April 9, 2013

Gifts From the MountainBy. Moeka Yoshinari

25 kids from Concordia International School went to Yunnan, China.Hiking in the mountains is an awesome way for middle school students to grow as individuals. On March 22, 2013, the Concordia International Middle School students came to the Yunnan Mountains for their school trip. Everyone was excited, nervous, curious, and worried. This trip was to change them and to be a great experience for their future. You can actually see their growth during this trip.

The first thing the students got from this trip was endurance and determination. They needed those skills to overcome both physical and mental hardships they would face in their life. Second, they built community in their team. They learned how to solve problems together and how to depend on each other. This experience encouraged them to go forward when they might have hard times in their future. All the students made friends, unforgettable memories, strong attitudes, and were proud of themselves for beating their struggles in the mountains and will thank the mountains for giving them many gifts.

Scavenger Hunts are Not Only for KidsBy. Hyewon Cho

Several middle school students from Concordia International School Hanoi went on a photo scavenger hunt in the park. Running all around the large beautiful park, what did they have to find?

In groups of three, all 12 students from Concordia International School Hanoi started their mission. The mission was to find or do several things such as photo bombing, finding the funniest Chinese-English translation, and teaching a song to a Chinese person. As the four groups ran around, not only did they try to complete the missions, but also enjoyed their time with friends and other people in the park. Also, some students practiced their Chinese skills by teaching the locals a new song.

While they were completing their missions in an hour, they took time to take silly pictures and finding interesting things. In addition, photo bombing was a special time for everyone, because it was fun and it was also new for some people. Even though every students were from the same school, everyone knew each other better and had an exciting experience by the end of the hunt.

Middle school students learn how to cook in the wilderness

By. Tae Young Jung

Poor cooking choices

D u r i n g t h e Y u n n a n L e a d e r s h ip t r i p , t h e students made their meals with a stove at the village. They were from civilized societies, so they cooked foods they usually ate. However, they had limited supplies, so what they cooked wasn’t enough. They were all hungry but nobody said a single word.

Introduction of a new cooking style

Meanwhile, CJ, the Red Team’s adult leader felt pitty to see the students starving themselves, so she decided to teach them an easy way of cooking which will fill them up. She gathered the students and introduced One Pot Cooking. All you need to do is pour everything you prepared for dinner into one pot and stir it until it is cooked. This was an easy method, so all of them enjoyed making it. From then, on thanks to One Pot Cooking, everyone was able to have enough energy for the remaining days of the trip.

Everyone preparing dinner with the 'one pot cooking' method

More Food, More EnergyBy. Moeka Yoshinari

Everyone cooking dinner with the new method

This didn’t give enough energy for them to hike a lengthy distance. One of the best dishes for this situation was “STEW.” All you need to do is dump some cans of beans and tuna. Many students said that it was the best meal they had in the mountain. Great food makes people strong, happy, and positive.

Grrrrr..... What’s that noise? Young h ike r s ’ s tom achs we r e growling. They can‘t walk for a long time on rocky, steep roads without food! On March 22, 2013, Concordia Hanoi and Shanghai students went to Yunnan, China to climb a mountain for the school trip. On their way to their objective, they had many problems to face, but especially, food was the main issue. With lack of food, people got sick, weak and sometimes hypothermia.

On the first few days, the students didn’t know how to cook proper food in a mountain. For dinner they once only had one loaf of bread for each and once, cold pasta without any sauce or vegetables.

Concordia Blue Team Survives in an EMERGENCY Situation

By. Hyewon Cho

A sudden change of the camp site changed the Blue team’s whole trip. On their way to the new camp, they needed to survive in a horrible situation. How could they survive with nothing?

