Monday, July 11, 2011

China Heritage Camp

We just spent the past few days in Tulsa at Dillon International's China Heritage Camp.
It was a blast. There were some 260 children from China at the camp. It was our first year to go, but some of the kids have been going for 10 years. They divide the kids up according to ages, and they had classes in arts and crafts, dance, language, cooking and kung fu.

We think Jake had a good time. He tells us he did, but he also says his favorite part was swimming in the hotel pool. Oh well, what do you expect from a 4 1/2 year old? One of the best parts for us was that the kids were the majority for a change. It was the non-Chinese kids who were the exception rather than the rule.

They also had classes for parents, including language and cooking, and they had one about heritage trips. It was fun for us adults, too.

It was a three-day event, so they weren't able to get really in depth on things, but it still was a great experience we would definitely encourage those interested to look into.

The group that did the lion dance at the opening ceremony was really good.



Jake's in the tie-dyed shirt, looking at the lion.



After, he posed with the lion.



Playing around during dance class.



I just had to add one more photo. This is one of Jake's group singing ... OK, Jake didn't sing, but he did the sign language ... "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in his native language. I actually cried. I didn't realize how moving his performing to Chinese would be and how special China would become to me. I hope it is as special to him some day. violet

2 comments:

Jolene Powell said...

He looks so big! And he looks like he had so much fun...and very typical response about the pool. Even Kacie will say after a big trip that her favorite part was the pool :)

Our Blue Moon Boy said...

What a great experience for all of you! Love that you had an opportunity to do this. I didn't know such a thing existed! How cool! Jake is getting sooooo big!