Apparently, the world is NOT flat...

On Monday we met with the director of Basic Education at the Chinese Ministry of Education. In his presentation, he cited an argument from Tom Friedman's "The World is Flat."

That this man could work in Friedman into his vision of how Chinese education should be reformed, and could also analyze the merits of the No Child Left Behind Act, left a powerful impression on me.

Yesterday, we went to visit a middle school. The 7th and 8th grade students were studying in crammed classrooms of 40 to 44 students each. Yet, their passion for learning, confidence, and intelligence was almost out of this world. Half of the students could speak fluent English, and the other half could understand and speak haltingly. The reality of these Chinese youth mastering English so early, and the focus of their curriculum on math, chemistry, phyics, and Chinese was scary. I think very highly of our own students in America, but these Chinese students in a public school showed me that the world is not really flat after all. The Chinese have, by virtue of their rigorous educational system, tilted the playground in their favor. If our students in America are to compete/collaborate with these Chinese kids in the future, we have our work cut out for us in America.

Now someone go fetch me an olive and a Lexus!

When in China, speak Italian. Off course!

Ok, that title will make sense in a bit. Hold on tight.

But first, let me get the objective facts out of the way. Today we went to see the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. The Forbidden City was the home of many Chinese Emperors, their families, their concubines, and a coterie of eunuchs. Commoners were forbidden from visiting this gargantuan and magnificent complex of living, ceremonial, and entertainment spaces. Hence the name. Pretty impressive it was, though as one of my co-travellers said, "nothing man does to perpetuate their immortality can stand up to nature." True, none of the emperors lasted forever, and their palaces serve different purposes for the people who visit them today. On a very practical level, a lot of tourism related jobs come out of this! I promise to post my own pictures when I get back home.

Now back to speaking broken Italian in China.

So yesterday we got lost, with three different taxi drivers delivering us to three different spots in a semi-labyrinthine Hutong (a traditional Chinese neighborhood/estate). As the threat of heavy rain loomed in the skies above and distant thunder could be heard, we tried to find each other, split in three groups with no cell phone. I was in the group where none of us spoke any Chinese, remember?

Our motley crew of four lost English-speaking tourists stood infront of a gate to some mysterious tourist attraction that had been closed for the day. No sooner had we been dropped off than had two aggressive pedicab drivers come to offer us rides on their rickshaws. In a minute or two, it was five different men all competing to get us to pay them for a tour of the Hutong.

They spoke no English. We spoke no Chinese. Actually, they spoke enough English to say something like, "Want Hutong tour? Get on my rikisho, I take you tour. Good price." Their entreaties were at times aggressive, persuasive, friendly, serious, light-hearted, and sometimes, all of the above at one go! Incredible you say, but you should have been there to see it.

"No!" we responded in English. Now, being the kind of person who rarely takes no for an answer, I sympathized with these folks trying to sell us a tour we did not need. They just could not take no! We even tried to explain in plain simple English that we were waiting for our colleagues to show up in two different taxis before we could even contemplate going on a tour. After about ten minutes that must have felt like an eternity, I realized that communication was virtually impossible, and our English was being fruitless in the situation. So what harm would it do to try explain the same thing in my broken Italian to these poor Chinese fellows? After all, Marco Polo did come to China, right?

Well, I had no shame in cobbling the best Italian sentence or two I could to explain the same point. Ladies and gentlemen, it did not work. They did not understand Italian either!!! Next time a Chinese person keeps talking to me in Chinese when I clearly can not understand them, I will try speaking back in Swahili to them. Now that is something they might understand. After all, the Chinese version of Disney's Lion King was on one of the television channels the day before yesterday.

Did somebody say "Hakuna matata?" Translate that, comrade!

PS:

My memory is a little foggy and non-linear in this humid weather as I try to type away in a balmy smoke-filled internet cafe with 171 (0ne hundred and seventy one) computers, most of them occupied by young Chinese men watching movies online, chatting, and playing video-games hardcore. I forgot to mention that necessity is the mother of invention, and we remembered that the Chinese translation for "I don't want" is "Bu yao!" When my Italian failed to make sense, we broke into a short chorus of bu yaos that finally sent the 'tour-guides' away.

Tomorrow we go for some meetings at the Chinese Ministry of Education. I look forward to learning a lot, and asking some questions.

Lost in translation?

We left the hotel in three cabs this afternoon. Only two out of ten people speak Chinese. I was in the first cab with three people. None of us spoke Chinese, the cab driver spoke no English.

We had a sheet of paper in Chinese with the address of the restaurant we were going to. The restaurant has an identical name to a recreational park in the same neighborhood. The driver delivered us to the recreational park, about three blocks away from the restaurant. We had no way of finding this restaurant, until somebody came to find us.

It was raining cats and dogs.

