A blog journey following LEA members Glenn and Connie Steinbrenner of Illinois experiencing international education in Asia, sponsored by LCMS World Mission.
We are leaving Shanghai today. This has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It’s been hard to find the words to describe all the experiences that we have encountered over the past 13 days. We’ve taken more than 900 photos and met so many wonderful people.
I realize how illiterate I am with world politics and world affairs, world geography and other cultures. Walking around an international school like Concordia is like walking through the United Nations with the mix of nationalities. The children treat each other with respect and they know their heritage. We met students who told us they were from Brazil, Hong Kong, America, etc. –just as a matter of fact. The children don’t look at their differences. We haven’t seen prejudice or bias among them. They are all God’s children and equal. They know where their roots are from, but it doesn’t matter where their tree is planted, it’s in the same garden.
The teaching staff has really been impressive— they have such a passion for what they are doing. They seem so cohesive, working well together and supportive of one another and also welcoming of guests like us. Specialized needs can be met on staff—marketing, admissions, curriculum development and subject specialties. It’s unique to see a school that has the resources to support the program and make the choices. Schools in the United States are feeling such financial pressure.
When I graduated in 1973, these opportunities didn’t exist. I wish they did. This is a fantastic place to raise children. These children are so well traveled and not sheltered. They are exposed to so much at such a young age. We hope that more LCMS educators will consider teaching at one of these international schools.
We’d like to thank LCMS World Mission and LEA for giving us this opportunity!
On our third day in Shanghai, we were taken sightseeing by Joanie Koerschen. We started at downtown Pudong in the financial district at the Shanghai Museum in the bottom level of the Pearl Tower. If you look at a photo of the skyline of Pudong, you’ll notice the ultra-modern Pearl Tower near the Shanghai World Financial Center (nicknamed the Bottle Opener) and the Jin Mao Tower.
The museum was very interesting! We learned how Shanghai has changed over the years, with its unique role in Chinese history. Several Chinese tour groups came through the museum and wanted to take pictures of us!
Across the river we walked along the historic Bund, which has just reopened after renovations done in preparation for the World Expo. Farther south, we were able to see the location of the World Expo pavilions. The Expo opens on May 1. We thought that we might be able to see Matthew, since he has been working on scenic design for the Expo. But he’ll be here next month, so our trips didn’t overlap.
We enjoyed going to the beautiful Yuyuan Garden. In addition to traditional Chinese-style buildings, there are many places to eat and buy souvenirs of all sorts. We enjoyed a delicious meal of dumplings, spring rolls and more. Nearby is a commodities market, where everything from safety pins to small appliances can be purchased. Anything and everything can be purchased there!
It was great to see a glimpse of this amazing city. It’s modern in so many ways—much beyond what we expected. And yet there are still small cramped streets with housing close together and people living according to traditional practices. The culture in Shanghai is different than we had expected. Modern China is different than what we have read in history books. This has been an eye opening experience in so many ways.
In the evening we enjoyed visiting with LCMS teachers at the beautiful home of Dr. Jim and Joanie Koerschen. We got a few final photos of Concordia Chicago alumni with Chester the Cougar! It was nice to visit and share our impressions and experiences. The Koerschens topped off our night with taking us to get our first foot massages. Glenn was told several times to “relax” by the masseuse. After walking all around Hong Kong, Macau and Shanghai, it was so nice to have a foot massage!
Concordia is located in the Jinqiao neighborhood of Pudong, which was rice fields just 15 years ago. The whole area is new and still developing. Aside from unpredictable traffic patterns, we feel very safe walking around this area. Many of the school families and teachers live within walking distance to Concordia.
In August, Concordia finished its final building phase with the completion of a new High School facility that includes environmentally-intelligent features, such as three green roofs, a green wall, bamboo veneers, natural lighting and a ground source heat-exchange system that is used to heat and cool the five buildings on campus. Concordia has become a leader in utilizing green technologies, and other schools from around China and Asia have been visiting to learn more. These energy-saving features demonstrate the school’s Christian stewardship and are an exemplar to the students. Their vision for the future takes place in these investments today.
