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JOURNEY EAST 2007
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A Beautiful Journey
(JE Performance Program)
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Created at Leland & Gray High School in Townshend, Vermont, supported by the ~Asian Studies Outreach Program (ASOP) at the University of Vermont (UVM), and funded primarily through a grant from the Freeman Foundation,
Journey East, as a whole, consists of the Asian Studies Academy and Sino-American Performing Arts Exchange at Leland and Gray Union High School; the integration of an Asian Studies curriculum throughout the Windham Central Supervisory Union, and the introduction of Chinese language programs into the district.
~Dr. Juefei Wang, Director of the Asian Studies Outreach Program University of Vermont, is a recipient of the prestigious Goldman Sachs Award for Excellence in International education, on behalf of the UVM, Asian Studies Outreach Program.
The Leland and Gray Journey East program is deeply indebted, and extends its heartfelt thanks, to Dr. Juefei Wang, without whose effort and support this program would not even be possible!
Thank you Juefei!
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Leland & Gray
Journey East 2007
Tom Connor
Program Director
Ann Landenberger
Artistic Director
Matt Martyn
Music Director
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Come see these magnificent performers on Saturday, April 28 at 7:30 pm. They will perform at Leland & Gray High School in Townshend, Vermont.
Click here to find out more about this amazing and fun evening!
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Meet the Folks (Songs)
 It’s been two weeks already! Does it seem like they just left yesterday, or does it seem like it has been a month! Yeah, I know, a month! But the good news is the Journey East group continues to experience new places, people, and things each day. New adventures for us to experience as well.
Let’s see what today’s schedule is:
Saturday: Lecture on Chinese Folk Songs; Rehearsal and joint performance with high school students from Affiliated Middle School
I know the first thing parents look for each day is a picture of their child. Oh, and spouses are looking for pictures of their spouses as well! That’s a funny word, isn’t it -- spouse? Wonder where that came from . . .
Anyway . . .We have a huge load of photos for you today so le’t’s get right to them. The first batch are from a calligraphy class, where our kids get a chance to write in Chinese. Here we go . . .
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Draw Me a Word
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 It’s one thing to learn to write in Chinese, it’s another to be learning it IN China! How cool is that?
And here is a photo of Tom holding a copy of a Chinese book.
Chauncey Jones has a new perspective on Chinese calligraphy. Let’s see what she has to say . . .
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April 6, 2007 -- Chauncey Jones, Freshman
Have you ever been in one of those moments when you think that whatever you are going to do will be easy and take almost no effort on your part—only to be proven so wrong? Well, today we had one of those.
We had a Chinese painting and calligraphy class. I’m not sure about everyone else, but I know that I was thinking “Big deal. I’ll just copy down the characters and it’ll be fine.” Imagine my surprise when I found out there are several different versions of Chinese characters and that no, you can’t just color in the spots that have to be thick. You have to do that in one sweep with your brush.
That was just the calligraphy: Then came the painting and that was even harder. The teacher made it look so easy, but my orchid flowers looked nothing like hers. We got to the point where we were all giggling and drawing whatever we felt like. I must say, that the highlight of that class for me was Ryan Astley’s picture. He doodled a man that he named Pierre. As the teacher came around to look at our pictures, she saw Ryan’s and burst out laughing. She then proceeded to talk Chinese to the man with her as we all caught the name “Picasso.” Apparently Ryan has some real potential as an abstract artist.
Needless to say, I now hold Chinese calligraphers and painters in the highest esteem.
The rest of the day was spent mostly as free time. We went downtown and spent about two hours shopping there: All in all, the day was beautiful and relaxing for everyone.
-- Chauncey
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Pretty cool. If you’d like to try your hand at Chinese calligraphy, check out this site which will explain the eight basic strokes, and the order in which the strokes need to be drawn: Chinese Calligraphy.
The group had a morning lecture on Chinese folk songs today. Let’s see what Tom has to say about that, followed by some pictures . . .
Great session with the wife of Li Haiqing, Director of the International Exchange Programs here in Qufu. She described different kinds of folk songs, including mountain songs, work songs and ditties and proceeded to sing some of each  representing different ethnic minorities and different provinces here in China. She taught our students the Kanding Love Song and then Matt and Julie had the opportunity to sing the song to each other. They were great. [Tom]
Let’s take a look:
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Chinese Folk songs
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You can read the words and listen to the Kanding Love Song here:
The Kanding Love Song
Well, that’s all we have for you for now. The next batch of photos we’ll get will be from the group’s second performance. Then first performance saw about 600 in the audience. This second performance takes place in a theater with over 2,000 seats! Can you imagine being applauded by more than 2,000 people? I get goose bumps just thinking about it!
Hope you all have a terrific Saturday. Looks like a pretty nice day for us here in Vermont (maybe get to 40 this afternoon?), Looks like upper 50s in Qufu with Easter Sunday maybe reaching 70!
Enjoy the day everybody!
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