End of training

What you don't see is that my screens have all the prompts and questions in Chinese. I have no idea what I clicking but it seems to work. Or - I might have ordered an original Ming vase...

We had our final training sessions today - it has been a lot to absorb - some reassuring: we are teaching teachers who want to speak and learn English and we all know how to talk so this will be OK. Vs the "Well one time..." stories that stand out in the minds of the experienced teachers. Who know what happened to the teachers who did not come back?

And the next phase has lots of...er...opportunities. In that we fly somewhere at 6 tomorrow morning and then take a bus/train/car/van/something (meeting at a TBA location and time) for 2 hours and are met by??? at??? to be taken to the teaching area which is??? And may change after 2 days??? Our lodgings is at??? and Dinner will be served at??? Or maybe not. Opportunity for adventure!

But Monday (or maybe Sunday) we meet the students and begin to teach. I'm sure those moments will make this minor angst a non-memory.

The real stuff

Today was full full - we got into the meat of teaching - more experienced teachers relate tales of horror and success. I tried to listen to the success...but people are people, teachers, students, adminstrators. Any one of them can have a bad day...

Then we went to he Nanging museum on the Rape of Nanjing. Dark and angular and very sobering as was the event. I must read the book when I get back. It was moving.

There is a line for the computer tonight. Friday we fly to Nanking and then a bus to Jingdezhen. Tomorrow is more teaching skills. The brain is full. I hope I am up to this task - Prayers welcome!

Tuesday - or maybe Wednesday

Still July I think - still Nanjing. I'm hoping in the next 24 huors to unlag this jet and be in the same time zone - body, mind and spirit.

Today was long - introduction of various Ministers of Things and prepared statements. All interesting but some significan wiggling required for bodies who think they ought to be sleeping...this afternoon was a tour of a large Bible printing plant.

The food is all delicious and the Lazy Susan Family Style means we can sample what looks reasonable and skip the jelly like substances in favor of Recognizable Rice. Next week we'll be more adventuresome. Watermelon 3 times a day.

Tonight was a very good session teaching us basic (REAL basic) Chinese. I had tried a CD of Chinese for Dummies and have several Emergency Cards but nothing beat actually being forced to say out loud what we want to convey - right or wrong. It is the first real taste of what our students - teachers themselves - will experience. Now the challenge is to use the Chinese in public in the next 72 hours. Then we will really understand what the learners are up against. I have new respect for the task ahead - theirs and mine.

train to Nanjing

The train from Shangihai to Nanjing was wonderful but the train station was amazing! I was given complete oral directions and sent in a cab as leader of the pack. To the cab stand, up the ecalator, past the iron bars where you show your ticket, through the x-ray security, up more escalators, find the waiting room for the train number. "Waiting Room" does not begin to describe this! Imagine July 4 on the lakefront only in orderly rows by train numbered section. When the sign on your section turns from red to green the crush through one tiny turnstyle begins and somehow we all come out on the right platform and get on the train. The ability to move mass numbers of people in an orderly way - not to say without pushing, that is - astounds me. Tonight we are in Nanjing which I love more than Shanghai - but that might be the section we are in. Very new and safe, wide plazas and lots of people out walking. I only have 2 hours access for 4 days at this hotel so I'll be brief and probably not even spell check! But we are here safely and it is really beginning!

First days

We arrived in Shanghai after 13 hours in the air - the flight was easy and seemed short compared to the taxi ride from the airport! Lots of highways where all we could see was the tops of big buildings. Once we got off the major roads the area around the hotel was more what the guidebooks describe - a Sunday afternoon of stalls below the living quaters of the sellers. they are like one dark little closet after another of shoes or live crabs or dead chickens or electric meters. Laundy hanging out from most apartments. We walked for an hour and I did not see another Westerner - but did not feel uneasy. Everyone looked - no one spoke. Today we take the train to Nanjing.