White Horse Spring

This is the ancient spring inside a Buddhist temple that we visited on Sunday afternoon.

my country and yours

During a time called "my country and yours" we like to share different things about about our culture. I got to share about the American culture around camping and summer camp. They were quicker than us at the game, but I think they may have had the advantage of home turf.

~Kim

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

End of Second Week of Teaching!

This has been a busy week for us in China. I have been teaching my class a lot of games that they can use to help their own students learn English and have more fun. One of the major concerns of the teachers who have come to learn from us is how they can inspire their students' interest in learning English. I have discovered that a lot of the games I use at summer camp and youth events are easily adaptable to help with learning English vocabulary and oral skills. Yesterday I led half the participants in a Pictionary competition and believe me, there was some serious competition! My hope is that these teachers can take these new games back to their schools, along with the stories we have shared about life in America, and make their English language classes more fun and engaging for their students. We are surely starting to have some fun in our classes here. I have been able to reach a level of comfort and friendship with my class in a relatively short time, mostly thanks to their abundant hospitality and eagerness to learn from us. Tomorrow we get to go visit the famous Tea Mountain of Ya'an where legend says the very first tea came from. Expect to see pictures of that trip posted soon!

p.s. The picture is of some of us hanging out at a tea house along the river learning Chinese card games from our new friends.

waterfalls

One of the larger waterfalls in the Gorge had a long, steep staircase. I was very surprised to see some young women climbing them in high heels! It was very wet and very slippery.

Play Day

This is Daniel, one of our fellow teachers, crossing over the Dragon Bridge as we near the end of the hike at the bottom of the Gorge.

Play Day

This is a picture of our group together near the entrance to the panda reserve.