The Chinese government suddenly changed the campsite for the Blue team, and they started hiking up an unknown mountain, without any exact maps, only believing there is an end to the path. As a team, they worked together and hiked up the steep rocky mountain. As the team ascended the mountain, air got thinner, physical strength declined, and as the sun set, hopes flew away. However, everyone helped and cared about each other, and never lost their smiles on their faces. The team discarded the thoughts of giving up, and only believed they were close to the top, even though it was their seventh hour hiking up the rocky path; they finally reached the top, but this was not the end, this was the start. Most people struggled to walk, and had minds full of giving up, but the only way to spend the night safely was to keep walking. All the students sat in a circle close to each other to keep their body warm, and teamwork was the only reason why the Blue team survived the cold. All 16 people were safe, and everyone had smiles the next day.

Blue team trying to stay warm

Yunnan Mountain occupied by KIDS!By. Isaac Jeong

Big ‘NO’ to campsite, sudden changes! 13 kids worked hard, only to sleep in hail!

YUNNAN - On March 25th 2013, in tough mountain 13 kids from Concordia worked hard to overcome a tough situation as a team. Team

Blue, one of the teams hiked the Yunnan Mountains because the Chinese Government had said a big ‘NO’ to their final duration! These young soldiers had to face Yunnan Mountain, tall, steep and rocky. How these kids would

overcome this moment?These soldiers hiked mountain and as they went up higher and

higher their laughs got happier and louder. Of course, they had bruises, pains, and cold wind whipped them without any mercy. As Masson Hung, a Concordia Shanghai student said, “When I carried extra one bag which weighed about 50~60 pounds had all the ache and pains but as a team we overcome the situation. And I felt really awesome!” Even though, they worked hard, only to sleep in the cold and wild hail, their cooperation was brighter than WW2 warriors!

Michelle Frerking, a member of the Blue team eating her snack during the tough hiking

At the Top of the WorldBy. Grace Ong

Yahoooooo!!!! Did you hear that? It’s the sound of the victory of summiting a 3,300m peak. This was achieved by 12 middle school students from Concordia Hanoi and Shanghai on their 2013 spring interim trips to the mountains of Dali, China. Nothing feels better than feeling like you’re at the top of the world.

12 Kids Summit 3,300m PeakIt was a tough hike up through the cold high-speed winds, but each of them took their time as they slowly made their way closer to the summit. “Yeah we made it!” It seemed like the shouts and cheers of victory and success could be heard from below. It certainly was a spectacular sight with a 360 view of surrounding mountains and the minuscule villages below.

“I felt like I could accomplish anything.” commented Andrew Jones, a Concordia Hanoi student. “I can’t believe I have hiked 3300 meters in only a few days!” exclaimed Josh Winkelman, another Concordia Hanoi student. For these kids, it was an unforgettable experience. Their shouts of victory tell the world they have earned the bragging rights to say that they have reached the summit of a 3,300m peak.

Concordia Hanoi Students, Grace and Chris (left to right) at the 3,300m summit with big smiles.

Snatch and GrabBy. Daniel Miller

The Dirty Dozen (The Red team for the Yunnan trip) woke up with the speed of a child on Christmas, worked and got ready for the glorious day of Snatch and Grab. They knew their course, they had the coordinates and headed off.

Up the massive hill, through the valley in the middle of the mountain, The Dozen went to find the bags of food left behind. The trip up wasn’t bad with the scenery of awesomeness as you could see valleys and hills beyond. With the music of Mr. Stone and other caretakers behind them it felt like hours had passed since they had been on “flat ground”.

When The Dirty Dozen reached the top of the the huge mountain, they looked down into the sunken valley. Into the massive, yellow, barren basin. They searched within the basin for where they thought was food. Some were mad and tired of the fierce cold weather, the demotivation of not finding the food. They went back to the entrance to the basin, Justus, a student from Concordia Shanghai saw a bag behind a big slab of rock. One bag of food was found but in a different package they weren’t suspecting.

Red team hiking up the hill on top of the 3,300km mountain

Smell Like Heaven, Burns Like HellBy. Grace Ong

An Old Little TownLittle interesting shops line the streets of Dali, China, a bustling little town. During a spring interim trip, excited students from Concordia Hanoi and Shanghai walked along the streets, eager to go shopping. On Foreigner Street, souvenir stores sell traditional ethnic bags, earrings, dresses, scarves, and even carpets. Food stores sell all kinds of unique foods like spicy potatoes, flower walnut cakes, giant lollipops, and the most memorable of all, yak meat.

