Hello everybody. Sorry it's been a few days. We had to move hotels, and the Internet jack in my room doesn't work, so I'm piggybacking off Girouard at this point. For the field trip this week, we went to Quanzhou, the city once called Zaytun (where the word "satin" comes from) and a major stop on the silk road. We took a bus built for much shorter Chinese people again, so all the staff's knees were hurting by the time we got there, but Lin seemed to find it amusing Our first stop was the birthplace of Lao Tzu, and also a site that celebrates the cross-pollination of Confucianism and Taoism. It was really interesting to see the way that the Chinese integrate such a variety of religions. That theme also continued later in the day ... read more

Hi there folks. Just as a service message, if there is a lapse in blogs, it's because the Internet is so hit-or-miss here and I have to batch upload photos and do the blog post whenever I happen to find it running fast enough to load the pages (usually between 5-7 AM local, which would be 4-6 PM Central) Saturday was our first free day after meetings in the morning, so Girouard, Lin, Nacho, and I decided to do some serious tourism. Initially we wanted to shop for souvenirs at a local crafts market which was very positively reviewed on tripfinder. Unfortunately, we arrived to discover that the fair had been moved to a swankier location and now just sold expensive "antiques". We called an audible on shopping and went to the botanical gardens. Because the ... read more

Day 2 was a bit more low-key as we settled into the routine of the Advocacy Institute with work on debate and some more background on specific issues of sustainability concerning tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Tomorrow we will experience some of these issues first-hand with a trip to the Hakka Tulou up in the mountains (My understanding of the local geography is muddled enough that that's about the best I can do for you at this point ) Some highlights of the day, though: Parasols are very popular here, with many women carrying them whether they need it or not, sun or shade. They're also very ornate with lots of fancy fabrics, lace, and somebody went crazy with a bedazzler on many of them. In our ongoing attempts to pass for locals, Girouard and I ... read more

Hello to all my old blog subscribers and my new friends. Another opportunity to go to China just fell into my lap and this one is just too exciting to pass on. Robert Trapp of the International Debate Education Association called and invited me to join the staff of the IDEA Advocacy Institute in Xiamen China. Thus, I'll be packing up and heading out for the South China Sea in June. Blogging won't really commence until June 7 or so, but I will be posting updates and photos here once the institute starts. Some background: About the Advocacy Institute http://www.idebate.org/advocacyinstitute/ About Xiamen University, where we'll be staying http://www.xmu.edu.cn/english/ About the city of Xiamen http://www.amoymagic.com/main.htm http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Fujian/Xiamen/ http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/home.php... read more

Hi there folks. Sorry the reports have been sparse the last couple of days. The tournament has begun, so we haven't been doing as many things that make it onto the front of post cards, but we're still having fun. The internet is running really slow, which is causing me problems in uploading pictures, but I'm going to leave them uploading when I head out today so hopefully I will be able to post pictures and a better narrative later this afternoon.... read more