Day 28

7.19.09

Today we had the option of either staying at the hotel and exploring the city, or going on a mini-tour to a cave & hiking up to a temple, and all around a mountain. Grandma chose the former, and I the latter. From what I was told, shopping was a blast! Everyone that went had a wonderful time exploring Yichang (the city we were in), and going in and out of the air conditioned shops! People came back with bags and bags of shopping, and Grandma and her friends seemed really happy to get out of the tourist-being-carted-around-on-a-bus routine. The mountain trip was spectacular, with breathtaking views of the start of the Three Gorges Dam. Afterwards, we had lunch, and were taken back on our 5 hour trip to Wuhan. Now we’re back in our nice room in our nice hotel (even though last night’s was very nice), enjoying the night and preparing for school to start up again tomorrow!

Day 27

7.18.09

Today we headed off at 8:30am for the Three Gorges Dam. I found out that Jerry (the head of TA’s helping at the hotel) is going to be singing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” at the 2^nd Hootenanny this coming Thursday. The bus ride took 5 hours and the Dam was gorgeous!!! There were 3 different stops we made, the first to a spot far away and high up from the Dam, a very good view, and we also saw a model of the Three Gorges Dam there. Then we went to a closer view of it, and after that, to a modern-art park very close to the water- a lot of people stayed on the bus but as small as it was it was cute, and worth the 30 minutes of walking around. Very long day=very tired people. The hotel is wonderfully quiet, and Grandma and some of her friends are downstairs enjoying the fruits of their labor (it took Grandma 20 minutes to get the point across to the bartenders/hostesses what the group wanted for drinks. Go her!) A long day deserves much rest.

Day 26

7.17.09

Thought for the Day:

Thought is deeper than all speech. Feeling is deeper than all thought.

Idiom:

Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.

Going Out to Dinner:

Arrange students into couples. Give them $20, and ‘Dragon Village” Menu. Have them look over the menu for 10-15 minutes, then set up a mock dining experience and act it out in front of the class. This went really well! The girls were very tricky, and gave the class a lot to laugh about.

Day 25

7.16.09

Today, David Nezzie, the American Indian, came into our room to speak to the morning/afternoon joint class. The kids seemed to like it a lot, they had really good questions! We both took lots of notes on the presentation, learning a lot more than I thought I ever could about Native American culture!

Also today, we changed rooms! Last night the noise coming from the 5 partying men next door, the young people across the hall, the drunks in the hall and the smell of cigarettes coming from next door was just too much. So, we moved. Now, in our new room, 432, has a view of the front of the HUST campus and Monkey Mountain. Hopefully we’ll sleep better tonight- the electricians even came and set our room up to not have a key in the slot for power, for AC and the refrigerator to run 24/7 if we so wish.. Tonight we had the talent show after a very chill day at school. It was amazing!!! D.T. and Raistlin were crowd favorites with their singing and violin playing. Both were fantastic, and blew everyone away. Most, if not all students from our class was there to support their friends, and the entire show was an amazing success. After, we got to go to our new room! The shower leaks and makes a lake whenever we turn it on, but other than that, it’s perfect!

Day 24

.15.09

Thought for the Day:

“There are two worlds; the world that we can measure with line and rule, and the world we can feel with our hearts.”

Idiom:

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Tongue Twister:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers that Peter Piper picked?

Today the students gave their presentations on Chinese culture and history! Among the topics were many, many festivals. Here’s who did what:

Bert	Bamboo
Mark	Medical Science
Scott	Spring Festival
Joyce	Double 7th (Valentine’s) Festival
Selina	Chinese lute
Claudia	Kung Fu
Christina	Mid Autumn Festival
Elan	Hometown Culture
Christian	Mid Autumn Festival
Vincent	Chinese Cuisine
Eric	Spring Festival
RyAn	8 Chinese Festivals
Sun	Qingming Festival
Jason	Mid Autumn Festival
Jenni & Lisa	Traditional Wedding
D.T.	Double 7th (Valentine’s) Festival
Emily	Dragon Boat Festival
Jill	Cold Food Festival
Michael #1	Spring Festival
Even	Mid Autumn Festival
Paul	Mid Autumn Festival

The presentations went fantastically!

