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