arrived in Narita Japan yesterday around 4:30 pm. I was exhausted since I didn't sleep on the plane except the last 20minutes. (At that time I fell asleep and I was the last one on the plane. The flight attendants had to come by and wake me up). I took a look at the airport terminal and thought about staying 20 hours sleeping stretched out on a bank of seats or the floor and went straight to the hotel reservations information desk and did something that is so uncharacteristic of me. I booked a relatively cheap room in a nearby hotel with free shuttle service for $64/night and came straight to the hotel...Narita Gateway Hotel. I tried to explore the area/neighborhood but we're right on the freeway -- one of those hotels typically near an airport ... read more

Friday, July 29, 2011 We had a public lesson morning for teachers in our program. Several teachers from the 3 different classes prepared a public lesson and presented for the entire group of teachers. The lessons were quite good and instructive for all. Both my teachers who presented did an excellent job and I was delighted. One of the teachers -- Alice, who teachers at a senior high school -- did a very creative lesson about earthquakes -- a prereading and reading activity that provided scaffolding with vocabulary and ideas in the reading to help students understand and read the text more effectively. First she presented a song or poem that made students feel an emotional response and then she showed them pictures after an earthquake. Using the pictures she elicited a personal response from the ... read more

Today we met with several teachers who will be attending the program, some of whom will serve as assistants and/or advisers to our teaching team -- perhaps they will be able to alert us if what we are doing does not really serve the needs of the teachers. Most of them teach in classes of 55-90 students...this is a real challenge for them and for us. We had a really nice lunch today at the hotel restaurant --- I wish that I knew the names of the dishes but of coruse I don't. Everything here is soaked in a sauce and most of the sauces are full of sodium -- part of the reason the dishes are so tasty. We went to a tea house yesterday and I bought the pu'ar tea and have been drinking ... read more

Judy Manton and I finished our TESOL symposium yesterday around 5:30 and then in the lobby of the Jing Shi Hotel at Beijing Normal University we met Wendy Wen and her husband Brad and her brother and his wife. Brad and Wendy are visiting her family during July...we left NYC on the same day but arrived different times/days...we walked to a local student canteen on campus since we had some meal tickets left over and just made it in time to get a few dishes ...then went to this place that I found in the morning for coffee and a drink. It was a pleasant evening...not to hot not to cold and it was pleasant to see Wendy and Brad in a different venue. We went back to the hotel room afterwards...not too late around 10:30 ... read more

We landed (AA135) from NYUC at 9:48 pm and after a civilized entry through customs - complete with free luggage carts -- I made it to the lobby which is equipped with benches long enough to stretch out on to sleep. There is an information desk staffed by young women who can't wait to practice their Egnlish and who are quite helpful. It seems that the airport is well equipped to handle overnight transit passengers. There is a cafe open with midnight snacks and a Pop Center on teh 5th floor with restaurant and planetarium and an observation deck. The highlight of my arrival, however has been the bathroom. Very clean but the best part is the bidet -- after wiping you can clean your tush -- press the button that say "spray buttocks' and you ... read more