Summary: What began as a simple walk turned into a journey across the world—and across cultures. In this episode of Newsgram, we follow Maureen Armstrong, whose recovery routine led her to teaching English in rural China, writing poetry, and discovering unexpected connections. Her book Essences of Tongcheng is more than a travel story—it’s a moving portrait of shared humanity and the power of embracing our differences..

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Welcome to this edition of Newsgram! 

Sometimes, a great story begins with a simple walk—just a few steps to get your body moving and your mind wandering. And sometimes, that walk can take you farther than you ever imagined—across cultures, even across continents. For Maureen Armstrong, what began as part of an injury recovery routine turned into free verse poetry, pages of personal reflection, and ultimately a book. Her walks led to a life-changing decision: to travel to China and teach English, a journey that took her nearly halfway around the world.

Maureen Armstrong – And so I departed for China and I found out that the students were well aware of my background in writing verses that I shared fairly freely. I wanted them to know who I was. And so they said to me, will you write about us? Will you write about me? And so when I got back, I started writing a lot of notes about my experiences. And at first I was writing journal notes and thinking maybe my family might want to read about where I’d been and the people I met and who they were, what they were like. They lived in a country far away from us. And so I came up with 40,000, 50,000 words that I realized was a book.

Maureen Armstrong’s book, Essences of Tongcheng, is now a reality. So in this edition of Newsgram, let’s take a journey—spiritually, emotionally, and quite literally—to the Anhui [On-Way] Province of China. That’s where Maureen went to teach English, and where she found something far greater than she expected: a deep cross-cultural connection, unexpected moments of trust, and the kind of transformation that only comes from stepping far outside your comfort zone. I know we’re talking about travel but her book is more than that—it’s a poetic portrait of a place most people have never heard of, but for Maureen, it was one that came to feel like home.

Maureen Armstrong – And so when I first got there, there was no lesson plan. I was just told my hours. And so I had to write up the lessons each day and I would choose topics that might be for the young adult, for example, or simple things like, you know, do they have an English name or how would you like to be referred to in class? Or this is the structure I would have. I would keep attendance, for example, in the classroom and the students would have their name. And so then we would choose a topic. I would introduce the words that were going to be spoken, but they might be about things like shopping or buying fruit, for example. Or what is your favorite color would be a simple lesson to start with. And then we might spend a little time individually and then we would gather together, you know, with five or six people and around the room. 

Once in the classroom, Maureen quickly realized that traditional lesson plans wouldn’t work. So she trusted her instincts. It was simple. And it worked.

Maureen Armstrong – Some of my classes were very large, maybe 40 students. So there would be maybe six, seven groups of six people talking about their favorite color or what would be their favorite country to travel to. What’s your favorite food? Simple things like that can expand their vocabulary. And so for the person who doesn’t know an English word, they might learn banana, for example, or peach, or I might discuss the trees outside. And so that’s how the vocabulary would expand to becoming comfortable, really, just like you and I chatting. The conversation would be very relaxed and certainly not dictatorial. It would be far more free flowing.

But not everything was easy. There was an adjustment period. She was a foreigner in a communist country so she had to report to the local police and navigate the complexities of a new society. Thankfully her colleague Maggie helped her through it. Her students became her friends. She had a private apartment that gave her some space to reflect. And she says the food was very good.

Maureen Armstrong – I had a lot of privacy and that was fine. I think keeping the atmosphere healthy was about eating good food. I was lucky that way. I could eat in the cafeteria and the food was good. And so I got a lot of rest and basic things like lifestyle things were the same for me. But I think the change is quite dramatic. You can really notice it because there in Tongcheng, you can go back to, I mean, people pulling carts on the street to lots of traffic. So there’s quite a gap from the old to the modern, which still exists.

I have to give her a lot of credit, the idea of teaching in a non-English-speaking country would intimidate me—but Maureen embraced the unknown and came away transformed. Being able to venture outside your comfort zone is something to be commended. 

Maureen Armstrong – I was lucky. If you went there alone, I think it would be absolutely terrifying.But for me, I had people built into my world that helped me through it. 

And she says when she returned for a second year, everything felt different—it was much warmer, more familiar. Her students were confident. the school had grown and the street vendor even remembered her hat.

Maureen Armstrong – And when I went back the second year, I went and there was the same lady selling her vegetables. And I came up kind of I wore the same hat and I had a little pin on it from my country. And she just had this big, big smile welcoming me back to Tongchan. And so there was a lot of things like that that I really thought was a win for me. It was really wonderful to feel kind of welcomed. And it wasn’t hostile like, oh, there she comes again. It was completely opposite to that. So I felt really great about it. You know, it was for the students. They were a lot more familiar, a lot more confident. And they just wanted to learn a lot, lot more. So I mean, but that can’t get any better.

We live in such a polarizing society and I think that is what I liked most about this book. The underlying message that we are not all the same and we are not supposed to be. 

Maureen Armstrong – Our differences diminish with each passing day. Sometimes if we keep talking with others, with discussions of topics of home, family and making friends, I hope that sometimes. They would be embracing the differences rather than feeling rejecting them, I think, is how I would put it.

Embrace the differences instead of rejecting them — I love that. In the end, Maureen’s walks led her to a classroom in China—but it also brought her home to something deeper: the power of connection..

Essences of Tongcheng is more than a travelogue. It’s a bridge between cultures, a tribute to the power of presence, and a reminder that listening and sharing common interests can dissolve distance.

You can find Essences of Tongcheng wherever books are sold—Kindle, paperback, hardcover, and audio. And who knows, when you read it, you might just find yourself—like Maureen—sitting across from someone new, feeling less like a stranger and more like an old friend.

Thanks for listening to this edition of Newsgram from Webtalkradio.com, I’m Sam Youmans.

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