@MizzouVB China Trip Flashback: Paige Perego
7/1/2016 9:27:00 AM | Volleyball
Perego recalls visiting children at a local elementary school
COLUMBIA, Mo. – In late May, Mizzou Volleyball made its long trek to Beijing, China, for an unforgettable 13-day trip. While overseas, the Tigers competed against top Chinese competition during the week and visited historic landmarks on the weekends.
Throughout the offseason, MUTigers.com will meet with each of the Tiger players who made the memorable trip. Each individual will focus on one part of the team's trip and recall what that moment meant to them.
In the fourth edition is sophomore transfer Paige Perego and her recollection of visiting children at a local Beijing elementary school. The following description was written by Perego.
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Recently, I got the opportunity do something that I would never have had the chance to do if it was not for Mizzou Volleyball. I got to go across the world to China with some of my best friends. It doesn't get much better than that, but while we were there I had the opportunity to experience some eye opening things. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to explore China and learn about their culture. It was hard to pick just one of my favorite things, but there was one thing that we did that just gave me a whole new outlook on things and that was when we visited an Elementary School.
We were able to go visit a Chinese Elementary School and that experience ended up being nothing like how I thought it would be. I didn't expect to get as emotionally attached as I did. We first got to start our tour by walking into an English class full of fourth graders. They were just the cutest kids and I was very impressed on how well they could speak for only being eight years old. There was no way that I would be able to hold a conversation in Chinese when I was their age. We then just continued on with our team by learning to do some Chinese writing, which resulting in us being at a fourth grade level. While we were walking to a ping pong class we passed through a P.E. class full of third and fourth graders, which was a lot of kids but their version of a P.E. class is different from when I had P.E. in elementary school in the United States. It was more of a workout style than playing games.
After we passed them we got to go play ping pong with some fourth graders and they were teaching us the right way to play (and yes I got beat by an eight year old). Then we went to go visit their indoor pool and I didn't know this, but they are required to take swim classes because too many Chinese kids don't know how to swim. Lastly, one of the things that caught me off guard was when we went to go see the kids artwork. I felt like I was walking into a real art museum and was just so impressed with their work. It was just breathtaking how amazing were at the craft.
Visiting the school was an eye opening experience and gave me a different perspective on things. They have kids that are capable of doing things that people my age can do like reading books and things. It was very obvious that China pushes academics and I've known all along that they were smart because of their test scores, but it was just amazing to actually see how they get to where they are. This was an experience that I will always remember and wouldn't have gotten to do any other time.
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