We sought cover under the awning of a little kiosk. It was hot and humid. The shopkeeper was a topless pudgy man, with a nice friendly mien. He spoke no English. We ordered two colas (that is what coke is called here!) He typed the price onto a calculator, we paid, and stood waiting for the other cabs to show up.

As we got wetter and wetter ... we thought we saw our regular tour driver arrive (hallucinations). It is at this point that the expressions "faire d'une gaffe!" really comes in handy. I am too embarassed to tell what happened next.

So I will skip that part and say that about 90 minutes later, the whole group was reunited and having dinner at the restaurant. The food, as usual, was delicious.

More tomorrow.

Great Wall of China ... and other great experiences

Today we got up to some "sizzling" rain, and for a moment wondered whether our planned outing to the Great Wall of China would take place at all.

I chickened out and avoided eating the "Chinese Breakfast" (including a salad of pigs ears) and went with the more traditional western breakfast.

The Great Wall was beautiful. But more impressive were the imperial jade and cloissone factories.

Stream of consciousness writing here, still not sure this will even post. More elegant prose tomorrow.

If you know me and want me to get you something from China, send me an email message pronto. They have a lot of really neat things.

Hello

Hello from China. We arrived safely, I think on the whole, "I'm loving it."

I will write about the people when I get a chance tomorrow.

Not so easy blogging from China

Wow - I will try again today for the last time.

Blogging from China is not so easy after all. The google pages all display in Chinese characters, so I have to guess what buttons and settings to click on to make anything happen. Then, loading pictures from my camera is tricky too. I think I will take smaller size pictures and that might help.

There is so much interesting things to write down and share, but I have to hold on until I fugure this technical glitch.

Ciao!

The Hutong ... the place to be!

This afternoon we spent some time walking around a shopping district downtown with interesting malls. The most rewarding part of this was a sculpture exhibition/competition with 290 different proposed sculptures to be included in the landscapes of the upcoming Olympic facilities and around the city of Beijing. I took lots of pictures, and will post these when we get back and can do so.

The highlight was our visit to one of the remaining Beijing Hutongs. A Hutong is a neighborhood constructed around an alleyway. This particular Hutong was constructed during the Qing Dynasty about 200 years ago. It served as a residential area for noble families, and is located about a kilometer or two from the Forbidden City.

The visit was a highlight because of the family we visited, and the lovely dinner they served us. What a respite from restaurant food! Food aside, the family includes a mum, dad and their two daughters in their late twenties/early thirties. The parents had an arranged marriage, and are both retired civil servants - an engineer and a former Russian teacher/librarian. During the cultural revolution (1966-76), their house was taken away and became state property. Eight families were assigned to live on their property, a total of 40 extra people. After the death of Mao, the Chinese government apologized for taking away their private property and restored their ownership rights. However, there was no money to immediately relocate the eight families that had been living on their property for ten years already. It was not until December 2004, they informed us, that the local authorities in their Beijing neighborhood provided the money to move out the last people from their property.

Can you imagine that? How patient would you have o be to put up with so many years of outsiders living on your property like that!

Now they have plans to get rid of the extra rooms that were added on their property, and to restore it to its original configuration. If all goes well, they plan to go from hosting occassional meals for tourists to actually having a bed and breakfast. I wish them the best.

PS: Speaking of houses, I am wondering how bad the damage from the flooding and heavy DC rains have affected our roof and basement.

We are here!

So we arrived in Beijing last night. This posting will be brief just to make sure I can actually blog from China. For most of today I could not even log onto and view my blog, I don't know why.

I am loving China. I guess it has been such a while since I travelled out of my element, this feels so fresh. I am like a little kid who knows nothing, everything is a mystery waiting to be discovered. The food at lunch was delicious. I must remember to describe the "Western" breakfast.

A Map of Beijing

An overview map of Beijing from Lonely Planet Guides. http://lonelyplanet.com

The Journey Ahead - Our Itinerary

Beijing: June 22 - June 29

Thursday, June 22
20:05 Arrive in Beijing and head to the Sardonyx Hotel
Hotel Address: 9 Minzuyuan Road, Chaoyang District, Zip code: 100029
Tel: 82023300 Fax: 82842771

Friday, June 23
Visit National Museum of Fine Arts
Visit Beijing No.80 Middle School

Saturday, June 24
Visit Great Wall

Sunday, June 25
Visit Forbidden City, and Summer Palace

Monday, June 26
The Ministry of Education
Visit with the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange, and the Department of Basic Education
Visit the Training Division of the Department of Normal Schools
Visit the Office of Chinese Language Council International

Tuesday, June 27
Tour Beijing Normal University’s campus
Meet with Professors on History and Art education
Lunch at Lanhui Restaurant on the campus
Visit Xu Beihong Memorial

Wednesday, June 28
Qianmen Foreign Language School
Meet with Principal , Campus Tour, Observe students setting-up exercises & eye-care exercises
Visit classrooms in groups, Informal discussion with students, Meet with teachers
Dinner hosted by the China Education Association for International Exchange

