In China, In Chinese

I have tried a couple of times to get on this blog to update it only to find that the website could not be accessed. I decided to try a backdoor approach, and it looks as though I will be able to update it. The only problem is that all of my directions to update it are in Chinese! We'll see how much I remember about where the directions were placed!

I arrived in Beijing last night at about 9:30 p.m. local time after a 25 hour journey. I felt quite confident that everything would work out, but as I was walking through the Beijing airport, it did occur to me that I didn't have a really good Plan B if there was no one there to pick me up. Of course, there was a wonderful person named "Shiffong" with an NAIS sign. She is tall and pretty, and her smile made me feel at ease at once. She apologized to me for breaking the news that we would be leaving for Shanghai the next morning at 7:30. I wasn't bothered by that, but I did look forward to a real bed.

This morning, we met in the lobby of the Sino-Swiss Hotel and then left for the Beijing Airport where we grabbed a cup of coffee and a muffin and proceeded through security. When we got to the gate, we realized the gate had been changed. By this point, it was about 8:30, the time our plane was to take off. Shiffond assured us with her comforting smile that "important people are the ones who board late." We got to the right gate and then got on a bus that drove us out to the plane. The snack on the plane was seaweed coated peanuts. They were delicious!

It was a short plane ride compared to the ones the previous day. In Shanghai, we were met by a man who is from IIE. His office is on East China Normal University as is our hotel. We checked into the hotel and then ate lunch in the hotel restaurant. The food was served on a lazy susan and included many different dishes from pig stomach and dried fish to spring rolls and mushrooms with tofu. I must admit I was not as adventurous an eater as I often am in other countries, but I enjoyed everything I did try!

By the way, the photo shown here is of me in front of a statue of Chairman Mao. I took it myself while at the university.

This afternoon we visited Chengfeng Middle School. When the principal was asked his greatest challenge, he said that it is trying to help the students be happy, healthy, and well educated. Of course many differences between American schools and Chinese schools were talked about, but this one statement stuck in my mind as so telling. We can go halfway around the world on a twenty-five hour trip, and the thing that stays on this principal's mind is the very thing that is on American principals' and heads of schools' minds as well. How do we give students a fabulous academic education as well as a health and happiness?