Barbara & Bruces' Asia Adventures continue (China, Hong Kong and Korea too!!!!)

Statue of Traditional Dancers  Tomorrow afternoon I leave and, I am both sad and looking forward to be returning home.  This trip, I noticed how finding a rhythm to my day and knowing my way around helps me feel grounded. (Don’t get me wrong, I also like exploring and discovering new parts of the city, but I also need to balance the excitement of what is new with what is familiar). This is a lovely time of year to be here, it is hot (80’s-90’s F.) but dry, with occasional wind. Flowers are still blooming and everything is green and fresh.  Last night, after being slightly frustrated trying to find a place to eat (Traditionally meals are group events in China, so as a single person with a small appetite, it is challenging to find something to eat at a restaurant (or at least something that is not rice porridge/congee or bao/wheat bun with filling).  I ended up getting a huge dish of fried rice- my translation app said it was chicken fried ric...

Students during a class exercise  My class ended yesterday, and I am already sad and missing the students. At dinner, after class (a Yunnan restaurant which was very yummy), I was trying to explain why I liked working with these students. First, the are very smart and also motivated to learn- which means that large amounts of time in class ends up being used to answer their very thoughtful and often complex questions. I also love working with students who instinctively see multiple symbolic levels of meaning, no matter what we are doing. Plus, they are incredibly brave and willing to share vulnerable feelings in class and also how to be present and support each other as they explore deeper parts of their lives and beings. Exercises that I introduce as basic skill practicing opportunities also become times to explore and be curious about their own lives and patterns. Even those students new to DMT seem to be present deeply and thoughtfully. I will miss them, even though four...

Day 2 of my class will start in a few hours and I wanted to take time to share a bit about the past few days in Beijing with its range of experiences. A day or so after I arrived, the woman who is my class translator arrived. I suspect she was ‘charged’ with help me find food and showing me around, which has both benefits and also challenges.  Philosophers Contemplating in a Circle Older part of Buddhist Temple Renovated Buddist Templ  The first day, we took a taxi (which I would not do on my own due to language challenges) as we boldly but slowly and pollutedly made our way toward the Forbidden City, the center of touristic old Beijing. Our goal was an incredibly fancy French restaurant in reconstructed Buddhist Temple. The site also served as a small elegant hotel and also contained several art galleries with very interesting art works. The courtyard was filled with funny, surprising and ironic (at least to me) works of art. In the photo three ‘philosophe...

I am now in Beijing, ensconced in my hotel, which is a clean but extremely basic place, with an very very firm mattress, a window that looks onto the wall of the building next door and as usual.. no one around who speaks English. Thankfully, I have several translation apps and can have some rudimentary but slow conversations. I do say  nie haou (hello in Mandarin) to the children at breakfast who stare back with curiousity or perhaps even a bit of concern.  BJ Exposition Hall with some Kite Flying This morning, my first in this hotel, I explored and discovered that the neighborhood changes significantly block by block. I usually do this the first day I arrive to discover the possibilities of the area- including where there are markets, banks, places to eat and metro stops. Walking from my Hotel  The street of my hotel is in a small alley, requiring several turns (I still get lost trying to get to the main street) and passing what looks...

This is being written on the train to Beijing, which due to a ticket mixup is a later train than planned, but I am in a first class seat. (I am not sure what that actually means but so far the seats are softer and bigger.. and as luck would have it my seat mate is a friendly Chinese guy living in Beijing but from New Zealand who was visiting family in Shanghai, and who speaks English). I  am typing as the train speeds by large apartment buildings withmany many many solar panels plus lots and lots and lots of construction.  The class I was teaching in Shanghai focused on DMT (Dance/Movement Therapy) and Trauma- an interesting and also draining course to take and teach. For a start, half of the class was made up of students who were more advanced DMT students and the other half were people for whom this was their first DMT class - including several professional dancers and dance teachers. I alternated between teaching the neurology of trauma and how to apply those fram...

Greetings to all from Shanghai. This time is just me, Barbara, flying solo (literally) with Bruce staying back home.  I have been here about 3 days, and start teaching a class on dance/movement therapy and trauma today. (the up side of jet lag means that I get up really early and have the luxury of a leisurely morning).  And it would not be Shanghai without a Bund photo And of course a Panda.. welcome to China Returning to Shanghai has been wonderful. Having been here several times already, I have been spending my time wandering neighborhoods and noticing local rhythms and interaction. This time the studio space and hotel is located further from the center of town, in a newer and what appears to be a middle class area.  The areas is filled with tall apartment buildings, on all sides of the streets. Each building complex is surround by a fence with an entrance gate and a laid-back guard and each enclosing a small park or nature area in its center....