Making Jiao Zi

The past couple of weeks have been very low key for us. Since returning from Tibet it has been business as usual. We spent a few days getting our classrooms ready for our students and meeting the new teachers from all over the U.S. The school year started out with us seeing over two hundred students at our school. Although school keeps us busy, we keep ourselves balanced with a healthy mix of study, exercise, and entertainment.

The school year has seen many changes already for Pazi. She was originally told that she might not continue teaching four year olds due to low enrollment for that age group, but when a spike in number hit another age group, the decision was made to keep Pazi as the go to person for the pre-school. To make matters even more interesting, her class started with ten and has now mushroomed to eighteen! The school is searching for a qualified teacher to relieve Pazi of half the load she currently has but it will take a bit of time to find someone.

As for Adan, he has been given some new duties heading into year two with QSI. He will continue to work in the Intensive English department, however, now for just a third of his time focusing attention on six year olds instead of seven and eight year olds. Another third of his time is devoted towards physical education classes. The majority of the classes are for primary aged students. The newly hired PE teacher from Chicago has helped ease the load taking on nearly half the current classes in the school. Consequently, all of this has allowed for the last third of Adan's time to be designated for planning time as athletic director. He's currently trying to find schools throughout southern Guangdong province and Hong Kong to play QSI International School of Dongguan.

Adan and Pazi feel the new teachers this school year bring added energy to QSI. Last year the teaching staff was around the average age of forty-five to fifty. Now, that number has dropped somewhere in between thirty-five and forty. The teachers have incredible backgrounds with many of them living and teaching in places like Indonesia, Kenya, Nicaragua, Pakistan, and Syria. The experiences these individuals will share as the school year progresses will be great for sure!

Learning to Make Jiao Zi

The only real major event that has taken place outside of school for us the past two weeks has been learning to make Chinese dumplings (jiao zi) from our good friend and fellow teacher Ms. Nancy. Nancy works in both the regular classroom as a teacher's assistant and also teaches for the Chinese department at school. Adan has gotten to know her very well considering that the two of them share a classroom/office space together.

Ms. Nancy is about eight months pregnant and has had her mother-in-law stay with her as she prepares to give birth. The two women wanted to have a fun afternoon activity last weekend so they invited us along with a few other teachers to come over and help make dumplings. The experience reminded us very much of making tamales with family. Everyone has a dish filled with combinations of vegetables and egg or meat and vegetables to put in the middle of the wheat flour dough pieces that we had to neatly pinch to make the perfect dumpling. Believe us, it took a while to get used to but in the end we managed pretty well. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and in the end got to sit down for a lunch with taste testing. Nancy's mother-in-law treated us all so very kindly and spent several hours prepping for the dumpling making and then cooking once the dumpling were ready for boiling. And when the time came to sink our teeth into the food everything was oh so yummy!

Back to the Adventures

After months of planning we finally were able to secure a trip to Tibet. Boy is this an extremely tedious process. Due to obvious circumstances, the access given to foreigners in Lhasa and surrounding areas is very limited. The requirements to make this vacation a reality included applying for visitor permits to Tibet, hiring a special travel agent to sponsor us, a tour guide--the only way you are allowed to see Tibet, a detailed itinerary of proposed whereabouts for the duration of our stay, and finally we were unable to have any Chinese nationals in our group.

Once we complied with the aforementioned conditions, we were set. Our trip was to begin on Monday August 17th, just five days after returning from the U.S. to China. Pazi was a little worried about the proclivity foreigners tend to have towards altitude sickness among other illnesses so priority number one for her was putting together a good sized medicine kit. Adan focused on final travel arrangements and getting the digital cameras reading for picture taking. As for what clothes to take on this trip, we were truly clueless. We ended up packing a little bit of everything, some warm weather clothes and some cold weather clothes.

