Remembering China

Dear Diary,

Yesterday was the celebration of the Chinese New Year; the year of the sheep. (Although in this piece they show a goat...I guess it can be either one.)  This always gets me thinking about my trip to China in 2002.  I have many wonderful mementos of that trip but I thought I would post this intricate paper cut of the Chinese zodiac.  It still amazes me every time I look at it.  The patience and delicacy of the work is stunning.

I flew to China just months after the horrific 9/11 attacks in New York and people thought I was crazy but I had a once in a life time opportunity to travel with a delegation of educators and I just couldn't pass it up.

It would take many pages to recall all that I saw and experienced on that trip.  I will recount only two.  The first was the chance to walk a long a part of the Great Wall.  That was incredible but the second is the one that I hold closest to my heart.  The day I spent with a family living in one of the ancient Hutongs in Beijing. 

Built around a hidden courtyard, several generations of a family live and work.  There was a grandmother there, sitting under a tree in the courtyard, and I set with her and through my interpreter I spent an hour learning of her life and her love of her family.  I had brought along a tiny Polaroid camera on the trip so I could take photos and give them to people.  I took her portrait holding her youngest grandchild and she cried when she saw it developing right before her eyes.

For me, it is these personal encounters with people that are my most cherished souvenirs of any trip.  I can still see her sweet smile....