Ternence, G10D, RDF International School 瑞得福國際學校 涂益誠 In a cool September, we visited Pubei Village, a small town in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. My classmates and I as well as our teachers commenced our travels to the high school in Pubei, spending almost half a day on the train. Eventually, we arrived at the school on time. It was very exciting for us to have dinner there since we were quite hungry at that time. The dinner in the school was not tasty at all. We got ready for a wonderful dinner only to find that the dishes were difficult to chew and swallow. After dinner, we communicated with the students there. My classmates gave a speech to them, and they listened so carefully that we couldn’t find anyone absentminded. After the speech, they showed much interest in our daily life in the city, and they also asked us many questions, which were almost about our lives, studies and technology. The question which surprised us most was about how to absorb knowledge in class when distracted by something else. It was really hard to answer because we hadn’t encountered this problem before. On the second day, which was the weekend, we had the chance to visit local students’ families since the school allowed them to have a holiday just for our visit. That is to say, they normally spend their weekends at school. It took us a long time to arrive at their homes. We primarily thought that even though they were so poor, they could still afford food and tuition fees. Nevertheless, the fact was always beyond our cognition. When we arrived, what we found was an old house with old furniture. There were some gaps in the stairs, and they were really dangerous to walk on, but they still needed to live in such an old and dangerous house. On stepping into their house, we were shocked by the conditions in which they live. We asked the students a lot of questions, and we learned that three of the students’ mothers had all passed away, and their fathers were seriously sick. As a result, they failed to make a living without the help of the local government. We were deeply shocked by the fact that the children born in such poor families were encouraged to go to school, which was so unbelievable! On the evening of the second day, we went back to the school. The students were willing to play volleyball with us as well as talk with our foreign teachers. What they presented to us was so optimistic an image that we always forgot their poor and hard living conditions. To be happy and optimistic is a valuable personality trait that people living in the city hardly think highly of! Traveling to Pubei really left an impression on me. I didn’t learn a lot of academic skills, but I actually found some treasures for me, especially in their optimistic personalities. | 