Our friends

It has been a packed 2 weeks for our friends from Hangzhou Children's Welfare Institute.  We've just left them at the airport, boarding passes in hand after yesterday's flight cancellation because of the typhoon in Japan. Now they're on a different flight with a small stopover in Detroit and then non stop to Shanghai.  What a wonderful learning opportunity it was for all of us as we were priviledged to tour so many schools and therapy centers in our area.  I will attempt to summarize their whirlwind trip through Wisconsin and Minnesota with photos along the way.  

Thursday September 8th:

I found out recently that the UWRF and Hangzhou University have an exchange program.  Our delegation from China was able to tour the University Communicative Disorders/Regional Speech and Hearing Clinic as well as the Early Childhood Lab School.  It was great to be able to interact with the preschool children and see how creative the teachers are.  As we are always trying to find resources for the orphanage in Hangzhou it is very helpful to know that UWRF has a strong presence in China.  What a small world we live in...

Delegation from China

Our delegation from China has been here for 4 days now and the jet lag is subsiding.  Yesterday was a busy day touring Little Adventures Day Care Center in River Falls and Avanti Center in Hudson.  The team was able to observe a typical American daycare in action.  They were very intrigued with all the creative ideas and took lots of photos and lots of notes.  The afternoon was packed at Avanti Center in Hudson observing several therapy session of children with varying special needs.  The ladies are enjoying their experiences here in the US and hope to take ideas back with them to work with their children in the orphanage.