China continues to block blogspot. I hope this censorship ends as the situation in XinJiang normalizes. It will make writing our blog much easier.After our travels to Jiangjin, Chongqing, Nanjing, and Shanghai, we settled in Istanbul, Turkey for sixteen days. While visiting our daughter the main activity was playing with the grandchildren. Good work if you can get it. In the morning Renee and I worked with Rebecca and Joshua on producing lapbooks (google lapbooks; you will be surprised). Renee and Rebecca did one on various ideas about China. Joshua continues to focus on transportation so our book was on the history of transportation and the current modes of transportation in China. We worked each day with their ideas and gathered information before we made our final product. The second morning activity was walking along either the famous Istanbul pedestrian street, which is about 10 minutes from their apartment, or through the local neighborhood to visit friends or shops. We got to know the baker and the butcher pretty well. The walk ended with ice cream so everyone got home happy.
The afternoon included the big meal of the day. The family sat on the floor around a circular table and feasted. Grandmom and PopPop sat on the couch with a tray table. After clean up it was time for the park or craft show. The craft show was the fourth annual and for the kids the highlights were a glassblower and a pottery maker. There were looms and other things as well. It was interesting and the kids chose to go there several times. The usual destination,though, was a park. We sat under a tree and the kids played with balloons or ran around. Eventually, they would go to the playground where they climbed and swang and slid to their hearts content. The playground also had adult equipment and I got some good exercise as well.
While we were in Istanbul, we visited a long time Turkey missionary who would like to swap houses for a year. We talked about the possibility. A couple of times we went to the sea and walked or took the ferry across to Asia or around the Golden Horn. The setting is gorgeous and you could enjoy it for a long time. A couple of times we rode the Tunel, an underground which has long existed in Turkey. One day I took a Turkish bath - a few elderly men were enjoying it as well. It was great to see a real one rather than a tourist trap. In the neighborhood there was the barbershop and the local men to sit and drink tea with and there was a monkey which Samuel liked to watch (and with help feed and pet). We also worshiped twice in a church under the sponsorship of the Dutch queen. It is next door to the Dutch embassy. In English. How sweet it was!
We flew back to Shanghai from Istanbul after 16 wonderful days and went almost immediately to Wuxi. Wuxi is a city north of Shanghai. We had been there in 2006 and met a family where four generations lived together. I had hoped and we have tried to get back so I could interview them. They agreed and graciously enabled us to come, stay, and be cared for like royalty for five days. It would have been a great China experience even without the interviews. The family is super and were so helpful and cooperative, thinking most often of our comfort and needs rather than their own.
I was able to interview the men of the family in each of the generations. I was able to get a story of one family's progress in China. Through them I heard about the War with Japan, the Liberation of China, and the Cultural Revolution as well as the great economic change that grew out of Deng Xiao Ping's economic reforms.
We returned home to a new apartment on a new campus and have been entertaining our friends since we arrived. One event of personal significance was my (Renee's) birthday. We celebrated for several days. On the big day itself Rich and I rented bicycles in the morning and tooled around the campus. It was a bad day for campus riding because the students were arriving and the thoroughfares were clogged with cars and taxis, but we survived. We had lunch at the new canteen and had fried chicken, a rare treat. In the evening we invited the other foreign teachers to join us at one of our favorite eating spots, the one where we can order mashed potatoes -- no butter but almost a taste of home. Two days later we traveled to our old campus and ate birthday noodles with several of my former students. The birthday noodle is long, long, long, a symbol of longevity. Last but not least, two of my students brought me a lovely bouquet of lilies. I enjoyed every minute.
Now getting ready for the new school year is the challenge. Classes begin in just one more day.
The afternoon included the big meal of the day. The family sat on the floor around a circular table and feasted. Grandmom and PopPop sat on the couch with a tray table. After clean up it was time for the park or craft show. The craft show was the fourth annual and for the kids the highlights were a glassblower and a pottery maker. There were looms and other things as well. It was interesting and the kids chose to go there several times. The usual destination,though, was a park. We sat under a tree and the kids played with balloons or ran around. Eventually, they would go to the playground where they climbed and swang and slid to their hearts content. The playground also had adult equipment and I got some good exercise as well.While we were in Istanbul, we visited a long time Turkey missionary who would like to swap houses for a year. We talked about the possibility. A couple of times we went to the sea and walked or took the ferry across to Asia or around the Golden Horn. The setting is gorgeous and you could enjoy it for a long time. A couple of times we rode the Tunel, an underground which has long existed in Turkey. One day I took a Turkish bath - a few elderly men were enjoying it as well. It was great to see a real one rather than a tourist trap. In the neighborhood there was the barbershop and the local men to sit and drink tea with and there was a monkey which Samuel liked to watch (and with help feed and pet). We also worshiped twice in a church under the sponsorship of the Dutch queen. It is next door to the Dutch embassy. In English. How sweet it was!We flew back to Shanghai from Istanbul after 16 wonderful days and went almost immediately to Wuxi. Wuxi is a city north of Shanghai. We had been there in 2006 and met a family where four generations lived together. I had hoped and we have tried to get back so I could interview them. They agreed and graciously enabled us to come, stay, and be cared for like royalty for five days. It would have been a great China experience even without the interviews. The family is super and were so helpful and cooperative, thinking most often of our comfort and needs rather than their own.
I was able to interview the men of the family in each of the generations. I was able to get a story of one family's progress in China. Through them I heard about the War with Japan, the Liberation of China, and the Cultural Revolution as well as the great economic change that grew out of Deng Xiao Ping's economic reforms.We returned home to a new apartment on a new campus and have been entertaining our friends since we arrived. One event of personal significance was my (Renee's) birthday. We celebrated for several days. On the big day itself Rich and I rented bicycles in the morning and tooled around the campus. It was a bad day for campus riding because the students were arriving and the thoroughfares were clogged with cars and taxis, but we survived. We had lunch at the new canteen and had fried chicken, a rare treat. In the evening we invited the other foreign teachers to join us at one of our favorite eating spots, the one where we can order mashed potatoes -- no butter but almost a taste of home. Two days later we traveled to our old campus and ate birthday noodles with several of my former students. The birthday noodle is long, long, long, a symbol of longevity. Last but not least, two of my students brought me a lovely bouquet of lilies. I enjoyed every minute.
Now getting ready for the new school year is the challenge. Classes begin in just one more day.
No comments:
Post a Comment