Written By: Susan Moccia

New York City
April 24, 2008
Day 1

We left home a 4 a.m. for the big city. We arrived in New York at about 10:30 and checked into the hotel. A ride on the subway took us to the southern tip of Manhattan. The wait for the Statue of Liberty was so long that we decided to come back in the morning.
Our Next stops were Wall Street, ground Zero, China town. There we ate noodles at Great N.Y. Noodletown, Little Italy (Where Ted had a pastry), and then some shopping in SoHo.
Another subway ride took us to Midtown and the Empire State Building. We waited in very long lines and rode to the 86th floor to the observatory and took many pictures of the Manhattan skyline. We walked back to the hotel to freshen up and met Hannah Brown for dinner at Amarone, an Italian restaurant.

Hannah traveled to Jinhua with students from OHCHS in 2006. After our meal, we walked to Times Square to see the bright lights. we were very tired and went to the hotel around 11:00 pm to retire for the night.

Day 2
Ted and Max went out first thing in the morning for a bagel and coffee and walked to the Rockerfeller Center where they film NBC news and Good Morning America.
We left th hotel at 7:00 a.m. and took the subway back to Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty. Ted was able to get tickets out to Liberty Island and into the Statue. Acquiring tickets usually needs to be done weeks in advance, so we were very lucky.
Ted and Max had lots of fun posing and taking pictures. Because we had to check out of the hotel soon, we took a cab ride back and our Russian driver was very fast and got us there with time to spare.
We also went to the United Nations and toured the building then went back to Times Square and had a lunch of pizza.
After two busy days, we headed for home at 4:00 p.m. and arrived back in Norway at 11:30.

GREAT TRIP!!!!

On Monday, April 14th, Max spent the day at Paris Elementary School. He was introduced to the student body at morning assembly and they greeted him with a loud Ni Hao! We returned to the art room where Max taught Chinese calligraphy to all the 5th and 6th grade students. We had each group for a half hour and taught 6 classes.

Max was a terrific teacher. He taught them a few common Chinese words and had the students practice as he handed out materials. He explained and demonstrated how to hold a brush and how to paint the characters for Harmony and Peace. The students practiced several times and then had to turn the paper over and try to paint them from memory. Most did very well, probably better than I did myself. Max is a very accomplished calligrapher. His strokes are beautiful and to watch him, as an art teacher, is a joy. At the end of class he taught the students to count to five in Chinese. This was very interesting and the students picked this up very quickly.

This was a fantastic experience for my students and hopefully we will be able to have Max come back to work with more grade levels before he leaves for home.

Sue Moccia
Art Teacher, Paris Elementary

By Lynne Schott Teacher at OHCHS

A few weeks ago my husband and I asked Max if he wanted to try skiing. Max was very excited and eager to get started when we got to Shawnee Peak. We had to get him outfitted with equipment and ran into our first hurdle, how to convert metric measurements to American sizes. We figured out his height and weight, but needed the shoe sizer for his boot size. Max also discovered that multiple layers of socks, long underwear and pants take up space in the boot, so we had to make adjustment to his atttire to get the stuff on him. Tromping around in the equipment made for hot work, so the jacket came unzipped, the hat came off and he wanted to jettison the gloves until a gloveless fall made him aware of the importance of hand coverings. With Adaica’s, Bob’s and my help Max learned the difference between Pizza and French Fries, the “joy” of sliding backwards down the Rabbit Run and the excitement of putting up the bar before you get off the lift. He learned how to turn, but had a hard time shifting his weight to begin the opposite turn. He did very well on Easy Turn, but decided to put off trying the “Flying Hill” until he could turn on demand. He said Skiing was much more difficult than he had anticipated and by about 2:30 we were back in the lodge drinking hot cocoa, learning Chinese and talking to a lady whose husband had recently returned from China. When Bob finished giving his lessons we retired to the bar to have a beer. The whole day was filled with information about China and new Chinese words. When we got back to school,Max thanked me for the lesson and said his “taste ” of skiing was enough and he did not have to go back to try the “Flying Hill.” We can hardly wait to take him rafting with us this spring.

Well as of April 1 we are all done ice fishing/ bin diao. Max and I have been out at least one day every weekend to fish the hard water. The first time we went out I wondered if he would enjoy it, but he has since become an addict and regularly wakes me up early to dig holes. About 5:50 am every Saturday , from down the hall, I hear ” bin diao ma?”  So when Max  asks if we want to ice fish,  Haisheng  (my son Dylan) and I hit the road. 