Day One- August 17th

Our first day of the trip had us traveling from Guangzhou International Airport to Lhasa Gongkhar. The flight was approximately five hours with one short layover in Chongching. Arriving in Lhasa both Adan and Pazi expected to have trouble breathing and major fatigue. Much to our surprise, Lhasa's elevation of 3,700 meters was nothing we couldn't handle. The one thing that struck us as being wild was the fact that Lhasa's airport was so small. It appeared as if only four to five gates existed inside the facility. Next, we got inside a van and met our tour guide, Gyatso, who is a native Tibetan that spent nearly half of his young life going to school in Nepal. Our first impression was that he appeared to be a very friendly guy. Our first objective in Tibet was to acclimate to the altitude. This meant we did very little our first day. In fact, we ended up only walking the side streets near the hotel before retiring to bed for about ten to eleven hours of good rest and drinking plenty of water.

Day Two- August 18th

We hit the ground running for the second (but really our first) day of touring. Our major events for the day included visiting the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, and Barkhor Street. The local tourism agency scheduled us to visit the Potala Palace before eight in the morning and for roughly one hour. The time limit put a strain on what we were allowed to see inside of the palace. It also came as no surprise that we were not allowed to take a single picture inside the palace as well. When our time here concluded we got our first real taste of how regulated the landmarks are in Lhasa. Nevertheless, pictures outside and around Potala Place were allowed and the views were incredible.

From here we took a quick ride over to Jokhang Temple. This temple is an amazing testament to the faith of the Tibetan Buddhists. Pilgrims come in droves to deliver offers and prayers to their gods in hopes of receiving enlightenment and good karma. The masses of people blew us away. Then to see the "koras," clockwise marches done around the temple, proceed on for hours upon hours which was unreal. Chants and prayers became unique rituals of various body movements, the most popular being hand swipes with wooden blocks done in circles on the ground as the Buddhists bowed down.

As we said before, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the actual temple, but it would have been hard to see them anyways. The ancient temple with a history dating back to the seventh century is a place infectious with worship. The experience inside was unlike anything we have every witnessed. The chapels inside are tight, cramped quarters that house several Buddha statues. Pilgrims wait up to hours in line so that they may enter the temple in a clockwise fashion (of course) and give offerings of money, white scarves, and even yak butter.

Right outside of Jokhang Temple is Barkhor Square. This area is where traditionally pilgrims have circled the city on a clockwise route doing koras. Adan found these streets to be of particular interest for the people traveling these streets revealed so much through their indigenous facial features, unique attire, and even their language. He spent almost two hours just taking pictures of people passing him by as Pazi browsed the numerous shops of things from clothing to curios.

Day Three- August 19th

After having a superb second day, little did we know that our third day was to bring us unexpected difficulties. You see, we did research about Tibet but the truth is we did most of it over the city of Lhasa. On this particular day our itinerary had us traveling to Namtso Lake. This lake is no ordinary lake much to our surprise. Namtso Lake is dubbed, "the world’s highest lake." At over 5200 meters (over 17,000 feet!!!) we experienced headaches and pressure pain like never before. After taking some time to rest, we ventured out to see the lake. Pazi took in the awesome views and while Adan snapped away taking pictures. Overall, the trip to the lake left us a little disappointed, especially when you consider that it took us a total of about ten hours to come and go.

For dinner we went to the Dunya Restaurant. This downtown fixture is owned by Dutch-Americans that had a concept to help rural Tibetan women develop jobs skills and earn income at the same time. This sort of outreach program has grown into a booming success as the restaurant is very upscale but with reasonable pricing. The women are sweet and it is obvious that they are learning so many skills to help them in all aspects of life. Oh, and it is worth mentioning that several of the Tibetan employees begin working at Dunya with little to no English skills. In case you are wondering what we had for dinner--Pazi had a mixed salad with french fries, Adan had a Yak Burger (yes real Yak meat) with the fixings, and the two shared a very unique local version of apple pie.

Day Four August 20th

The fourth day of our Tibetan journey was the commencement of the annual Shoton (Yogurt)Festival. This festival which dates back to the 17th century was originally just a religious observance. However, since that time this holiday has become much more. Now, Tibetan Opera, horse racing, and family picnicking have become major additions to this celebration.

This day was jam packed for us and it all started with a trip to Drepung Monastery. This location dates back to 1416 and is one of just a handful of historical sites in Lhasa that has remained damage free since the Cultural Revolution. It is quite the trek to reach Drepung as the local government banned all cars from going up to this monastery neatly nestled between two small mountains during the opening ceremony for the festival. Thousands of other people were also making the climb to see the enormous "thangka," scroll, of Sakyamuni "the present Buddha," that measured 35x30 meters in size. Taking this thangka up the hillside is an opening ritual of the festival done for many years that last about three hours occurring between eight and eleven in the morning.

