We left for the Great Wall of China this morning at around 9:00 A.M.. As we drove I was amazed at the mountain ranges surrounding Beijing and on/in which the Great Wall is built. I am not sure their elevation is equal to the height of mountain ranges in the western mountains of the US, but they certainly had the height and maybe more so of any of the mountains in the east. When we arrived there were thousands upon thousands of people arriving to a site that was very tourist orientated. We paid an admission price and had vendors along our climb up to the wall trying to sell all types of items from hats to maps. Places to eat also marked the entry way, perhaps similar to any of our national parks. Once on the wall you could see the wall winding its way through the mountain range as far as your eye could see. I understand from Mengli that the wall is over 4000 miles in length. The wall itself was packed with people and moving along the wall was slow. The steep inclination of the wall at various points made climbing difficult and had me stopping to catch my breath….although Yuxuan and Mengli were often behind me asking me to slow down. We spent about an hour on the wall itself walking maybe a mile or so before beginning our descent. In my Shutterfly Photo Gallery I have included a number of pictures of our time on the wall. I can not describe the sense of awe that you feel while walking on the wall knowing that the wall represents one of the most historic landmarks in all of human history.We got back to Beijing just in time for our 1:00 P.M. parent meeting, although with no time to shower or change. Our lunch was scheduled in an ancient Chinese garden that had many separate building throughout the various gardens with each building set up as a separate small “houses” of sorts, much like you might see in a Japanese Garden. Each small house was beautifully adorned with everything from outside ponds and water falls to the insides with many historic and color full appointments including the most beautiful woodwork, paintings and ceilings and walls painted with bright colors highlighted by gold. I felt I had stepped back into China as it might have been 600 or even a 1000 years ago. I have included pictures of these “houses” and gardens in my Shutterfly Photo Gallery marked China – Beijing. The meal that was served was a 19 course meal and included such items as Petals of Chrysanthemum with Rose Carnations and Onions (it was the most delicious salad I have every eaten), Donkey meat with Garlic Sauce, Goose liver Aspic, Sweet and Sour Mandarin Fish, Kung Pao Shrimps with walnuts, Pan Fried Deer Filets with Onions, Shark’s Fin with fish Maw Chicken Soup BaiFu Style and Fried Australian Beef. Needless to say I am not going hungry in China. Our meeting with the parents and their student took us to 3 pm. Again, the work of Mengli in helping to translate was critical since neither parent spoke any English. We quickly made our way back to Yuxuan’s home (30 minute drive) to get showered and changed for our 4 pm Parent Reception.
I arrived at the parent reception a few minutes late (traffic is just indescribable) and with the help of Yuxuan’s older sister Vivian who just finished her master’s work at a Chinese University in English studies. As we arrived parents and students warmly greeted us in he lobby of the hotel Vivian took charge (Mengli and Yuxuan were still back at the house getting showered and changed) of making sure the room had been set up correctly and securing for me an LCD projector and screen which the hotel had forgotten to provide. The hospitality of the Chinese people is most amazing. I have rarely felt so welcome. We had 42 parents and students with us from 4 pm until 7:30 p.m. Mengli, Vivian and a current student Chuqiao Ren helped with my two presentations: Life at a US Boarding School (pictures and videos) and How to Gain Entrance into Top American Universities. During the later presentation parents and students all had notebook paper out and were busy taking notes. Mengli who is now enrolled at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute helped me handle the many questions on the American university entrance process. She much like Yuxuan the day before took charge of the meeting and I merely became a casual observer.
A consultant who attended our meeting with her two students and their parents commented following the dinner, “I am so amazed at the leadership abilities of all of your Chinese students they are so confident of themselves unlike many Chinese students here in China. You have done a good job in developing future Chinese leaders and the parents who are with me tonight can tell the difference and are now confident they have chosen the right school for their children.”
What in part led to this comment was that many of current Beijing students who attended this reception took the initiative to go and introduce themselves to new students and their parents and to sit at their tables answering any question the parents and students had to ask. I was once again so proud of our students. I am quickly learning much like I did in Korea two years ago that my most effective role is merely as a facilitator - that the students are capable of leading many of these meetings and in fact parents while enjoying hearing from me on some subjects really enjoy talking to students and find these conversations the most helpful. I left the meeting beaming inside with pride at our students - they are the best in the world…slightly bias, but nonetheless true.
We returned home to Yuxuan’s home where after getting caught up on emails Yuxuan’s family and I took in the World Cup Soccer match between Ghana and Australia. As we watched the game Yuxuan’s mother served us assorted fruit. We all headed to bed shortly after midnight.
