Among the most dramatic scenic attractions we visited on our trip to Yunnan Province was "The Stone Forest", referred to since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) as the 'First Wonder of the World.' An old local saying says that 'If you have visited Kunming without seeing the Stone Forest, you have wasted your time.' It is true: the Stone Forest is definitely one of a kind! Approximately 270 million years ago this region was a vast ocean. Over time, the waters retreated and the limestone landscape was left. After constant erosion by the elements, the area finally evolved into the present-da [View Full Entry]

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Bob and I, Brian and Nancy Goeselt and their kids Christian (8) and Hannah (10) and six of our seven Newton students set off on Saturday February 9 for Kunming. Our guide, "Mike," greeted us with a song and delivered us to the hotel, which was neither new (like everything in Beijing) nor fancy, but it was clean and more than adequate. In the morning we set off early for the Golden Temple (Daoist, dating from 1602,) the largest copper temple in China. More beautiful to me than the temple itself, which included a huge bell you could ring for 5 [View Full Entry]

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I love riding in a car or walking around the city just watching and photographing whatever is happening. There is a wonderful variety of vehicles vying for position, cars, (surprisingly nice ones, though very few "gas guzzlers,") bicycles, scooters, and large three wheeled "tricycle" vehicles with a platform on the back. --one must be VERY careful crossing the street as pedestrians do NOT have the right of way. The weather has been clear and crisp. The people who wear masks (they look like surgical masks: white, blue, and even patterned,) or cover their faces, are usually riding on open carts [View Full Entry]

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Bob arrived for 17 days on February 6. That was the night before Chinese New Year, which is for some reason referred to as "Spring Festival." (Doesn't spring start in March?) Of course he was exhausted after the 14 hour flight so as soon as we got to the hotel he fell asleep while I checked election returns on the computer. (yes I can get The New York Times, NPR and CNN!) Bob was awakened as dusk fell by the beginnings of a cacauphony of pyrotechnics the likes of which you can not imagine. Apparently it is now perfectly legal [View Full Entry]

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Dear Friends and Family, After a 13 hour (!) flight and no sleep at all we arrived January 31 and were all met by our host families. Big bouquets of flowers, photo op.etc, ! My family is a Dad and Mom and their 15-16 year old daughter- so sweet and cute! The Dad is Dai Guijiang, Mom is Chen Feng Yan, and daughter is Dai Chen Chun. They do not speak English well, but much better than my Chinese! So far we have been able to communicate well enough. My family owns a car, and both parents work in the Beijing [View Full Entry]

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Dear Friends, Just 17 more days before we leave for China on January 30! Seven wonderful students, another teacher and I will be part of a 25 year old exchange between the Newton Public Schools and the Jingshan School in Beijing. We had a "Lucky Pot" party/meeting last night with all the visiting Chinese and their American host families, our China Bound group and their parents. Lots of excitement! I'm attaching a photo of our group, myself in my library, and another one with my family. I'm pretty busy getting ready to go so I probably won't create another entry until [View Full Entry]

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