After seeing the massive crowds swarm to see the thangka and the chants of the opening ceremony, Pazi and Adan explored a few other areas open to the public of the Drepung Monastery. From here Gyatso took us to a discount Tibetan rug dealer. Here we got a great price on a very high quality Tibetan rug with a portion of our purchase going to low income rural Tibetan rug makers. The purchase was a little pricey but we felt that it was for a good cause and a priceless memento of our trip.

Later in the day we visited the Norbulingka. This park is also referred to as the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lama. This location was flooded with even more Tibetans celebrating the opening day of the Shoton Festival. The area where the actual palace is located has a wall dividing it from the rest of the park and because of an entrance fee fewer people were congregating here. Near the palace we took great photos of the Dalai Lama's summer quarters and inside we learned about the way the most recent Tibetan leader lived, studied, and worshipped. Once again, we were not allowed to take photos inside the palace.

Going back outside the walled area we were welcomed by hundreds of families and friends picnicking together in this 40 hectares park. As we passed through the walkways it seemed like a "Woodstock" of sorts. People eating, drinking, playing music, playing games, and just simply enjoying themselves. Here, Adan and Pazi spent another couple of hours just sitting watching the people and taking pictures. It was quite the experience.

The last event of this eventful day was an authentic Tibetan dinner show at the Himalayas Hotel. The buffet meal was outstanding with delicious regional vegetables, beef, yak, and other dishes arrived at our tables with amazing sauces, some almost gravy-like. We even had yogurt made from real yak milk and the funny thing was it tasted pretty good. The second half of the evening was a show filled with Tibetan song, dance, opera, and cultural display of regional Tibet attire. The whole experience was outstanding and definitely worth the $26.50 we spent on each ticket.

Day Five- August 21st

Our last day of the trip was really a travel day. Adan wanted to experience the famous Qinghai-Tibet Railway firsthand. If you know nothing about this railway line then remember that China has rewritten the record books for this project by creating the world's highest railway with almost 1,000 km higher than 4,000 meters above sea level and the highest point exceeds 5,000m. This enormous construction project took approximately five years and one month to complete.

The scenery on this trip was stunning in comparison to eastern China. However, comparing it to the western United States, it had its moments but was nothing overly spectacular. One interesting note was that indeed each passenger cart was equipped with pressurized oxygen cabins as advertised. We really lucked out and experienced our most comforting train trip to date in China as no one during our twenty-five hours of travel bought the other two beds in our cabin! After traveling from Lhasa to Xining, Qinghai, we spent a couple hours roaming the streets of a quaint smaller Chinese capital city before taking a three hour flight home to Guangzhou.

Miao May Holiday

Boy, after returning from May Day holiday it has been hard to get back on track. This is a big reason why we are delinquent in posting this blog entry. Nevertheless, we wanted to share our experiences during the International Labor Day 2009.

The holiday began for us late Wednesday night. We were given Thursday and Friday off from school, but we saw it as being advantageous to fly out as early as possible. We left by bus to the Guangzhou airport. It is a quick hour and twenty minute ride. From there we boarded a plane to Guiyang , the capital of Guizhou province, and planned on staying at a convenient hotel nearby. When we arrived it was amazing for us to see such a small airport. In all honesty there was maybe ten gates for flights in the terminal. This place made our Boise airport seem huge.

Our friend Bill came with us again on this trip and booked us a nice low budget hotel. It was so great that we ended up staying at the same hotel three of the four nights we were in Guizhou. The first night we settled in and got as much rest as we could for our first day was going to be a jam-packed tour of natural landmarks west of Guiyang city. We planned to see waterfalls, mountains, and animals.

Day one started at 7:30 am. We got up and noticed that we were in for a long, wet weekend. Around the corner from our hotel was a neat little food street with all kinds of vendors selling breads, dumplings, and noodles. We ended up grabbing a few things to chow on and quickly grabbed a taxi. We were unsure of what would be the best way to get to our main destination of Huangguoshu Falls. We decided to seek the services of a driver and this search took us on a long and frustrating carousel of uncompromising people. Finally, after staying patient we found a very fair man that was willing to charge us about what we wanted and give us a lot in return. After figuring that out we were on our way to the immensely popular Chinese national park.

