We began this week, our sixth and final week in Xi’an, with heavy hearts, since soon we will have to bid farewell to our host families, teachers, Chinese friends, and the other Americans in the NSLI-Y group.
This summer we have truly been lucky in many ways, including the relatively “cool” weather, since Xi’an has a reputation for being extremely hot in the summer — yet this summer we have really had only one or two very hot days (apparently it has been the “coolest” summer since 1983).
Much of the week was taken up by review in and out of class for the oral and written final exams as well as preparation for the culminating projects. Of course, as time allowed, various of us tried to cross more items off their “to do” lists.
Wednesday afternoon of this week we visited an arts and crafts center for retired people. Here are photos of our students learning traditional Chinese arts and crafts from the expert teachers there:
The culminating event for the week and for the six-week Program was the presentation by the students of their culminating project reports. The students each interviewed six or more local Xi’an residents on a wide range of topics and delivered truly impressive presentations in Chinese and English on Friday afternoon from 1:00 ~ 4:00 PM. Here are photos of Juan and Wendy presenting their reports:
In conclusion, we want to express our appreciation to the people of Xi’an for their many kindnesses to us this summer. This includes most of all our host families and our two language teachers, but also many other new friends made over the past six weeks. We are also very grateful to the State Department, American Councils, and ACES for making this opportunity possible. Zaijian, Xi’an, until we meet again!