Chen Yaping

Top: Jackie, Aaron, Tim and a Chinese guest
Second: Vicky, Ashley, Forrest, and two Chinese students
Third: Parker, Sean, Professor Chen (standing), and one of her students
Bottom: Chinese students and Erik and Natalia

Although we are surrounded by Beijing, in our dorm the people we see most of the time are other foreign students, primarily from Europe, Japan, and Korea. We need to speak Chinese to people who can determine if we're pronouncing things properly, and students of English need native English speakers to practice with as well. My former colleague at North Central, whom I knew there as Yaping Chen, is the person who began the contact between North Central and Beijing Foreign Studies University. She and I used to see quite a lot of one another in Naperville, and it's a treat to see her here in Beijing. She was kind enough to bring mooncakes in different flavors in celebration of the upcoming National Holiday that begins on Sunday, October 1, and lasts a week.