Dali’s SpecialtyFresh yak meat sizzles on the grill, you can smell the mouthwatering scent as you get closer. For five yuan a skewer, the Concordia students were anxious to try it. Hot and fresh, straight from the grill, it looked absolutely scrumptious.

The first bite, “it’s not that bad!” Second, “It’s spicy.” Once to the third bite, “I need water! Quick!” The yak meat’s exploding fiery taste burns like hell in your mouth. A student from Concordia (Chris Byun) sat down, rocking back and forth yelling and cursing, another jumped up and down fanning her mouth with her hand screaming for water.

Spicy yak meat is definitely a food to remember. Surely this experience has stuck with these students along with great stories to tell.

Mr. Stone (group leader) enjoying the "hell's meat"

Night of SMILESBy. Isaac Jeong

They survived, and they finished, long, hard journey had been completed!

DALI: On March 28th 2013, after all of the members of the Yunnan survival group came down from the mountain, they finally went back to their hotel. They were tired from a tough trip, but people from both groups were full of joy and happiness. And the shopping was part of the joy.

When they arrived in the hotel, they cleaned off all the stained dirt and soil but they couldn’t take out all the happy memories and lessons that they earned. After an hour break, all the students went shopping, they experienced Chinese culture, and food. After all, the hard moments they faced were literally washed away by the joy.

At night, they spent their time talking, joking, shopping, and shared each others stories. After all these happy moments started to fade and with prayer they finished their long and hard journey. Getting to know each other was hard, but after all, it was a great experience for them and it will never disappear from their heart.

Concordia students and teachers at dali

The Airport of KunmingBy. Daniel Miller

Friday, March 29th, Concordia Hanoi students and Ms. Zimbrick(caretaker of the students on this excursion) check in for their flight back to Hanoi, Vietnam. After a brief 20 minutes they were off to finish the rest of the checking in, immigration, and security before they could “relax”. After finishing security they went into the international part of the airport.

Hunger rose like a flame with gasoline poured on it. The search

began for food, after a couple of minutes the students found a restaurant. This wasn’t to their liking. The hunt continued, the students tried to find Burger King or McDonalds. The students searched but only come up with the idea of Cokes, ice cream and candy. This is usually a kids dream of just drinking Coke and eating candy and ice cream. This was the way Concordia students ended their trip to Yunnan, drink it down with coke and follow it with ice cream.

Concordia International School hanoi students in hanoi international airport

Who worked harder? Team ‘The Dirty Dozen’ or Team ‘Blue-YAH’?

By. Tae Young Jung

Never-ending argumentsAfter the Yunnan leadership trip, there were several arguments which were still continuing between the students from the two teams : ‘The Dirty Dozen (aka. Red Team)’ and ‘Blue-YAH (aka. Blue Team)’, about who did the harder work. Their argument doesn’t seem to come to an end. That is probably because nobody except the people from the Yunnan Trip were the ones to judge. Then how about making others judge for them?

Team ‘Blue-YAH’ hiked 1km up to the top of the mountains to spend the night because of the C h i n e s e G o v e r n m e n t n o t allowing them to camp at the village. All the members of ‘Blue-YAH’ needed to sleep in sleeping bags in low temperatures, strong winds, and hail without a tent.

Team ‘The Dirty Dozens’ hiked all the way to the village (20km) and set up the base camp for both teams to rest. Also, they needed to hike across the valley to find team ‘Blue-YAH’, and after team ‘Blue-YAH’ returned, they needed to go find the lost supplies on top of the mountains.

Who do you think did the harder work?

Both red and blue team in action. They are showing that even though they are in rivalries being a team first is very important

Achievements made by each team

Newsletter Credits

Tae Young Jung : Editor in ChiefMs. Zimbrick, Grace ong : PhotographsMoeka Yoshinari, Grace Ong : AdvertisementHyewon Cho : Organizer

extra Support : Daniel Miller, Isaac Jeong