Fifteen children from Baoshan and Fengxian area visited Shanghai Expo on Saturday, October 23rd.  All children and volunteers arrived at the Madang Lu Expo entrance and took the Metro Line to go into the Expo site.  For some children, it was their first time riding on a metro train and one girl commented that it was so comfortable that she couldn’t even tell that it was moving.
 
Our first stop was the Pacific Pavilion, which was also the sponsor for this trip. The children looked at the different exhibits with wide opened eyes and they were interested in every single item inside the pavilion.  They discussed how people used tree bark and leaves to make clothes and were interested in the kinds of food that people ate on these islands.
 
Next, we went to the United Kingdom Pavilion.  At first, the children couldn’t quite understand the theme of the pavilion but when they found out that each fiber tube stored a different kind of seed, they started to study each one and were just fascinated with all the different kinds of seeds displayed inside the Seed Cathedral.  After the United Kingdom Pavilion, we went over to the Netherlands Pavilion and took a guided tour through the “Happy Street”.  Despite the rain, children listened carefully and peered through each window to learn about the different facets of life in Netherlands.
 
Last but not least, we came to the Austrian Pavilion.  Children were treated to the VIP lounge and it was perfect timing that they were offered drinks and sweets after hours of walking.  The children were excited to play with the real snow and touching the interactive walls and floors inside the Austrian Pavilion.  The officials of the pavilion had also reserved the front row seats for our children at the live music performance. 
 
Although we have only visited a small area of the Expo site, the children had a wonderful experience at different pavilions.  We would like to thank Mrs. Bernadette Rounds Ganilau, Director of Pacific Pavilion, who offered all the entrance tickets for our group and access to the Pacific Pavilion.  Also, we are grateful to have Sharon Frazer, Michael Lucas, Rebecca Hickman and Irene Yu who coordinated the access to other pavilions.  Thanks too to our volunteers who helped make the day possible and guiding our children through the rain and the crowds inside the Expo site.