As we’ve become more familiar with the facilities at Concordia, we’ve found out more about the programs offered in the elementary, middle and high school divisions. The educators we have met have a passion for teaching. It’s not a job, but something that they love doing.
We visited kindergarten classes and learned more about the Reading and Writing workshop curriculum, which is used in the elementary school. Its differentiated approach helps children progress in skill building and they really love to read! It was interesting to watch the kindergarteners learn Mandarin! Not a typical subject in American schools….
Glenn met with Dr. Bob Bieniek, the Middle School assistant principal, and learned about the structure of school day, which is similar to our day. Concordia’s Middle School is grades 5-8, with grade 5 being largely self-contained. With a large faculty, the school can utilize specialist teachers between the High School and Middle School for subjects like art, music, P.E., etc. Glenn also enjoyed talking with High School principal David Harris. The High School’s college preparatory program is rigorous, and the facilities support the program.
Elementary students were celebrating Easter parties, which we were able to visit and enjoy. Here we are, halfway across the world, finding that the same things happen back at home!
We enjoyed lunch with Head of School Dr. Jim Koerschen and his wife Joanie. He shared with us the importance of offering well-equipped facilities and great programming to support teachers professionally. Happy teachers and happy students come together to create a great education.
Tonight we will eat at a nearby Chinese restaurant with LCMS teachers Anna Hu and Anita Kipp and the Concordia University student teachers. After, we will go to the opening performance of the High School’s production of AIDA. Joanie Koerschen will take us sightseeing tomorrow across the river in Puxi.
We arrived safely in Shanghai yesterday afternoon via Dragon Air from Hong Kong. We enjoyed a full meal with choices and Haagen Daz ice cream (not on my diet!). We were impressed by both the airports in Hong Kong and new Pudong airport in Shanghai. Customs and immigration processes were easy, without any problems.
Our first impressions of Shanghai…much more modern than we had expected! With a population of more than 20 million, Shanghai seems less crowded than we had anticipated. We are staying at the Ramada hotel near the school—probably the nicest hotel at which we have stayed.
Last night we ate dinner with elementary school Principal Mrs. Louise Weber and her husband Michael. Three other LCMS families at Concordia joined us—the Frerkings, Klammers (former members of Immanuel, Batavia) and Semlers. The Webers, Frerkings and Klammers also worked together at HKIS before moving to Shanghai! We saw genuine camaraderie among staff. The team feeling among the teachers made us feel warmly welcomed and embraced to be here. The staff seems happy to be here and have been happy to welcome us here.
The Webers were among the founding faculty at Concordia, which was started in 1998 with 14 staff and 22 students! Louise will be “repositioning” at the end of this school year—marking the 12th year she has served at Concordia.
Upon walking up to the school, we had another WOW experience. The campus is beautiful; comparable to practically any college campus in the States. The setting cries “education” and it’s clear that it was built with purpose and vision. Concordia’s campus is comprised of five buildings, which serve the 1,100 member student body from preschool 3 to grade 12. There are over 130 in the faculty. The Concordia community represents around 30 passports—a truly international community.
Mrs. Weber led us on a tour of the elementary school, which spans 3-year-olds to grade 4. It was fun to see her vision and how her dream was built into reality. Every detail was done well and out-of-the-box thinking has benefited the students.
We attended the all-school Easter chapel this morning. Elementary school students were involved in presenting the message—which captured the attention of 3 year olds up to 12th graders. We enjoyed singing some of the same songs and even learning a new one. It was a very memorable event. With the student body, teachers, parents and us there were 1,300 together in the same place—another Wow! Everyone was so engaged in what was going on and very attentive.
