Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Sunday, November 15, 2009




Sunday was another sunny but cold morning, with strong winds. We decided to visit one last tourist attraction, the Antique Market… an outdoor market place, for the most part, the size of at least two football fields. There were thousands of items for sale, some of them antiques, but mostly products by local artisans. We stayed about 90 minutes, but were freezing in the cold temperatures. We returned to the hotel around 11:00AM, and checked out. We had lunch at a restaurant that had some Chinese dancers and musicians, took some photos of the “BirdsNest”, the main stadium for the 2008 Olympics and “The Bubble”, the swimming venue for the Olympics, then headed off for the airport. We arrived about three hours before our 5:25PM United flight to Chicago and had some tea. We left on time, and after a 13 hour flight, arrived in Chicago at 4:20 PM the very same day. We transferred our luggage, and waited for our final flight to Hartford, which eventually left at 8:05PM and arrived in Hartford around 11:15PM. Except for the ride home, our amazing journey was finally complete! Over the next few days I would be emailing The Century School to thank them for their hospitality and try to make arrangements for the exchange of more staff and possible students.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Saturday, November 14, 2009









Saturday morning was not too special. Breakfast at 7:30AM and we departed for the train station at 9:00AM. Traffic was light in Jinan, a city of 6-7 million, and we arrived at the train station about an hour before our 10:20AM high speed train back to Beijing…a three hour ride, where at times we were going 244 kilometers per hour. As we approached Beijing we finally saw the sunshine and blue skies…the very best weather yet. “Bing”, our Beijing guide, met us at the airport and we all got in the Mercedes van for our trip back to the Jiang Xi Grand Hotel Beijing. Along the way we stopped at a restaurant to grab a quick lunch…of course, more Chinese food. Surprisingly, in the restaurant were photo graphs of Laura Bush and Colin Powell who had previously visited there. We arrived back at the hotel around 3:30PM, deposited our bags, and promptly headed off in a taxi to visit The Temple of Heaven, a temple on a hill where past emperors went to get close to heaven as possible to pray. Along the way there were hundreds of people singing, dancing, and playing old Chinese instruments. The sinking sun shown against the Temple of Heaven making it shine…but the wind and the bitter cold made it difficult to stay too long. On our return we bought some scarves from a local vendor and caught a taxi to shop one last time at the Silk Market. We bought some last minute purchases, ate at a nearby restaurant, and topped off the night with an incredible head and foot massage at a local spa.

Friday, November 13, 2009


Friday was yet another cold, windy and cloudy day…but the rain had stopped. We had breakfast in the hotel and left for the train station in Weifang, the closest city with a high speed train connection to Jinan. The train left at 10:20AM and the trip took just over an hour. As we approached Jinan it was clear that there was a much more substantial snowfall around Jinan…on some cars in Jinan there was at least six inches of snow. We took a taxi to the hotel in Jinan and were greeted by Wang Peng, her husband, and daughter “Wendy”. Wang Peng had visited AMSB in October; taught two of our Mandarin Chinese classes with Wu Bo, and had stayed at Mrs. Frank’s home for the week. After lunch Peng (pronounced “Pong”) took us to several Buddhist temples on a mountain near downtown Jinan. The park and walk up the mountain included a cave that had 28,000 Buddhas in it…some simple portraits while others were huge statues. About halfway up the mountain we had photos taken of us in traditional Chinese clothing and we had a traditional tea ceremony performed for us near the top of the mountain. We returned from the top of the mountain in the dark and took a taxi back to the hotel. For dinner were met by Mr. Han, his wife and an English teacher/interpreter from the Shangdong Experimental High School. Mr. Han was the first Chinese teacher who visited AMSB and AHS in October/November in 2008. He had stayed at my home for a week and I had visited him on his trip to China in April of 2008. Following dinner, I visited Mr. Han’s new apartment and Mrs. Frank went out shopping with Peng. I returned to my room at 11:00PM and called back to Bethany using Skype. The charge for the call was only two cents per minute, and it was nice to get updates from Mrs. Beecher and Dr. Tracy.

Thursday PM, November 12


After the morning tour we returned to the hotel for lunch, then attended a very formal letter signing ceremony at The Century School. The ceremony was taped again for television, which would be broadcast that evening over the local TV station for the entire city of Shouguang…with a population of one million people! We had a tour of the residential area for international students and staff, which reminded me of a small college dormitory. Finally, we had a farewell dinner at the same restaurant were we ate the very first evening.

