This year, the World Affairs Council of Connecticut was selected as one of only 14 World Affairs Councils nationwide to present the Spotlight on Turkey program in 2013. The program, sponsored by the World Affairs Councils of America in collaboration with the Turkish Cultural Foundation, runs a full calendar year and educates communities about Turkey’s… Continue reading CT Teachers Prepare to Travel to Turkey!
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
Twice yesterday in the Forbidden City I got separated from the group and I was quite anxious- although we had been told where to meet and the general lay of the land. But the sea of people and the huge size of the Forbidden City was daunting. I soon connected with people from our group each… Continue reading Sat. July 17 part 20
Went to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was really hot and the crush of people was quite intimidating. Hard to get a cup of coffee so went without today. There is a Starbucks somewhere around here but I had no time to scope it out and they didn’t serve it in the cafeteria… Continue reading Saturday July 17
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