Day 418 It's a small world, afterall!

Often times, I am struck by how small the world really is.  I frequently meet people here in China from the Midwest.  Several of my BNDS teacher friends hail from my home state of Indiana, though we did not become acquainted until we moved here.  There are three of us on staff at BNDS that are from the Florida Keys, which is really unusual.  As I meet other Westerners on the subway or the other side of town, I often am able to form a connection to my home state, Florida, or my college alma mater(s). 

So I now find myself living 12,000 miles from Indiana, which has been my home nearly all my life. If you were to dig a very deep hole from what was once my backyard on Mechanicsburg Road in Middletown, Indiana, you would pop out very near to Beijing where I currently live!  While it feels as if I am a world apart from 'home', (it is sooooo very different here) there is comfort in the familiarity of plants and trees and flowers that grow here in China- due to the fact that both of my 'homes' (previous and current) are close to the same latitude.   

Truth be told, I actually had two homes on Mechanicsburg Road.  The first one was a five bedroom Cape Cod style home that I designed, and Donnie and I had built, soon after we were married.  It was a wonderful home with acreage in the country for our blended family of seven; perfect for raising all five kids. As the three older ones all graduated high school and left for college, it was becoming far too much house to maintain for a family of four.  We made the decision to move further up into the woods, and build a smaller log cabin (my dream home).  

We spent the next few weeks getting the Cape Cod home and property in 'open house' form.  I then put an ad in the local paper, put a sign out on the road with some balloons, baked a tray of cookies and had an open house.  It sold that very weekend.

The new owners, George and Stephanie Wilson, were not new to Henry County or Middletown. They had two small girls, and were looking to live in our school district. They wanted a place for their growing family, a place for hayrides, bonfires and family get togethers, and our home suited them perfectly. I had known Stephanie for several years.  Back in the day, I was the guidance counselor at Shenandoah Elementary where she still is a second grade teacher to this day.  My daughter, Ellen, was in her class.  Our paths had crossed many times before, and now they were crossing again.  We were next door neighbors for nearly thirteen years, until my move to China in August of 2014.

Several months ago, I was beyond thrilled to discover on Facebook that Stephanie had been one of twelve teachers selected across the State of Indiana to participate in a cultural/educational exchange with China. The purpose of the trip is to look at how China built its public education program on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) over a decade ago.  The United States could stand to engage in some educational reform.  I see SAT scores in nearly every Chinese student here that I very seldom saw in all my years as a high school guidance director.  China has been doing something right, as many of their students are little soldiers of academia. Students here are disappointed if they do not score a perfect 800 on the math portion of the SAT.  It is simply expected.

Well, Stephanie is THAT good of a teacher, and just an overall quality individual, so I was so excited that she had been bestowed such an honor from the State level.  We immediately reconnected, and said that we must get together when she passed through Beijing.  Today was the day! 

They arrived to Beijing from Indianapolis late last evening,
and they hit the ground running today.  Their first introduction to
Chinese history and culture was a trip to the Great Wall of China.
My friend Stephanie is pictured on the right :)

This section of the Wall is called Mutianyu, and I hiked
it with the group of Harvard students that visited BNDS
last school year.  To see more pics of that trip Click Here.

  

The colors are just beginning to change here
 in the 'jing- so beautiful.  The Wall never gets old!

After their Great Wall excursion, they visited a primary school
here in Beijing.  Soon my school day was over, and I was
hopping the subway across town to meet up with her.
They had a free couple of hours for some shopping at the
Silk Market, and to get dinner on their own.  I'm not going
to lie, it was surreal to see her step off the bus in the
middle of Beijing, China!  Though she was severely jet
lagged, she was running on pure excitement and adrenaline.
I remember my early days here in China; I was just the same.
I was on sensory overload from all the new sights, smells,
tastes, and sounds.  Beijing is NOTHING like little ol'
Middletown, in rural east central Indiana.  She felt it, too!

As we sat down to dinner at Texas Tim's BBQ, I was struck
again at how small the world really can be.  Nancy, who is
sitting to my left, is a teacher at Parker Elementary on
South Main St., in New Castle, Indiana.  This school was
just down the street from a home I owned with my girl's
father who was born and raised in New Castle.  In fact, Nancy
and Todd were in the same graduating class, and he has been
her insurance agent for years.  She knows my daughters, Emily
and Ellen, and we knew many of the same people in town.  Wow.

It really is a small world, afterall!

G'nite, y'all :)