Day 23

7.14.09

Today, I went around to a lot of other people’s classrooms. I feel kind of bad for leaving Grandma, but at least she has Michelle. All 10 spots were filled up with people who wanted me to talk to their classes, and it was so much fun!!! At the end of the day we didn’t want to go out to dinner, so peanut butter and yoghurt it is!

Day 22

7.13.09

Thought for the Day:

It’s not about making it through the storm, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.

Idiom:

Did you get up on the wrong side of bed?

Grocery Shopping:

Hand out grocery ads for Fry’s, Basha’s and Safeway. Have the students buy enough for breakfast, lunch and dinner-for $30. Took the rest of class- very fun

Day 20

7.11.09

Today we got up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 5am to hike up Monkey Mountain! It was quite a walk to the entrance itself, and then we started our way up the road to the monkeys! Altogether, we had Vincent, Allen, Alex, Todd, Karen, Grandma, Jennifer, Nga and two other guys, friends of Vince and Todd. It was ¥10 to get in, and well worth it. We hiked up and saw the monkey cages, but ignored them at the time, opting to hike in the forest/rainforest to try and see wild monkeys. We didn’t have any luck, so we headed back to the cages. Once we got to the cages, the free monkeys came out to play! The boys were feeding them bread they had brought, and Grandma got to pet one! They had little faux-hawks, very adorable. After we got back from Monkey Mountain, we rested at the hotel for about a half hour before heading out to the open market up the street. We looked for a bike at the market, but to no avail. After the two rows of random things like electronics, shoes and bags, there was the actual market- there were rows of vegetables and fruits, picked no more than 2 hours before. Then came the rows of meat. To show potential buyers how good the quality was, the sellers held the raw meat in their hands and poked and prodded it with the customer until a deal was reached. The smell was overpowering, something we’ll never forget, unfortunately. Well after that we ran into Vincent and Todd at the bus stop, waited for a while, and took a taxi with them to their dorms, where I bought a bike! We tried to imitate the students who have a friend on the back of their bike, but it didn’t work for us. After that, we tried to catch a taxi to Mr. Mai’s. There was another guy who came over from 100 yards away to wait near us to what we thought was stealing our potential cab. Instead, we ended up sharing a taxi to Mr. Mai’s! he refused to let us pay for our part of the trip (he was going downtown), and it turned out that he is a professor at HUST! Mr. Mai’s was really relaxing, and after dinner we just chilled and relaxed in the room.

Day 19

7.10.09

Thought for the Day:

To grow is to change, and to have changed much is to have grown much.

Postcard USA Presentation:

Have students choose a state to present a report on in a week. Explain states as they choose them.

Hokey Pokey Practice

A…B…C… Progressive Story

Arrange students in a circle around the room, start out a story with an opening line starting with an ‘a’, have them continue the story in fragments of sentences, always having them start with their letter. Ex: Alice woke up one day to find…Bats had invaded her home, so she…Called the fire department to get them down, but… Deer got in the way of the trucks..etc etc.

Day 18

Thought for the Day:

“The greatest discovery is finding yourself.”

Idiom:

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Tongue twister:

Fresh fried fish. Fish fried fresh. Fried fresh fish. Fresh fish fried.

Milling to Music:

Give students topic cards (4 topics on each), play music while having them mill about the room, greeting each other as they pass by. When the music stops, they start talking to the student nearest them.

Hokey Pokey:

Self explanatory. Students seem to love it.

Day 17

7.8.09

Homework Check

Thought for the Day:

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I touch and I understand.” Chinese Proverb

Idiom: “Don’t bite off more than you can chew”

Spy in the Black Trench Coat: We split the kids into groups of 4 and 5, then gave them the card of 4 spies facing each other on a train. They had to figure out which one was wearing the black trench coat through the given clues on the card.

Animal on Back: Laminated pictures of animals with information about them are placed on kids’ backs-they are partnered up and must communicate to correctly identify the animal on their back, They loved it so much!

Day 16

7.7.09

Thought for the Day: “The power to remember may be a gift, but the power to forget may be a blessing.”

-Dagobert Runes

Tongue Twister:

Swan swam over the pond. Swim swan swim. Swan swam back again. Well Swum swan.

Arm Exercises: (accept, reject, modify )

1- People who marry should stay married. There should be no divorce.

2- All drunk drivers should be sent to prison.

