Tarlan- a part of me is still in China

Hello everyone,

Now I’m at home, but a part of me is still in China and walking around and enjoying the beautiful city Xi’an.

My trip to China has been a wonderful experience of a lifetime that I will never forget.  Love anything that has to do with China, the food, culture, people, nature, EVERYTHING.

I went to China to visit an organization that I thought looked interesting. What caught my interest with the organization to The Library Project was that it seemed like such a simple organization. Yes they are a simple organization but the also have a huge impact.

The library-Project has a keyword that is “Knowledge gives you wings” I agree strongly with that. Knowledge gives you access to everything. Knowledge gives you opportunities, access to almost everything, it is the knowledge that The Library-Project donates out. There, you see simple but incredibly good.

I have a very bad acting; I’m not a big fan of reading, I do not like books. I know it is a very bad acting, but I never thought that a book was good or interesting. I remember when we donate/ visit the first school in Baoxing. We’re on the road for about half hour to arrive; once we arrived I walk out of the bus and sees a clayey slope that would lead to the school. The curiosity makes the people from the village to gather around the bus. It is unusually quiet. I take a box of books and starts to walk towards the muddy hill. All of a sudden I hear two boys who laugh, I see the boys running towards us and almost crying of happiness. I am thinking to myself wow the boys here are so happy just to help and carry things up to the school. My eyes filled with tears when I thought how lucky the boys were that they would get a chance to read books. And I don’t even like books.

The Muddy Hill

This trip has made me grow as a person and appreciate my life and my opportunities.

The two boys I told you about, carrying a heavy box of books up the muddy .

The children are happy to receive the books.

Thank you The Library Project for being such a wonderful organization that are improving things in the world. You are an incredibly great role model for other organizations. I hope companies and people see you and helps to support you so you get bigger and bigger so you might one day help schools in lots of different countries. Your organization has a wonderful staff who are incredibly talented dedicated to their work. Thank you for taking care of me and Jennifer. I have had great time with you guys, I know we will meet again!

My future right now is to graduate, to work to collect some money and then go back to Xi’an. I know I will go back to Xi’an, and I miss the day I am back in China.

Love,

Tarlan

Whats next?

Hello everyone, it´s the little Tarlan speaking.

You may be wondering what I and Jen are doing now.  The fact is that  we are preparing presentations on our project,  because on 16 December, we will visit some schools to tell what we have done in China.  We will also have a presentation for school

Hopefully we will also have presentations at our local library  to tell about our project and of course inform about The Library Project.

So rhis a brief update on our plans for the coming weeks.  A post about my experience from China will soon be posted on the blog.

Take care of each other,

Tarlan

Jenn again- experiences and memories.

Hi again everyone!

Finally I am finished with my own story. The first thing I can tell you is that I am in love with China; Xi’an, the peoples, the children, Baoxing, the food, almost everything. During the last week I have been watching all the pictures from our weeks in China. – I have to say that I am missing everything.

New book!

When we came back from China it was so nice to meet my dear family and friends again, but in the same time is a part of me still in China. I have got one dream since I was a little girl. I have been dreaming about to working as a volunteer. And now, just turned 18, I am back from two fantastic weeks in China from a volunteer job with a great friend. So imagine my feelings when I now am watching myself beside all the children! I wanted to be a volunteer, I was a volunteer, I am a volunteer! What a fantastic feeling!

The two weeks in China went so fast, and it is first now, three weeks after we came back as I start to realize what we have done! I will say that I remember every day and night in China, but there are some special moments that I will never forget;

When we went to the second school, just 45 minutes from Baoxing, the school had already closed, so we packed up all the books with help from only a few students and some older relatives. When we started our way back to Baoxing and our hotel, we realized that the principal/headmaster was following us all the way down to the little village down the school. She invited us for dinner, but since we were late, we said no. She continued to invite us. It may sound like a weird moment to remember but for me it meant so much. If a person became so happy and thankful for some books, then all the works regarding the project felt so worth it. For us in the western world is all these stuff a usual part of our life’s, but for these people, is the books something new. I cannot imagine how hard it must be to teach a bunch of YOUNG students without the right books, or without any books at all!