Thursday, June 29
Visit Chongwen District Institute of Education
Meet with teachers about on-the-job training
Visit the Pearl Market


Xi’an: June 30- July 2

Friday, June 30

Fly to Xi’an

Bell & Drum Tower Hotel Address: No.1 Shehui Rd, Xi’an
Tel: 029-88128333 Fax: 029-87278276

Visit the Middle School attached to Xi’an Jiaotong University

Saturday, July 1
Visit Terracotta Warriors and Horses

Sunday, July 2
Visit Wild Goose Tower, City Wall, and History Museum

Shanghai: July 3 - July 6

Monday, July 3
Fly to Shanghai

Qianhe Hotel Address: No.650, Yishan Rd, Shanghai Zip code: 200233
Tel: 021-64700000 Fax: 021-64700348

Visit the Bund and Shanghai Museum

Tuesday, July 4
Visit Center for American Studies of Fudan University and meet with Scholars from the Center
Visit Town God Temple, Yu Garden
River cruise on the Huangpu River

Wednesday, July 5
Visit the Jade Buddha Temple, the former residence of Sun Yat-sen
Visit the Shanghai City Museum and the Oriental Pearl Tower

Thursday, July 6
Morning Free
After Lunch Depart for Shanghai Putong Airport
17:00 Depart for Tokyo (All-Nippon Airways 960)

The Chinese Education System

Having grown up in Kenya where there is a system of national exams that determine progress and entry into the next stages of education for all students, I was very intrigued to learn about the Chinese Gao-Kao, which basically determines who will get to go to university, and who will not. An extra layer of interest was added last week with some articles in the New York Times discussing the level of security required to protect the integrity of the gao-kao in an era of technology and stiff competition. How do schools make sure students do not cheat on the exam using cell-phones?

On a more intellectual level, here are some more questions I will be exploring that came up in discussions with colleagues at my school.

How do the "Chinese" see their educational mission both in the abstract and in the particular. Do they believe that schools are part of a socialization process in a very deliberative way? If so, what sorts of strategies do they find most valuable for shaping children's world views? What controls do they have over this process? Are they interested in educational research, brain research, the Chinese equivalent of "best practices"?

What is the Chinese vision of a great teacher? Do they see a split between conventional academic culture and the real values and interior life of students? How do they encourage students to take appropriate academic risks?

Oh the places you'll go ... Oh the things you'll eat!

My mind is off on the food now. How different will the food in China be from anything else I have ever eaten? Will they serve us real Chinese food, or will the hotels present what they imagine is international cuisine for visiting foreigners? I am intrigued to see the relationship between food in China and what is sold in Chinese restaurants in the US.

I plan to be pretty open-minded and adventurous. I have also already packed a box of Imodium Plus, just in case.

If you have ever been to China, what foods would you recommend I try. Is there something I must avoid? What is it and why?

Two days to go ... shame on me!

So I spent all of Sunday procrastinating. I entertained some friends from out of town, and neglected posting to my blog. I emailed a few of my students about the blog, and I plan to email all my friends that might be interested in the China trip to follow along on the blog. I wonder to myself, will anyone bother to even check it? Will they post anything ... even a comment to say cool?

We'll see!

Today (after I get up from my insomniac ways), I will fire up the macintosh and play around on the Chinese language software. I am going to force myself to learn basic phrases necessary for simple conversation in Chinese. I already know how to say "hello, how are you?" and "thank you." That however is not enough, is it? I also want to be able to count and get prices right so I can haggle at the markets if necessary. There comes out the African in me again, intent on haggling even before we have arrived.

What are you bringing to for the trip?

I am curious to know what everybody is bringing for the trip.

My digital camera is coming, with an extra 1 gig memory stick and an extra battery plus battery charger.

I managed to change some dollars for Chinese Yuan at the American Express Travel Center at Pentagon Row in Arlington, VA. I imagine you can do this even at the American Express Office downtown. They told me to make sure if I have any cash left at the end of the trip, not to bring back coins, only notes.

Who is going to the meeting at Lucia's tomorrow (Sunday)? Can someone post or email out some good ideas that come out of the meeting for everyone else to share please?

Thanks

Ken

Five days to go!

So it is five days to go! I have added links to the schools we come from. Hope this will be an easy way to refer any contacts we make in China to a central place where they can find more information about our schools and k-12 independent education in the US.

Let me know if you have other ideas for links I should add on here.

I am also adding the group photo which is available online from the USCPF too.

Countdown to China - 6 days to go!

Hello -
it is only six days before we board our flight to Beijing from Washington DC via Tokyo.

I need to go shopping and get all the things I need ready - photography, medication, batteries and so on.

Also need to get in touch will all my fellow travellers.

More to follow.

KO