3- TV is a waste of time. It makes people stupid.

4- Cigars and cigarettes should be banned. They cause cancer.

5- Huge gas-guzzling cars should not be allowed. They cause pollution.

6- All people who sell illegal drugs should go to prison. They cause sickness, death and heartbreak.

Break into groups of 4-6. Half accept, half reject or modify. Debates in front of the class.

Yarn Throw: One person starts out holding the end of the string, tosses it to another student and says something positive about that person. Repeat, but each student that catches the yarn must hold on to it before throwing it on. There will be a big web in the classroom connecting all of the students at the end.

Homework: Hand out Love, Dating, and Marriage Questions (30). First 5 due tomorrow.

Day 15

7.6.09

Today is the first day of English Summer Camp at Huazhong University of Science and Technology!

Thought for the Day: “I observe myself and so I come to know others.”

-Lau Tzu

Tongue Twister:

Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascals ran.

Introductions today! There are 40 students in our morning class alone! And almost 30 in the afternoon.

Identification Calendar: Calendar with unfinished statements on it, like, “ The person who likes to read a lot is ______” and they had to go around the classroom and fill it in with a students name after asking the question. All in English, of course.

Day 14

7.5.09

Today we met our Teaching Assistant, Michelle, and she gave us a tour of the campus. We also met JERRY!, the leader of the TA group in the hotel that helps us with a lot of stuff. Today was also a very relaxing day- but all of the teachers (that aren’t quarantined) have first-day-jitters. IT’s kind of funny, tomorrow is the first day of school, and I’m not nervous at all! Today was also a very relaxing day to get settled in and accustomed to our living quarters for the next 3 weeks.

Day 13

7.4.09

4^th of July!!!!! We left on a plane to WUHAN!!!! today, and Happy Birthday to America! Today was a very relaxed day. We won’t be writing much from here on out, since we will be teaching daily and I will keep you updated about what we do in the classroom as well. We had to change rooms because the first had just one bed. The one we’re in now has a gorgeous view of a hallway and a door. We’re happy to be here and have this experience teaching though, view or no view.

Day 12

7.3.09

Today we go to the lacquer factory and Emperor Qin’s Terra Cotta Warriors! The furniture and mock soldiers were breathtaking! Then we went to the actual Terra Cotta warriors! There were three pits of soldiers/warriors, the second was the biggest, holding a total of about 2,000 ceramic fighters. The first and third pits were smaller, but equally impressive. They had to be kept in the dark because they are so ancient they’re in danger of disintegrating. After we went around to all the dig sites for the soldiers and the warriors, we went into a tea shop nearby and waited for the rest of our group. We went out for dinner and after, packed up for our long stay in Wuhan. We leave tomorrow, and start teaching on Monday! We’re all excited, even though some people haven’t even started thinking of their lesson plans yet. Ah well, Grandma planned ahead and was done with plans three weeks before we left. Wuhan tomorrow!

Day 11

7.2.09

Today we departed for Xi’an at 11:45 in the morning, leaving glorious Beijing for the rest of our time in China. We both agree that we prefer it over Shanghai, though Shanghai has many, many interesting places to go. Our first stop after leaving the airport was a museum, filled with ancient Chinese history. It included pottery, scrolls, different forms of ancient Chinese script, musical instruments and much more. Tonight we were treated to an amazing feast of dumplings and a show and a theatre, I believe it was called the Sunrise Theatre or something like that. At first, they served the appetizers and lots of people thought it was just the meal, but then came the mountains upon mountains of dumplings! The steamers full of them seemed to never coming, even I f there were 5 left in one, the servers brought 2 more to take its’ place. They contained everything from crushed walnuts, vegetables and chicken to duck, beef, and about 30 others! Then, if the amazing dinner wasn’t enough, the show came on! There were dancers and singers and everything was colorful and fluid, telling stories with it all. Everyone was impressed, and went back to the hotel feeling pleased and contented.

