the World Affairs Council of CT is working with the Hartford Public schools system on its Asian Studies Academy. As part of this effort Eve Pech, WACCT Education Consultant is traveling in China for a month this summer with Hartford Public School teachers on this adventure. Stayed tuned for blogs updating this trip
Today was an absolutely beautiful day- blue sky, dry air, a breeze, and only in the eighties-actually saw stars tonight in Beijing! We had three hours of Chinese class this morning and then I spent the afternoon in my room working on a lesson plan; we all have to present lessons on our last full day here,… Continue reading AUG 6
As a group, we get a lot of attention. I think people don’t quite know what to make of us, because we are so diverse: males, females, young to middle aged, black, white, asian, latino, etc….Truly a slice of diversity in America. At first, we ate out as a group, arranged for us by CET-usually… Continue reading AUG 5
We just got back from seeing a movie about teaching in the rural areas of China and how so many children are leaving the schools because they can not afford to go to school ( their families are in debt and children as young as 11 years old leave the country to go to the… Continue reading Tuesday, Aug 4
Our schedule this week is very busy. We are going this afternoon to a museum here in Beijing that focuses on ethnic diversity in China. We have learned that one of the things Americans have gotten wrong about China is that we think that it is basically ethnically homogenous: all Han Chinese. I am sending… Continue reading exhausting day- but interesting
This will be short-I’ll try and write more tomorrow. Mandarin class from 9-12 ( before which I walked very far and still could not find a post office so I could mail a post card to my father). Then our 21st Century Beijing class from 1:30 to 2:30 ( between which I was setting up… Continue reading exhausting day- but interesting
Eve on the Great Wall Today was a great day. We left for the Great Wall- a newly opened section- not the one Nixon visited. The Clintons have been to this section. We went there b/c it is less crowded. It’s about 1 1/2 hours from Beijing, and when we left the smog was hot and… Continue reading massage was a dud
Yesterday was quite a day. Let’s just start with the fact that the temperature got to 110 degrees Fahrenheit!!!!!! I have never sweated so much, and I mean sweated ( as opposed to the more refined perspired) in my life! One Chinese phrase that I have down pat is: eee ping shway ( one bottle water)… Continue reading so much to say so little time
We are now ensconsed in a very nice hotel in Pinyao- a UNESCO World Heritage site that is a town preserved from the Ming and Qing dynasties ( fifteenth to nineteeth centuries). It is absolutely beautiful > and is the location of the first bank in China. We are now trying to get a little… Continue reading Sunday July 25
Just got back from a walk to the nearby department store to get a converter, and a sponge so I can clean my bathroom. Then we went to Dairy Queen. This all followed a two hour workshop on Zen meditation. Talk about a mix of the mundane and the sublime. We’re not leaving until 8:30… Continue reading Thursday July 22
Last night we ordered beer at dinner. Wine doesn’t seem readily available by the glass in the neighborhood that we’re in. We are in north west Beijing and I think it is more westernized and modern in east Beijing. The food has been delicious. We did have our first lesson and it was daunting. Seems… Continue reading Tues. July 20
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