"It's A Small World" - Marie Richards

Travel has always been a priority for Jason and me. However, the birth of our son Max curtailed our globetrotting ways. It was with some trepidation that we left our 2 ½ year old at home to set out on this adventure to China.

Our first experience in China involved meeting a host family from Soochow University who graciously invited us into their home. “Sally” and “James” (the names they had chosen while studying English) have an adorable 4 year old son, Qi-Qi. Before I could even begin to seriously miss my own child, I was enveloped with love by a small Chinese boy.

We felt an instant connection when we got into their car and heard a Gymboree cd playing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” and “The Wheels on the Bus”. In English, no less. Qi-Qi showed us the playground by his apartment, his treasured toys, and shared his favorite drink. After leading the way to his grandparents’ apartment downstairs, he instructed everyone where to sit for lunch with a forceful point of the finger. Our son Max is similarly inclined to dictate the seating arrangement. We were delighted to see many familiar toys crowding the apartment including the same piano that Max owns.

Sally and I found that we faced many similar parenting dilemmas. We both try to balance grandparents who want to spoil their treasured grandsons. We have both experienced the struggle of leaving a crying child who clings to you, or as Sally calls it, “being sticky”. And we both get smothered in hugs and kisses from our sons. It seems that despite cultural differences, the challenges and joys of parenthood cross borders.

Happy Birthday, Tom - Welcome to Suzhou!

Suzhou - the Venice of China

It was hard to tell that it was Sunday in China, there was so much going on.
We started the day with dozens of choices for breakfast at our hotel. We then boarded our bus to to to Soochow University (abbreviated SUDA from now on). We had a briefing on China from Chen Gao, a former faculty member who is now Suzhou Municipal Foreign Affairs Director. Our group asked great questions during a stimulating 2-hour meeting.

We were then paired up with our host families and went to lunch with them, following by having a personal tour guide of the city. Diane and I walked an historic street along an ancient canal. Thanks to our host, we avoided being run down by any bicycles or electric scooters.

The Triplitts with host family

Just before dinner, we returned to SUDA for a meeting with VP Zhang. Furman Board of Trustees Chair Kathy McKinney did a wonderful job representing Furman and presenting him with gifts from our group. Dr. Zhang then joined us for dinner at Hantingfang. We had more courses than we could count and most our group could not answer the bell for last two or three courses.

We returned to our hotel and a large group of us tried to walk off our dinner in the shopping and entertainment district near our hotel.

We capped off our night by celebrating my birthday in the cigar bar at our hotel.

"Day 1" - Kate Kaup

7:00 AM May 16
Good morning! We had a great flight over, including an OJ Simpsonesque-dash through the Detroit airport to make our connection after the Greenville flight arrived on time but sat on the tarmac for 20 minutes as the crew tried to unjam the aircraft’s main doors! We were greeted at the Pudong Airport by Meng “Harrison” Xiangchun and the Dean Liu Zhiming of the Foreign Languages School.

We have a packed day planned today—starting with a briefing by Chen Gao, Vice Director of the Suzhou Municipal Foreign Affairs Office. When we began our exchange program with Soochow University (SuDa) in 2005, Chen Gao served as our primary “facilitator,” helping us manage our numerous programs on the ground and coordinating relations between the two schools we work with here at Soochow University, the School of Foreign Languages and the School of Overseas Education. (We partnered with East China Normal University in Shanghai from 1988-2005 and then made the switch to SuDa). Chen Gao was a professor in the Foreign Languages School and the Department of Translation. We were delighted to have him working on our programs as he’s extremely hard working and well connected, which also enabled him to help us set up internships for our first batch of Fall in China students who were required to take an internship as part of their coursework in the fall of 2006. The concept of internships is still not fully understood or embraced here, so setting up suitable positions wasn’t an easy task, and would have been much more difficult and time-consuming for the FIC faculty director to manage directly from 6,000 miles away. Chen Gao was elevated to his current position in the Summer of 2008, and he continues to be a very strong friend of Furman.


The board room for our briefing!

After our briefing, each of our group is going to be hosted by a SuDa faculty member for lunch at their home and then accompanied on a tour of the city. So often tour groups just whisk through a city without having a chance for a more indepth conversation with people living there or visiting their homes, so we’re all looking forward to the opportunity. I’m going to sneak out to have lunch with the four teachers from the Overseas Ed School who will be coming to Furman July 7-25th to teach our Startalk Furman Chinese Language Camp. We’ll be bringing in 24 high school students from across the US for two weeks of immersion Chinese, and are developing a new curriculum for the program. The teachers are going to be attending a pedagogy workshop here for the program taught by Zhang Xiaolu, who served as Furman’s Language House Assistant on campus all the way back in 1998, She’ll be joining us for dinner on Tuesday night with several Furman alumni.


A host family shows us their daughter's dance class


This evening we’ll have a meeting with Soochow University President Zhang, before he hosts a welcome dinner for us. Lots more to share, but there’s AT LEAST one giant pot of coffee waiting for me downstairs.


Kathy McKinney representing Furman with President Zhang


Dave Ellison presents Chinese delicacy at dinner