I think it's great that we'll be able to blog about our experiences in Hangzhou and beyond. I'll be interested to see how many excellent photographers we have in the group!
Here's a map of the university campus (Zheda Zijingang fenxiao) where we will spend a lot of time.
Having taught ESL for most of my career, I always try to start off the year by placing myself in the position of my new non-English speaking students and the trials and frustrations they face when first arriving. Changing schools in itself can be incredibly stressful for kids let alone changing cultures, language, dress, food, smells, social norms, and school expectations all at once. One experience I was expecting to encounter along this tour was to also find myself facing some of these same frustrations.
Our train sped across the basin of Kobe; the skyline punctuated the hillside. Storm clouds rolled across the peaks. The mountains, like sleeping dragons, awoke from their slumber. Puffs of heavenly smoke rose from their nostrils. The day's hunt would soon begin.
Our train sped across the basin of Kobe; the skyline punctuated the hillside. Storm clouds rolled across the peaks. The mountains, like sleeping dragons, awoke from their slumber. Puffs of heavenly smoke rose from their nostrils. The day's hunt would soon begin.
On Tuesday night we departed from the Beijing Railway Station on a train bound for Hongzhou, the "honeymoon capital" of China and the site of the inspiring West Lake. We spent about an hour in the station before boarding, watching Chinese travelers sleep on mats on the floor, eat at McDonalds, and generally wait for their trains. At this point in the trip, waiting for transportation is not an unusual experience. An overnight train, however, was new for almost everyone in our group. When we stepped onto the platform at 6:45, we found our car.
Our departure from Japan was mildly stressful at the beginning but then turned into the usual grind of a long trans-Pacific flight. The bus that got the group to Itami airport was right on time (it arrived at Itami at about 6:40) but the line to get us all checked in was rather slow-- this being the downside of the Japanese "attention to detail" that we have all been praising up until now. The last two members of the group made it to the departure gate right as boarding was beginning; talk about cutting it close.
Japan Journal Day 19: Friday, July 16, 2010: 9:43 PM Kobe Time
Today was our free day, free Friday if you will. I had lots of ideas over the weeks how I would spend this day. Originally, I was thinking a hike in the mountains, but after hard core hiking with Brad and Scott, I didn’t think that was necessary. Another thought was to visit the Emperor’s Palace in Kyoto. This was the residence of the Emperor for over 1000 years, until 1868. But, I had already spent 2 days in Kyoto, and I didn’t feel like spending another 4 hours on crowded trains.
Greetings!
We were encouraged to navigate Beijing (in small groups)without our tour leaders David and Lauren. At breakfast, we finalized plans and the following represents an overview of our activities and impressions:
A trip by several of the (mostly) social studies, led by trip co-leader Hiroshi Nara, found us on the train from our base (Sanomiya) in Kobe, off to nearby the Ashiya neighborhood. We were in search of Jun'ichiro Tanizaki's (author of "In Praise of Shadows") museum. Not knowing precisely where the museum was, we meandered somewhat aimlessly through a tidy and neatly arranged Japanese neighborhood. In fact, for me, it was getting there that was most of the fun.
And the second part of our mini-bus tour took us to the Otsuka Museum of Art ... or as someone else called it ... "The Fake Art Museum" ... oh, yes ... there is a story here, my friends ...
