Hand in Hand Chinese Culture Program

All updates will be given at the main website: handinhandchinese.org

On the fifth day of camp, the dragon's clues led us to the park and the final hiding place of the treasure. After a long and difficult search, we found the treasure that the dragon had left for all the campers!

To celebrate our wonderful week looking for the treasure at camp, we had a picnic at the park, performed the dances that we learned this week for our parents, and got all wet with water balloons and squirt guns!

What a great week!

More pictures from our last day of camp can be found here.


I think we found a clue!


We found the dragon!


Hitting the dragon pinata


The little class performs their dance


The big class's final dance pose


We got to meet our little sisters' families


...and we got super wet!

For our fourth day at camp, we visited the Chinese marketplace and learned about Chinese fashion.


We made Chinese paper dolls with "Qi Pao," traditional Chinese dresses


Throughout the week, the campers earned stamps if they behaved and cleaned up their work stations, and on the last day, they used their stamps to go shopping!


There's so much to buy!


Look at our purchases!

Today, we visited a Chinese Tea House to taste some different kinds of Chinese tea and finished the day with some calligraphy!


We ate Dian Xin, or desserts, with our tea


Everyone loved Bubble Tea or Milk Tea, a popular drink in China made by mixing milk with tea


Practicing Chinese calligraphy

Our clue brought us to the Forbidden City today on our quest to find the black dragon's hidden treasure. As we searched for more clues, or detectives learned about the ancient Chinese imperial palace and painted Chinese pagodas. The Forbidden City got its name because commoners were forbidden to enter the palace where the emperor lived. People from all over the world visit it today to see its beautiful architecture.


Margaux's illustration of the Forbidden Palace


There are lots of different pagodas and buildings in the Forbidden City


Painting Chinese pagodas

Oh no! The evil Black Dragon has stolen the treasure of the great Golden Dragon! Luckily, we have our awesome Dragon Detectives to help us solve the mystery and find the Golden Dragon's missing treasure this week.

On the first day, all of our detectives received their detective notebooks and a handy dandy magnifying glass. These will be very helpful throughout the week as we go on our mission.

Our first assignment took us to the Chinese Opera House, where we made Chinese opera masks. We also used Chinese papercuts to decorate our detective tote bags. At the Opera House, we found our first clue, which will lead us to tomorrow's location and bring us closer to finding the missing treasure.

Hand in Hand's End of the Semester Party was held at the Oriental Pearl restaurant in Chinatown on Sunday, May 16. All the kids and families went on a tour of Atlanta's Chinatown first and got to tour the Chinese supermarket, Dinhao. For many of the adoptive families in the program, this was their first visit to Chinatown.


Mia holding some rice noodles from Jiang Xi, the province where she was born


Looking at some Chinese products in the supermarket

After everyone got to the restaurant, the Hand in Hand language and dance classes put on a performance, showing off what they had learned this year. Afterward, the big sisters performed a few dances, and dinner was served. The delicious meal included lo mein, green beans, fried rice, beef and broccoli and lots more!



The language class performs the Chinese zodiac story


Some of the big sisters perform a fan dance


Yummy food!


We love Chicken Lo Mein!

After dinner, it was bittersweet as we said goodbye to the graduating seniors and wished them luck in college next year. Everyone will miss them so much!


The seniors (from left to right): Lisa X, Alice, Cathy, Michelle, Melody, Jessica, and Karen (not pictured) Fan Fan and Lisa B.

As we were about to wrap up, the kids announced that they had a special surprise performance! Mia and Sarah Anne performed a dance they learned in their dance class and then the language class students performed a dance that they had secretly choreographed and rehearsed to Karen's favorite Hannah Montana song, "One in a Million"! It was such a great surprise!


A surprise dance performance by Mia and Sarah Anne


The kids performed a dance for Karen to her favorite song, "One in a Million"

We finished the day with lots of hugs and tears, but we know that even though we may be farther apart next year, we will have our Hand in Hand family forever!


Big hug!!


The Hand in Hand family

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Hand in Hand 2010 Video


Class of 2010 Seniors

Spring is finally here! And what better way to welcome this colorful season than with a tea party? The weather was perfect so everyone got dressed up in their colorful dresses for some girly fun! The big sisters helped style the kids' hair and everyone got their nails done. We baked cookies and cupcakes and had lots of fun outside! What a fun day!


Jennifer curling little sister Charlotte's hair


Jenny painting Kate's nails




Pool fun!

Today was dress up day for the kids in Hand in Hand's language and dance class! We have been learning about clothing and fashion this month, so everyone came dressed up in their traditional Chinese clothing, and we had a fashion show!

Luckily, we had plenty of paparazzi parents to snap pictures of the girls strutting the runway!


Workin' the runway!


All the wonderful models in their Chinese dresses!

Our March Hand in Hand event was lots of fun! For our second Mulan event, we watched Mulan II and learned about family. All the kids and big sisters had a great time watching the movie, doing crafts and munching on snacks!


We learned how to say mom, dad, sister, and brother in Chinese and made these cool family picture frames!


Enjoying the movie and eating lots of snacks!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!! It's the Year of the Tiger!
All of us at Hand in Hand and FCC North Georgia got in the New Year spirit this year at our Chinese New Year event on Saturday! Our program has grown so much since the Chinese New Year event last year that we outgrew our original venue. Luckily, at the last minute, New Life Academy graciously offered to rent us their facilities for the event, and it was wonderful!!

In spite of the warnings about inclement weather, about 150 people showed up on Saturday, more than any of us had expected! We got to see old friends and welcomed lots of new members!

The kids did crafts with their big sisters, and everyone had a very yummy dinner! It was a great evening for all! We can't wait until our next event!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!! Happy New Year!!


Paper folding!


We love crafts!


We love seeing all our friends!


And we love getting dressed up in our Chinese dresses!


People eat oranges for good luck on Chinese New Year


Yummy! Food!


Thank you Atlanta Logo Wear for making these awesome t-shirts and tote bags!

See more pictures in our Photo Gallery!

Check out our new Chinese New Year t-shirts!

To celebrate our 2nd annual Chinese New Year celebration, we will be selling these cool t-shirts at our Chinese New Year event! Designed by one of our big sisters, Alice Young, and made by Atlanta Logo Wear, one of our very generous sponsors!

All proceeds will go towards helping us to continue providing fun (and free!) events for all the kids! The shirts will be available in long sleeves ($15) or short sleeves ($12). We will also be selling canvas tote bags ($8) with our logo on them.

To order, please email Karen (karen@handinhandchinese.org) or indicate that you would like to order a shirt when you RSVP for our Chinese New Year event.