Pictured above are Ken Johnson, Associate Professor of English, at the Great Wall and Peggy Helm, Spanish Instructor, with a little girl we met in Beijing. Below are there additional comments about our time in Beijing.
Ken writes, "I've been surprised that I haven't been as surprised as I expected at what I've seen in Beijing. People are people, commerce is commerce, daily routines are daily routines. However, on the last night in Beijing, just an hour before leaving the city, I discovered something that startled me and showed me that I am in a new and different environment: I couldn't mail some postcards at the Beijing railroad station. No post office stations or drop boxes were evident. I couldn't have guessed that one of the most basic services of modern humans wouldn't be available at a 21st-century railroad station. "
Peggy writes, "So far this has been an incredible experience! I love the way people; especially the more mature ones are out in the parks every morning doing tai chi to music from a boom box, playing badminton, balancing a super duper yoyo on a string, walking their dogs, riding on bicycles, etc. It is definitely an active society for the Chinese baby boomers and I've been inspired to go back home and do the same!!
I enjoy communicating without knowing much Chinese. Sign language and smiles seem to work o.k. People are basically the same all over the world."
Peggy writes, "So far this has been an incredible experience! I love the way people; especially the more mature ones are out in the parks every morning doing tai chi to music from a boom box, playing badminton, balancing a super duper yoyo on a string, walking their dogs, riding on bicycles, etc. It is definitely an active society for the Chinese baby boomers and I've been inspired to go back home and do the same!!
I enjoy communicating without knowing much Chinese. Sign language and smiles seem to work o.k. People are basically the same all over the world."
