September 12, 2010 – Day 30
Don decided to stay close to the cabin, so I joined the other cruisers to visit the elementary school which Viking sponsors. The bus took us through the streets of Jingzhou where we saw many local shops selling everything from produce to hardware. When we arrived at the school, the children aged 7 to 9 were lined up along the entrance to welcome us. Some gave paper flowers which they made; others offered a high 5. There was an outside performance by the kids. They did dance routines, much like cheerleading with acrobats. We then went into the classroom and each child grabbed an adult to sit at their desk. They showed us their books, (many books were stuffed into their backpacked) and were especially proud of the English words they knew. A couple of the kids did a song and then some of the cruisers were asked to sing. One of our group sang “Mack the Knife”, but another sang an old Girl Scout song with hand movements. She said she didn’t want the kids to be left with Mack the Knife. The kids were dressed much like our own grandchildren, fashionable jeans and a lot of them had shirts with a Disney character. It was then back to the ship and we cruised that afternoon and through the night. Don did see a brief fireworks show from the bow of a freight boat the others were at the school.