Lectures, Food, and Fireflies

With a travel day behind me, serious work has begun at Stony Point Center in New York.  Here, my colleagues and I are working hard to be sure we are as prepared as possible to understand historic and modern China.  Our experiences will be richer with this context.  Lectures included, How the Past Still Shapes the Present, The Last Hundred Years or So:  An Historical Overview, Modern Chinese Society, China’s Education System, and our first language lesson.  We’ve also viewed two movies, To Live, and Vote for Me.  One take-away from our lecture about how the past still shapes the present is the idea that there are very few things that the Chinese will not eat.  China has gone through several periods of famine.  During famines, people must eat what they can, and that’s what they did.  I’m not sure exactly what to expect at our meals or what I will be adventurous enough to try.  Stay tuned.

If you know me, you won’t believe it, but I haven’t taken any pictures yet.  If I had, I would surely have tried to get a good photo of the fireflies out tonight.  I’ve only seen them once before in my life, and they continue ignite (no pun intended) my imagination. 

Pinch Me!

“I’m going to China!” Until now, these were merely words on a page, words in my head, words spoken to friends and family… but it’s here.  Departure day.  This day has been a long time coming.  Scratch that.  It was only last month that I learned I would get to go.  I’m in a bit of a whirlwind as I fit each item; each piece of the packing puzzle into my suitcase and freak out a bit about whether I’m forgetting anything.   I have.  I’ve forgotten to start at the beginning of this story. 

Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad, a U.S. Department of Education program, in conjunction with The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR) operates an educators’ travel study opportunity yearly.  The purpose of the program is to provide U.S. educators with greater understanding and increased knowledge of other countries.  These educators return to the states and are able to share their new understanding with students, colleagues, and their communities.  As an alumnus of the Fulbright-Hays 2010 program in Senegal, and with the knowledge of how life changing the experience is, I couldn’t wait to reapply.  If a teacher has received a fellowship in Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad, she cannot reapply for three years.

Federal budget cuts delayed the announcement of fellowship grantees until the first part of May.  I’d applied in December, and since there is only one cohort traveling this year, a mere sixteen U.S. teachers would be selected nationally.  While I wished for good news, the odds were against me, so I made other plans for the summer.  (In 2010 Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad sent teachers to six countries, so approximately 96 educators became fellows.)

BAM!  Good news arrived on May 9^th.  I’m in!  I really get to do this.  In future posts, I’ll explain why I think learning about China’s history, culture, economy, political climate, and artistic tradition will benefit me personally and professionally.  I promise to let you in on my cultural blunders as well as my epiphanies.  I’d love to have you along on this journey.  Experiencing something so rare and wonderful as five weeks in China is going to be so much better if you come along.