Visitors From Home!

A lot has transpired the last week. We have visitors from Cali for a week, and it has been such fun! I has been such an encouragement to have visitors from home. We have shared some of our favorite sites and explored some new ones. Hence the elephant show at the Minority Village and tea tasting.
Other news, Wyatt joined the local Chinese basketball team yesterday. He is very excited! And in exchange I start teaching English at the secondary school to 37 students today! Oh boy! Looking forward to connecting with families in our neighborhood.
Lexi has finally started dancing again. She is taking ballet in Chinese by a Russion teacher. Too fun! She is also using a studio from a Norwegian/Chinese outreach thru the arts. Really great connection. All in about 2 days, things that we were trying to work out for months fell into place.
We are thrilled to get to participate in more of life in China!

Walmart - shopping for all your Spicy Duck needs

Hungry? Walmart has Spicy Duck Tongue, Spicy Duck Gizzard, Spicy Duck Tablets (your guess is as good as mine, maybe it's for sour chicken pains), Spicy Duck Leg and extra portions of Spicy Duck Neck.

For those who say "Bu yao la!" (I don't want it spicy), we have Grilled Duck Leg. But as you can see, very few in Yunnan say "Bu yao la." So it's probably for foreigners. Wyatt said he didn't want any.

That's all for today.

No earthquake here

Many have asked, "Are you okay, did you feel it?"

We're too far away and are fine. California got it worse than us with the tsunamis!

This is Katheryn, one of the students in my new class, Tourism English. They are second year students and are on a similar level to my Secretary Affairs Class, the kids who were at the party. Katheryn wasn't there the first day so didn't have her "official" picture with name, student id, etc. (I've posted examples before). I just took it at her desk. She did NOT want this picture taken. She hid behind her hands, her folder, her classmate. Believe it or not this was a very quick capture as she moved. I didn't think I'd get a picture...Her English is very good. I'm looking forward to getting to know better this group of 20 students this semester.

The weekend

We had a great time away this weekend. You never know quite what to expect when you travel here, but what a fun time! We traveled with our friend and his cousin, and then we met two more friends at the lake. One of the girls family owned a hotel at the lake and they showed us great hospitality. The best part was getting to ride ATV's! What a blast, and certainly not what we were expecting.

And I didn't encounter a single bug! Although Wyatt did pass out on the bus again on the way to the bus/train station. I think with the motion and ALL the people and overheating...... and you have to exert so much energy to hold on, and often have to stand for an hour. But, other than that the trip went off without a hitch. When we arrived they were having a large dragon festival. The festival was in honor of the sea god. Pretty interesting to watch.

We hiked up to the top of the hill, and the view was breathtaking over one of China's two deepest lakes. It was great to spend time with these young 20 year olds, we had some very interesting conversations. A treat for sure.

Today we all went to the college to help Laoshi Gilman in the classroom. It's the first time we have seen the students since the break. It was great to connect with them again. They were much more open and comfortable talking today than in the past. One student Lemon, brought me the lyrics of one of her favorite songs "You Lift me Up". I was quite surprised. We discussed who the "you" is in the song. She said the you is friends, teacher and the government. I shared with her about the song writer's perspective and it was great fun.

So glad to be back in the swing of things.

Fuxian Lake

Chenjian County and Fuxian Lake

We are headed out of town this morning with our Muslim friend and will stay over night on Fuxian Lake. We are looking forward to it. We will be staying at a hostel....... oh dear..... preparing myself for bigger bugs than I encountered last time I traveled. I don't really know what "hostel" means in China.
Our friend is very kind and we feel blessed to get to travel with him. We will take lots of pictures. Keep us in your thoughts...... I'm recovering from something I ate :) I fainted two nights ago! What's up with the fainting in China. It's as if our family has become like the fainting goats. Wyatt passed out on the bus about a month ago too! 3 out 5 now. I think it's the elevation....

Picture is of a Panda in HK

Cliff Dwellers

This weekend all the kids went to the yearly youth retreat. This was Wyatt's team in a pyramid. I was in charge of this game for 2 1/2 hours under a palm tree on a sandy beach. Who knew??? Quite nice. I sat and relaxed until another team came racing up for instructions for the scavenger hunt and then made them form pyramids for one afternoon. They stayed at this resort for the weekend, and it was awesome to hear what happened during their weekend away. The title of the retreat was called "Transformed".
Meanwhile Jeff and I ventured across a lake and up a mountainside in Kunming. It was beautiful and I had no idea this was here. You may notice in the picture that it drops off quite drastically. We hiked up a path, and along the way on the "drop off" side many vendors were set up. It was quite unnerving. At one point I really though I was going to have a heart attack when we saw a mother nursing her baby on a two foot ledge that dropped off into sure death. My stomach was flipping and I held tight to Jeff hoping that I was vicariously securing the mother and child in safety.
It made me think of "cliff dwellers" I read about growing up in AZ and mountain goats. IT MADE ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE! How could they all survive. The Chinese never cease to amaze me. They make life happen anywhere in any condition. Not to mention the slippery trail I was slipping on in my "tennis shoes" the women were commanding for a good mile or two in their high heels! Amazing. They must have hind's feet for sure.