The mountain says "Welcome"

I am told one rarely finds a large turtle on Buffalo Mountain where the seminar participants hiked Sunday morning. In China, the turtle is a symbol of luck and long life. On this excursion, they sighted a turtle. One of our guests later wrote it was if the mountain were welcoming them.

Wealth of Information

Our visitors were impressed with the Johnson City Public Library, especially the children's room. They told us there were no children's libraries in China. They did not quite believe us when we said we could read about anything. They challenged us to produce something by Mao. And of course, we could. Above: Terry Knight with Guo and Yi in the children's room. Below 1: Guo enjoys the upstairs reading room. Below 2: Mao's little red book.

Play

At its best, American education involves lots of experiential learning and play. The Chinese system, which is great at developing memory and mental discipline, does not utilize play once the kids are out of kindergarten. Our guests professors had read John Dewey, but had not experienced nor witnessed progressive-style education in action. They were fascinated with the exhibits at the "Hands-on" museum, and played with at least as much gusto as the kids.

Through the eyes of others

While I take many pictures, I find my own less interesting than those of our guests. Those who come from faraway see things residents failed to notice. I used to take pictures of grocery shelves in China, so I should not have been surprised when students took pictures of a Tennesse shoe store (below). Above: seminar participants pose by the ETSU carillon.

Program Planning

We've spent lots of time getting for our Chinese visitors. Besides the seminar, many evening and weekend programs are planned. You never can tell what will work the best. Our evening hayride at the Robertson farm where we roasted hotdogs and made s'mores is likely to be a program highlight. We topped off the evening with singing. Lots of the guests knew old Broadway show tunes, and one of the participants has sung for the Peking Opera.

Above: Guo presents Jia with wild flowers for her birthday.

Below: We assemble in the Robertson living room.

Hayride

Our guest teachers will be learning about academic English and studying the American educational system and culture. Three hours daily are spent in class. But language and culture arise from human experience, so we have lots of field trips. Saturday night, Lee and Judith Robertson, hosted a hayride for the crew. Lee (below left) is a expert at conducting hayrides. "Yes," he told me, "but this is the first time I did one as a cultural exchange."

Arrivals

The long awaited event has begun. The twelve guest professors have arrived from North China University of Technology. Their flight into the Knoxville Airport was delayed by four hours. They finally arrived at 2:00 AM Thursday morning. From there, we drove two hours to Johnson City. The welcome party was exhausted, and unlike our guests, we hadn't been travelling for nearly 48 hours.

One guest mentioned being given ice water on the plane. He wondered aloud why anyone would deliberately chill their water. (In China, drinking water is heated)