happy Mothers Day
To all ---!
We are all settled in Xian. The students have started their classes, the girls are back at their former schools and Jeff and I are in decent work routines. It is truly amazing how connected we are and how universal some aspects are lives are. It took us just two days to get up and running,but no major problems and already we are equipped with a bike, tennis racquets, and our basic necessities have taken care of.
We had our first hotpot last night, in one of china's fancy new malls. We had a blast! I unfortunately don't have any pictures at the moment but we enjoyed all sorts of meat and vegetables cooked in a spicy sauce. The highlight for many was the killing and eating of turtle. Poor guy! We also delighted the restaurant filled with about four hundred with our Happy Birthday song for e six year old boy at the neighboring table.
I can't believe four years have passed since we were living in Xian. A lot has changed and in china this means whole entire neighborhoods of thousands have been constructed. For us, the biggest change has been in our girls. Hana was here as a quiet sixth grader and Julia as an adorable first grader. Now Hana is our outgoing and playful teenager and Julia remains as fun and adventurous as ever.
Not sure what all of these experiences will add up to for them, but for me and Jeff china has given us so much -- time to reflect, slow down, and enjoy our family. Dahs here feel like weeks at home and again i am intimately aware ofmtheir comings and goings.
I so appreciate what I have learned and feel so fortunate to be able to experience this very foreign culture.
Sent from my iPad
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
We made it & First Impressions
We made it. Despite heading out in different directions and under different time assumptions - Hana and I took the long route to China via Europe, while Patrice and Julia went the more direct over the Pacific - we all arrived in Xi’an little worse for the inevitable hiccups (delays, rescheduled flights, lost luggage) that come with travel to the other side of the world.
The girls have already gotten established in their all day school routines (7:40 – 6:00 in Hana’s case, 8:00 – 5:10 for Julia) and were both able to rejoin the classes they attended when we were here for a semester in 2008. It made my morning to hear the applause that greeted them when they joined their 60+ classmates for their first day. While the day is long, it is divided into two sections with a two hour lunch break / siesta. Meanwhile Patrice’s group of UNL students is already well into their exploration of Chinese culture and current realities. They are a great group that appears to be soaking up all of the diverse experiences and sensations that China offers to the first time visitor. I am quite confident it will prove to be an invaluable learning experience for everyone in the group.
After some false starts, Patrice and I have gotten established on the internet and thus have glided into productive work routines. It is absolutely amazing to me that you can be so immediately connected with people so far away. It is a far cry from the Patrice’s and my first experience abroad as exchange students back in the late 80s in Poland, where we would go months without any connection with anyone stateside. While my attitude probably exposes my age, despite the obvious advantages for work, it seems to me much of the value of travel – the forced introspection that comes from the lack of grounding that being an outsider in a foreign land evokes – is lost in the age of instantaneous connections with the world back home. It is a tradeoff that I know probably has more plusses than minuses, but in the process the experience is fundamentally altered.
First impressions of China? Still a country on the move – so much construction everywhere. The quality of the construction seems to have raised a bit since we were last here – new, seeming luxurious apartments atop shopping developments that include a Subway now take up the vast space where we used to walk on mud roads to buy fruit and oven baked pizzas from street vendors. During our 2008 stay, we watched the local government evict residents from their homes and businesses before they leveled this space to make way for this development, which admittedly, is a DRASTIC enhancement of this property. Amazing how quickly they can move on projects of this scale. At first blush, things seem cleaner and operating a little bit more efficiently.
Another impression is that there always seems to be something major going on here – earthquakes, floods, Olympics, World Expo, and, for this trip, confrontation with the Philippine’s and domestic political intrigue. Despite the façade of an inexorable march toward world domination (at least global economic domination) that China evokes in much of the international press coverage, this is a country that faces a variety of serious internal challenges. The recent dramatic political upheaval related to the removal of the Chongcheng party boss and the escape of the blind civil rights lawyer combined with a once in a decade transfer of political power only bring to light what we have increasingly seen to be a major characteristic of China’s re-emergence – this is a society on the edge with lots of internal friction as it moves with breakneck speed toward an uncertain future.
We are all looking forward to the next few weeks of unexpected and diverse learning experiences.
The girls have already gotten established in their all day school routines (7:40 – 6:00 in Hana’s case, 8:00 – 5:10 for Julia) and were both able to rejoin the classes they attended when we were here for a semester in 2008. It made my morning to hear the applause that greeted them when they joined their 60+ classmates for their first day. While the day is long, it is divided into two sections with a two hour lunch break / siesta. Meanwhile Patrice’s group of UNL students is already well into their exploration of Chinese culture and current realities. They are a great group that appears to be soaking up all of the diverse experiences and sensations that China offers to the first time visitor. I am quite confident it will prove to be an invaluable learning experience for everyone in the group.
After some false starts, Patrice and I have gotten established on the internet and thus have glided into productive work routines. It is absolutely amazing to me that you can be so immediately connected with people so far away. It is a far cry from the Patrice’s and my first experience abroad as exchange students back in the late 80s in Poland, where we would go months without any connection with anyone stateside. While my attitude probably exposes my age, despite the obvious advantages for work, it seems to me much of the value of travel – the forced introspection that comes from the lack of grounding that being an outsider in a foreign land evokes – is lost in the age of instantaneous connections with the world back home. It is a tradeoff that I know probably has more plusses than minuses, but in the process the experience is fundamentally altered.
First impressions of China? Still a country on the move – so much construction everywhere. The quality of the construction seems to have raised a bit since we were last here – new, seeming luxurious apartments atop shopping developments that include a Subway now take up the vast space where we used to walk on mud roads to buy fruit and oven baked pizzas from street vendors. During our 2008 stay, we watched the local government evict residents from their homes and businesses before they leveled this space to make way for this development, which admittedly, is a DRASTIC enhancement of this property. Amazing how quickly they can move on projects of this scale. At first blush, things seem cleaner and operating a little bit more efficiently.
Another impression is that there always seems to be something major going on here – earthquakes, floods, Olympics, World Expo, and, for this trip, confrontation with the Philippine’s and domestic political intrigue. Despite the façade of an inexorable march toward world domination (at least global economic domination) that China evokes in much of the international press coverage, this is a country that faces a variety of serious internal challenges. The recent dramatic political upheaval related to the removal of the Chongcheng party boss and the escape of the blind civil rights lawyer combined with a once in a decade transfer of political power only bring to light what we have increasingly seen to be a major characteristic of China’s re-emergence – this is a society on the edge with lots of internal friction as it moves with breakneck speed toward an uncertain future.
We are all looking forward to the next few weeks of unexpected and diverse learning experiences.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Julia still at the airport
Couldn't do a picture of me...I'm looking pretty tired. Julia is fresh as ever!!! hoping we get to xian tonight... Doesn't look good...
Long lay over
Hi, this is Julia. We are stuck in San Francisco, for what we thought was going to be a very, very brief lay over, that turned out to be 5 hour lay over or more. Don't worry, the flight attendants said that they thought that the flight wouldn't be canceled, so we are all crossing our fingers..... wish us good luck!!!
Hana is on the bus
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