From April 24th until 4th May Lucy and I travelled to China. This opportunity was borne out of our last School, BBIS in Germany, when we hosted a 13 year old Chinese Girl, also Lucy! Our Lucy wanted to honor the other half of the exchange whereby 15 children from BBIS travelled en masse to meet their exchange partners in Shanghai and live in their homes for a week, attend school, eat with the family etc. So as Lucy's chaperone and a volunteer to support the whole group I got to travel along too.
We met the group in Beijing and where guided through the major sights and sounds and smells of this truly historic, first world city by a wonderful guide and enthusiastic host. He chose our food, arranged great seats at Kung Fu and Acrobatic Performances for us and had us tobogganing off the Great Wall of China - everyone should have a guide like that!
I was so taken by China and all the trip has entailed for me that I believe it will be caught in my mind, body and soul for a very long time.
To say that China is so very different from our life in India is an understatement. The order, scale, impressive structures, productive farm lands, variety of food and styles of cooking, and then the more obvious differences such as language, western style of dressing, the intense emphasis on education, life long learning for all and the music.
