#danzhai

Danzhai, Guizhou, China  中国贵州丹寨

Danzhai, Guizhou, China  中国贵州丹寨

Summer Project has been talked up by Peace Corps staff and China 21 volunteers for the past year, so much so that all of the 22s had developed strong expectations for it, way before it had even begun.  For those of you who don't know, Summer Project is another form of teaching we do when we don't actually have our usual classes in session.  Volunteers go to cities/town (the locals call them "villages," but they are still cities or towns by American standards) which are known for being poor or having low marks on examinations.  I'm not certain if that is true for all situations, but that appears to be the case for Guizhou volunteers.  What is true for all of PC China volunteers is that we are conducting teacher training at the sites.

Even though the English levels of the teachers and their students are incredibly low, past volunteers have exclaimed that it is a wonderful experience to learn more about the minority groups in China and to feel an impact your service has on the people in your province.  It has been said that this is the most meaningful experience for PC China volunteers.  I had heard numerous things about Summer Project and most of them seemed positive.  

Now I am going to share my own journey.  Below are my entries for my two weeks in the "village" called Danzhai 丹寨.  I wrote an entry for each day.  The reason I am posting them all together like this is that I want you to read them in order and because I didn't know if I'd keep to a daily posting schedule.