China - Days 8 and 9

We started the morning earlier today leaving at about 7 AM to go to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.  It was chilly - about 16 degrees but we bundled up.  Traffic here is crazy. Partly due to the number of cars but more because of the lack of rules. Drivers just go - sometimes all directions and turns at once.  LOTS of horns! Bicycles, motorbikes, scooters, small electric cars - all at one time.  We tried to get a picture when a bicycle with two dead animal carcasses drove by us.  It took about an hour to get there - about 8 miles.

Once through the Security checkpoints, (NO! No pictures! Of police or army - that was for Ms. Stahmer) you enter through a number of gates where the courtyards get smaller and more private.  I remember watching the events unfold in Tiananmen Square in 1989. It was one of those pivotal moments in my understanding of human rights. It was surreal to stand there and imagine those events that I watched. Students, google it!  It is remarkably similar to protests in the US right now but with radically different results. You are very lucky!

The palace was amazing. Again so strange to be seeing what you have seen in pictures. I have lots of those that I will share.  One of things that struck me was the intricate detail on so many surfaces. I have pictures of many. The painting on the outside of the buildings, the carved wood work, the window screens, the pattern of the tiled roofs, even the tiled walkways.  When we went through the different buildings and courtyards with each one being more inclusive we ended in the Hidden Garden which even in winter was stunning and radiated peace.

A couple of facts -
1.  The center staircases are closed because only the emperor could walk through and on them.
2. Women were not allowed past the first courtyard.
3. Chinese talk about the "right time" so that although you may get married on a day - odd numbers only and never four - what time you get married may vary.  You would dress in the dressing house and wait until the time was right to move to the wedding house.
4. An empress would have 100 dishes at every meal but could only take 3 bites of any one dish so that no one knew her favorites to poison.
5. She would have 65 personal attendants.
6. The entire palace is made of wood. There is only one building in the garden that has never burned. Some of the buildings date to the 1400s.

We were back to the training by 11 for afternoon classes.  Ours were beginning their designs for the Egg Drop Challenge.  Just like students they cannot wait to drop them!

One of the interns who works with Boston Ivy, Sean, had been talking about the trainings with his parents who are both principals.  They arranged a special meeting to talk about STEAM, Brain Gym, and teacher leadership.  We met for about 3 hours with 8 members of staff from 2 schools.  As a gift at the end they presented each of us with beautiful silk scarves.

Today was the Lunar New Year so we celebrated with a dinner of about 30 dishes including "hamburgers," doughnuts, candied apples, 4 mushroom dishes, eggplant, fish stew, pumpkin, lotus flowers, greens, chicken wings, tofu, noodles, .......

A long day but a good one.

The next day was spent at training either with teachers or students.  With the students we read the Three Little Pigs and made houses for them.  I brought small plastic pigs so we practiced our colors.  One girl, Cindy, named one of her pigs Jack and the others were named Pig Pig and Pig Pig Pig.  She made them an extra pig bathroom.

The teachers dropped their eggs! Great excitement!  They are working on their presentations for the last day of class.

After classes, we received traditional Chinese foot massages. It was amazing.  One of the best parts was being there with Dr. Jane who is ticklish and laughed out loud for a lot of it.  They even used the cups from the other day on the bottom of our feet to draw the negative energy out.  Doing this is way outside my comfort zone - embracing new experiences.

Dinner was at a vegetarian restaurant. It felt like a temple or church.  Extremely peaceful and the food was beautiful and wonderful tasting.  Dessert was a mountain made of shaved ice and cascading black bean sauce with fruit as decorations.  True for the whole trip - the vegetable dishes are my favorite.  Lotus root looks like moon rock.

Back pretty early and off to sleep. ....