To our brothers and sisters on the other side of the world, Ice fishing is simply drilling a hole in the ice of a lake and setting a trap for the fish. The trap consists of two pieces of wood and a reel to hold the fishing line. At the top of the trap is a flag set on a spring. When the fish bites, the reel spins and the flag goes up. From that point, the fisherman run like their legs are on fire to get the fish on the ice before he can escape.

Below is a compilation of some of the photos from Max , and with Max , from the last month.

This week the students continued their study of Chinese culture and history. For contemporary study, we examined the “one child policy”(http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iPY5di7Ht_CpKlIUbkwUohZXp9zgD8VAL9CG5) and looked at the influence of media on the situation in Tibet and the upcoming Olympic games. Students were exposed to stories from CNN, MSNBC and also Asian media such as China Daily (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/). They were able to annalize varying perspectives on the same topic and draw conclusions through discussions and debates.

Our historic time period this week was the Qing and Ming eras. This slice of history saw the growth of China in the arts and rise of demand from Europe. Students examined the influence of Europe and the significance of China’s refusal to trade.

This week my classes were also exposed to the historic art of calligraphy. This form of writing dates back almost 5000 years. We are lucky that Max is an expert at this form and is able to convey that skill to the students. The students first begin by learning to hold the brush or maobi, since this is a new technique it takes some people a bit to get used to. Next comes the time to put maobi to paper. Kids find quickly that they need to be meaningful in their strokes, as there is no white out or delete button. However, by the end of class, everyone has “got it” and can sit back and admire a true piece of Chinese artwork.

t’s the end of week one with Wang Zhiming (Max) in Class. Max and I have planned to carry out class with a format approach. The challenge is that there is so much to cover. China has been recording history for several thousands of years. In addition, they have a rich culture and we want students to have a geocentric sense of modern China. Our goal was to start class with an article about current news from China, move to formal Chinese history, and then end with something cultural. The last part is always the students favorite. My classes have a great respect for Max and are eager to engage in whatever he he throws at them.

Topics this week included:

- History from the Qin, Shang, and Han Dynasties

- Articles bout Tibet, China’s Economic Growth, and the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an

- Chinese language and writing covering basic conversation and the numbers 1-10

By Christopher P. Cobbett

One of the over arching goals of OHCHS is to encourage students to participate in post secondary education. Our district boosts an over 80% participation rate in some type of schooling after they leave here. Since Oxford hills is a comprehensive (trade classes and traditional academics) high school, we look to expose our students to colleges that offer associate trade degrees and others that offer 4 year professional degrees. This exposure fist takes place in the student’s sophomore year. The school offers field trips to several Maine colleges and universities. OHCHS is made up of 4 sophomore teams, each team gets a day to explore these schools as a group. They get a tour of the campus, review the classes and degrees offered, and sample the local dining hall (everyone’s favorite part of the trip).

Recently my team (and Max) were lucky enough to get to go on one such trip. We toured Central Maine Technical College and the University of Maine at Farmington.

First up was CMTC. According to Max “this type of college is great because it focuses on application and quality.” ” The students at the school seem very concerned with how their trade would benefit the environment.” “Also the cost is very reasonable and most students that want to go on in their education can afford this school. ”

I next asked if there were similiar schools in China and if so how did CMTC compare? Max said ” In my home town there is one. They are of the same level. I think the study and living conditions are very similar. The institution works very hard to make a great school so they can attract more and better students.” ” However in China the trade students and the academic students will go to the same school. The schools are thus larger, maybe housing up to 10,000 students.”

The bus moved on and up the road to the University of Maine at Farmington. Max commented to me that he liked that the school was larger and the students seemed very busy and excited. OHCHS traditionally sends many students each year to UMF. As a result , We did not have to look long to find several former students.

The last stop on the Maine college tour was the University of Maine at Orano. This the the largest school in the state’s University system. Max spent the day with OHCHS principal Ted Moccia. According to Mr. Moccia, Max was very impressed with the schools facilities and vast number of class and degree offerings.

This Article was covered in several Maine Newspapers.  

