for foreign campers of the bluestar international summer camp, this is the first time for them to travel across the sea to set foot on the ancient and mysterious land of the east and have contacts in person with their chinese buddies. they were full of curiosity and excitement, walking into the campsite with a million of questions.
to allow them more understanding of local customs and life and the loving atmosphere of the bluestar family, since 2009 the bluestar international summer camp has set up the friendly family day, a big feature of the program. on a weekend foreign campers would be invited to stay with chinese families to experience the chinese life and culture and make friends with the host family.
of course, thorough preparations were needed to entertain these guests from overseas. what do they eat? what do they play? is there anything we should pay particular attention to?... at first the receiving chinese parents were at a loss. no worry. the staff of the summer camp already had "tips" ready: put some bottled water in your fridge for foreign campers love to drink iced water; use less oil and salt and no spices when cooking for they prefer light food. to make the foreign campers feel at home, the chinese parents spent a lot of time designing the two-day activity, collecting information online and carefully developing the schedule…
in return ,foreign campers also prepared gifts to express their gratitude towards the host family, such as postcards with beautiful landscape in the north europe, sweet and lovely family photos, an exquisite handmade coaster with their name on it … these gifts bore witness to their happy time together during the friendly family day.
the two-day event has created a lot of laughter and wonderful memories. eating beijing roast duck, making dumplings, practicing chinese calligraphy… these typically chinese activities were dreams come true for foreign campers. they were like alice in the wonderland, amazed by unique experiences here: margit from norway and her chinese sister danced together on the 37th floor of the cctv tower; sebastian from sweden bargained excitedly at the world-famous silk street; lucie from france happily went shopping at a supermarket with chinese friends…
in every summer in the past seven years, dozens of overseas campers of the bluestar international summer camp have visited, stayed with and made friends with ordinary chinese families like this; the friendly family day event have bonded many innocent souls from across the world.
their friendship is a brilliant gem cherished at the deep of the heart, like shiny stars in the sky, of eternal beauty.
here we are, silk street!
"love" together
we are sisters!
rising table-tennis stars
making dumplings
birthday party
supermarket shopping
practicing chinese calligraphy
carrying "panda" on the shoulder
enjoy beijing roast duck
"brothers in arms"
smiley faces
having a good time at the amusement park
gifts from foreign campers:
