4th Nov :(

No matter how hard I try to resist, time still slips away.With a blink of the eye, today is our last day in India. 

We went to Tara's birthday party where I saw most of my friends for the last time before I leave. They have been really friendly to me when I was in school, I felt like I was part of them. I definitely would not forget them and the time we spent together. However, we still had to say goodbye to each other unwillingly. 

Afterwards, Yan, Parmangana, Muskaan and I visited the gateway of India. There were a lot of people and we left after taking a few pictures. Then we went to Dhobighaat, it is a place where the wash men known as dhobi, washed clothes. There was a place in the middle made of stone which looked like a maze and the wash men would was the clothes there and the water that drained out was very dirty.  It was a poorer part of india and the all the people there were staring at us as if we were strange creatures. I experienced the huge difference in wealth in india. They were living in huts and 

The past nine days felt like a fantasy to me. I was treated with much love and care. I had the best time and I have learnt so much about India, including their lifestyle, culture and traditions. It has been such a great experience and I would want to visit india again in the future. 

Gessy Li 

Nov 3

3rd November, 2012

   The day pretty much started with a yell from the vendors below. I have learnt that the vendors would cycle around every single day, shouting out to everyone to indicate that he is willing to take in anything old, or he is selling certain goods. Apart from the vendors, some other creatures are also capable of being extremely noisy: the crows. One thing about Mumbai is not only it is densely populated by human beings, it also boasts thousands of crows which would be everywhere throughout the day. Unfortunately my sleep was disrupted by the vendors and the crows and so I woke up and got ready for the day. 

    The day rolled by quickly, with Big Bang Theory on TV, a sweet lime juice and a custard apple for breakfast.  Sweet lime and custard apples are fruits commonly found in India, with the sweet lime tasting slightly like oranges and the custard apple resembling a grenade, but tasting delightfully sweet. However, there are not much flesh inside but an awful lot of seeds, but it was a really interesting fruit.

    After a nice morning, me and my host Divina went to the Colaba Causeway, which is pretty much like Mongkok in Hong Kong. There's a great hustle all around the place and there's a lot of commotion. People were pushing all around and there are a lot of stalls and motorcycles all over the place. It is terribly crowded but there are a lot of goods sold at a good price--and we can even bargain! I bought a some bracelets, bangles, scarves for me and my mom, some ornaments and so forth. Along with these souvenirs, I also learnt more about the fine art of bargaining. Apart from stalls, there are also some branded shops like Nike, Reebok, Adidas and so on. Exclude all the people all over the place, the Causeway is a nice place to spend all your money. 

     We went to pick up some Indian foods at Camy, an Indian snack shop Camy is one of those shops that everyone knows in Mumbai; according to Divina it's been here for a long, long time. I bought some nice snacks like chakli (rice biscuits), banana wafers, chevea(corn chips) and a lot more. I'm starting to worry whether I can fit all of this stuff into my suitcase.

    So it has been a really fruitful day (literally) and hopefully I have enough space in my suitcase to put everything in. Sounds cliche, but time really flies. I really do not want to go back to Hong Kong so soon. 

Gladys :D 

     

Nov 3

This is our second last day in India and though our hearts are  weighing heavy with the fact that we're departing the next day. However Indians obviously believe that to mark a departure of good friends is to  celebrate like crazy, and our day was filled with explosive fun! :D

In the morning I went with my host to Colaba Causeway, which is a local street that is packed with stalls that sells souvenirs and Indian products. There were stalls selling bangles, jewelry, cravings and various clothing items. It was a loud, happy and exciting place and I basically had a shopping spree and bought lots of special gifts for my family and friends in Hong Kong.

Then I attended a party hosted by one of the hosts, Raeka. It was her birthday today and she held an absolutely awesome dance party in a restaurant. It was completely marvelous; the party was complete with drinks, loud music, and crazy dancing which all of our teenage girls enjoyed a lot. It was very nice of Reaka to let us join her party- it was such great fun! :))

Afterwards I visited Crosswords- an enormous bookstore near my host's home that has a vast collection of Indian and english volumes. I bought 8 books at such cheap prices- it was awesome! Finally I enjoyed a dinner with the host family at the local race course- I enjoyed some traditional Indian food such as butter chicken, roasted chicken and vegetable skewers and they were absolutely delicious.

I enjoyed today a lot- but all i can think about is we're leaving tomorrow and I'm kind of sad already :(

Nov 3

    It was a free day today as there was no school, so we were free to go wherever we wanted with our host.

    I had a great lunch after waking up quite late, a change from the previously early morning call. After that, my host and I watched movies together.