Day 10

7.1.09

Today we headed to Tiananmen Square first thing in the morning! There were hundreds, maybe thousands of people lined up to see Mao Zedong’s tomb. Though his body is not located there, many still pay homage to his supposed burial site. People couldn’t bring anything at all into the mausoleum though- not even an umbrella! So there were things lying about near the lines being watched by relatives and friends. Meanwhile, we looked around at the giant monument to Mao, the lines of people, and across the busy lanes of traffic to the Forbidden City and Forbidden Palace. Our group was not only tourists, but also tourist attractions. Many Chinese were taking our pictures, either being direct and asking or from far away, trying to make it look like they were photographing a flag or something. Afterwards, we went to the Urban Planning Exposition across the street. There was a room where the entire floor was a map of the city of Beijing- very cool. The middle was a model, with mini buildings and skyscrapers complete with a mini lights show.. For lunch we took a ‘pedicab’, kind of like a rickshaw you’d see in India, but attached to a bike, not pulled purely by manpower. We were taken on a tour of a local ‘hutong’- a large and complicated neighborhood- one of many that used to fill Beijing until many were destroyed. Now the government has implemented laws making it illegal to replace these ‘hutongs’ with giant buildings and apartment complexes, which is a lot of what Beijing is. After the tour, we ate lunch at the home of a local who cooked for tour groups almost every day. Following lunch, we watched a cricket show in the same home we ate lunch in.. Some people were expecting a cricket fight- something that is actually illegal in China. For the final event of the day, we were taken to an art town, full of museums and exhibitions. No one was really looking for it, but I do believe we were all pleasantly surprised. It was called ‘798’, and showcased many emerging or established artists in Beijing. I think one of the funniest works our group saw was at the very end- a naked angel man hanging off the building (a plaster representation, of course). Today was a very full day!

Day 9

6.30.09

Today we departed early for a secluded spot, sans other tourists, on the Great Wall of China!!! We’re all very excited about it. Before we went to the Wall, we stopped after a half hour at a jade factory/store. We learned that white jade is used and worn in death, and the darker green the jade, the better quality (and more expensive!). Grandma bought a gorgeous jade bracelet; she says it’s getting darker every day in some areas. Jade, no matter what color, means happiness. Two hours after the factory, we arrived at the Wall. We had lunch beforehand, a very traditional meal, with the best corn either of us had had in ages. To get to the actual Great Wall, we had to take a cable car up to the top of a mountain, and then walk a distance to finish the trek. As we arrived at the top of the cable car line, we were met by twenty two locals, who were our ‘walking companions’ we had been told about before we went up. They would walk around with us, then expect us to buy something at the end of the walk. It sounds a bit odd, but it was nice having them there to help us along. This part of the Wall is not very often visited by tourist groups, and it’s a bit run down in places. One part of it is the oldest watchtower on the entire Great Wall of China. As we descended the steps to the ancient tower, our guides held our hands (it was so cute!) and made sure we wouldn’t fall. Grandma’s guide really helped her when she reached the steep stairs that seemed to be at a 60 degree slant! The lady that was walking with me was this adorable tiny old lady, who was in remarkable shape for her age- she seemed about 75 or 80! After the beautiful, gorgeous, breathtaking and phenomenal view from atop the Great Wall, we descended down the mountain in our cable car and headed over to where there were little shops for the few tourists passing through. Our guides that had walked with us on the Wall had hiked down the mountain were down well before we were, their speed was remarkable! Following the Wall, we made a visit to the Olympic Park to see the Birds Nest Stadium, Water Cube, and surrounding area. After that, we went our to dinner at a nice looking restaurant. This was our ‘Duck Banquet’; we watched guys carve our duck then had thin little tortillas to put it in with plum sauce, onions and cucumbers as well. Very tasty! Finally, we were back at the hotel after our dinner. Scotty asked everyone if we wanted masseurs sent to our rooms for massages, so we decided to do that. We waited quite some time but finally they came, and it was fantastic! At the very end, when they were massaging our feet, they filled 2 plastic bags with hot water and placed teabags in them, letting the tea seep in before putting our feet in.. It was said to be Chinese medicine, and it felt good! Exhausting day today and it is over!

