What a day! We left the hotel at 8 am this morning and didn't get back until 9 pm. It has been a full day and it has been wonderful. I have a mixture of feelings---excitement to finally be home and see my family and a bit of melancholy to be leaving this place and finishing this experience. It really has been an incredible one that I have been looking forward to and preparing for for a long time. But I must admit that my excitement to see Kristine and the bo...

Wow! Today was an incredible experience. We spent most of the day traveling to and walking along the Great Wall. Amazing! Almost as great as the wall was the ability to finally skype with my family again. It has been almost a week and I had missed seeing them terribly. It was great to hear their voices, see their faces, and catch up a bit. We spent nearly two hours in the van driving to the Great Wall. The traffic was horrible and we moved along at a snai...

Today was a fascinating day. The morning started early with Mr. Feng picking me up and loading my suitcases into the car. We went to the school cafeteria for breakfast and the wonderful ladies there hooked me up and offered me basically everything that they have. They even put some buns and fried bread into some bags for me to have for lunch on the train. They are incredibly sweet and I was able to go back into the kitchen and see how they work. They have fe...