We took a walk through the Founder’s Garden, named for Allan and Sandy Schmidt, Concordia’s first Head of School and Admissions Director, respectively. The Garden has six round seating areas, each representing an area of whole-child education—academic, aesthetic, emotional, physical, social and spiritual.
We’ve been privileged to see a variety of education systems in Asia that are different in scope but with the same in purpose that demonstrate God’s love while providing excellent education. Living out the theme from a former school, “Loving to learn while learning to love”…
Tonight we’ll get to eat a meal at the famous Jin Mao skyscraper in downtown Pudong, Shanghai right across the Huang Pu river from the historic Bund. (Do you remember seeing the Jin Mao in the movie Mission Impossible 3?)
We have had a busy last few days and not much of an opportunity to use the internet. On Thursday (Day 4) we went to the Concordia Welfare and Education Foundation office to visit Iantha. She told us about the work of CWEF in different countries around Asia. It is exciting to have CWEF working in some countries in which LCMS World Mission does not have projects.
We went out for India food with Iantha and then to Big Buddha. It is a large Buddha statue, in fact, it is the world’s second largest seated bronze Buddha staute. We took the cable car up to the Big Buddha and it was absolutely beautiful. Hong Kong is extremely verdant and mountainous, definitely not what we expected.
After the Big Buddha visit, we went to dinner in Stanley and then to Church of All Nations for Maundy Thursday service.
Friday was a big day! We started off the morning taking a ferry to Macau. It was an extremely busy travel day from Hong Kong, so we ended up standing in line for 45 minutes to get through customs! Evidently we were fortunate to have that short of wait, others traveling through Hong Kong had to wait upwards of four hours to get through customs.
Macau is the “Las Vegas of Asia.” Once we made it through customs, we visited Concordia English Center in Macau. We were able to have lunch with the long-term and short-term volunteers from America. It was great to get to meet them and learn more about their ministry at the center.
We thought we only had a few hours in Macau so we visited Morrison Chapel and the graveyard adjacent, before making the journey to the ferry terminal to finish our trip into Mainland. When we arrived at the terminal we discovered the ferry had just changed to a different terminal, on a different part of Macau. We hurried over to the other terminal and discovered that the ferry we wanted to catch was sold out! It was a big surprise since that particular ferry sells out about twice each year. We purchased our tickets on the next ferry out which was at 7:45 pm. The delay gave us time to visit some of the casinos. We were surprised to see that the casinos in Macau are so massive. The Venetian is probably three times larger than the Venetian in Las Vegas.
After a few more delays due to weather, we finally got on the ferry and made it safely into Mainland. We checked into our hotel and got a good nights sleep to prepare for the next day.
Saturday morning we woke up, checked out of the hotel and toured around the city. We finally understand what Megan means when she tells us Hong Kong may be a Special Administrative Region of China, but it is not “real China.”
We visited the markets which had anything from fruits, vegetables and many varieties of meat, to clothes and trinkets. It was quite an experience.
During the afternoon we attended the wedding of one of the English volunteers from America and a local Chinese man. We really enjoyed getting to meet everyone at the English center and meeting the volunteers.
The wedding was an interesting mix of American and Chinese traditions, and even included dances such as the “Chicken Dance” and the “Electric Slide!”
We were not able to attend the dinner, because we had to get back to Hong Kong for church on Sunday.
We attended both services at Church of All Nations on Easter Sunday. The first service was a contemporary “sunrise service” at 8:30 am outdoors. It was not the best weather since it was misting and windy, but we made it through the service and headed down to the cafeteria for a big Easter breakfast.
The breakfast was a traditional American breakfast, but it did include pork and beans. We skipped out on the beans and enjoyed the breakfast and getting an opportunity to meet some of the members at Church of All Nations.
The second service was more traditional and had a wind ensemble. It was great to know that people all over the world will be celebrating Easter today!
