Ni Hao everyone, Hope you are all doing well. i am sorry I haven't been posting regularly on this blog. The teacher study tour was super amazing but we were so busy that we had little time to write. I have been travelling with my TDSB student team now for the past six days, the first 4 in Beijing and the last two in Shenyang in the North East. We are now in Dalian also in the NE but South of Shenyang until next Wednesday. Part of my job as a supervisor of these students is to post a daily blog to their families. This is the link http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/TDSB-Chinese-Heritage-Summer-Camp/ to that blog. You can read the last 6 posts and see photos of myself and the team of supervisors, Wenjie, Rong, Ray and Steve who i ... read more

Thursday, July 9, 2009 (this is the day I wrote this blog). Ni Hao everyone from the airplane flying from Nanjing to Harbin. I am sitting here with my friends Sally and Hope and we are flying towards the North East in China. It is nice to finally get a chance to write as we have been so busy over the past three days since Shanghai. I have been really enjoying the company of the teachers and amazing volunteers on this trip that we have been spending a lot of time together and by the end of the night I am too tired to write. Also during the day we have been having some really intense learning experiences and I have wanted to take some time to process what I have seen and heard before I ... read more

Ni Hao from humid Shanghai! Today was my first full day in Shanghai and it is beginning to feel more real that we are here. I am a bit jet lagged, but doing fine. The weather is sunny, but definitely humid and lingers around 28C but the humidity makes you feel quite tired. I arrived here yesterday afternoon and fortunate for me that i was on Air Canada as some of our team still hasn't received their luggage as they were running to make a very tight connection in Chicago. The team made it but no luggage and apparently it won't be here until tomorrow which makes that two days of waiting. I have been sharing some of the clothes in my suitcase so that they can get by... but it is more annoying than anything. ... read more

Ni Hao everyone! it is now 10:19p.m. on Friday and I have been up since Thursday morning. Flight from Toronto to Shanghai was great. Good movies, good food and sleep en route too. 14 1/2 hours of non-stop flying! Dennis, our Chinese tour guide was at the airport to meet me and we waited for the team from Edmonton to arrive around 5:30p.m. We had a lovely Chinese dinner with food circulated around a lazy susan. We also got a chance to wander into an embrodiery gallery--the handicraft is unique to this part of Shanghai! I am sitting here in the French Quarter sending this message to all of you with my friends Diana and Fred in a little place called the Cottage because that is what it looks like. It is time for me to ... read more

The luck of the Irish to all of you today on St. Patrick's Day. My sister Emma and I have come down here to sunny and foggy San Francisco for our March Break. We have had a wonderful couple of days visiting the different neighbourhoods, including: Haight and Ashbury, Castro, Mission and even went over for a trip to Alcatraz. We had clam chowder in sourdough bowls at Boudin bakery at Fisherman's Wharf and have enjoyed finding some unique finds in the unique shops all around the city. We have travelled on many buses, cable cars, trams and even the MUNI subway. We have also hiked up and down some of the hilly streets. Definitely a good work out. Even a hike up to Lombard Street and down into Chinatown last night.. It has been a ... read more

Jambo! Today was probably one of the most memorable days of our welcoming to Kenya and in particular to Emori Joi , the school where would be teaching and working for the next three weeks. In preparation, we had a two -hour swahili lesson with our resident expert and Kenyan facilitator Santai. Kiswahili was introduced in Kenya so that people could have a common language. It is a combination of arab and bantu that was developed in the 15th century by the traders who came here. It is the national language of Kenya, the official language in English. Here are a few tips to help you learn some too The sentence structure is as follows: Subject + tense marker + verb + object/noun Some useful expressions: Jambo = Hello Habari gani? =how are you? good = ... read more

August 5th, 2008 Jambo! Today we left Rosslyn and headed south from Nairobi toward the Great Rift Valley, Narok and the Masai Mara. The paved busy roads of Nairobi soon became dirt roads. Everyone we passed on the side of the road souted out greetings of Jambo! Some of the Maasai people we passed were in traditional dress with beautiful clothes and blankets as well as beaded jewellery and others were in clothes similar to what we wear. The children were dressed in their school uniforms, usually with coloured dress shirts, sweaters and sandals or bare feet. We saws lots of herds of cows, goats and sheep also all along the side of the road. As we drove along, I couldn't help but feel that we were like a travelling zoo. We were the ones being ... read more

Jambo everyone. I am now home safe and sound from my incredible adventures in Kenya. I do however want to share my thoughts on my experiences so I am going to post my blog now because I did not have access to a computer while I was away. So these are my journalled thoughts... hope you will get a sense of how important and life changing this experience has been for me. love you all August 3-4, 2008 Jambo, habari gani? (hello and how are you?) What an incredible whirlwind these past few days have been. I am writing this journal entry as I sit in the top bunk of my tent beneath the mosquito net that surrounds my head. We arrived in Nairobi, Kenya yesterday morning at 630a.m. after an okay Air Canada flight and ... read more

Jambo, habari gani? mzuri sana? greetings from Nairobi. We travelled back here today from the Masai mara after 3 incredible weeks at Emori Joi. I have so many stories to tell and photos to share. Yesterday I climbed a volcano and walked around its crater at an altitude of 8,100 ft. An incredible journey that I am very proud of! We met some incredible rafikis who we will never ever forget! We are shopping at the Sarit Market to get some final souvenirs, then we will head to the Carnivore for dinner and get on the plane at 11:50p.m. for the long two flights home. I have mixed emotions leaving Kenya as we as a team definitely left our mark here and have been given so much from the kids and community members we lived with. ... read more

Jambo everyone! Habari gana? Mzuri!(we are fine!) We finally arrived safely in Nairobi, Kenya this morning after our two long flights from Toronto to London, a 9 hour stopover in Heathrow and then 8.5 hours of flying on Kenyan Airways. The Air Canada flight was adequate, but the Kenyan Airways flight was excellent. Very professional and kind staff, good food and lots of great leg room. We are a group of 23 people here on this trip. 8 adults-teachers, parents and even Jessica our resident Police officer and 15 students from Toronto and Hamilton areas. We are an enthusiastic bunch who all except for 2 have never been to Africa before. We have been meeting monthly to prep for the trip, but the excitement we felt this morning landing on Kenyan soil after about 40 hours ... read more