We left the hotel at 11:30 AM,on Monday April 21, and stopped at a very large restaurant for our last meal in China. It was still raining when we arrived at the new, huge airport.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Return to Connecticut, USA
Monday, April 21, 2008
I got up very early, and went down for breakfast at 6:00AM. It was still raining. Instead of waiting around the hotel I decided to go to the Antique Market, for yet a last shopping spree before the 11:30 AM bus to the airport. I found three others who also wanted to go to the market and we got a taxi. Unfortunately, the hotel directions to the Antique Market were to the wrong location…and we spent one and one-half hours in rush hour traffic before we found that out. We finally got to the market at 8:20 AM, only to find that it virtually empty. My colleagues decided to leave and took a taxi back to the hotel…empty handed. I was lucky to find one small shop where bought a few items. I did get a bit nervous, being alone at this market, with few taxis around. However, I did find a man in a car on the street to bring me back by 10:15AM, and had forty-five minutes to finish packing.
We left the hotel at 11:30 AM and stopped at a very large restaurant for our last meal in China. It was still raining when we arrived at the new airport. Lines at the airport were long and by the time we made our way to the gate, people were already boarding. I bought a few items in the duty free shop to get rid of my last few yuan…and settled in for the 12 hour flight back home. We left basically on time, at 4:20 PM on Monday, April 21. We saw the sun set…then rise…and landed in Chicago basically at 4:20PM (EST) on Monday, April 21! It was sunny in Chicago and we made our way for the connecting flight to Bradley Airport. It left at 6:45PM (Central Time) and we arrived back in Hartford, with our entire luggage, by 10:00PM. I got my car at the hotel and drove back to Norwalk, returning home just after midnight! A great trip completed.
I got up very early, and went down for breakfast at 6:00AM. It was still raining. Instead of waiting around the hotel I decided to go to the Antique Market, for yet a last shopping spree before the 11:30 AM bus to the airport. I found three others who also wanted to go to the market and we got a taxi. Unfortunately, the hotel directions to the Antique Market were to the wrong location…and we spent one and one-half hours in rush hour traffic before we found that out. We finally got to the market at 8:20 AM, only to find that it virtually empty. My colleagues decided to leave and took a taxi back to the hotel…empty handed. I was lucky to find one small shop where bought a few items. I did get a bit nervous, being alone at this market, with few taxis around. However, I did find a man in a car on the street to bring me back by 10:15AM, and had forty-five minutes to finish packing.
We left the hotel at 11:30 AM and stopped at a very large restaurant for our last meal in China. It was still raining when we arrived at the new airport. Lines at the airport were long and by the time we made our way to the gate, people were already boarding. I bought a few items in the duty free shop to get rid of my last few yuan…and settled in for the 12 hour flight back home. We left basically on time, at 4:20 PM on Monday, April 21. We saw the sun set…then rise…and landed in Chicago basically at 4:20PM (EST) on Monday, April 21! It was sunny in Chicago and we made our way for the connecting flight to Bradley Airport. It left at 6:45PM (Central Time) and we arrived back in Hartford, with our entire luggage, by 10:00PM. I got my car at the hotel and drove back to Norwalk, returning home just after midnight! A great trip completed.
Returning to Beijing by High Speed Train
Sunday, April 20, 2008
It was raining when we awoke on Sunday morning. We had packed out large luggage last evening, locked it, put it out in the hallway and it was taken to the train station for us.
We ate a late breakfast and got on the bus for the ride to the train station. The train left at 12 noon. I sat next to Yingjie Liu, a Ph.D. student in technology at UConn., who was on the trip to help do a formal evaluation of the program. I answered several questions for her and I explained how I thought it would be difficult to have a student exchange between my school and the Jinan Middle School due to differences in socioeconomic nature of the two school communities. She suggested that one possible way to connect students in two schools with substantial differences on socio-economic levels would be through technology. She suggested using something called “sloodle”, a combination of “moodle” and something she described as “second life”. This suggestion I found intriguing. I look forward to exploring this possibility.
It took only three hours to get back to Beijing…where it was raining even harder! The number of people leaving the train station was staggering…and the bus was several blocks away. We all got soaked walking to the bus. We checked into our “old” hotel. I decided to go back to the silk market for some last minute shopping. Two other principals agreed to go along, and we had a great time bargaining and buying last minute things. We celebrated our evening shopping trip with dinner at McDonalds. For 20 yuan, or $3.00, we each had a double cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke…and it tasted just like home. We returned to the hotel and all of us got together in one of the suites to celebrate the last evening in China.
It was raining when we awoke on Sunday morning. We had packed out large luggage last evening, locked it, put it out in the hallway and it was taken to the train station for us.
We ate a late breakfast and got on the bus for the ride to the train station. The train left at 12 noon. I sat next to Yingjie Liu, a Ph.D. student in technology at UConn., who was on the trip to help do a formal evaluation of the program. I answered several questions for her and I explained how I thought it would be difficult to have a student exchange between my school and the Jinan Middle School due to differences in socioeconomic nature of the two school communities. She suggested that one possible way to connect students in two schools with substantial differences on socio-economic levels would be through technology. She suggested using something called “sloodle”, a combination of “moodle” and something she described as “second life”. This suggestion I found intriguing. I look forward to exploring this possibility.
It took only three hours to get back to Beijing…where it was raining even harder! The number of people leaving the train station was staggering…and the bus was several blocks away. We all got soaked walking to the bus. We checked into our “old” hotel. I decided to go back to the silk market for some last minute shopping. Two other principals agreed to go along, and we had a great time bargaining and buying last minute things. We celebrated our evening shopping trip with dinner at McDonalds. For 20 yuan, or $3.00, we each had a double cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke…and it tasted just like home. We returned to the hotel and all of us got together in one of the suites to celebrate the last evening in China.
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