Ya'an China

It is great to say we are in Ya'an China. It is a place famous for Tea, Pandas, and fish, in that order it seems. To get a sense of the climate the town we are staying in is also know by its other name which translates to Rain City. Lucky for us it has been sunny so far. It is also about 5 to 10 degrees cooler than Nanjing as it is higher in altitude and in the foothills. I was fun meeting our leaders here and today we are going to go shopping to buy supplies for our class. Our First Assistant who's english name is Nancy went walking with us last night after dinner. I really got a sence of the community here because during our walk along the river we met a lot of her family and friends. It was really fun when her students, she is a chinese english teacher in primary school, would come running up to her to say hi. The children from her class were eager to test their English with us, and although they were shy I was very impressed that they did so well. We also met her family and her brothers wife has a little baby girl about 8 months old. She insisted I hold the baby to take my picture. In china babies don't usually were diapers because it is to hot, and they  just have pants open to the air in the middle. So I didn't hold Cute (here name in english) for very long.

~Kim
Picture,
they don't waist any space on the buses here. this was our bus ride on our way to get to the Plane.

The Chinese word of Coca Cola ( which sounds the same as the English ) stands for delicious and refreshing!

Nanjing City Museum

Visiting the Drum Tower Hospital

Today in Nanjing we were able to visit some sights. Erik and I were asked to go and talk to the mission partners who have been working at the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital. During our visit we learned a lot about the the Hospital and how it has been serving Nanjing for almost120 years. The hospital was started by a Disciple Missionary who saw a need for medical care in a country were people were dying from preventable infections and illnesses. Now the hospital is one of the top 3 in China. it has 1500 beds and will soon grow to 3000 beds as the construction of the new buildings has been completed. It was almost overwhelming to grasp the idea of how fast the hospital is growing to keep up with the demand of the communities that surround it. Another stop we made was to the Amity Christian Art Center. There we were able to see local artist display their work. It was interesting to see how the Chinese Christians have expressed their beliefs through their artwork. The rest of the day was spent doing more work to get ready to teach our classes. I really hope that we are able to get some of our classes ready before they start next week!

~Kim

The picture is of the door to the old hospital building and the words above the door announce the hospital to be a Christian Hospital.

First Day in Nanjing

We have successfully arrived in Nanjing with the help of the stalwart Amity staff and local volunteers. There are 42 participants in the Summer English Program here from all over Canada, UK, Germany, and the US. We have been enjoying hearing all of their stories about how they came to be participants and sharing our own. Some people have been doing this program for more than ten years. The next few days will be full of workshops, location visits, and many wonderful conversations with new friends. I can easily see how the many return participants consider coming to China as an Amity volunteer like coming to visit family. There is a strong sense of camaraderie amongst them along with a joyful sense of welcoming and encouragement for us newbies. Kim and I both look forward to counting ourselves amongst such a talented and passionate group.

We also braved the horrendous humidity this afternoon to explore Xuanwu Lake Park, which is just next to or hotel. Xuanwu Lake is one of the three most reputed lakes in southern China and includes five islands. Many local people enjoy walking and exercising around the lake in the morning and evening. The picture is of the lake with the city center of Nanjing in the background.

~ Erik

So we made it!

Hi everyone,
With the help of our friend from the China Christian Council, "Nick", we were driven straight to our hotel with no problem. Nick was born and raised here in Shanghai and now works for the CCC in their public relations and works with their international guests like us, fielding emails and the all important job of meeting them at  the airport to make sure our first experience in China is a good one. We also met three more teachers when we first arrived at our hotel. We are looking forward to getting started tomorrow. As of now we are having fun watching Chinese TV and getting ready for bed.

Good Night
Kim Free

Well, Kim and I have officially started our trip to China. We are now in Vancouver, Canada waiting for our connecting flight to Shanghai. The day started early at 3am at our friends Jim and Carol Cure's home in Beaverton. They were kind enough to invite us to stay the night before our early flight from Portland, during their large family reunion! Thank you Jim for getting up super early and driving us to the airport!!!

The plane to Vancouver was tiny and prop-driven and the one to Shanghai should be a huge jet, so I get to spend the day traveling on the smallest and the largest airplanes I've ever been on. Kim and I are super excited to arrive in China around 2pm on Sunday. (2am Sunday morning for most of you) Hopefully we will get to relax some and see a bit of Shanghai before leaving for orientation in Nanjing on Monday. Not much else to say just yet as we are just traveling and waiting for planes. More to come soon!

~ Erik