Nell Tiller

We took the bullet train from Nanjing to Shanghai on Tuesday. What a smooth ride for two hours!

Shanghai is more than I ever expected it to be! Tall buildings, the next to the tallest one in the world, construction everywhere and yet it rivals New York City in its fashion, banks, and business. With 18 million people and another 4000 born every month, it is a highly populated province.

Today we started the day at a foreign language school for children. It was so much fun.

In the afternoon, we went to the equivalent of a community college for vocational and many other studies including several languages. This place could be a place for a future exchange or study abroad for some of our students.

I will not write another blog since tomorrow will be very busy and we will leave very early on Friday morning.

Two days ago  we visited in Beijing  the Forbidden City with it’s many courtards and buildings which are undergoing renovation in anticipation of the 2008 Olympics. Briliant colors of red, yellow, and blue offer tremendous opportunities for photos. The history is too much to relate at this point. That will necesitate a presentation.

In the afternoon we climbed the steps to the Great Wall at  Bada ling. The wind and colder moutain air required plenty of layers of 0lothing. The steepness of the climb required stamina and for some of our group, slow progress, but all made the climb and reached at lease one tower.

We arrived in Nanjing and have had a very nice time. I think Nanjing is prettier than Beijing.

The language schools that we visited today were remarkable. We sat in on some classes and all of us were highly impressed with the quality of the programs. Again, there will be much to tell in a presentation.

All too quickly it is time to leave this beautiful city. Tomorrow we take a bullet train to Shanghai. The trip will be 2 hours 15 minutes long.

Communication by internet is not always easy. I wrote the first part of this message two days ago and saved it. Last night I could not access my site to write.

Until later,

Nell

Today was a wonderful day! We spent the major portion of the day in a community where the older citizens have been studying English in preparation for the Olympics. We saw them as their instructor taught them and then they performed the Frog Prince for us in English. After some conversation in English in groups,  We watched a perfomance of Tai chi done with paddles and balls in a form of dance. Choreographed by a 73 year old woman, the game/music was stunning movemove. Afterwards, we moved to a restaurant to learn how to make Chinese dumplings. We were then served a full chinese meal, with our new friends sitting near us to talk to us and help us learn how to use chopsticks.

The event might be in some newspaper tomorrow because there were photographers everywhere. It seemed the whole commmunity turned out.

We went to the Panda Zoo for just about 20 minutes. I have pictures of sleeping pandas.

Our school this afternoon was a language school for the 4 year programs. Students and professors met with us in groups for us to ask about their methods and other related topics. The in turn asked us about various subjects related to study in the U.S.

This evening we are going to a restaurant to eat Peking Duck! Tomorrow we have a cultural day and go to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

Until later.

I just added a post, but put it in uncategorized. Next time I will put it in China. So much for trying to learn a new skill while on a trip.

I will be visiting Beijing, Nanjing, and Shanghai with People to People Ambassador’s Program with other foreign language instructors. We will be meeting with world language professors/teachers in universities or schools in each of the cities.  While not a BRCC sponsored trip, it is a BRCC sanctioned professional development activity for me.

Watch this site between October 15 through the end of the month.

Nell Tiller