Program G: Shangri-la (Gyalthang or Zhongdian), China

Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Deqin Charity School, Gyalthang (home stay), Beijing

2011 dates:

departure: June 28 to July 29

Price: $8,000: includes round trip airfare from New York.

This is a 31 day language, homestay, community service and exploring program in Yunnan Province, located east of the Himalayas, in one of China's least visited and most intriguing provinces. Over the days, we will travel by bus and foot, from one ethnic group to another, seeing architecture, clothing, and food change daily; visiting ancient temples and mountain villages. Several days are spent in a remote school for mountain children and orphans where we teach English to the kids and they teach our kids CHinese and Tibetan - learning, playing, living and eating with them - each summer we buy food and cook some meals for the kids, plus give them frizbees, a basketball, and dolls for the girls, DVDs for the whole group. Our students also were taught how to carve wooden art works by the school kids.

Also, during our travels, we explore several villages of different ethnic backgrounds - their people and trades. Finally, the highlight and focus of the program, we spend about 14 days in Shangri-la (Gyalthang) living with local familes, attending Rassias Mandarin classes and, in the afternoons, heading out on excursions or meeting with local experts in culture, ecology, ethnic music, development - people known to us through our contacts there.

Community Service