Since the location was about two hours away we spent some time on the road. Let us tell you that we have never had quite an experience like this. The expressway in Guizhou is very old and outdated. Road work has not been done in years so ruts and potholes are everywhere. Plus, Chinese drivers are incredible. They never slow down, not for anything or any person! So we were bouncing up and down from start to finish on our way to the park.

When we reached our destination, we learned that the park was broken into three sections. It cost us a bit more than we had anticipated, however we came too far to turn around. The interesting part about our experience here was that in total just a few hundred people visited the park the day we were there. The staff told us that summer months brought in ten times more people so we picked a good time to avoid crowds. A good indicator of how low tourism was this weekend was our bus transportation for the excursion. The price ticket included a bus pass to get to all three park areas that are separated with gaps of 3-5kilometers in between. On two of our three rides, not a single person but us and the bus driver were on board! We loved riding in style.

The first park was small and a good introductory site for tourists. The entrance is filled with beautiful peacocks for tourists to take snapshots of. We did this for about fifteen minutes and then made our way to the first section of the Sanche River. This area had a nice small scene with the Doupotang Falls being the centerpiece. This waterfall was impressive in that it was 105 meters (340 feet) wide! As we mentioned, the foot traffic from tourists was low so we were able to take pictures at will of this very nice cascade.

The next section of the park, Tianxing, we enjoyed almost as much as the big waterfall. The design was unique of this area. A walking/hiking trail was set up for this location. First, we had to walk in water taking 365 steps on rocks strategically placed throughout the park. Each rock represented a day of the year. The views were incredible as we saw karst-like mountains covered in green blankets of trees. Pazi was very excited because she was also able to experience going into a cave for the first time here at this site. Lastly, a tumbling waterfall can be seen here made up of a network of streams between rocky islets. This part of the park had a great set up.

Lastly, we saw the granddaddy of them all. Huangguoshu Falls is an amazing 68 meter (223 ft.) tall waterfall with great opportunities for taking pictures. Due to its unique design, we were able to take pictures 360 degrees around the cascades. This is all made possible due to nicely designed walkways and Shuilian Dong , a 134 meter (440 foot) long tunnel that runs directly behind the falls. This cool feature provided us with a natural "window" for viewing the curtain cascades before us. We must also mention that the experience did leave us a little wet but it was well worth it.

From here we had spent roughly seven hours checking out this awesome park. We tried to visit another location on our way back, the town of Anshun, but it was a lost cause as our driver had no knowledge of this location and it was getting dark fast. Therefore, we made the decision to head back to Guiyang for a good dinner and rest. The next day was to be filled with even more adventure as before.

Day two started just as the first day with breakfast at the street vendor location before 8:00am. We ate our food quickly and were off to the bus station to find our way to the city of Kaili. This city is the main hub for getting to the natural wonders of eastern Guizhou province. The station was an outdated building dark and damp. We purchased our tickets but noticed that we had about an hour to kill before departure time so we decided to go out on the street side and see what photo ops were available to us.

The area we were in was a very old part of town, but rich with character. The best example of this was the neat street market that filled the narrow, almost alley-like roads. Here the people were selling an array of fruits, vegetables, meats, and snack foods. Their attire was different than other Chinese we had come across. The females all had a head dress of some type. Some ladies wore a simple wash cloth over their heads while others had a more decorative covering. Also, some workers wore large hats made of bamboo and other wood to protect them from the elements of sun and heavy rain. These things were very large (check out the photo).

Before we knew it the time had come to take our bus to Xijiang, our destination in the Miao Villages. The Miao people are an ethnic minority group of China and parts of southeast Asia. Sometimes they are referred to as the Hmong. These people are rich in culture. They prefer living in mountainous areas. Each village has its own unique attire such as the fantastic silver ornaments the young women wear to show their unmarried status to males. Additionally, they pride themselves on their festivals where they sing, dance, and perform numerous rituals.

