33 students from Flowery Country Garden School along with four teachers Mr. Huang Jie, Ms Yu Jing Xian, Ms Liu Yu and Mr. Chen Bing successfully completed an eight-day study tour to Malaysia from the 16^thof January to the 23^rdof January.

Through the efforts of the teachers, the parents of our students got in contact with the home stay families by wechat or phone not long before the tour. That was a very good beginning of the whole trip.

The day we set out had finally come. 33 students boarded the plane to Malaysia with big excitement. After 4 and a half hours of flight and two hours of bus trip we eventually arrived at SJKC Chung Hwa Ketiga，Muar at 10 PM on the 16^thof January. We felt a bit overwhelmed when our bus pulled up outside the school entrance as the organizers of the trip and all host parents and children were all standing along the hallway into the school. They applauded and gave us big smiles when we got off the bus. Their warm welcoming made our fatigue from the long traveling instantly disappear. After a simple and formal reception our students left with their home stay family and started the amazing learning journey in an exotic country.

During the following days the students slowly started to experience the Malaysian culture and life. The scenery looked very pleasant and the air smelled so fresh. There were palm trees, coconut trees and flowers everywhere. On the second day of our trip our students attended a very interesting ice breaking class with the home stay children in their school. The host family then took our students to the well-known Muar Food Street and tasted a lot of delicious local food, then we all went to Tanjung Emas, the famous park along the Muar river, to learn to make kites and flew kites afterwards. We visited Legoland on the third day. It was Saturday. We saw many famous cartoon characters and went on all sorts of exciting rides. Our students really had a great day. We went on a day trip to Kuala Lumpur on the last day of our tour. We saw the highest building in the world Petronas Twin Towers, Malaysian National Museum, the Independence Plaza, the National Monument. That was a big eye open to all of our students.

The trip was not just simply for play but also to learn. The students experienced the perfect combination of the three amazing cultures of Malays, Chinese and Indians. They saw buildings of Malaysian Chinese Association, Islam temples and Indian temple. They heard three languages spoken in daily life. They visited the Zhen Cheng Gong Museum in Malacca and got to know the great seven voyages this great explorer made around the world in the Ming Dynasty. They saw the beautiful views at the port of the Malacca strait. They visited a famous Chinese High School, a Malaysian Girls’ English school and an Indian school. They learned from the local students about their country and their life and built good friendship with them. They watched a fabulous Chinese New Year Gala performed by different local schools. They took part in the grand Chinese New Year Parade in Batu Pahat which was held every year since 14 years ago. We felt so proud and amazed to see the Malaysian Chinese cherished and kept the Chinese traditions and culture so well in a foreign country.

The four teachers were very responsible and they cared for every child very attentively. They always reminded the students to be aware of their good manners. They took part in every activity with the students and became friends with them. While staying the hotel on the last night, the teachers checked each room and check if they were safe and comfortable. They cared about the students’ daily life and they cared a lot about how they felt everyday and helped some of them overcome homesick and learn to enjoy the time with the home stay family. The teachers took photos of every activity and upload them to the Malaysian study tour wechat group and kept the parents back in China updated along the whole trip. They worked really very hard to make sure the whole trip safe for our students.

During the stay with the host families our students felt the affection the parents showed to them. The parents enjoyed talking with them and took very good care of our students. All the host families had a same aged kid. They played games, talked, went shopping, ate and slept in the same room together. They had such great memories which would always stay in their mind. After a few days staying our students became very close with family and they felt the parents were like their own mother and father. How beautiful is that people can connect simply in such a short time!

All gathering would end eventually. Although it was just six nights’ stay with the host family, our students already grew affection with them and they found it hard to say goodbye to them. In the farewell ceremony at SJKC Chung Hwa Ketiga, the organizers of this trip, the Malaysian and Chinese teachers both expressed how they felt about the whole trip. Mr. Huang Jie made a great speech. He expressed our sincere gratitude for their kindness and welcoming reception, and then he talked about he felt about the trip. At last he gave best wishes to the culture exchange between China and Malaysia. His speech was full of passion and each word made very clear sense. It won the applause of the whole audience. A few students volunteered to make short talk and they expressed their love and appreciation towards their host families. The ceremony ended in one of the most famous Chinese farewell song.

This tour caught the attention of the main media. There were reports in the influential newspaper like Sin Chew Daily, Nan Yang Siang Pau, China Press and Oriental Daily. The reporters from the Chinese Qing Yuan TV videoed the whole trip.

At 4:30 on the 23^rdof January our study tour group arrived safely back in Flowery Country Garden School. The parents of our students presented flowers to show their appreciation to the hard work of the four teachers. The whole trip ended pleasantly in taking photos of all the students, the parents and the teachers together.

Finally we would like to say our sincere thank you to everyone who worked hard to make sure the tour go successfully. Big thank you to the host families again! （文\刘钰）