Beijing Airport - leaving China!

What an incredible week! Time for our 14 hour flight back to the United States. It's pretty cool that we are leaving Beijing on Nov 14 at 5:00pm and arriving in Newark NJ on Nov 14 at 5:55pm. A one hour flight? Traveling through time zones is fun :)

Final Trip- site of 2008 Beijing Olympics!

Totally awesome, and Beijing was smog free for the first time all week :)

Fancy Dinner!

All of the American and Chinese delegates met on Wednesday evening for a very nice dinner. The room in the hotel was stunning, and we all had a very fun time!

Travel to Remnin University

On the road to Remnin University in Beijing for a visit! Cars are everywhere in the city. For people living in the city, the commute to work can take hours because of the heavy congestion!

Leaving the Henan Province!

We are about to board a plane back to Beijing! The Henan Province was beautiful, its history is incredible, and the hospitality and generosity of its people will always be remembered... :D

Longmen Grottoes

Absolutely stunning...

More fun with kids!

I loved the kids at this school! The first picture is with a dancer who performed for us. The second picture is with an extremely giggly group of kids- I convinced the front row to flex with me in the picture. The final picture shows me signing autographs - all of the kids really wanted American autographs, and they went nuts when I handed out a few business cards to them :)

A night out at the theater!

We just saw a beautiful outdoor show on a stage set deep in the mountains of the Henan Province- pictures cannot capture how breathtaking it was- we all agreed that it made Broadway shows look tiny...

Visited students at a Kung Fu School!

The children were very polite and thankful for our visit!

More middle school kids!

Had such a blast with the kids today :) I took many pictures and videos with them!

Middle School students!

The kids were so happy to see us! Teenagers are teenagers, no matter the continent :)

Education Seminar

I met these two high school English teachers at a seminar. In China, high school is not mandatory, and entrance to schools is highly competitive.

Zhengzhou High School #47

We met with a high achieving high school. The kids were very fun and enjoyed clowning around with me :) the last picture is a room crammed with kids who voluntarily went to a Sunday night study session at 7pm.

Flight from Beijing to Zhengzhou

We flew from Beijing to Zhengzhou, a city in the Henan province. The Chinese call it a "medium" sized city because it only has 9 million people (basically the size of NYC!)

Chinese Judge

Wearing a traditional judge uniform :D

Confucius Institute/Hanban museum

We just visited Hanban headquarters (Hanban is the organization that is hosting our delegation). Inside there is an awesome museum. I was able to see an authentic oracle shell, and one of Shi Huangdi's terra cotta warriors!

Confucius Temple

Just ledt a visit to the Confucius Temple... It was absolutely beautiful, and overflowing with history...

New people I met in the Forbidden City!

What an unbelievable experience! Many people are excited to take pictures with Americans :)

The Bird's Nest

We drove by the Bird's Nest- home of many of the 2008 Summer Olympics events. A very cool stadium to see in person!

Another night out in Beijing!

Beijing is very lively and colorful at night! The Chinese love basketball- I got a kick out of this huge Dwayne Wade billboard on the side of a building!

Noodle Making!

We visited a vocational high school today. Some of the students are in the culinary program. In the background, students are making noodles. We ate their food- and it was amazing!