On another, brighter note, I've been able to get back in touch with some of my counterparts from our workshop on Facebook! It really is a cool communication tool--and I'm glad to be able to access it again, now that I'm back home. Speaking of back home...there are quite a few things that I'm really grateful for, and appreciate even more now that I'm home.
Here's one thing that I feel I really need to address (and makes me even more glad to be home)...
I have to say, after spending a week in Beijing, I truly have developed a new appreciation for Western toilets. In case you haven't guessed, this photo is of a typical Beijing commode. This one, by the way, is located in the "International Conference Center" in our hotel. (In the Ladies' Room in the conference area of our hotel, there are NO Western toilets)! Fortunately, though, our hotel rooms DID contain western toilets. My husband showed this photo to my daughters and they wondered how one uses it? Well...let's just say you develop strong thigh muscles. I had been warned about commodes in Asia that were basically "holes in the ground" and once used one at a train station in Japan (different style), but have never seen so many that are consistently styled like this...and that flush! It was definitely an adjustment to learn to use this (and to remember NOT to throw paper in it)! I'm so glad to be back home where we have our Western style toilets! Sometimes it's the little things that sometimes make the biggest difference!