Our stay in Xijiang, the largest Miao village at 1,200 homes, was very eventful. The scenery was very rustic. The homes are all handmade and entirely of wood giving it a "cabin" or "farm" type feel. The streets are narrow and lined with shops selling food, clothing, and lots of jewelery. We also ran into a great street market while we were there. The people in this village were extremely friendly and gave us so many chances to take pictures of them in their natural setting.

The highlight of our visit in Xijiang was our stay at an actual Miao family's home. You see, we noticed early upon arriving that this town has far more visitors than hotel rooms. In fact a dozen hotels were being constructed during our visit to accommodate tourists. Learning this, we started to look for a place to sleep relatively early in the day. Well, we found two locations, one was a half finished room with stiff beds, and the other was an extremely expensive room right by a bar. We really did not like either option but after spending over an hour searching for another room we had no choice. We went back to one and then the other and received the news that no rooms were available any longer. Tired and dejected, we tried one last place. Here the man quickly got on his phone. It turned out that he did not have a room but a family he knew did.

The man took us two buildings over to a very tired looking home. As we approached the entrance to the home, a nine year old boy came out to greet us. After a couple minutes it was obvious that this slick kid was trying to sell us on renting his family's spare bedrooms for the night. He was cute and we were tired so we agreed. Also, we learned that his father was the English teacher for the village and that appealed to us. The family also offered to make us a traditional Miao dinner for a very small fee. The father was telephoned to buy supplies and while we waited for supper, we went down to explore the city more.

After seeing a couple of the city's traditional Miao performances and shopping, we headed back to the home for dinner. Here we met Mr. Hou. He was a nice man, very proud of the fact that he taught English and knew about four foreign people. He was honored for us to stay with him and gave us a feast to eat. We had traditional smoked pork meat, peas, peanuts, stewed cabbage, and rice. The meal was actually pretty good. The kicker of it all was the jiu, or homemade rice wine, he forced us to drink repeatedly. We read up on this and it said that the Miao are very proud of their rice wine and traditions of celebrating by drinking it profusely. Adan got out of drinking too much by having a couple quick shots with Mr. Hou.

Another interesting story to share about the Hou family's house was the tradition of guests sleeping in the home. Because the Miao believe it is wrong form man and wife to sleep together as guests in another's home, Pazi was not allowed to sleep in the same bedroom as Adan. They believe this arrangement will ward off the evil spirits. Anyways, Pazi was terrified to sleep alone, but did and both Adan and Pazi slept lightly that evening.

The next day we spent the morning having breakfast and shopping in the town square. We took it a bit easier after two intense mornings. We also took more photos of some of the natural scenes that surrounded us. Then without much warning Bill told us that we needed to hurry and catch a bus to the nearby town of Langde to catch a glimpse of the traditional ox fighting. We thought it might be a neat cultural experience so we took off. Once we arrived at the arena, it was mud up to our knees. The rain was coming down steady most of the morning so the ground was soaked. Even though the weather us difficult, we still managed to get some great shots and enjoyed ourselves a lot.

From here we headed about to Kaili. We had lunch here and waited for the next bus to Guiyang. This whole process took up most of our afternoon. We checked back into our same hotel and went out for a great Korean barbecue dinner. From here we walked the streets of Guiyang to let our food go down. The next day we spent the morning and early afternoon visiting a fairly mundane Guiyang city. Just a few sites to really see and then we hopped on the plane to Guangzhou before making our way back to Dongguan. Wow, all that in a matter of a few days!

B.....Fore

This past weekend Adan finally played the golf course of all courses--Mission Hills. This amazing facility has been dubbed the "World's Number One" because of it's incredible 216 holes of golf. If you do the math, that's means there are a total of twelve courses setting the Guinness World Record. Eleven of the twelve courses are championship courses designed by golf legends like Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman.

It was Adan's goal to make it to this course before leaving China. He was determined to get into this golf club no matter what. Well, as it turns out it didn't take much. You see, one of his students, a Korean senior named Jae, has a family membership to this exclusive club. After visiting with him simply about prices and seeing about guest discounts, Adan was completely blown away when the next thing he knew was the boy and his father were inviting him and three other teachers to golf. Adan was merely looking for some coupons since guests of members get a price break, but in the end this very giving family demanded on taking a foursome out to Mission this past weekend.

