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7 Great ings Happen Everyday Editor's Note: Jon VanOverbeke, a WEA member and teacher at Henderson Elementary School in Cheyenne, was the Wyoming recipient of the 2016 NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE) Award for Teaching Excellence. I was very excited when it was announced that travelling to China was part of the NFIE award. I was ready to go even with all of the congestion, pollution, and differences in food. It was easy to envision myself walking on the Great Wall, visiting the Forbidden City, and staring at the Terra Cotta Warriors, wondering how they were made. After a few glitches of a "broken airplane," missing connecting flights, and lost luggage, I made it to Beijing, China—about 6 hours later than originally planned. It was pouring rain, and I wondered how I was going to live for the next 8 days without clothes, luggage, and the umbrella. Thankfully, I had packed an extra set of clothing, and with the help of the tour guide and the corner convenience store, I was able to take care of the basic toiletries. Luckily, the next day my luggage arrived. Phew! Early the next morning we set off to visit a local middle school—Wenhui Middle School. There we visited with the students. The students who attend that school are in the 7th to 9th grades, and there are 1500 students with 150 teachers. The school is able to house 150 students who live too far away to be able to go back and forth every day. The school's motto is "Study Well, Eat Well and Play Well." They believe that if they have this, the students will be educated well. The belief of the Chinese Education System is that they do a better job educating the child because they spend more time on the foundation of the subjects, and then there doesn't have to be as much review and reteaching. But, there is also praise for American schools because our students are more open-minded and creative. The next few days we spent sightseeing in Beijing. We walked through Tiananmen Square, and into the Forbidden City. Looking at pictures in books and on TV, I never realized how big these places are. We finished the day at the Summer Palace and took a Dragon Boat ride across the lake. Walking part of the Great Wall was definitely a highlight of the next day's activities. What a great experience! On this trip we also got to see some of the farmland and countryside of China. The following day we visited the Temple of Heaven and discovered that it was four times as big as the Forbidden City. While in the park around the Temple of Heaven, we got to participate in Tai Chi. After walking all the day before, I was a bit sore and had a difficult time with the stretches. Then we walked around the park and interacted with the inhabitants who were in the park. Later that day, we flew to Xi'an. Once in Xi'an we went to a section of the Great Wall that surrounded the city. We were able to bike ride along this section of the wall. The next morning we were off to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. What a thrill that was. These life- Jon VanOverbeke International Travel Highlights Differences —But also Similarities