one week to go!

     We just finished up our second week of teaching and only have one week left to teach before we head back to Shanghai. I am starting to get used to some things in China now, like the food and lack of iced beverages. I think the people here are starting to get used to us as well. We have been walking the same path every weekday, twice a day. At first we got a lot of weird looks and nobody really tried to talk to us. Now, people seem ready and are waiting to try and sell us breakfast. The kids run up to show off their mastery of the English greeting. They laugh and run back to the doorways they came from when we answer with an awkward "ni hao". This Saturday we went to the tea mountain of Ya'an. It is said to be the birthplace of tea and the first tea tree's are hidden somewere  in the tea tree and bamboo covered slops of the mountain. We rode a gondola up the mountain to tour the different temples and tea gardens. We were able to see the historic tea garden that grew the tea for the Chinese emperors. As we descended the hundreds of steps to get back down the mountain we kept passing all the Chinese people who were taking the steps up and who would later ride the gondola down. I learned that some of them make this trip on a monthly basis as a way to refresh their mind and body. We drank tea on the side of the mountain with a view of the valley below. It was fun teaching our Chinese friends a new card game, which is a common way to relax after a meal here. And we had a lot of fun as they mastered 31 and very quickly started beating us.
    
     We are more than halfway through our trip now and are starting to turn our thoughts back to home. Some questions are in the order of " what is the first food we want to eat?", or "how fast can I buy a ice cold diet coke?". But we also are wondering what impact will this trip have on us and how will it change our life when we get home. I wonder who many people I will be able to keep in contact with and for how long. I guess we don't really know what impact this trip will have on us, but this is a life changer for sure.

~Kim