    In the afternoon, we went to the bookstore Crossword. It was really big, and even had a place to eat upstairs! The books were also a lot cheaper than in Hong Kong. One book cost around 300 rupees, which was 50HKD! I immediately grabbed a bunch of books. Apart from books, it also sold snacks and stationery. It was like your Page One bookstore in India, only with more books and a lot more affordable!

    After spending a few hours at Crossword, we carried on to go to a bus ride round the city. Yes, those bus rides with an open upper deck. By this time, it was around 7pm, so everyone was really tired. However, that didn't deter us from taking many photos! At the end of the ride, we also went to the Gateway of India! The view was really pretty.
    With everyone nearly weeping from exhaustion, we drove to a restaurant with many different cuisines available. We had a great time chatting with each other, and the food was delicious too. After all, it had been a long day.

Lydia Chiu 4X (8)

2 Nov :P

Today is our last school day at JB Petit and we had taken lots of photos everywhere in the historic and beautiful campus. I am sure that all of us will miss our school buddies so much after we go back to Hong Kong and we will all keep in touch with them. These friendships are definitely long-lasting ones. 

For the visiting, we had gone to a Jain temple. The architecture threre were simply adorable. The temple was built with marbles and the pillars were crafted in details. Through this activity, we had learnt more about the religions in India. We got to know how people worship for other religions and the features of their gods.

After lunch, we had a really fun dancing lesson. We were taught some Bollywood dance and even Mrs. Lau joined us! We were all enjoying ourselves so much and getting so hyper!

Finally, for the last activity in this school, we had done some mandis on our hands, which were actually tatoos. All of us found the spirals and patterns really fascinating. 

After school, I had gone to Coloba Causeway. It is like a whole long street which sells all kinds of souvenirs in India. I had bought some traditional Indian outfit and postcards, which are all so nice.

All in all, I had enjoyed myself a lot today :P

Nov 2

Time flies. This is the last day of school in J B Petit.

Since today is dress-as-you-like day, everyone in school dressed casually mostly in shirt and jeans and a few in Indian clothes. Similar to our school, during the dress as you like day, students are not allowed to wear spaghetti straps or short pants.

We followed the timetable for the first 3 lessons as usual. We had double Chemistry for the first two lessons in which we had the "flame test" on different metal compounds which include potassium, copper, sodium and calcium compounds. Since I had learnt and performed this test last year, I was familiar with the procedures of the test and had no difficulty in performing it

For the fieldtrip, we went to the Janism temple. it was quite cool to me as I haven't been in a temple like this before. It had some Indian sculptures of the gods which Indians believe and its architecture was beautiful and unique. We learnt a lot of India's religion from the temple.

After lunch, we had an Indian dance workshop. We were taught with classic and bollywood dances. Since both are Indian dances, their styles are pretty much the same. The steps are not hard to learn as they are quite similar, but with different variations. We basically followed what the teacher did. It was exciting and fun for us who had never learnt Indian dances before.

Finally afterschool, we did some mandis on our hands. They are tattoos which have mostly spiral patterns.

Nov 2

            It was the 6^th day of our cultural exchange trip to India, and it was the last day we attend lessons and activities at J.B. Petit High School for Girls. As it was a Friday, it was the “Dress as You Like” day in J.B., when all students are allowed to wear casual wear to school. To my surprise, apart from Fridays, students are actually allowed to wear casual wear to school on their birthdays!

            Math class marked the start of the day. Std. 8A has just started a new topic --- simultaneous equations, which I’ve learnt in last year (S2). They got the concept really quick even though it was a new topic to them!

            After math, it was social studies lesson with the headmistress of J.B. --- Mrs. Kutar. They were learning “Music in Europe”, and Mrs. Kutar introduced the orchestra as well as different “families” of musical instruments of it to the class. Also, we talked about Ludwig Van Beethoven. Although I often play his pieces on the piano, there were some facts on him that I never knew! The biggest difference between their social studies lessons and our liberal studies lessons is that in social studies, they mainly study history, geography, music, art etc. of a certain place (e.g. Europe), whereas in liberal studies we mainly study news that are happening all over the world, which we need a critical mind to give opinions.

            At 10am, all the DGS girls and their host and school buddies went for a visit to the Jain Temple, which was a temple of gods of the Jains. As there are only about 500 Jains in Hong Kong, we have not really heard about it, so we learnt about many facts about Jainism on our way. As Jainism was founded in India during the 6^th century B.C., most of the Jains in the world are found in India, but only 0.5% of the population in India are Jains. Jainism has 24 gods, and in the temple we visited there were only the 1^st and 23^rd gods. The Jains prescribes the path of not harming any living beings, therefore they are strict vegetarians. It was a nice experience where we were able to see the way Jains practise their religion, hence acquiring new knowledge.

