Beijing Trip: Reflections from Home

Before I left for Beijing, I described the trip to my family, friends and students as "life-changing" and an "experience of a lifetime." Now that I am home, fully adjusted to my regular time zone, and back to completing my daily tasks as a mom and teacher, I have to ask myself........was it REALLY and if it was, what changed?

A seemingly simple question that should have a seemingly simple answer........I could say NO, I am still teaching the same students, I clean the same house, I complete the same daily chores and routines. But also, I could say YES, it changed me in ways that I am still discovering. It changed my family, it changed my students, and it changed my co-workers; our perception of the world has changed dramatically. China is no longer a picture or words on a piece of paper, it is a place that I seen, smelled, touched, tasted, and felt. I now understand more about the Chinese culture than any movie or book could have ever shown me.

Yes, it was an amazing life-changing experience. Because of this experience, my students have a better understanding of Chinese culture, my children (ages 6 & 3) know of this new and exciting world (probably in their mind, a lot like the North Pole because I came home with so many gifts for them) and now they want to visit China. I have been able to lay to rest Chinese stereotypes with all my friends and family by showing my pictures and talking about my experiences. Where do I go from here?

Beijing Trip: Day 7 & 8

Tea Flower 2 a photo by Klink5 on Flickr.

Sunday afternoon, our group spent more time touring the city. We started our outing at the Temple of Heaven with a wonderful tea ceremony. I have always loved tea, have even been accused of being a bit of a tea snob. The ceremony was conducted by a young lady that taught us how to properly pour and drink our tea. We were given the opportunity to sample six different types of tea, each just as tasty as the other. After the ceremony, I purchased each type of tea and a tea cup to make all my new tea with at home. The picture with this post is of a tea flower. You purchase the tea flower in a little brown ball, then place it in the water and it becomes a beautiful flower. I am saving mine for a rainy day to show my children.

After the tea ceremony, we took some time to do more shopping at the Pearl Market. Bargaining has become second nature to me now and I thoroughly enjoyed the shopping experience. Of course, I spent all my money on my family. It is going to be like Christmas in March for my children and my nieces.

For our evening activities, we visited the Drum Tower Hutong area of Beijing. It is one of the oldest parts of the city. We took a rickshaw ride through the hutong, stopping to view the Bell and Drum Tower. We then stopped to visit a local home owner, who invited us into his house for tea. By far one of the best experiences of the trip! He told us that his family had lived in the same hutong for four generations.

We ended our night with our last standard Chinese dinner. I was thrilled that they chose to serve sweet and sour pork at this dinner. It was nice to be able to eat something more than just rice or noodles. We ended our evening saying good-bye to Vincent. Apart from the conference, Vincent made the trip for us. He was an amazing guide, sharing his personal stories as well as listening to our own stories.

Beijing Trip: Final Day of Conference

IowaTeamatFCCwithVicki a photo by UNI Dr. Z on Flickr.

Watching the closing ceremony of the conference and saying good-bye to the students and educators was bittersweet. I had to go back to the monotony of the real world, assignments to give, papers to grade, standards and benchmarks to meet. I was excited to go home and see my children, husband, family, students and co-workers. And, yes to eat western food again was going to be wonderful!!

I had very quickly grown accustomed to the global world and knew that I was going to miss that dearly. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and getting to know students and teachers from all over the world. It was so interesting to hear about their life, their experiences, and their culture first hand and not from a computer screen or a video. As we left the BISS campus, I found myself wondering if the momentum would continue and just exactly what I was going to do to keep it going in my own world. I will email each and every person that I received cards from and hope that each person that I gave a card to will do the same. I will share my experiences with my students and other teachers. Most importantly, I will do something I never thought I would do, present to the WDM school board about the amazing possibilities offered by the Flat Classroom Project for students. I will be back, with my own group of high school students participating in the conference again and hopefully changing their world.

Beijing Trip: Days 5, 6, and 7 (The Conference)

Flat Classroom Conference 2011, Beijing

Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, my time was devoted to the Flat Classroom Conference. I can now put "presenter at an International Conference" on my resume!!

Friday morning we kicked off the conference with opening remarks from Julie Lindsay, Vicki Davis and the principal of BISS. I was so inspired by their words and was just imagining how the next days would unfold. The teachers split from the students and the students began to work on their proposals for Flat Classroom Projects. I did not get to spend much time with the students, working mostly with the teachers in the Teacher Academy. I was very impressed with the concept of the the Teacher Academy; action based learning, where teachers actually participate in hands-on activities and leave with a completed project to use in their schools.

