We say goodbye to Shanghai today and fly to Chengdu where the students are anxious and excited about meeting their host families. Shanghai has been a truly cultural experience. It is a modern, high tech, financial center city with a flavor of Shanghai style cruisine, New York Canal Street shopping, and a blending of both ancient (Yuyuan Garden) and new (Expo 2010) history. My biggest surprise so far is that everyone smokes! Whether you are in a restaurant, walking through a 400 year old garden or riding an elevator 100 floors up to one of the tallest buildings in the world people are smoking. I can understand the pollution problem now !! If I had to pick one highlight of the trip so far it would be our special tour of the old British consulate that was built in 1873. It is now used for Chinese official meetings. The architecture and decor were exquisite. The picture above was taken there . The painting behind the students was painted by a famous Chinese painter whose name I will not attempt because I could not do it justice.  Reflections from Shanghai will continue after I drag the kids out of bed;)