            After lunch, we had an Indian dance workshop. There are classical, folk and Bollywood dance. We learnt the basic steps of classical Indian dance --- right left right left, left right left right. With these steps, we could actually dance anything as we like, as there are lots of variations of these steps. There are many kinds of fold dances in India as each state has its own state dance. It is actually a variation of the classical dances where you add in folk movements. As for the Bollywood dance, it is mainly danced in the Indian movie industry, and the dance steps usually rock more. Although it was quite tiring after dancing, we still had a great time.

            After school ends, all of us got tattoos which are done by a natural type of herb. The herb is brown in colour, but when it gets on the skin it turns orange and gets darker as time passes. After 1-2 weeks, it will disappear naturally.

            Time flies, and there are only 2 more days till the end of our cultural exchange trip. I will surely miss Mumbai!

Nov 2

   Despite the overwhelming heat that slightly troubled us, we all enjoyed the last day at JB Petit. We had the last enjoyable lessons of Social Science and double Maths learning about Beethoven and revolutions of circles respectively. Afterwards, we headed off to the Jain Temple. It was very beautiful, with painted ceilings that displayed the different types of life Indians had along with the white-washed walls and sturdy pillars. It was the statues of the gods and the shimmering chandeliers that lit up every single hall where people would kneel down to the gods and mumble their own prayers. One interesting thing to note was the holy symbol that was seen everywhere. It was carved on doors, floor mats and ceilings. It actually looked quite similar to the yin yang symbol in Chinese!
  
   As we went back to school, we were quickly rushed off to the Indian dance workshop. We learnt the basic steps of Indian traditional Bollywood dance, with zigzags, turning, and swinging your hips. Although we were terribly troubled by the heat, we soon forgotten about the perspiration streaming down our foreheads as we were totally fascinated about the dance. The dance instructor demonstrated several pieces of dance that required a lot of movement from the whole body and we all followed really well. She also taught us how to do the Namaste (means Hi in India) movement through walking forward for four steps, clasping our hands together, and moving backwards. These movements were very fun and towards the end, all the DGS girls swayed their hips while dancing to the Oppa Bollywood Style!

   After the dance class, we bade farewell to our dear JB classmates who had spent such a wonderful week in the classroom with us. They taught us so many Indian traditions and I had so much fun with them. They hugged us goodbye outside the artroom and we went to do our henna tattoo. (mehndi in Indian language) Our hands were beautifully painted by two professionals using a cream-like squeezer. They told me that my name Dana was somehow hidden in my unique henna tattoo at the back of both hands!

   This week at JB Petit flew by quickly and I'm really glad I had learnt so much. I'll miss the girls so much and all the delicious Indian snacks they had offered me. Thank you JB. -all our love from DGS Hong Kong girls. Can't wait to see you again!

- Dana Tsoi

Nov 1

Hindi as the first lesson of the day was pretty interesting. They had a quiz on opposite words which is called "vilom" in Hindi. Seeing them write in such a language fascinates me since it's so different from what we usually see. Hindi is written below the line, and even though I had no idea what the characters meant, they looked pretty to me :) Tanisha my school buddy once said that if she saw a message that had only Chinese character on it, she'd think that her computer had a nasty virus. I had to agree with her. If my computer suddenly pops out a message with Hindi on it, I'd be a little scared too :D

Chemistry was quite interesting to me, even though I learnt most of the things they were teaching. They were learning about different chemical reactions, such as how carbon dioxide turns lime water milky. I was amazed at how all the students knew not only the English names for the different solutions, but the scientific formulas as well. Tanisha says they have to learn them by heart since the beginning of term, and "it was a really tough time". Since our teachers told us specifically that we aren't required to learn them, I feel pretty sorry for them :P

After a while, we went out for a fieldtrip to Manibhavan, which was where Gandhi stayed when he was in Mumbai. It was quite cool to see the very few belongings that he had, and the different pictures depicting different things he did to fight for equality and the independence of India from the British rule. There were a few clay models that showed the events, such as the Salt March and the Fast for Communal Harmony. After the short visit, I learnt a lot more about this hero and what he did during simple life. All in all, I think that Gandhi was all in all, a true hero and a great man.

We went back to school after the trip, and the 14 of us amused ourselves in the junior school playground for a while before lunch. I was getting pretty tired of the repetitive school lunches, so today I opted for a cheese dosa instead. It's a traditional south Indian snack, which looks and tastes very similar to a pancake.

After lunch, we had a speech and drama workshop, which I can certainly say is the most interesting lesson I've had in India so far. The teacher Ms Bedi had us do different emotions, from the smallest scale (moving only your face) to the largest scale (practically jumping with exaggerated facial expression and movement). We then separated into 5 groups, where we had to come up with a commercial for an imaginary product. It was really fun since we got to use our imagination and act crazy :D I definitely think that there it should be included in our curriculum at school, since it really helps us relax and get away from all the academic stress...