Jae's father had a personal chauffeur pick the group up at the QSI school at 7:00am. The night before it rained until no end. The morning of our outing was no better. Fortunately, Jae's father was very optimistic and said it would take more than a little rain to keep him from golfing. With that, the group was off to Mission Hills. The tee time was 8:30am. As the group entered the gate, Adan was taken back by how pristine the facility was. It was top notch. Beautiful fountains, walkways, and buildings lined the entry way. The rest was a mass of gorgeous green grass. Everything was finely manicured to a tee.

That day Adan's group had a blast. The weather cleared up and the overcast provided a cool morning to play golf at one of the world's best golf courses. The scores were not the greatness but everyone did play respectable. As the group finished, Adan and the other teachers tried to pay but Jae's father would have none of it, and footed the over $200 US dollar green fee for each person! Talk about a generous guy. Wow! This eventful day was something Adan will not soon forget.

Bingo Family Night

Annually our school hosts a family night. The idea is for parents and children to share in a family friendly evening of fun and entertainment. This year the family night planning committee decided that it would be a good idea to tie in a fundraiser as well with the festivities. The entire staff determined that a bingo lottery would be both fun for families and easy to operate for staff. Later it was also suggested that a silent auction be included by the teachers. The objective was for each teacher to create a themed basket full of goodies with donated items. Pazi came up with a great idea to put together recipes and kitchen utensils for a kids' cooking basket that she titled "Kids Creation."

The night of the event it was decided that Adan would be one of the bingo callers. Since he doesn't actually have a "homeroom" class, he did not have to make a basket for the auction and because of this he became an emcee for the evening. In all over two hundred people showed up for bingo. The hotel that was rented for the event was at maximum capacity. The families were really into bingo and as the night went on each game became more and more intense. In between bingo games classes did mini performances. Although Pazi only had about half of her students show up, her group did a great job of singing and dancing for the crowd.

The highlight of the night had to have been when it was announced that Pazi's "Kids Creations" basket was auctioned for over 1,000 RMB ($150 dollars)! By far it was the highest auctioned basket of the evening.

Layin' Low

The past couple of weeks have been pretty standard for us. We have spent much of our weekdays focused on school. Pazi has devoted a lot of time towards our school's bingo night and silent auction event. Her job is to create a basket filled with goodies for the auction. She has decided to go with a theme of "Kid's Creation." She has already gotten lots of recipes for snacks and things like play dough. Next, she will begin getting all the items she will need for the basket.

Adan has started coaching the boy's middle school basketball team. They are very inexperienced so it will be a learning opportunity for both the boys and Adan. Right now they are only practicing once a week, but that will change soon. The season will probably only consist of a couple of games this year and ramp up next season. The other project Adan has been asked to work on is tutoring a secondary student in preparation for the AP Spanish exam. The boy is Taiwanese but lived ten years in the Dominican Republic. He speaks pretty good Spanish but has trouble writing. The two meet once a week after school to discuss the components of the test and practice conversational Spanish.

Last week we did some shopping in Shenzhen. We went down there with the Grants. The shopping was not bad for this market. We really don't like the fact that the sellers are not negotiable on anything. However, this day we found the right people. Pazi bought some really nice Crocs sandals and for a great price (less than $3 dollars!). She also founds some heels she was wanting to get for spring/summer. Adan got a hybrid golf club he was wanting for his set he got a while back. The seller knew him well so he gave a great price--90 yuan (about $13). He also bought some sunglasses for biking. He has really enjoyed getting out and exercising, especially on the weekend. He is threatening to buy Pazi a bicycle so she can join him. She was a little concerned with the drivers in China, but she appears to be coming around to the idea.

The only other piece of real excitement was our evening at the theater. Dongguan has a very stylish venue, Yulan Theater, for civic events. We looked at this season's shows and really only found one that appealed to us. It was the Beijing Acrobatic Show. This performance was a two and a half hour spectacle of amazing stunts. The opening act was a ballet dance who used point on the arms of a man below that spotted her. It was a very impressive display of talent. Later we saw several balancing acts, an amazing juggler, bicycle stunt women, and gymnasts with incredible leaping ability. Overall, it was a superb show that could easily go on the international circuit.

