Our Journey Begins with Special Olympics China!
This blog was written by Annie Robbins, Special Olympics North Carolina Youth Leader.
We got off to a wonderful start today by enjoying our first breakfast together in Beijing, China. The food was such a great variety from dumplings to croissants to mashed potatoes to cereal, it was all delicious. Riding over to the art gallery was so relaxing and fun being able to mingle with our new friends from China, and getting to look around the city.
The art gallery was spectacular! We walked into almost thirty paintings and many sculptures, then we went upstairs to a seating area to watch the presentations. Tracy and Daisy, from Special Olympics East Asia, welcomed us with open arms, and they explained to us the history and what Special Olympics East Asia (SOEA) does in their communities. Following their presentation of SOEA, we played a little ice breaker game that helped us get to know our peers that we will continue to work with on our trip. Vivi, a Special Olympics China Unified partner, introduced us to a game in which you have to not only say your name and a characteristic that describes you, but you have to repeat everyone’s name and characteristic that came before you. We then had one speaker that shared everyone’s names and characteristics to the rest of the group, so we could all learn about each other in a fun way. After everyone was introduced, we proceeded with a few presentations from our China friends on their projects that they will be implementing within the next 6 months.
After eating a lovely catered meal at the art gallery, we drove to High School Affiliated with Renmin University. There we were welcomed by students attending the school with snacks and a few brief speeches from the students and faculty. We learned the history about the school’s association with SOEA and what they do to make their school a better place for students with disabilities. Unified pairs from Special Olympics North Carolina had the opportunity to share best practices for spreading inclusion and Unified sports within the school and community.
Following the presentations from North Carolina Youth Leaders, a Unified pair from Special Olympics China shared about their “workshops” that they have been working on for the last year. One quote from their presentation that really stuck was, “students with disabilities do not lack potential, but lack the platform to express it.” They have such a positive and accepting mindset that is perfect for the volunteer work they are doing.
Finally, after finishing all presentations and giving/receiving gifts, we went to eat. We had what is called “hot pot” which is similar to The Melting Pot. We had raw beef, fish, vegetables, and tofu to quickly cook in the hot pot. As sides, we had clementines, pears, watermelon, soup, a cake desert, rice bars, and much more. The meal was extravagant and we appreciate SOEA for the experience. We enjoyed about 45 minutes of shopping with our Unified Pairs and walking around the city, then decided to hit the hay to be well rested for our long day tomorrow.