I can't wait for tomorrow since it's going to be Dress As You Like day :) I guess all 14 of us are lucky to have this event twice this school year :D (though that's nothing compared to the JB Petit girls since they have it every Friday...)

June Ho 3U (12)

Nov 1

     Today is our fifth day to India.
     We have lessons with our school buddies as usual. I had geography lesson and it is interesting since I haven't leant them before. Afterwards we went to Mani Bhavan -- a place dedicated to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. That place was a mansion which belonged to his friend, and was also an important place where a lot of Gandhi's political activities were initiated. There were a lot of paintings and photographs about him and the political activities related to him. There were also small dolls in boxes which show important things about his life. I learnt so much in Mani Bhavan, about Gandhi and also India's history.

doll box

Mani Bhavan

     Afterwards, we all had a speech and drama workshop. This workshop was fun and very intersting. The teacher taught us how to use our whole body to express sadness, happiness, anger and fear. We started off with just little facial expression, to moving our hands and feet, to jumping up and kneeling down to express those feelings. Then, we were divided into group, and we were asked to do a short commercial about an imaginary product. All of them were very funny and entertaining.

speech and drama workshop

    After school, my host took me to ride a horse carriage. This was my first time and it was very exciting. The carriage was so beautiful that I felt like a queen when I was sitting in it. I got to see how Mumbai looks. The ride was bumpy but still nice all the same. I am sure tomorrow will be another fruitful day.

Sarah Ho :]
4U (13)

Nov 1

              This morning we went to school as usual by school bus.  I met my buddies and had geography lesson with Ashumi. The teacher was very interesting and although she was teaching the things we had covered last year, some of the terms were different and I learned some new concepts. After geography lesson, we had a little bit of cookery, then went to join another class for social studies lesson. They taught us about the languages in India and how they were formed. They also taught us a few conversational phrases and we all enjoyed that very much. Then we had to teach the class about Chinese and some sentences in Cantonese. It was very fun and enriching.
             After the lessons we boarded the bus to visit Mani Bhavan, the place Gandhi lived in while he resided in Mumbai. It was a very interesting place as it displayed quite a few of Gandhi's letters and the things he used when he was alive, and also a miniature doll display that illustrated the main events that happened in his life. I had surely understood a lot more about the important figure to the world and India's fight for freedom and peace, and learnt more about his philosophy and values.
             In the afternoon we had a speech and drama workshop. The teacher was very inspiring and the session was extremely fun and enjoyable. We did some fun warm-up exercises then split in groups to create a commercial advertisement for an imaginary product. We all loved the session very much.
After school, we went to another host's house for English tuition, then went to the bookshop Crossword for some really cheap books :) For dinner, we went to an Indian restaurant for naan bread, which I love. The day was very fruitful and fun, I enjoyed it very much. Time flies so fast, and I can't believe there's only 3 days left of our time in Mumbai! :(


-Yan Chan  3U (5)
1st November, 2012

Nov 1

         Today was a really fascinating and fruitful day that we all learnt much about Indian culture and history. We had a tight schedule, but still it was very interesting and we enjoyed it very much.
         After some lessons in the morning, we went to Mani Bhavan with our buddies. It was where Gandhi-"the Father of India" stayed when he visited Mumbai. There were photographs and miniatures showing the biography of this amazing man. We not only understood more about Gandhi, but also the founding of the country and its background.
          Gandhi was one of the greatest of the Indian Freedom fighters. His life was that of great learning and sacrifices. He was a warrior of peace and fought for the rights of the untouchables - people of a lower caste who were treated almost like slaves. He was truthful from the start and always championed the poor and the ones in grief. One of the greatest turning points in his life was the incident of South Africa when the white officials at the train station kicked him out of first class despite him having the ticket because he was black and no blacks or dogs were allowed on trains.After this incident he really changed his perspective about his life and decided to return to India and fight for the country, using the principles of non violence. He campaigned against the British i many ways, with one of the most successful being Quit India Movement. He encouraged the boycotting of foreign goods. He spoke against the riot in Bihar and led the salt march against the heavy taxes levied by the British on salt. He also encouraged the unity between two of the most conflicted religions at the time - Hindus and Muslims.
          His glorious life was ended by a man called Nathuram Godse who shot him in the head with three bullets. Gandhi ended his life with God in his mind and on his lips.
          Gandhi was actually a very rich man by birth. Yet he chose to fight for all those Indians who are poor and unprivileged. He is a very inspiring man in every aspect and will always be respected by the world. He brought love and light where hatred and cunning ruled.
          After visiting Mani Bhavan, we headed back to school and attended a lesson on speech and drama. The teacher was so humourous and funny. We played games about how to act with facial expressions and body gestures. We all enjoyed it and learnt a lot. We also separate into groups and did a short commercial on an imaginary product. All of them are so hilarious that we cannot even stop laughing. With a round of applause, the school day was ended and we all went home with our buddies. The day was so much fun and excitement. I can't simply wait for the surprises we'll have tomorrow and I am anticipating the crazy shopping in mall Phoenix later XD