As for my part in the conference, I survived...... My cohort and I presented our story about Queen ADDIE and taught the teachers how to design instruction using the ADDIE model. The teachers seemed responsive to our information, signed up for their cohorts and began working on their instructional design proposal. I spent the rest of the conference working with each of the teacher groups and assisting them in their design process. Each day we ended the conference with FLAT talks, along the same lines as the famous TED talks. In these FLAT talks, students and presenters shared what they were doing to instill global citizenship and technology into the classroom. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of the talks, but my favorites were meeting students from the Think Global School and meeting the founder of TakingITGlobal.org.

It was also very interesting to see the students and teachers pitch their ideas to each other and get constructive comments back. I know that both sides of the party were very anxious about the process, but overall it seemed to be a very positive experience for all. By the end of the conference, I was so impressed with the amount of work the teachers and students were able to accomplish in a just a couple of days. There were some very creative and inspiring ideas that I hope they do not lose the momentum to continue.

All in all, the conference was huge eye-opener for me. International Baccalaureate schools did not even exist in my schema of education. It brought to light a very real issue in our world of the "haves" and the "have-nots". I don't know where I exist on the continuum, but I know that I do not want to look at this conference as only for IB or private schools. I think United States public school students can benefit greatly from attending something like this, if for no other reason than to open up their eyes to the world, like this experience did for me. I am going to have a hard time talking with West Des Moines teachers and their assumption that a Valley High School diploma is going to prepare students for an Ivy League school. They need more, they need to get out of Iowa, out of the United States and they need to see the world. That is the only true way that they are going to become competitive in the "flattened" global economy of the future.

Beijing Trip: Day 4

We got up early this morning, hopped on the bus, and rode for an hour and a half to one of the greatest wonders of the world, the Great Wall!!!! I still can’t believe that I have walked on the wall. We started getting glimpses of the wall on the top edges of the mountains when we were about a half hour away and goosebumps just erupted all over my arms. The closer we got the more details I could see, the watchtowers, the soldier perches, etc. I also got to use my historian expertise and started answering my peers questions about when the wall was built, why and how. The history behind this expansive monument is what makes this even more surreal to me. I cannot believe that I physically stood where a soldier stood defending his country or where a worker strategically placed a carefully planned stone. For me, the wall creates a time machine, in my mind I can see the images of all the people that have been impacted by that wall over the previous thousands of years. I know, completely sappy, but that is what visiting historical places does for me.

Because I totally wimped out, I decided not to climb the mountain to the wall, but opted to ride the ski lift. It was amazing to see the landscape from high up on our perch and see the wall get bigger and bigger the closer we got to it. When we arrived at the top, we began our walk. There are so many steep steps and inclines, I was glad that I did not climb up, I needed the energy to just walk the wall. Our group took tons of pictures and at various stations along the wall, there were workers ready to take pictures of the group and sell souvenirs, drinks and candy. Besides, getting to see the wall, the next best part was the ride down. They have built a tobaggon ramp and you can ride a tobaggon all the way down the mountain. It was a blast!!! I took many pictures of the whole ride down and got in trouble for going to fast!!

Trip to Beijing: Day 3

This day was a much more relaxing day. More and more people are starting to make their way into town for the Flat Conference, so our little group enjoyed the addition of teachers from New Zealand, New York and Malaysia. It was very interesting to talk with them about their teaching experiences in their part of the world. We toured an amazing school called Western Academy of Beijing. If I was single with no kids, I would apply to work in their school in half a heartbeat! They are a 1:1 school and doing amazing things with technology and project based learning.

Then, in the afternoon we had our first presenter meeting for the Flat Classroom Conference. I had goosebumps listening to the presenters talk about what we were going to be doing, what the students were going to be accomplishing and what the teachers were going to spend time doing. It was truly an honor to be working with such an amazing group of educators and could not wait to experience the conference for the first time. Hopefully, I will be bringing back groups of West Des Moines student for years to come.

Trip to Beijing: Day 2

This was an amazing day!! We began our morning tours at the Tienanmen Square. The whole area is a vision to behold. On one side of the square, a grandiose mausoleum houses the preserved remains of Mao, the first communist dictator. We arrived early in the morning and already there was a massive line waiting to go into the great hall to see the body. Then at the other end of the square is the infamous building with the massive picture of Mao.