The headmaster and Jocelyn!

Another special memory is when we one day went to a large Tibetan school. In the same moment as we went out of the car lot of students gathered around. They started to laugh and point at us! I have never been “famous” before, haha!  

Tarlan and I, and a lot of students!

All the time we spent together with Jenny and Jocelyn was something very important for me. I have learned a lot from them during our days together. I am so impressed about their choices to work with an important organization; they are travelling around the whole China every year to help children!  They told us a lot of interesting facts about China, the people and the culture, they were also two really funny and kind girls, which made my whole trip in China easier.  

J,J,J

 

Jenn, Tarlan, Jenny and Jocelyn at a restaurant, before the train back to Xi'an.

All the time we spent with the young students makes me so happy. To see their smiles when we came and when all of them were carrying the books was great! It is in moments like that I realized how lucky I am in my own life; and how easy it is to give other people happiness!

The two of us with all the young students!

I have now been home for three weeks, but one day won´t pass without me thinking about China. I have grown a lot during these weeks. To know that I am able to travel to the other side of the world with one friend, it feels great. I have been visiting villages and counties where people are living and studying in poor places. I have been traveling on roads that we in Sweden never would be using.  I have actually helped so many children during my weeks, together with Tarlan and the team I have helped the children to a better future. I have also been lucky to meet such amazing peoples! Tom, Jenny, Jocelyn, Nicole and Belinda at the Library-Project, Jenny at Grycksbo Paper and people like Lisa and Ivy in Xi’an!

Happy boys, new school.

Happy children:)

These are my experiences from my weeks in China. You will hear from me again!

Love, Jenn

Fun to read!

Hello!

I watched the Library-Projects website today and I found a lot of pictures and information from our donations that might be fun for you to see! The Library-Project has also written something about Grycksbo Paper on the blog; fun to read!  

To the website, pictures from our time in China: http://library-project.org/libraries/15_library_donations_in_sichuan.html

To the Library-Project blog: http://blog.library-project.org/

Popular girls!

Jenn

A new day, new pictures.

Hi!

As yesterday, we will upload some new pictures as we found!

A new game

The following pictures are from one school in the same area as the Tibetan village and the area with the beautiful view. The road to the school were damaged after the earthquake. The peoples in the village was rebuilding the road while we visited the school.

The school is totally new, the earthquake demolished the old building. The new building is beautiful with nice colour, real walls and real furnitures. – But there was almost no books in the building.

The view from the second floor in the school.

Tarlan and the students in the classroom.

In the classroom.

Two happy girls with new books and games!

The students and the new, small, bags.

A picture as you might have seen before; the new beautiful school.

It was beautiful.

Jenn and Tarlan

One more..

Hi, again.

I just have to upload this picture, Tarlan and I are playing the swedish game “Under hökens vingar kom” with the students. It was difficult to play a swedish game, but finally the students understood it. And.. It was great to see them all so happy.

Swedish game with chinese students. - In english! Game!

Pictures!

Hi!

I am working on my own storie, but as you might understand it is hard to write. It is so much I want to tell you, and I wont be able to publish it today. I have so many different memories as I will write about. I can tell you that I miss China, and I know that Tarlan does it to.. I upload some pictures right now instead. Goodnight, Jenn

The view of the mountain part, around 2 hours from Baoxing.

 

From the night when we worked with more then 2 600 books!

 

We used all the space with all the boxes, globes and bookshelf

 

One little boy at the door to his classroom in the barrack.

 

Great Jenny, the students,and the first box with new books!

 

Little girl with new games, please take a look at the chairs and the floor.

 

Jenny and the students around the new bookshelf.

 

The two of us, the headmaster and the students, and of course the bookshelf.

Tarlan and one of the students.

Not so easy to update.

Hi!

We haven’t update the blog for a few days now- as we said before we have a lot of things to do in school. We are working with some presentation regarding the project in the near future.

I hope we will have time to give you all our own stories about our volunteer job in China!  Hopefully one of us can publish our storie in the end of the week. I promise you we will try to fix it.

It seems to be some trouble to upload pictures, I hope it is okey. 