Oct 31

Cynthia Jutras -- 4Z (14)

Today was a very busy day.  In the morning I had math lesson, and even though I had already learnt trigonometry it was nice to have a revison on what I've learnt before. 
Then we went to the All Saints Old Age Home for a visit with HelpAge India.  HelpAge India is an organisation which is trying to provide services for people in need especially the elderly who are often neglected nowadays.  We all said a pledge that said that we promised to have care and love for the people, especially to those around us.  Then we played this game call Housie with the old women which is kind of like bingo and the women had lots of fun. Before we left, the JB girls and us sang a few songs as a sort of miniature performance. Then we had to say goodbye to the lovely old ladies who were very friendly and sweet.
After that we went back to JB and had classes and we had lunch, and guess what was on todays menue -- Chinese Food!
We had a film appreciation workshop after lunch, and it was very intresting because we explored the usage of music in a film.

Oct 31

Happy Halloween everyone !!! But in india, people don't celebrate halloween or go to haunted houses.
Today is my school buddy, Shriya's birthday and in JB Petit, the birthday girl can wear casual clothes and distribute candy to the whole school. I followed her around the school and she knows almost everyone in the whole school, including the primary section. This is one of the advantages of having a school with less students, so students are more familiar with each other and everyone seems so close to each other.
Afterwards, we went to the old age home to visit the elderly in india. The elderly were all very nice and they showed a lot of care for us. I enjoyed interacting with the seniors very much as they were very friendly. It was a very memorable experience.
After we returned to school, we had a film appreciation session where we learnt the characteristics of indian film- having quite a lot of music. We learnt that a film are languages of pictures. We saw some clips from movies to compare how good films have a story line that develops and moves on. It was very enriching.
After school, I went to a art lesson with Parmangana and Yan. we curled strips of quilling paper into circles and pressed it into different shapes and stuck it on a card. It was fun !
For dinner, I went out with a few of my friends, Muskaan, Parmangana, Yan, Yashna ,Ashumiand Asavari. We had a really great time !
Looking forward to dodgeball practice tomorrow at 6 !

Gessy Li

Oct 30

The second day in JB Petit High School was just as magical and eventful as the first. We enjoyed a very packed yet exciting schedule today and gained a further understanding of the Indian culture.

In the morning, I took the school bus to school with my host buddy, Deena. Taking the school bus to school in India is surely a one- of- a -kind experience. There's a bus guy that stands at the door of the bus with half his body hanging out of it and just scooping up kids into the bus every time it stops; there's loud chatter and traffic, irritated Indians honking non stop, the smell of breakfast and all kinds of eccentric scenes that we pass by in the streets- there's never a boring moment. I guess that already describes India acutely on itself.

This morning we took two classes before going to the special activities. I had biology and double chemistry. The teachers are all extremely accommodating and nice. It seems to me that the Indian syllabus puts quite a heavy emphasis on science subjects- they have science lessons almost everyday. The teachers teaching in JB are all very experienced- their explanations were clear and concise and the students were all so actively involved in learning and aAfter the classes, we attended the yoga workshop. I think the workshop had been the enriching experience by far in India. The teacher taught us a few basics of indian yoga. First, the art of breathing. Indians believe that controlling and paying attention to breathing is the key to achieving health and peace.We had breathing practices and practiced various poses while paying attention to our breathing. It turns out that when you focus on how you breathe, your thoughts really do kind of drain away from your brain; it also makes you more aware of how your body is feeling, focused and makes you feel relaxed too. After that we tried some animal poses- the cat pose and the dog pose- which allows us to stretch our spine and relieve back pain. Then we also tried  the corpse pose where the teacher explained was a pose that allows gravity to relax and release the tension from our bodies- though most of us fell asleep during that pose, it was simply too comfortable just lying there on the mat. There was also the fetus pose, which is an imitation of a baby in it's mother's womb. According to our yoga teacher, Indian culture believed that everyone is protected by an invisible womb in life, which provides us with all our needs. Finally the most interesting part- the teacher told us to pair up with a girl similar to our size. We didn't know what we were doing until we were lying face down on the ground and the other girl was just walking and stepping around on our backs and spines. The intention of this activity is to release the tension from our back and spinal muscles. Though it hurted quite a bit at first, it felt amazing after a while. I think it's kind of like the sort of things that you have to endure some pain before you actually enjoy it.
sking- once the teacher asks a question, almost everyone raises their hands and yells the answer. If they don't understand something, they voice it to the class and they won't rest until they get the answer. I think us Hong Kong students definitely have something to learn from their attitude.


