Hey, everyone! I just got back from my friend Brandon's house,
and let me tell you, it was really hard to leave because he got a new dog! Oh my gosh,
he's such a good boy! Brandon got him last week from a rescue group,
and I took some pictures so I could come back and share the adorableness with you all. Here he is.
Oh my gosh, guess what Brandon named his dog?
It's got something to do with that black spot around his eye.
He named him Panda! And if you take a look at this picture of an actual panda,
it's pretty easy to see why.
Ohhh, I knew I was forgetting something.
I got another letter today from a kid in a faraway country. Now, most of you probably know by now
that I've been writing letters to kids from all sorts of different countries so I can learn as
much about these countries as I can before my dream trip around the world... someday. Let's
see if you can guess what country we're going to be talking about today. I'll give you some clues.
This country is on the continent of Asia. It has the most people out of any country in the world.
It's famous for its tea, its dumplings, and of course, its pandas. As a matter of fact,
this country is the only country in the world where giant pandas live
in the wild. These guys can spend 12 hours a day just eating bamboo.
So, look, it kind of looks like he's playing a flute, but no, he's just having a snack.
What country did you guess? Did you guess China? That's right! I'm gonna go get the letter,
so sit back and stay tuned, and get ready to learn some interesting things about this
fascinating country in today's episode of... "Let's Take a Journey: China"!
As I said earlier, our letter today comes from a child who lives in China. Let's get into it.
"Dear Justin, my name is Wang Li Hua. Li Hua is a kind of flower, but I also have an English name:
Lily. We get English names when we begin learning English in kindergarten, so you can call me Lily."
Oh, hello, Lily! Say, lilies are a kind of flower too.
"I live in China. I am eight years old. I'm in the third grade. Here I am with my little
brother and my mom and dad. In China, we say our last name first, so everyone in my family has a
name that begins with Wang. My brother's name is Wang Shu Chang. I live in the city of Suzhou."
Okay, let's take a look. Here is the United States, and across the Pacific Ocean,
we find the country of China. And here is where Lily lives: in Suzhou.
"Waterways, or canals, run through Suzhou. In the past, people got around by boat. Now we
have bridges, but tourists still ride boats to see the city. That is the old part of the
city. There's also a modern new section. We have a joke about a tall building there. We
call it the "pants building. Can you guess why?" Yeah I can – it looks just like a pair of pants!
"I live with my mom, dad, brother, grandma,
and grandpa. My grandparents pick me up from school. They watch us while my parents work.
Like most people here, we don't have a car. We ride bikes or scooters. My grandparents
ride their bikes to come get my brother and me at school. While we play in the courtyard,
the grandparents sit and talk, talk, talk." Yeah, grown-ups can sure talk a lot, can't they?
"We love to play Jianzi. It's like a big, round coin with feathers.
You kick it to keep it in the air. People all over China play Jianzi."
Oh, hey, it's kind of like hacky sack! I've played that before.
"I wear a school uniform. At the end of the first grade, everyone gets a red scarf for good grades
and good attendance. We must wear it every day for the rest of our school years. We get
in trouble if it isn't tied the right way. I took this picture of my teacher. Her name is Lao Shi.
There are 40 kids in my class. We learn math and English, but my favorite class is reading.
Oh, I like art too. We practice writing Chinese characters. The Chinese language
doesn't use an alphabet with letters like A, B, C. Instead, we use symbols. Each symbol
or character stands for a word." Oh wow, I love how beautiful those characters look – it's art.
"We use a special brush to write the characters. This
is the character for 'dog.' We have characters for numbers, too." Oh wow,
look how complicated the character for 0 is. And look how easy it is to write 1 right next to it.
"My country is home to the Great Wall of China. It was built many
years ago to stop invading armies." Yeah, the Great Wall of China is one
of the largest structures ever built. It winds and winds for thousands of miles.
"The Chinese New Year is one of our biggest holidays. It's also called Lunar New Year.
It is in January or February. We celebrate with lanterns, parades, fireworks, and kids get lucky
red envelopes filled with money. Here's my baby cousin getting her red envelope." Aw, so cute!
Most of China closes down for a few weeks during the New Year holiday. People go on trips,
see family and friends – it's not that different from how people in
the United States spend their holiday vacations.
"Do you know what else we love to do? Play ping pong! We're champions! We
learn to play ping pong in school. This is a big room set up with many ping pong
tables before a tournament begins." I'm sure some of you have ping pong tables
in your houses. You should watch some of these champions play. They're crazy
good. The ball just goes back and forth so fast that I get dizzy just watching it.
"My favorite food is hot pot. It's a boiling hot soup that you dip meat in and cook in the
hot broth. My mom also makes dumplings. We eat using chopsticks instead of a fork." Oh man, all
this food is making me real hungry. I know exactly where I'm going right after this letter is done.
"My mom and I are going shopping now. We'll ride the bullet train
to the big city of Shanghai. I'm going to get new shoes." Ooh! The bullet train is
one of the fastest trains in the world. She's gonna get to Shanghai in no time.
"Oh, Justin, one last picture before I end this letter.
Here's something else that China is known for... pandas! Write back soon. Your friend, Lily."
I will write back soon, Lily. Thank you so much for this letter.
Well, I certainly learned a lot about what life is like in China, and I hope you did too.
What about Lily's life seems pretty different from your own? Can you think of anything that's pretty
much the same? So, that about wraps up our journey to China today. Ready to stamp our passport?
See you again soon, and in the meantime, remember to always be clever!