My name is Su Yin Chan. My father is from New Territories, Hong Kong, but my mother is half-Chinese from Jamaica, and that is where I was born before moving to the UK at the age of three. I grew up in North Wales and then moved to London. I taught English in the public sector in the city centre. Back in 2005 and 2007, I joined a teacher delegation to exchange experiences of education in China, and I was lucky enough to visit Beijing for a week each time, mainly teaching in a school. Having promised my father to learn the language, I am now fulfilling that promise here at UWC Changshu, China, and loving being here.

我是陈素茵。我父亲来自香港新界，我母亲来自牙买加，有一半华裔血统。我出生在牙买加，三岁去了英国。我在北威尔士长大，后来去了伦敦上大学。毕业后我在伦敦中心的一所公立学校教英文。2005-2007期间，我分别两次参加英国的教师团到北京的学校进行一周的教学。我一直答应我父亲要学习中文，现在在常熟UWC我正努力学习中文，我非常喜欢常熟。

I was so excited to be going to Xixian to visit Siyuan school and see something of the Chinese countryside and the real China. What I discovered is that like a lot of places near Changshu, there are many, many towering buildings and urban sprawl on the way and around Xixian. The land seemed very flat and fertile, and surprisingly empty of people en route, and when we arrived, very similar to Changshu.

我很高兴能去河南息县的学校，看看中国乡村和真正的中国。我发现，就像常熟附近的很多地方一样，在去息县的路途中和息县的四周，都有许多高耸的建筑和城区的不断扩展蔓延。这片土地看起来非常平坦和肥沃，一路上看不到太多人。当我们到达时，我感觉那里与常熟也非常相似。

甘蔗地

Head teacher Liu of Siyuan school went out of his way to look after us all, and one of the highlights of that Sunday was visiting the farm seeing all the beautiful vegetables growing. We also got to visit the re-constructed memorial hall of a well known beauty Madam Xi in ancient China in the beautiful sunshine, and hear her story. Some students got to visit students’ homes and were overwhelmed by the hospitality they received.

思源学校的刘校长非常热情，不遗余力地照顾我们带队的老师和所有学生。那个星期天的一大亮点是参观农场，看到了农田里种植的各种蔬菜。我们还在灿烂的阳光下参观重建了的春秋时期四大美女之一的息夫人纪念馆，并听听她的故事。一些学生去做家访，他们也对当地学生家庭的热情接待深为感动。

UWC学生和思源学生合影

The size of schools in China is startling compared to the UK, and the flag-raising ceremony also a new experience. That Monday morning was the coldest we’d encountered, but our reception was so warm, there were smiles all round as we were entertained by wonderful performances given by the Siyuan students, ending up with all of us on stage, treated like popular performers.

与英国相比，中国的学校之大令人惊叹，对我来说升旗仪式也是一种新的体验。那个星期一的早晨是我们所遇到的最寒冷的早上，但是息县思源学校的热情的欢迎把寒冷驱散。整个过程中所有人脸上都满是笑容，思源学生的表演非常精彩，最后我们大家都登上舞台，我们就像演员一样受到学生和老师的热烈欢迎。

Getting to meet the students and interact with them, was the real highlight of the week, especially as we saw the same faces again and again and came to feel really close to them. They were interested in us, and we were interested in them. As a gift, I wrote a poem that really captures this feeling of interchange.  Kimi translated the poem into Chinese. For many of us, we realized that by comparison our lives have been much easier, but their spirit, their willingness to share, and their generosity was humbling.

与学生见面并与他们互动是项目周的真正亮点，尤其是当我们一次又一次看到相同的面孔并变得与他们非常亲近时。他们对我们感兴趣，我们也对他们感兴趣。作为礼物，我写了一首诗来表达我们对这次交流的感受，阮嘉骐 (Kimi) 同学把诗翻译成了中文。对于我们许多人来说，我们意识到，与思源学校的学生相比，我们的生活要轻松得多，但是他们的精神，分享的意愿和慷慨都令我们自叹不如。

我们与刘校长（二排左一）的合影, 作者 （二排左五）

As Mehrdod, a FP student from Tajikistan said, when he saw the amazing talent of the students, how hard they must have worked to give us such a varied performance in the final concert, he was inspired by them to give back. He’s determined that next year, when he’s a DP1, he’ll have some new skill to share. Apart from the new friendships that formed within our group of students, many of us felt that although we knew from their reaction that we’d touched the young students of Siyuan – from the beautiful flowers, fruit and sweets we’d been given – they had touched us. Seeing how other people live, and getting to spend time with them, and then reflecting on this experience has been really important for UWC students too: it was a shared experience that benefited and inspired so many people.

正如来自塔吉克斯坦的FP学生Mehrdod所说，当他看到思源的学生们在我们临行前的联欢会上的精彩文艺表演上所展现的才华和付出的努力时，他深受感染并决心回馈。他准备明年当他成为DP1时，将学会一些新技能与思源学生分享。除了与学生建立了新的友谊，我们中的许多人都感到，我们与思源学生的交流打动了他们，我们收到了许多礼物，美丽的花朵，水果和糖果，思源的学生也感动了我们。看到其他人的生活，与他们共度时光，然后反思这种经历，对UWC学生也非常重要：这是一种共享的经历，令学生受益并深受启发。

这是我们送给思源学校的礼物以表达我们的感激之情