Today I will be leaving Mr. Crawford and the rest of our group to travel to Heze for five days. During this time, I will be spending time at the Shandong Heze Experimental Primary School, one of Beecher Road School’s sister schools.
Heze is the political, economic, and cultural center of southwestern Shandong. It is noted for Peonies, a flower that appears in many Chinese paintings.
During my stay in Heze, the International Peony Festival will be in progress.
I hope to see some peonies while I am there. My grandfather grew peonies, his favorite flower, and I still have some his peonies growing at my home.
As you can see from the map below, I will be in the farthest outreaches of Shandong. The other educators visiting from Connecticut will be closer to Jinan, the capital of Shandong.
(Map from Wikimedia)
As I noted in yesterday’s post, Heze, the city, is about the same area as Connecticut, the state. The population of Heze is about 8.1 million. At this time, I don’t know where in the city I will be. Once I get there I may be able to share a map.
Mr. Wood