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 fed me wondefully.

Then I spent most of the morning being interviewed by the China Business World newspaper. They were three fairly young journalists and they were fascinating to talk to. They loved talking about American schools and I kept having to temper their comments so that they didn't become to revolutionary. We talked for nearly two hours and by the time we were done it was time to head to the train station.

It was great to meet up with our group again and it was also difficult to say goodbye to the school, the kids, the teachers, Mr. Feng, his family...but most especially the students. They were great...I expect my students to treat me like a rock star when I get back :)

The train ride was incredible. We rode the fast train to Beijing and it went up to 300 km/hour. It was so smooth and the seats were so roomy...it was way better than taking a plane. We also were able to go and sit in the dining car, I had a Coke--everyone else had a beer, and we just sat and shared stories for four hours. It was great.

After arriving in Beijing we were carted off to our hotel, I quickly checked my email and a few websites--so nice to have an internet connection to the world again--and then we were off to dinner. Dinner was a little less than stellar. They fed us so well in Xi'an that I don't know if they will be able to top it here in Beijing. Then we walked around a bit. Beijing has such a different feel than Xi'an. It is a true metropolitan city and so much more developed and clean. It is great, but there is something pretty wonderful about old, historic, dirty Xi'an. I am glad we got to spend most of our time there.