Thursday Morning, November 12



Thursday was rainy, cold, and eventually the rain even turned into snow flurries! We started the day by getting a tour of one of the 300,000 greenhouses that populate the fields in the agricultural area around Shouguang City. We visited greenhouses in the nearby Sanyuanzhu Village along the Mihe River. There was even a greenhouse museum of sort, which documented the origination of the current greenhouse design, and honoring the father of the modern greenhouse, Mr. Wang. Mr. Wang began the idea of cultivating the land in the winter, using bamboo poles, a plastic covering, straw mats for cover at night, and earthen materials for the north side of the structures. Approximately 300,000 greenhouses in the area now supply vegetables for the entire country through the cold winters.

Wednesday Afternoon, November 12, 2009


We had another large lunch at 11:40AM, consisting of about 20 separate food dishes. Two of the six assistant principals joined us along with our interpreters Ping and Jessica.
For the afternoon a trip was arranged to Weifang, a city of 9 million people about forty minutes away. There we visited the Weifang Kite Museum. After the museum we drove another twenty minutes to a lovely area where Chinese crafts people, made traditional Chinese crafts…including the construction of kites, woven materials, wooden lattices, and original prints. It reminded me of Williamsburg, VA, but in a very distinct Chinese style. Finally we returned to Weifang for another delicious dinner of their local food…meat, fish, mushroom soup, cabbage, and dumplings. We did of shopping in a department store near the restaurant, purchased some green tea, and some other Chinese grocery items. The store seemed to be an upscale combination…of Stop & Shop and Macys. Finally we returned to our hotel by 8:30PM. Mrs. Frank worked on a final art project that she wanted to do for the students she taught while I updated my diary and sorted through the many photos that I had taken.

Wednesday, November 12, 2009


It was going to be a long day…but a very good day. It started again early, after breakfast we were picked up at the hotel at 7:40AM so we could be at school for the first class which began at 8:00AM. Mrs. Frank had previously volunteered to teach two sixth grade art classes, and it was arranged it for the first two periods today. Mrs. Frank prepared a PowerPoint about American artist Georgia O’Keefe Tuesday evening, and it was used to introduce O’Keefe’s work. Her lesson was also designed to have students to replicate O’Keefe’s style. Mrs. Frank’s presentation was outstanding. It delighted the students and teachers who observed it both periods. After the lesson she shared other PowerPoint presentations that she had previously prepared about the art program at AMSB. For the next 90 minutes, Mrs. Frank was invited to work with art teacher Zhang Huifang. Mrs. Frank shared many examples of student work from Bethany. Mrs. Zhang also showed Mrs. Frank how to paint Chinese art forms. During the time that the two art teachers exchanged ideas and student work, I took advantage of the time to take some photographs of the many buildings on the large school campus.

Tuesday, November 10, 2010


Mrs. Frank and I had breakfast at the hotel at 7:00AM, and were picked up in the lobby at 8:15AM for the short ten minute ride to The Century School. The weather was extremely cold, the wind was very strong and the sky was gray. We entered the gated school campus, drove up to the main administration building, and were greeted by Principal Zhang. We were each given a large bouquet of flowers and our reception was recorded by a TV reporter, two cameraman, two school photographers, and a host of other school officials. An electronic sign in the entrance welcomed me and Mrs. Frank and we were ushered into a large, third floor, conference room. There was a LCD projecting a large image of the flags of both the United States and China. On the large conference table was tea, water, fruit, and another large bouquet of flowers. Mr. Zhang officially welcomed us and gave us an overview of the school and the cameramen and photographers constantly took pictures. Mrs. Frank and I showed everyone a PowerPoint of AMSB and briefly described the program. We presented gifts from our school and then were given a two hour tour of the campus, which included the library, the main middle school building, the pre-school building, the lower elementary school building and campus athletic fields. The walk outside was very, very cold and windy. We ate in a special dining hall for lunch with about ten other school staff members. The food consisted of about twelve different selections of seafood, vegetables, and dumplings, but the most interesting dish was that of fried crickets…which Dr. D. bravely tried. During the school’s lunch break, between 11:30AM and 2:00PM, we drove to a local department store to buy a winter jacket for Mrs. Frank, who needed better protection from the strong wind. In the afternoon we observed two middle school English classes and then met with several of the better seventh and eighth grade English students in the library…doing a question and answer in English. Finally, we had dinner in the school’s formal faculty before returning to the hotel at 7:00PM. Mrs. Frank used the evening to prepare for an art class that she volunteered to teach tomorrow. Dr. D. used the time to update his diary and review the photos which Mrs. Frank had taken during the day.