Dancing and Disney

How time flies! Two weeks have already passed since our last blog entry. Last week was busy for us. We had our second session of parent-teacher conferences on Thursday and Friday. Everyone was telling us how the second set of meetings would be much easier than the first. How true this statement was. It seems that at the beginning of the year the parents are very concerned with meeting the teacher that will be working with their child for the upcoming year. If things go well at this meeting it really sets the stage for a good relationship with the parent. Later, if things are going smoothly for the teacher and student in the classroom then parents either decide to come for a quick check in or not come again at all. Adan did have one parent he needed to meet with about a troubling student but the meeting was very productive.

Dongguan-Shekou School Dance
Parent teacher conferences officially ended Friday at noon. However, Adan and Pazi kept working as the secondary students had a school dance and sports games in Shekou that same night and the following morning. Adan and Pazi accompanied one of the school's directors, another teacher, and sixteen students. We took two school buses down to partner with our "sister" school and have a social.

When we arrived in Shekou we had a little bit of free time so we took the kids to a local mall so that they could hang out for about an hour and a half. We decide to get a small snack to hold us off until dinner. Pazi saw a mouth-watering mango crepe-layered cake. This thing was very appetizing. It was cream filled and with several crepes stacked inches high. Best of all the cake only cost around three dollars at fancy eatery in a upscale shopping complex.

Next, we met back up and went to the school for meet and greets. Shekou has the largest student population in the world network of QSI schools. It now has over 800 students, 150 of which are secondary students! For this reason, they recently opened the first of three wings to their new secondary school. This is where we were to have all the evening's activities. When we arrived at the school it seemed unreal for China. The facility looked very similar in style (and size) to the Caldwell Y Adan used to work at. This school was done right. Great location on visible street corner with moderate traffic flow. It was very spacious and with bright colors and quality bricks and mortar.

We were greeted at the school by the director. He took us on a quick tour of the state of the art library, weight training room, and main floor offices. It was impressive to say the least. Then we gave the boys and girls half an hour to get dressed for the events. Since the leadership students of Shekou were in charge of everything with almost little teacher assistance, the organization was a little off. Our students wanted and were under the impression that this was to be a formal (or at least semi-formal) event. However, the Shekou students seemed to leave it up to the discretion of the individual. This became very apparent when all of our kids looked sharp in button up shirts with slacks and girls in dress or skirts. The Shekou students arrived some in shorts, others in jeans, and a decent amount of ladies in dresses.

To get to know each other, the Shekou students divided the students up into small groups for ice breaker activities. Pazi and Adan sat in on different groups but the consensus was that the students did a decent job of making sure everyone was participating and having fun. These games went on for about an hour. Then the students had a pizza party. This was a huge let down for our kids because we were hoping for a sit down meal to go with formal attire. Unfortunately, the Shekou group decided to keep things simple and informal. The kids at and mingled for the next thirty to forty-five minutes until they all went to the schools rooftop for the dance.

Shekou school has three rooftop areas that have both seating and meeting space. The set up of these location was quite nice and made events such as the dance a piece of cake when it comes to space. It appeared that things were off to a great start until about fifteen minutes into the dance the deejay blew a speaker. It was thirty minutes until a student ran in with his guitar amp as a replacement. No matter, the kids used it and the dance was back on. Pazi and Adan made several observations when it was obvious the Dongguan students seemed intimidated by the Shekou kids. Shekou students played all hip-hip and rap music. The dance had a real "western" feel to it. Seeing how truly "international" their school is made it clear to us how sheltered our kids our. Almost all of the Dongguan students had no concept of dancing to this kind of music and probably half of them did not know the majority of the music played. No matter, our kids eventually found a groove and made the most of their evening.

The next day we ended up playing volleyball, basketball, and some soccer. Pazi was awesome. Adan was so happy to see her get out and play. She did very well too. She has a great shot! All the kids enjoyed seeing all the teachers and directors engaged in all the activities with the students. It made for a great morning of fun. Since we had only scheduled for two and a half hours of sports it seemed like no time before the event came to a close. All the kids said how much fun they had and said their goodbyes to new friends they made. What an experience.

