1997 School Magazine

~iris ©rnmmar ~cbool ~risbane 1997

around the Glass House Mountains, Maleny and Montville, a seaside afternoon tea at Mooloolaba, outings to the Exhibition and Con- vention Centre (where they visited the Inde- pendent Schools Expo), the Southbank Park- lands, the Riverside Sun- day Market, Chinatown at Fortitude Valley, the Mt Coot-tha Lookout, and some other places of interest in Brisbane. In the evening, the vis- iting staff, on behalf of their school authority, invited Mrs Thornquist and Mr Lam and their families to a Chinese dinner. Mr and Mrs

been sent to places like Japan and the US for exhibition. In some of Mr Lam's Chinese classes , Wenyi demonstrated to the BGGS students the art of Chinese cal- ligraphy. In the after- noon, the students and their teachers ventured into the city to visit the Queen Street mall and the nearby area . On Thursday 7th August, the Chinese students and teachers, accompanied by the native speaker lan- guage assistant .M r Wang, went to th e Australian Woolshed

(L-R): Mr Zhang Haoda, Mr l\1/ang Xiang, Ms Cai Biyu, Mrs Hancock, Ms Tao Liyun, Ms Yanjie.

Thelander who hosted one of the visiting staff, were also in- vited to the dinner. Mr Wang, Mr Zhang and Ms Cai had to leave Brisbane on Monday, 4th September. Be- fore they left for the airport, they met and exchanged gifts with Mrs Hancock. OnMonday 4th August, the Chinese students attended classes with their host sisters and the two teachers, Ms Yan and Ms Tao, visited various classes .

to acquaint themselves with the koalas and kangaroos and to get some idea ofwool shear- ing.They returned to the school in the afternoon and learnt how to sing Waltzing Matilda and Advance Australia Fair from Mr Lam. On Friday 8th August, th e Chinese visitors went to the Royal Exhibition for the whol e day, again accompanied by Mr Wang and also a few of th e hosting students. The group left for Shanghai on Saturday, 9th August.

On Tuesday 5th August, bes'ides attending classes with their host sisters, the Chinese students also attended an Art class specially organised for them. Pan Wenyi, one of the visiting students, is an expert in Chinese calligraphy. Her works have

As for how the Chinese visitors feel about their experience in Brisbane, at BGGS and with their host families, you may like to read the following article written by one of the students.

A Shanghai Student Writes. ...

T o us who have never been away from our own count1y, the beautiful and rich Australian continent is really full of charm, and is a place which we have longed to visit. We were ve,y much amazed by the beautiful scene,y and the unique cultural environment of Australia all the time that we were in Australia: when our plane gradually descended from the blue sky and the white clouds, when we first stepped onto this land which was completely new to us, when the car we were in sped through the slopes that went up and down, when we wandered

around the shops with all kinds of displays, and when we stood beside the quiet and glittering Brisbane River . Yet, for us, the most unforgettable experience is our stay with our host famili es and at BGGS. The host parents of each of us treated us as if we were their daughters , which made us feel that we were back to our warm and loving home . The students and teachers at BGGS were very friendly and warm to us . Therefore, we passed our eve1y single day in Brisbane extremely happily. 98 -------------------