Monday, November 9, 2009


We got our wake-up calls at 5:30AM, had breakfast at 6:00AM, checked out of the Beijing hotel at 6:30AM, and left for the train station for the high speed train to Jinan. We arrived at the very modern and very large train station at 7:30AM. The weather was cool and overcast, the heavy fog had lifted, but the clouds remained. The train D35 to Jinan left promptly at 8:20AM and the three hour ride to Jinan, in the Shandong Province. The train was much like a modern jet…and very fast. We arrived in Jinan, a city of about 7million people, at 11:20PM. The weather was very cold, near 32 degrees, very windy, and the sky was gray and overcast. Mrs. Frank and I were met by Wang Ping, the English Department Head from The Century School, who had visited AMSB in June and a driver named Mr. Zhang. Wang Peng was also there to meet Dan Gregg and Mailoha. Mailoha was going to stay at the Shandong University of Finance where Peng was an English professor. Wang Peng had also visited AMSB in October and stayed at Ms. Frank’s home for a week. After a brief welcome, we went our separate ways. Mrs. Frank and I left for a lunch in downtown Jinan and then took a three hour car ride to the city of Shouguang, where The Century School is located. Most of the countryside was farmland. We were finally dropped off at one of the most beautiful hotels that I have ever visited, the Chenming International Hotel, which was only two years old. Shouguang is a city of one million people, but is the center a major agricultural region for China as well as for other countries. The hotel was built primarily for foreign business people who come to the city to buy produce. At 5:00PM we went out to a restaurant for dinner with the Principal of The Century School, several of his staff and teachers, as well as school officials for the entire region. It was a very lovely meal with many toasts toward good relations between The Century School and Amity. We returned to the hotel after dinner and explored the grounds. I found a tennis center and hit for several minutes with one of the employees. We also found a table tennis room (ping-pong) and played a few games before returning to our rooms for the evening.

Sunday, November 8, 2009


Sunday morning we left the hotel at 7:30AM for the hour ride to the Great Wall. The day was again cool and foggy. We were driven to the Great Wall in a very comfortable Mercedes van. Along the way we stopped at a state-run “jade” store, which sold thousands of jade items. Once at the Great Wall we took pictures and walked along with many other thousands of people. While the weather was very cool and breezy, it was very comfortable walking. We left the Great Wall after one hour and had an early lunch on the way back to Beijing at a cloisonné factory and store, again with thousands of cloisonné items for sale. We retuned to Beijing around 1:00PM and had a tour of a Hutang Village on bicycle-type taxis. The Hutang Village was once a wealthy area of Beijing that evolved into a working class area…but because of its great location near the Forbidden City was now being renovated as an area for wealthy people. Next was a long walking tour of the Forbidden City, a huge complex of more than 9,000 rooms were the emperors’ once lived. We also took a brief walking tour of Tiananmen Square where were two huge television screens displayed. The both screens were at least 100 yards long and about 10 yards high and they were displaying a video of various scenic areas in China in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China which occurred during the first week of October. We ate dinner at a restaurant famous for the dish of Peking duck, which was the main entrée. Finally, before going back to the hotel we went shopping at the Silk Market, a crazy marketplace filled with thousands of vendors who were incredible experts at driving customers crazy with their bargaining skills. We bought quite a few items, but returned to the hotel exhausted.

Friday & Saturday, November 6 & 7, 2009






Friday was a travel day. Mrs. Frank and I got to the Bradley airport at 6:30AM on a sunny morning and met our two traveling companions, Mailoha Albaladejo, an economics student from Eastern Connecticut State University who was going to visit the Shandong University of Finance, and Dan Gregg, the trip organizer and former employee of the Connecticut State Department of Education who was there to make arrangements for more upcoming trips to China. Chicago seemed much colder than Connecticut. Our flight left Bradley at 9:00AM and we arrived in Chicago at 11:00AM (10:00AM their time). We had a light lunch at the airport and waited for United Airlines flight 0851 to Beijing, which left on time at 12:43PM CST. Luckily Ms. Frank and I both had isle seats for the 13 hour trip to Beijing. During the flight we read, watched two movies, ate, and tried to sleep. We arrived in Beijing around 4:15PM on Saturday afternoon. There was a very heavy cloud cover and a fog that seemed to surround the entire city. It was cool and damp. We met our tour guide, Bing Wang and a driver, King Wang, at the airport. We all traveled to a restaurant for our first meal before going to the hotel. The dinner was a buffet style assortment of traditional Chinese dishes. We arrived at the Jiang Xi Grand Hotel around 7:00PM. We settled in and even got foot massages at a shop near the hotel. We then got our computers and internet connections set up. Before we turned in I was able to call home using Skype and email, but for some reason we were unable to connect to our blogs or Facebook.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Back to China in 2009!

I am excited that I will have another opportunity to return to China...this time with art teacher, Sara Frank. We will be leaving for The Century School in November.