You didn't dare mention the incident at Tienanmen Square, but I could still just imagine that fateful day, envisioning the tanks and the protesters. Soldiers could be found everywhere constantly patrolling the very sacred square. As we passed through the first gate, the Forbidden City loomed ahead of us and I was completely enthralled by its beauty and grace. Each stone, each door, each statue has a sacred meaning and was placed in that specific spot for certain meaning. We walked the expanse of the Forbidden City, making our way deeper and deeper, into more and more sacred sections of the city. I was very overwhelmed by the symbolism of the Forbidden City. An emporer, being so selfish, to take all that land, resources and beauty for just himself. It is no wonder the people of China saw communism as their only way out. Their government was a constant reminder that they were not equal nor would they ever be considered equal to their leaders.

After the tour of the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square, we ate lunch at local favorite. I must say that I am truly starting to miss American cuisine. What I wouldn't give for a nice, juicy steak or a cheeseburger. However, rice was served with this lunch and I was very appreciative to eat that instead of more noodles. After lunch, we were given time to do some shopping in the oldest shopping area of the city. I find myself feeling very guilty about the bartering system when I shop in these areas of poverty. I know the people in these shops are doing everything they can to support their family. I tend to offer a low price, but not much lower than what they asked for because what they are asking for is already a great deal in American standards and with what I consider very little money, could feed their family for days or even weeks.

We then visited the Lama Temple, home of the world's largest Buddha statue. A part of me felt odd walking into a temple and staring at people participating in their daily prayers, but at the same time, I did not come to stare at an oddity, I came to learn more about Buddhism and take this knowledge back to my students for my world religions class. The Buddhist religion is such a beautiful religion and this temple was a definite symbol of its beauty. Out of respect for the temple, I only took pictures on the outside of the temple and never took any pictures of the actual Buddha statues.

We spent some time shopping in the Pearl Market and again, I was very concerned about the bartering system. This quickly changed in the market though due to the aggressive nature of the shopkeepers. I do not believe I am exaggerating to call it a very cut throat business. Being an American, I instantly stand out and it is assumed that I have tons of money to spend. By their standards, I do have tons of money to spend, but only because I have been saving up for this trip, not because I am wealthy by any means. Many times, the shop keepers would grab my arms to get my attention. I even had a moment where I was physically frightened when two shopkeepers would not let me out of their store, physically blocking my exit and cornering me in their shop. I left the market feeling exhausted and very agitated. I did make some purchases and did not feel one bit of guilt for talking them down from their outrageous prices. I even felt a sense of pride when I was able to make a good deal and barter for much less than what they asked for. There are parts of me that are very relieved I can go back to the states and while, yes, I pay much more for an item than I would have at the market, I would make that purchase not feeling harassed or having to get angry to make my purchase.

We ended our busy day with the famous Peking Duck, a very delicious meal, however I could not eat it the traditional way. It requires eating cucumber, onion and using duck sauce, all of which are on the don't east list. The duck itself was very moist and delicious. After dinner, we attended the world famous Chinese opera. This was truly an experience. Chinese opera must be an acquired taste, that of which I have not acquired yet. I was awed by the beautiful costumes and stylized make-up, but could not quite understand the performance. The language barrier and the difficulty translating the Chinese language to English also made it very difficult to appreciate.

Trip to Beijing

Day One:

We arrived in Beijing Sunday night around 6:00, dropped off our luggage at our hotel and then went to an acrobatic show. It was amazing!! Unfortunately I was so exhausted from the flight and time change that I kept nodding off during the show, along with most of my friends. We got back to the hotel, checked-in and settled into my room. I went right to sleep, even on rock hard beds, not exaggerating, like sleeping on a board. The next morning, I got to skype with my family and it was so nice to see them. Gracie made me a flower and was showing it to me, then she put it up to the computer, where my video was and asked me to smell it. So cute!! Today, we visited the Ming Tombs and the Sacred Way. We then had a traditional Chinese lunch, I have only been able to eat noodles. Found out that southern Chinese eat rice, northern Chinese eat noodles. So, no rice here. I did step out of my box and tried a pork dish. I was told the tiny white strips were noodles, turns out they were onions…..you all would have laughed at my face!! They did serve sweet and sour pork, so I was able to eat a little. This evening we watched a beautiful kung fu show. I gave up trying to sleep on the bed and slept on the little love seat in our room, much better than the bed.