Following that we had  a visit to the Prince of Wales Museum near the school. It's one of the most famous an museums in India; it stores vast collections of  Indian, Western and Far East artwork, weapons and historical artifacts. I was lucky to have a really knowledgeable JB girl, Priyansahi accompanying me during the visit- she told me about all kinds of Indian mythology involving elephant headed gods, ancient Indian saints and sages, and various heroes and villains. We also took a look at some Indian weapons and ivory. It was a truly fascinating experience. The museum itself is a magnificent ancient work of architecture with a dome shaped top and a huge lawn. We certainly enjoyed the visit a lot.

After that we got back to school just in time for the hot lunch- it was a chickpea stew and jasmine rice today. It tasted super good and sophiscated with all the spices! Indian cuisine is just plain awesome. We also had an art workshop. We tried to create our own Indian folk paintings. The characteristics of these paintings is that they use double lines for all outlines, because they believe that one line represents the male gender while the other represents the female gender, and using double lines strikes a balance between both. They also use extremely bright colors for their artwork. It was really nice learning about their culture.

India is just such an exotic, lovely and friendly place and it keeps presenting all sorts of surprises. I can't wait for tomorrow :))

Oct 30

     Today's the third day of our stay in India, and also the second day of school at J.B. Petit High School for Girls.

     The day started off very much like yesterday, where I woke up at six thirty, ate my breakfast in haste and set off to school. On the way to the school bus stop, my host, Divina and I encountered a lot of people--and animals. I spotted a goat following its owner like a dog would do--and it's not on a lead, which is a pretty amazing feat. Divina told me that there's a cow living in the streets nearby, and today I see somebody taking the cow for a walk. Indians consider cows as holy and sacred animals so no one would bother the cow; in fact, the cow's quite well fed and even has its own personalized collar, so I guess they do play a pretty important role in Indian culture. Dogs, crows and pigeons are all over the place, and so are the people. I have came to a conclusion that Bombay is a city that never sleeps because there are quite a number of people and traffic around 24/7. At 7 in the morning there's already a lot of cars on the roads and there's a lot of commotion and noise, which makes the best wake up call ever. 

    The school bus has to be one of the most memorable activities in this stay, because even early at the morning students in the bus were chatting with each other non-stop (instead of dozing off or listening to music on the iPod like the majority of Hong Kong students). It amazed me that everyone seem to know each other--even if they are in different grades. Add in the bumpiness of the ride and all the hilarious conversations going on, the bus ride is quite fun. 

   The brief bus ride was replaced by the Geography lesson at class 9B. I sat with my school buddy Anuschka and she was revising for her Hindi test before the lesson. She taught me a few Hindi greetings but unfortunately, I can't remember much of them. In return, I translated her name back to Chinese and I wrote her translated name on a post-it and gave it to her, and I did that for some of her other friends. We had so much fun. 

After Geography, we had a yoga workshop. Now, we Hong Kong people are so fast-paced that we basically don't do much sports, but in India, almost everyone knows how to do yoga. Yoga is not just simply all about meditating and doing some seemingly impossible stances, but it's about calming your mind and finding your inner peace. Sounds abstract, no? But really, it's not complicated; all you have to do is focus on your breathing and empty your mind. We did some moves to stretch our back, and there's the yoga move where a person will walk on your back. That pretty much scared us all but after our friends from JB walked on us, our backs actually felt more relaxed. However, my favourite move is the 'dead man' yoga move, where you basically just lie down--and relax. It was so effective that I fell asleep. After the ultimate experience on yoga, I have decided to do the 'dead man' move every night to improve the quality of my sleep because I'm quite sleep-deprived. 

    Our next destination is the Prince of Wales museum, a beautiful building with tall domes and arches. Inside, it exhibits various historical objects and we had a good look at the paintings of India and the weapons.  I have learnt so much about the various religions and cultures in India, and I have also known a lot more legends and more historical background of India from the paintings. The weapons are downright intricate and violent at the same time, so this makes an impressive trip. 

    The art workshop sums up our day at school. After lunch, we started doing Madhubani paintings, which originated from the time when an ancient India king decided to commission some artists to draw the marriage scene of his daughter Sita to the god Lord Ram. Madhubani painting is practised in Bihar, and is traditionally done by women around the town of Madhubani. The paintings are usually done with natural dyes and pigments, and they use low dimensional imagery. We had a nice time drawing and painting the picture in those bright colours.  

   The enjoyable day passed by pretty quickly, and I'm anticipating what's in store for me tomorrow. 

