Pictures

Pictures

Thoughts from Heze

I have returned from spending five days at our sister school, Heze Municipal Experimental Primary School. The school is amazing. The people are so warm and generous, and the children are bright, happy and enthusiastic. Everyone went out of their way to make me feel welcome. Dr. Stella had certainly paved the way for me. They all had the highest praise for him and often told me how much they had enjoyed his visit. During my five days, I visited classrooms, watched lessons, met with students and faculty, and was treated to many elaborate meals at restaurants and at the homes of students. I taught two English classes, one fifth grade and one sixth grade. I also showed the power point of our school, and there were many questions and remarks about how bright and friendly our classrooms are. In all, being with the people in Heze was an experience I will never forget. I can't wait to come back and share all that I have learned.

Leaving Heze

I left Heze today. Tomorrow we go back to Beijing. I had no internet access so I was unable to post anything. I will try to send you some more information and pictures.

Pictures

In a pomegranate tree in the garden in the Forbidden City
In the Forbidden City
The roof of a building in the Forbidden City
The Meeting Room at Tienanmen Square ( seats 6000 people for dinner!)
Statues in front of Mao's tomb - Tienanmen Square
Tienanmen Square

Pictures

Off to the Shandong Province

After tonight, I don't know what access I will have to the internet, as I will be going to the Shandong province. Hopefully I will be able to continue to send posts. Have a great vacation everyone!

Pictures

The One World sign is the motto of the Olympics.

Impressions of Beijing

We just got back from another exciting and exhausting day in Beijing. The city is amazing. It makes New York City look like a small town. The amount of construction going on is hard to believe. Each new building seems to be in competition to be the biggest, the most elaborate and the most architecturally innovative. Parts of the city look like Las Vegas with neon signs lighting up the area. There are many American businesses here, such as Starbucks, KFC, MacDonalds and WalMart, along with others we are used to seeing at home like Ikea, Citibank and IBM. The traffic seems to be in a persistent state of gridlock. Our trip to the Great Wall today took two hours, but it was well worth it. It is truly an awesome sight, and much more difficult to "climb" than I had imagined. We also visited a cloisonne factory and a jade and pearl factory owned by the government and went to the Silk Market, which despite its name, is really a massive flea market where the vendors actually grab at you to try to sell you their wares.

Tomorrow we are going to Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Old Commercial District, and we will see the Beijing Acrobats at night. Sunday we leave for Jinan in the Shandong Province. This is quite an adventure.

Pictures

At the Summer Palace
Olympic Stadium under construction
At the Ministry of Education
Represent BOWA in Beijing - Dr. Dellinger and Me at Ministry of Education
Guess who at the Ministry of Education

Ni hao!

Today we began our day at 8:00 AM with a visit to the Ministry of Education. The trip took us about 45 minues through Beijing traffic which was quite an experience. Thousands of cars and bicycles were fighting for space on the roads. The Ministry of Education building is beautiful, and like so many places in Beijing, is modern and elegant, but is right next door to some very poor areas. We heard a lecture on Chinese educational reform. They are planning on adopting concepts like group projects, cooperative learning and multiple solutions for problem solving in math. Then we went to Peking University for a lecture on Confucianism and Education. Most people struggled to stay awake with jetlag kicking in. I found it really interesting because I like all that stuff. When we left, we went by the Olympic Village, which they are working very hard to complete. Thousands of migrant workers have come to Beijing to work on this project. We went to eat lunch, which again consisted of about 12 different dishes, most of which I could recognize,and then we were off to the Summer Palace which was amazing. It is where the emperors stayed to get out of the summer heat in Beijing. It is fascinating to actually be in the places that we have learned about and to walk where the emperors once walked. We then went for a Peking duck dinner. The weather turned chilly and it started to rain, and after a 12 hour day, most of us fell asleep on the bus back to the hotel. Tomorrow we are off to the Great Wall.

A message from Mrs. White

Mrs. White emailed me earlier today and wanted to share some thoughts on the trip so far. Below are some of her comments.

Well, we finally made it to Beijing. Our plane was delayed in Chicago, so we left Hartford at 7:30 am on Tuesday and got to Beijing at 6:00 PM on Wednesday. It was a long flight, but very interesting route over the North Pole ( didn't see Santa) Our first dinner was at 9:00 after we had just arrived (9:00 AM still by my clock) and the food was great. We went to a restaurant and had 11 different dishes - eggplant, fish, beef, chicken, soup, pork - all really good. I did very well with my chopsticks. Since we were so late (a 3 hour delay in Chicago) we did not get to go to Tienanmen Square like we were supposed to, but we will go on Friday. The time difference is 12 hours so it is 12:06 PM here and I think 12:00ish noon there. We go to the Ministry of Education in the morning and to Peking University in the afternoon to hear a lecture on Confucianism in Chinese culture and thought. The only problem is that I am wide awake now and it is after midnight and we have to be out of here by 8:00 am.

I am all packed and ready to go...sort of.

I am all packed and ready to go...sort of.