After lunch, we meet with Dr. Marty Schmidt at Hong Kong International School. Marty is a teacher and works for LCMS World Mission. He helps to coordinate service opportunities for HKIS students. We were quite impressed with many of the service projects in which HKIS students are involved.
Tomorrow we will be flying to Shanghai to visit Concordia International School Shanghai! We are excited to see what opportunities are at CISS!
Today we were able to meet with the President of the Lutheran Church-Hong Kong Synod, Rev. Dr. Alan Yung and visit the Concordia International School. We had a good conversation with President Yung and we were able to visit a few classes including an economics course.
For lunch we ate at a local restaurant serving northern Chinese food inspired by the Muslim traders during the silk road times. It was an interesting experience, being seated at the table with other groups of people and the food was quite delicious.
Today was also our first day to visit tourist areas. We went to the Peak, and looked over the downtown area of Hong Kong before visiting some local markets.
Today was a busy day. Our first stop was at Hong Kong International School Lower Primary. The taxi ride was quite a journey, but we made it safely down to the Repluse Bay campus in time for our 9 am meeting with Maya the Lower Primary principal. After a nice conversation we took a tour of the building and met a number of the teachers. Once we finished the tour of the Lower Primary we crossed over to the Upper Primary school. We were able to meet with Bruce the principal at the Upper Primary and take a tour of that facility as well. We were both impressed with the excellence at the HKIS primary schools.
After our tours, we headed back up to the Kowloon peninsula to have Dim Sum near our hotel. Dim Sum is a traditional Hong Kong meal consisting of appetizers and tea. The chopsticks were challenging but we managed. We were able to try a number of different dishes.
Once we were finished with lunch, we took a brief rest before walking over to the LCMS World Mission-Asia office to learn about missions throughout Asia. We learn a great deal about the work of LCMS World Mission.
We also had a chance to visit one of the many malls in Hong Kong. The mall we visited was Festival Walk and it is about 8 stories high with a few hundred stores, an ice rink and a megaplex theater. We never would have imagined Hong Kong to be such a huge shopping center.
For dinner we met the three Globally Engaged in Outreach (GEO) missionaries that teach English and Bible lessons with the Lutheran Church-Hong Kong Synod (LCHKS) schools and a few of Megan’s friends. We were surprised to find out that the LCHKS has 22 schools with nearly 20 thousand students. We had good conversations and then we headed back to our hotel to sleep so we will be ready to visit the HKIS middle school and high school and Concordia North Point (a LCHKS school) tomorrow.
We arrived safely in Hong Kong, and the city is not what we expected! It is a very modern city full of high-rise buildings and mountains. We are excited to see what the week has in store!
We are Connie and Glenn Steinbrenner from Batavia, Illinois. Our four grown children are living in Colorado, California, and Montana. We are both graduates of Concordia College, River Forest, and have been active in Lutheran Education for over 37 years. Connie currently teaches 3 and 4 year old preschool at St. Paul Lutheran School in Aurora, IL, and Glenn serves as principal of Immanuel Lutheran School in Batavia, IL.
We have always been aware of the international schools that are operated by the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod; we have even known a few teachers who served in these school but we never dreamed that we would ever be privileged enough to visit them. We are looking forward to seeing this ministry first-hand in our visits to Hong Kong, Macau and Shanghai, China. This trip was made possible through the Lutheran Church– Missouri Synod World Mission and was given through a drawing at the Lutheran Education Association Convocation in Minneapolis in April 2008.
This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will allow us to see the educational excellence taking place at all the various levels of education in our international schools in these communities. Both of us have been in Lutheran school ministries for our entire careers and are anxious to compare these educational experiences to those of Lutheran schools in America.
Everything we have heard and seen indicates that they successfully incorporate academic excellence, cultural diversity, and state-of-the-art facilities in a nurturing Christian environment. Students are also encouraged to ask questions with open minds and look beyond their own community for service opportunities. They are unique and dynamic learning communities and we can hardly wait to experience them!
