us around and we were able to take pictures. It was very beautiful inside, and we were able to see their Global Markets trading floor and their vault. We would also like to thank the Bank of China Beijing’s representatives for allowing us to visit the place that keeps their money safe.
Finally, we ended our day visiting the Forbidden City which was such a beautiful sight filled with so much history. We toured the different palaces, for example; we saw the wedding room that the Emperor and his wife were once married in. Today, there was so much walking involved but, all in all, it was a fantastic day that we enjoyed so much. So we want to wrap this blog up with a very big thank you to United Airlines, the China-United States Exchange Foundation and the Chicago Urban League for making this a memorable experience. Once again our names are Khaleb Keller and Karl Blanton blogging to you live from Beijing, China on Tuesday June 21st.
~Khaleb Johnson-Keller & Karl Blanton