                                                                                                             Gladys Yeung 3U (37)

  

                                                                                                                          

    

Oct 30

Today is our third day in India. Waking up at 6:30, we attend school at J.B. Petit High School for Girls as usual. As this is the second day of school, we get to know more about the school and the students there better. We get along well with the students there.

My school buddy, Yashina is in the 9th grade and we had our Chemistry lesson this morning. Although we have not learn the content yet in Hong Kong, it is quite interesting. We learnt about the properties of Acid and Bases, and the chemical formulas of them.

After Chemistry lesson, we had a Yoga lesson with other students whom had chosen Yoga as their elective. This is my first time experiencing yoga, and it turns out to be fun and relaxing. The teacher taught us some basic stretches in Yoga, but I couldn't do it really well. The special thing about Yoga is that they don't hold the posture for a certain time. Instead, they count the time in the number of breathes. The teacher taught us about the dog posture, which we bend our bodies while keeping a dip in our spine. That posture can allow the blood to flow to our brain more easily and we get a much clearer mind after that. The  another posture is the corpse posture. We get to lie down on the floor as if we are sleeping. With the teacher's words, we get to relax every part of our body and let it sinks to the earth. It is really relaxing that I even fell asleep during the lesson. Another interesting move is that we get to step on each other's spine. It is said in yoga that if we are stressed or we have back pains, our spine get tied in knots. By stepping on one's back, we get to untie the knots. It sounds a bit uncomfortable for someone actually stepping on you, but I found it fun and a bit ticklish.

We went to the Prince of Wales museum after the yoga. The Prince of Wales museum is located in an old building. There is different part inside the museum. I enjoyed the Natural History most. In that part, we get to see different kinds of animals in different period of time. It was said that most of the animals specimens are from real animals. In the exhibition, we get to see animals like Tiger, Lion, Leopards, Sharks, Turtles, Rabbit etc. Besides the Natural History, we get to see some prehistoric tools such as stone cutter, pottery etc. Unlike museum in Hong Kong, you can actually touch the exhibits. We took a close look on the tools used a few thousand years ago. Outside the museum, there is a bazaar where some Indian style products were sold.

After lunch, we had an Art workshop. In the workshop, we get to do Madhubani style painting. The style of the painting is that there is double lines for the outline of an object and the colour used in the painting is bright. I drew an elephant and a fish for my painting.

After school, my host buddy, Anshika, some other Indian friends and I went to shopping for some traditional Indian goods. We shopped for some bangles, scarfs, keychains, and pen for souvenirs. We all had a good time shopping. 

We all had a wonderful time today, and I really look forward to tomorrow's events~ :)

Good Night ~ <3

Michelle Ng

Oct 30

  It was a very long and interesting day today.
  In the morning, I enjoyed a Commercial Studies lesson with my school buddy, and we had to design a leaflet to promote certain products. It was really fun, although we had to leave early in the middle of the lesson to go to the Prince of Wales musuem.

  As said above, we went to the museum mid-morning. My host and school buddy took the school bus with I to go there, and it was ever so noisy in the bus! We had a fun time talking together with my friends.
  Once we arrived at the museum, we went to visit different exibits. There was an animal exibit where preserved animals were shown, including a white tiger.It was so cute! Ufortunately we didn't pay for taking photos in the museum, so I couldn't take any photos. :/
  After the visit, we went back to school for an art workshop. We had to draw in a style with bright colours and double lines, and everyone had a fun time doing that. It was a bit tiring at the end though where we all had to rush to colour our pictures in a very limited time!

  In the late afternoon, we went to the street stalls in the city for souvenir shopping. There was just so many shops there, all selling different items! We all had a fun time choosing our favourites and bargaining for a cheaper price. :)
  After a few hours of walking, carrying our heavy bags and lighter wallets, we all went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. There were many kinds of pasta. and we all had a great time trying them. During dinner, we also talked a lot and got ourselves really hyper, singing songs and whatnot! It was a very enjoyable experience.

  Although it was a very long day, I felt that I have learnt and got a lot from it. I hope the coming days will also be such fun!
Lydia Chiu 4X (8)

Oct 29

   My first day at JB Petit was kicked off by the ear-piercing school bell. We met our kind school buddies and made a lot of new friends. All of the JB girls were very nice and offered to show us around the school. We sat for English for the first lesson after our presentation about Hong Kong and DGS and the teacher seemed really curious about the Chinese language, so we taught them how to talk in Chinese and we wrote them our names in Chinese. They were fascinated by the simplicity of the language. We had a cookery workshop at noon and we made chilly onion potatoes accompanied by adorable little cheese tarts, yum!
   Later on in the evening, I went with my host to "bharat natyam" which is a classical dance from Tamil Nadu. (a little region in India) One of the students demonstrated the well-known belly dance originated from India for me, it was amazing and I was attracted by it and learnt the steps together with them.
    When we came back from dance class, we headed to "Colaba Causeway", which is as busy as the Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. I bought different Indian accessories from the numerous stalls on the bustling streets and had a better understanding of the different cultures of this fascinating city of Mumbai.
    For dinner, I ate a traditional Indian dish called Dal, which is a pulse that is very nutritious for the well-being of your body. The day ended perfectly with my host family singing traditional Indian songs just for me!
-Dana Tsoi

Oct 29

It was the first day that we attended school in J.B. Petit High School for Girls. Waking up at 6am, we arrived school at around 7:30 as school starts at 7:45. At first, it seemed quite weird as we do not know any of the other students, but as we chatted and get along with each other during the day, all went great.

