still happily immersed in Serpentine revisions.

am reading the entire manuscript aloud now–

a step that is always amazingly helpful in catching

awkward prose or dialogue, as well as

repition of words or phrases. revisions had taken

me away from updating about the china trip, but

many people have been asking me how it went, from

fellow chinese brush painting students to young adult

authors.

well, it went AMAZING! i honestly can’t imagine having

had a better time. i was in china for ten days but spent

the majority of it on the CIS HZ campus. although this first

trip to china was filled with highlights (heck, everything

was a highlight!) i can honestly say that the time

i spent with the students were the best parts for me.

this was a class of fun, creative, talented and bright

fifteen year olds, and the thing is, i remember fifteen

very well. it’s an odd thing to say, a quarter of a century

later (seriously, Father Time?), but it’s true. that year, my

mom actually sent me on my own study abraod program

to taiwan for a month in the summer. i lived in a dorm at

the Chinese Culture University–my first experience living

on my own and with peers (who quicky became friends).

we probably didn’t learn as much chinese language as we

should have, but we did learn about the culture, and we

connected with our roots, and it made an indelible

impression on me.

i got the opportuntity to talk to a few students (all

avid readers) who actually had time to read Silver

Phoenix, two of them even read Fury of the Phoenix.

i got to discuss young adult books and share some

of my favorite reads with them. and i also had the honor

of hearing their written work, some creative, and some

autobiographical, inside and outside the classroom.

*grabbing delicious gelato with Paul, Abi,

Lauren and Kameka, part of the library crew. all

the girls had also read Silver Phoenix–hoorah!

*i had arrived just in time for the Dragon Boat Festival!

the campus was near the canals, so we got to see the boats

paractice and race on sunday and monday. also, there were

many firecrackers set off–loudest BOOMS ever!

i led three creative writing workshops with a focus

on point of view and tense, sharing an excerpt from

L. K. Madigan’s Flash Burnout and Malinda Lo’s Huntress

that illustrated their uses perfetctly, in my opinion. and

also had the pleasure of hearing what they had written

in the timed exercise.

i had the pleasure of sitting in on some of their other

classes including art, drama, music, and a chorus practice

for their end of year performance. it was a true honor to

have been invited as a young adult author to their school,

and they welcomed me wonderfully, and i hope they enjoyed

their time with me as i did with them!

*the campus was beautiful. here’s the main

walkway.

*we started the week (monday) with an informal

interview between me and Paul, who had instigated

and arranged my visit (THANK YOU, PAUL! =) in the

open area adjacent to the school library. you can find the

uploaded video of the interview here.

*that night, i had the pleasure of being a guest at

Tama’s (music director at CIS) home for a delicious

dinner prepared him. Tama is from New Zealand and

Maori, and we discussed what a meal represented

in our respective cultures, among friends and family. he

was an *amazing* host. and the food was divine! (we had

salad, curried chicken and veggies, with rice–upon my

request, ha! thanks tama!)

*a delicious rhubarb and apple sponge cake

prepared by Tama. yuuuuum.

*hanging out with Kameka and Gabbie (left and right).

both are talented writers, as i had the pleasure of hearing

their timed writing pieces as well as their stories and poetry

from the school published thINK literary magazine. Gabbie

also read aloud an amazing poem to me. i felt so honored!

*we were given a tour of the sister school campus

(Greentown) and toured the art center of their

elementary school. i was so in love with this calligraphy

room for the kids. many of the calligraphy of the oldest

children there (eleven years old) were much better than

my own!

*another view of the amazing calligraphy room.

*cermaic houses, inns, and buidlings built by

the elementary school kids.

* i was treated to an amazing dinner at the 28

restaurant in the Hangzhou Hyatt courtesy of CIS

and hosted by Paul. we had the pleasure of Maya and

Tom accompanying us, a delightful adventurous couple,

both teaching english in Hangzhou.

*the restaurant is famous for a few dishes, one

of them being this pyramid pork dish. i don’t usually

eat pork–but this was delicious!

*i sat in on a chorus practice for their end of

year performance led by Tama. they sounded good!

*Gabbie rocking out on drums after chorus practice!

*with Tama after his music class.

*hanging out with Abi.

*Charlotte pitched her portable ping pong net

from her Design Tech class to me. i was impressed!

*with Jessie and Sharon. Sharon is the other

english teacher at CIS, along with Paul.

so this was a very very brief recap of my amazing week

as a visiting young adult author at CIS Hangzhou. i wish

i had taken more pictures while i was on campus, but i was

too busy taking everything in, and enjoying my time there.