Day 8

6.29.09

We woke up at 6am, and were all fed and ready for another exciting tour day by the time the bus picked us up at 8:30am. Today was the day of the Forbidden City and the Forbidden Palace! We spent around four hours meandering around and exploring the vast expanse that is the Forbidden City. There were exhibition halls for porcelain and clocks, and the sea of yellow roofed building was just incredible. After the palace, we went to lunch near our next stop, the pearl market. We learned about the life cycle of the oyster and the difference between freshwater and saltwater pearls. Afterwards, we were invited to shop around, but neither of us bought anything. Following our visit to the pearl market, we were taken to the Summer Palace. The trip started off with a boat ride across the lake that covers the majority of the palace to the other side of the palace, and we walked back around the lake to where we had started, listening to Scotty and his bottomless pit of information about the people that lived there, the history of the palace and interesting little stories along the way. After a half hour, we were back on the bus and headed for dinner. Some TFF teachers that have come back told us that by the end of these five weeks, everyone is craving steaks and hamburgers, instead of bak-choy and sautéed chicken spinning around on a lazy-susan. Though the food is rather excellent here, there’s no Chinese restaurant in the States that matches the things we’ve been eating here.

Day 7

6.28.09

Today we left on a plane for Beijing! We were watching a movie before we had to leave (at 8:30am) and almost forgot about the bus! It was kind of scary, but still fun. We said goodbye to Jackie (our guide) at the airport; I think he was kind of happy to be rid of us crazy tourists. The flight was . . . honestly, one of the worst flights we’ve been on in a long time. But, we were all very happy when we got to the Beijing airport. Our new guide, Scotty, brought us Chicken sandwiches and French fries from McDonalds! Immediately after getting our luggage at the airport, we headed to the Temple of Heaven. It was beautiful! The, we checked in to the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which, from the front, overlooks the Bird’s Nest Stadium, where the 2008 Beijing Olympics were held. For dinner, we went to a well hidden little restaurant (it was actually underground) where we had a private room. There was a performance as well, and there was a flute player than came into our room and played for us. The best part of the meal had to be the piping hot little rolls we were given to dip in a sugary sweet creamy sauce/dip/syrup. Oh, and of course the watermelon! I have a feeling all this travel will have us sleeping in no time at all.

Day 6

6.27.09

We went to a little garden with 8 shows tonight. It was very different from Nanxun, but still nice. After we got back from Suzhou today we just chilled in our room until we went to dinner and the garden. Then, we had coffee, we watched a movie about the Zodiac killer, then just crashed. I stayed up a little later than Grandma and watched another movie, then finally went to sleep. Then, at who knows what time, my parents called! Maybe he didn’t think we were sleeping?

Day 5

Day 5, June 26

Well, we're off to Suzhou today. We got up at 6am and finished the last of packing before breakfast. We had a bit of a scary snafu at checkout when Nancee thought she had lost her passport. We opened all the bags in the lobby and searched through everything. Finally, she found it wedged in a book in her carry on bag. We went to breakfast and found out there will be 2 more kids in Wuhan-one 12 and one 17. Anyways, today we were scheduled to go on a tour of a silk factory and another garden. After the long bus ride there, we went to lunch in the factory and had an American-style buffet before our tour. The tour was amazing! We walked through the entire process of how they have the silk worms and feed them one huge leaf a day for 50 days before they go into their cocoon. The workers find the end of the silk string (it's extremely difficult) by soaking the unbroken cocoon in water, which makes it easier to find. After the tour, we went shopping in the everything-silk store. The prices were obviously government-fixed; one Cali king duvet cover was 2500, or about 400 USD! Grandmother bought a purse and a lipstick holder, they're both very cute! After, we went to our hotel, a Holiday Inn, and it is by far the best hotel we've been in so far. There's a couch, armchair, 2 beds, nightstand, desk area, free Wi-Fi and it's a corner room so we have 2 sets of windows to watch the rain and lightening through. We turned on the television to find out Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson were dead, how depressing. RIP. Well, after that we went to dinner and realized we need to skip eating so much of this oily greasy food-it's good, but it's not good for us. We go back to Shanghai tomorrow!

Day 4

Day 4, June 25

We met the group at breakfast-there's George, our fearless leader, and a few people from Mandarin classes-Joan, Fran, Chuck, Katie and a few more. All together, there were 22 in our tour group. To start off the day, we went to the Shanghai Museum. The museum focused on ancient Chinese history, complete with ancient money, ancient paintings and scrolls and ceramics. We had three hours and were finished in two. Luckily, we were kept occupied by the two gift shops, but we didn't buy anything. We had lunch at a restaurant in a hotel, then rested back at Broadway Mansions until we left for the shopping place and (yet another) garden. We skipped the garden and decided to souvenir shop for people the entire time instead. We got cell phone charms as gifts, and had Tommy, Stephen and my names painted in Chinese characters as well. Dinner was at a Thai place – Suzhou tomorrow!