First of all, 14 of us made a presentation to J.B. students of Stds 7, 8 and 9 on DGS and Hong Kong. We introduced the history, education system, cultures, festivals, food of Hong Kong as well as a brief history of our school. Also, we have taught the students some simple Cantonese phrases such as 早晨 (Hello), 再見 (Goodbye) and 多謝 (Thank you), and they learned the phrases really quick! At last, we performed the song 茉莉花 (Jasmine Flower) with Yan performing a Chinese dance.

After that, we followed our school buddies to classes. Some of us were following buddies from Std 9 while the others followed Std 8. I had math class with my school buddy Srishti, and the lesson topic was about circles, which was quite interesting although I’ve learnt it in S1 already. The students in the class are very enthusiastic in answering questions. As the class had an English test afterwards, I went to the computer room for the Internet.

Lunch was only 30 minutes. As my host Yamini prepared lunch for me, I did not try the hot lunch served at school. Some friends in my class taught me some Hindi like “Alvida” (Goodbye), and we had a great time.

After lunch, we had a cookery workshop where we made traditional Indian food – Kalakand (a traditional Indian sweet) and fritters (friend potatoes and onions). It is very simple to make and tasted nice.

School ended at 2:15pm. It was a nice start at school in Mumbai. I am looking forward to lessons and activities coming up in the week!

- Cynthia Ho

   29/10/2012

Oct 29

Today is the first day going to J.B. Petit. At first it felt a little awkward when stepping
into the school, everything is new and unfamiliar. However, after seeing friendly
faces of J.B. Petit students, the awkwardness completely vanished.

After school starts, we began to our presentation about our school and Hong Kong
and also a performance on chinese dances and traditional songs. We also taught the
students how to say simple Cantonese phrases such as 'Hello' and 'Goodbye'. They
then listened to us attentively and responded actively during the session. Some of
the students even greeted me 'hello' and 'good morning' in Cantonese!

During the PE lesson, we learnt an Indian sports game which requires dodging and
running and cooperation skills. It was called "Kho-Kho". It was tiring but fun at the
same time.

We did cooking after lunch. The cooking methods are simple, and we enjoyed it very
much. I found the ingredients of the Indian traditional food, as well as their taste and
smell very different. The seasonings are special too. There are even some spices in
the ketchup.

It was a nice and interesting experience with friendly and cheerful welcomes from
the students. I am looking forward to the next few days of school in J.B Petit.

- By Sharon Ho

Oct 29

This is our first day for school in India. I took the school bus in the morning for school, which was a really special experience because all the students could meet together and enjoy their time chatting during their journey to school. 

During assembly, we had done a presentation about Hong Kong's culture and our school. We had taught the Cantonese dialects to the girls, and they learnt really quickly! I was so glad about that. Afterwards, we had done a performance. Yan was dancing the middle while the rest of us were singing "The Jasmine Flower" in three parts. 

When we moved around the school, I could feel the cohesion and close relationships between the students- my buddy was introducing all her classmates to me as her "best friends". Also, I enjoyed studying in this building because this is a very beautifully built heritage monument with elegant pillars.

Among all the lessons I had today, my favorite lessons are commerce and cookery lessons. 

For commerce lessons in India, it was similar to that we do in BAFS course at schools in Hong Kong. Everyone in the class were very enthusiastic in sharing their ideas about the pros and cons of different types of advertisements. I especially liked the way that the teacher explained how the samsung galaxy note's advertisement was specially designed for their target audiences.

For cookery lesson, all of the DGS girls join together and cook some Indian traditional food. The savory food. The process was so fun and we all enjoyed our time. The food was tasty and my favorite food is bhajia, which is like onion ring.

What I enjoyed most in India until now is that there are lots of different kinds of food for me to try out, especially the vegetarian food. There are crispy dosas, yummy lassi etc.

I am looking forward to tomorrow's classes!! :)

These dosas are really tasty!! <3 <3

These are what we had made during cookery lessons, do they look tasty? :P

We look really cool, aren't we? xp

We are all liked the school life here very much :P

I am also studying like the others do!

      - By Hazel Chan :P