We have recently returned from our pioneer Cultural Exchange with Beijing Foreign Languages school in Beijing. The first part of this exchange took place back in May 2017, when Chinese students came to stay with us at MIT, Malaga, and we put together an excellent programme for them. Now at the end of October, we took a group of 13 students to Beijing for an 11 day stay.

They put together an excellent programme of activities for us, and we were made to feel very welcome throughout our stay.
During the weekends the students stayed at the Chinese families houses, and not only did they experience the reality of Beijing life, but they were also treated to special activities with the individual families, which included ice skating, panda shows, karaoke, paintball, paper cutting, dumpling making,markets, horse riding, and many more .

During the week, we all stayed at the school hotel where we had our breakfast and evening meal.

On the Monday morning, at the impressive raising of the flag ceremony, the school made a special reference to us and presented in Spanish for our benefit. Later in the day we had a special welcoming ceremony with the Secondary school students and MIT school was presented with a special gift. We in turn returned the favour.

At the school we were able to try our hand at Chinese painting and playing traditional chinese musical instruments. The chinese exchange students came most nights to dine with us at the hotel and we played games or sports with them.

During the week we visited the main sights of Beijing which included a walk up to the Great Wall of China, a visit to the Summer Palace and a ride on a Dragon boat. We also walked around the Forbidden city, Tiananmen Square and the Heaven temple.

We spent time in the National Museum, but we also had time for shopping in traditional markets and avenues in Beijing.
Some of our favourite activities were learning about the traditional chinese etiquette ( and not only because we got to wear kimonos ) playing the chinese drums, learning the art of a tea ceremony and also making chinese pottery. We also got to experience a fantastic Chinese acrobatic show at the theatre.

We had breakfast in the hotel but most of our lunches were in restuarants in the city. We were treated to all the top dishes in Beijing, which included Peking duck and also Hot Pot. The chinese diet is very varied with lots of different dishes served at every meal, so we ate a lot and all became quite skilled with our chopsticks.

The directors, the teachers and the students at BFLS went out of their way to make sure we were happy, we could not have asked for more. On the last day we had a final farewell party which included lots of laughs and more than a few tears when it was time to say goodbye.

The chinese families, bestowed many gifts to the Spanish students and I have been overwhelmed with their generosity.

The group of students that I took were a credit to MIT. We were 13 students between the ages of 10 and 18, one MIT mother, and myself. There was great camaraderie between all of them and they all supported each other. I was complimented many times on the attitude and behaviour of our students and I feel very proud of that.

We all learned a great deal about the differences in our cultures, the language, the diet, the traditions, but what I learned most was about the things that we have in common, the values of family, respect and education are high priority in both cultures.

WE HAVE HAD A GREAT TIME!