(Blaine Cardilli is an outdoor writer from Warren; he is a member of the Hunters Specialties prostaff and a member of the hunting/filming team with Northwoods Adventures TV; He can be reached at indwindhuntconsults@hotmail.com)

By Blaine Cardilli

Our good friends and “Northwoods Adventures TV” hosts, Chris Cobbett and Nate Fenderson recently came up to enjoy a day of ice fishing with us, as our guests, and I think we showed them a pretty good time. On cue, my buddy Orrin wanted to hit the ice at sun-up but the boys said they’d be right along so we waited. And waited. And then we waited some more. Finally, Chris and prostaff member Deven Morrill showed up around 8:00am, along with Chris’ eight year old son, Dylan, but Nate was nowhere to be seen so we packed up and hit the ice without him.
Chris was surprised at our nice set up and very pleased to see that we had brought along a portable woodstove for warmth that particular day, as the temperature was hovering around 8 degrees above zero, windchills not withstanding. As a matter of fact, with the winds whipping up, the temps were probably alot closer to minus 5 than anything. But we drilled our holes, set our traps, and that’s when Chris thought the real aspect of ice fishing would kick in, namely relaxing in the warm shack, but he learned right away that we take our ice fishing very seriously up here!
Immediately, flags began to trip and fish were dragged to the surface, most of which were perch and small bass, unusual for us since we normally fish for big bass here. Chris’ thought was that we’d film a good “kids show” that day, so we baited a little differently, specifically so the kids would experience more flags to chase. Apparently Chris was not quite ready for the amount of flag action we gave them all but he learned quickly that we do not fool around when it comes to our ice fishing!
I think it was around 9:30 or so when Nate called informing us he was in Biddeford and needed directions! He did show up about lunchtime which Chris said was “normal behavior” for him. No matter, the gang was finally all assembled here and it just got better as the day wore on. The kids, which included Dylan Cobbett, Tyler Fenderson, Lance Parker and Ryan Cardilli, all followed the big guys around to each flag, and took turns checking the lines and hauling in fish. Some good ones were actually taken, including a largemouth bass over 4 lbs, taken by my son, Ryan.
As typical outdoorsmen, we treated our guests to an awesome ice fisherman’s lunch, which consisted of deer and bear steaks, (tenderloins, too), marinaded in a seasoned hot and spicy sauce, along with a variety of chips and snacks. While the kids ate and played on the run, the adults tried to sit and chat and enjoy our meal but the constant tripping of flags made the task a bit difficult at times. Nonetheless, Orrin cooked up somewhere in the neighborhood of 13-14 packages of steaks, one cast iron fry pan after another, as quick as he could, and kept serving until all of us were painfully full and ready for naps!
By the time the day ended and it was time to pack up, no one could positively ascertain the total number of fish caught and released but I don’t think it would be ridiculous to say we were approaching 40 or so. Deven had to split when we came off the ice but Nate and Chris and their boys stayed to have dinner with us, prepared by Orrin’s fiance, Amber. And dinner was an awesome combination of wild turkey pot-pie, (courtesy of a very successful fall turkey season), garlic bread, and caesar salad. We ate until belts had to be loosened, then relaxed for awhile and chatted in the living room.
One thing that added unexpected enjoyment to the festivities was the additional friend Chris brought along with him that day, a Mr. Wang Zhiming, whom they affectionately called “Max”. Max was here from China through a teacher exchange program with the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Norway, Maine and arrived in Boston on Wednesday, February 13th, to enjoy his first ever visit to the United States. Here to teach chinese cultural studies for the next four months, he was staying with Chris and his family. In China, Max is a teacher of English at Zhejing Normal University Middle School in Jinhua City. Of course, living with the host of a national outdoor television show, it was only a matter of time until Max experienced his first “outdoor excursion” with us and what an experience it was.

As we sat outside the ice shack, Max noticed the large birds circling overhead and we explained that they were eagles. We explained how they were our national bird. One thing we could offer Max was the chance to tend flags and to everyone’s surprise, while handing in the line on one trap, he landed a northern pike measuring more than 30″ and weighing almost 5.5 lbs, which is a good sized pike for where we happened to be fishing!
We learned alot about chinese culture that day from Max, and I’m sure in the following four months we’ll learn even more, as will he, since Chris plans to let him tag along on an upcoming turkey hunt this spring. It was a wicked fun day and one we’ll all remember and if you’d like to experience some of it yourself, along with words of wisdom from our buddy Max, just stay tuned to the Sportsmans Channel in the next couple weeks for that ice fishing episode filmed right here. And before I put down my pen, I’d like to share the following…out of the top 100 most watched outdoor television shows in the country today, “Northwoods Adventures TV” made number 38 in ranking among viewers nationwide, well within the top 50. And following suit with what Chris and Nate always say, “We’ll see YOU…in the woods!”