Day 3

Day 3, June 24

Our first destination of today was Jing Li Garden, in Suzhou, a beautiful place filled with rocks and flowers and bridges. We were treated to a private lunch, complete with Chinese opera singers/musicians. There was a tour guide who spoke English, Tracy, and she loved to sing and act. After that garden. We took a bus to a bus station in Suzhou and caught another bus back to Shanghai. We ended up at a different bus station than what we had started at, and the moment we stepped off the escalator to the main floor we were bombarded by drivers asking to take us wherever we wanted. We ended up asking one man if he knew where our hotel was, and then we had to settle on a price. He said 100, we said 50, he said 60, and we were done. The guy's friend sprinted off and his wife had us stand with her so we wouldn't run off while he got his car. It turned out to be a brand new KIA, not too shabby. It even had air conditioning! We finally arrived at our destination after a tentative half hour; neither of us had ever been so happy to be back in that hotel. The tour group came in late tonight, about 9pm, and we shall see them tomorrow!

Day 2

Day 2, June 23

We woke up at 6am and had our buffet breakfast at the hotel. No salmon fried rice for Grandma like she wanted, oh darn. There was something on top of the mixed vegetables last night that just didn’t seem appealing-it moved. We met Mr. Zhou (pronounced “Joo�) at the SSBC (Shanghai Sightseeing Bus Center) at about 8:15am, and were on the bus on our way to Nanxun at about 9am.. We watched the heights of the buildings decrease and the amount of oxygen-deprived plants along the way increase. Two and a half long hours later, we arrived in Nanxun, met by Rong Fei Wang. He had painted fans for Grandma and me, as well as convenient supplies like bug spray, hand wipes, coffee and two types of tea. We took a pedicab to our hotel, the Reifeng International Volks Great Hotel. I think the name was compensation for the appearance.. Rong Fei gave us a complete tour of Nanxun, visiting every tourist site imaginable, complete with a private lunch at the beginning as well as a boat ride, and a massage/hair wash at the end. We then walked the streets next to the ancient city, seeing many dogs and children along the way. After, we went back to the hotel, then across the street to Rong Fei’s recommended restaurant for some to-go fried rice. It took a while to get the point across, but we finally did, and ended up throwing the rice out, opting instead for a cup of coffee and a cookie each.

Day 1

Day 1, June 21-22

Today was the first day of our big adventure. We left at around 4am from Tucson to Phoenix, and left from Sky Harbor Airport at 10:30am. After arriving in San Francisco, we waited for 4 hours, and finally boarded, only to wait for another hour due to engine problems. But finally, we were in the air, headed to Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. Grandma read for the majority of the flight and people-watched, while I slept for 8 hours and watched a movie. We arrived in China around 6:30pm local time, to be met by the H1N1 Prevention/HAZMAT/Oopma Loompa Team. Decked out in full white jumpsuits with hoods, mini gas masks, goggles and 4-point laser gun-temperature takers, they asked everyone to stay seated no matter what and close their eyes when they pointed the laser at each of our foreheads to see if our temperature exceeded around 34°C, or about 100°F. We took the Mag-Lev [Magnetic Levitation] Train to a Taxi Station and loaded all 3 suitcases, one back pack, a duffel bag and two people into a cab. Finally, one strenuous, multilingual, ¥59 half hour ride around the city later, we arrived at the Broadway Mansions Hotel.

T-Minus 5 Days

5 days to our adventure's beginning. I thought I'd start this ahead of time and try to update as much as possible. Finished the last of my shopping for China today, got shoes, bandaids, stationary-random stuff, but essential.My grandmother, Nancee Petersen, and will be teaching [i was be assisting, as I am too young] for 3 weeks at Wuhan University with a group of 40 other people. I can say with fair certainty that I am the youngest in the group. Nonetheless, that means more experience and wisdom to learn from others, no? This will be my fourth time in China, and Nancee's first, but she's been to 30 other countries so she is no stranger to travel. We will be teaching at Wuhan University with the groups and our teaching partners, Dick and Melinda Jones.
Hopefully you, the reader, will be interested in this blog and our travels and teachings in China.