Have a nice day,

Jenn

One of the first days, with grat Gabi and Jenny!

Tarlans best and strangest memories from China.

Hello everyone, I am going to tell you about my best and strangest memories from China. Enjoy=)

What was the best thing with the weeks in China?

The best thing about China was really everything. I love the culture, the indescribably beautiful nature, the warm nice kinde (handsome) people.

What do you think was the worst thing with these weeks?

 I found nothing special that was horrible during the three weeks in China, it was awful was obvious the children who attended a school that really was not a school. There was a hut with a chair and bench, that was their school. That was the most horrible thing I saw, but it is on the mend, just because we donated the books to them is a big step. And I hope it continues to improve, it is time now.

  

What was the….

word that you used the most?

  oh god i don’t even know how to spell it. “Shuay guo”  i think = means handsome guy.

most wierd you did experience during these weeks?

The strangest thing I experience was probably not really weird but I was probably very above it; the Chinese toilet. Imagine a hole in the ground, do I need to say anything more?

most tasteful food you tried?

 Oh, I must say that all the food was soo tasty and absolutley wonderful, so I have to say that all food was good. But I had my favorite restaurant near the office in Xi’an where i could order spicy chicken and rice. Oh i miss it already.

most wierd food you tried? 

So the most weirdest meal I experianced was probably a normal day at the restaurant in Cheng du. When we are waiting for the food a lady comes out whit a big bowl . Full of anticipation as I always am when I am waiting for today’s food in Cheng du, I asked Jenny what it was for food. Jenny responds that it is cow’s stomach. No problem I thought. Jennifer begins with at a bite and says that consistency is plastic. There went my limit, picky as I am. It was the closest strange food I have experienced. But it was fun to see others eating it.

your favorite place in China?

I sound so typical all the time but I really loved all parts, towns and villages of China. However, i liked  Xi’an a little bit more.

What surprised you?

Something that really surprised me was China’s wonderfully stylish/handsome boys and men. The boys / men were extremely handsome. Jenny and Joycelyn came up to the idea that i am going to marry a Chinese man. Why not.

What do you miss?

EVERYTHING

 

             

But I know I will go back to this wonderful country as soon as I graduate and amassed a little money.

                                                                        Then I’ll be back again in Xi’an…

                                                                 

                                                           

 

Kind regards,

Tarlan

 

Jennifer – answers to our own questions!

Hi everyone!

Once again- sorry for a late update.. As you know are both of us back in school and we have a lot of thing to catch up on.

What was the best thing with the weeks in China?

The fact that the help to the school is so needed! Also the fact that the aid reaches the schools.  

What do you think was the worst thing with these weeks?

It was hard for me to be away from my family, and in some way it was hard to live with only one person for two weeks. As Tarlan said before, we have been each others mothers, sisters and friends. – But in the end, to only live with one person have helped me to grow a lot.

It was also hard me to be aware of the conditions wich the childrens are studying in.

 

 

What was the….

word that you used the most?

Xièxie -Thanks and “Mei nu”- Beautiful women!

most horrific memory you have?

The road up to the last school will be my most horrific memory! I thought we were going to die.  

most wierd you did experience during these weeks?

Hm… The behavior of some chinese people to spit on the floor.

most tasteful food you tried?

The chinese fish we ate together with the schoolboard in Baoxing was really tasteful! I also liked the chicken in Xi’an, spicy chicken!

- And of course, sad but true; the chocolate-pie at Mc Donalds..

most wierd food you tried?

The stommeck from a cow was really wierd, it had the same consistency as a mushroom.  

worst experience?

An easy one! The toilet on the chinese train! (Not the kind of toilet as we are use to in Sweden) 

best feeling with our visit in China?

For me was the feeling to finally be a volunteer great.

The great feeling to realise that you actually have travel the other side of the world with your friend, just turned eighteen, that feels good!

your favorite place in China?

A tuff one. I have to say the view in the mountain part in Baoxing were we visited one of the last schools. The sun was all over the place and the lake had the most fantastic colour.

These are my answers!

Goodnight,

Jenn

One boy at the first tibetian school.