Our group of North Carolina educators arrived in Nanjing after a two hour flight from Beijing. Each county’s personnel set out to meet their future school partners in China. We four were fortunate that we did not have to travel out of Nanjing. We were invited to a Chinese dinner at the hotel. Our hotel was in an urban area so after dinner we walked past storefront neighborhood businesses that were still open: bakeries, bedding stores, optical shops, a pharmacy, computer supply stores, restaurants, candy shops, hairdressers and even watermelons for sale from a truck bed. There was a light breeze that cooled us in this summer humidity.
This morning we were picked up by a driver from the school in a private car. He spoke no English so all I could think to say was to name the country names of the different cars seen on the road: fa guo (French Peugeots and Citroens), de guo (German VWs), mei guo (US Chevys), etc. He elaborated about each car, which I did not understand, while I was privately thrilled that he understood my single word “conversations”. The school sits quite a way out of town as Nanjing expands and modernizes. We drove down wide, landscaped boulevards to a spacious campus.
It has been fun to try to use my Chinese.... but like all second language students, I wish I had learned more and could remember more. I remember studying vocab for weather, clothes, sports, etc... but do you think I can remember them when someone mentions those topics? Oh well, at least no one has seemed offended by what I think I said actually meaning something terrible that I didn't intend.
The modern nature of China and the infrastructure for growth continues to amaze me. There is a lot of modernization here. We toured a local, private pre-school through grade 12 facility on many acres built in 2003. It is residential for 90% of students and teachers. We met a jubilant senior who broke into very good English when she met us telling us how wonderful her school was and how great the teachers were. She was there with her mother to take a large bouquet of flowers to the headmaster as a gift of thanks. High school seniors received their college exam grades just last night. We also saw a three-year-old pre-schooler stand up to lead the songs "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and “Ten Little Indians”.
Then we went to a Confucius temple /museum in the heart of the old city. The area reminded me of downtown San Antonio, Texas, with a landscaped narrow river, boats, restaurants, shops, etc... It was very pretty with flowers blooming along the edges and colorful Chinese ... modern and ancient at the same time. Tomorrow we go to the mausoleum honoring Sun Yat Sen ... who is revered in both Taiwan and Mainland China. Back to Beijing on Sunday.
Links:
1. Confucius Temple http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=confucius+temple+nanjing+china&FORM=IGRE&qpvt=confucius+temple+nanjing+china#
2. Dr. Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum, Nanjing http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/jiangsu/nanjing/sun.htm
3. Sun Yat Sen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen
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