Hong Kong Weekend
Since Shekou is so close to Hong Kong, and our school obligations ended Saturday at noon, we decided to hang out at Lantau Island for a day and a half. This island is one of the larger islands that make up Hong Kong, yet it has a lot less people than Central or Kowloon. We wanted to get a different view of HK than the typical massive skyscrapers and crowds so we chose to hang out here. It didn't hurt that Pazi really wanted to go back to Hong Kong Disneyland and it just so happens to be located on this same island.

We crossed the border in Shenzhen and caught a bus to Central. It was a smooth commute and it only cost us about $30 US dollars. Once we got into Hong Kong we decided to have lunch at this really nice shopping mall called "Elements." The food was okay, nothing really to brag about. From here we jumped on the subway and took it all the way out to Disneyland. The metro system in Hong Kong is incredible. It has to be one of the best designed systems in the world. The routes are fast and convenient, the terminals are super clean and easy to navigate, the whole process is a breeze.

Once we reached Disneyland, the next five hours was Disney magic. Pazi and Adan arrived just in time to see the Main Street parade with all the stars of the Disney hit movies. Later, we spent about two to three hours going on rides and experiencing the theme shows. There was even some time to do shopping. Pazi found some great bargains and made sure to buy some goodies. Marissa will sure enjoy the clothes we bought her when we arrive later this summer.

The night ended with a decent firework show presented by the theme park. Adan and Pazi found a nice open area away from the crowds and enjoyed the show with background music from the movies Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. It was a perfect way to close out another great experience at Hong Kong Disneyland for us.

Trip to Big Buddha
The next morning we woke up early and got ready for another jam-packed day. After breakfast we left the hotel around 8 a.m. so that we could get a head start on other tourists. Our destination was the Ngong Ping 360. This cable car system is designed to transport tourists on a twenty-five minute, 5.7 kilometer long journey up Nei Lak Shan Mountain. Once at the top, visitors have access to the Po Lin Monastery and the highlight of the attraction--Tian Tan Buddha.

The experience overall was a good one. The village was very well designed with shops, restaurants, and cultural centers. The monastery was interesting even though parts of it were under renovation. The downer for us was climbing 268 steps to the Buddha temple then learning that fog rolled in and made it impossible to see the Big Buddha's face. This was especially disappointing after we learned that this 34 meter (110 foot) tall statue is the world's largest outdoor bronze seated Buddha. Oh well, guess that means we will just have to make another trip over.

After walking the village park, we decided to take the cable car back down the mountain. Once we reached Tung Chung Station we did some shopping and had a bite to eat. Then we decided to head back home and get ready for the upcoming school week. This was only our third time to Hong Kong but after having so a great time we have decided to visit more often. Stay tuned for more weekend getaways.

Antique Road Show

This past weekend Pazi and Adan were invited to go antique shopping with friends. The two other couples from school had done some research about a small town about an hour and a half south of Dongguan called Zhongshan. This area is well known for antique Chinese furniture making and restoration. We decided to give it a try and see what Zhongshan had to offer.

Our day started early for a Saturday morning. We hired a driver and he picked us up at our apartment complex at 8:30am. Unfortunately for the Grants, Terese became very ill the day before and decided not to make the trip. That meant our group went from six to five. We bought some snacks at the nearby convenience store and we were off.

The drive from Dongguan to Zhongshan was quite relaxing. The scenery on the way was fabulous. Getting out of the city really allowed us to take in the views of the rural sites of south China. We saw several marshy wetlands with all kinds of crops from rice to bananas! We also took in views of the famous Pearl River Delta. Best of all, the traffic on this particular Saturday morning was especially good.

After about an hour and a half we arrived in Zhongshan. The town is known for its tens and tens of furniture factories, but three showroom markets are set up for the average buyer. We first stopped at Ming Qing Furniture Market. This complex consists of over 400 hundred shops! The market literally covers a full city block. This market by far had the best selection of actual antique furniture. The majority of dealers had an abundance of door panels either completely intact, or if damaged then sold in pieces. These items were priced according to how detailed the wood carvings were and their condition. Most of the real antiques probably dated back 150 years at most.

The second market, Hua Cai Market, almost butted up to the first marketplace we visited so it was extremely close. Here we found just a few items of interest. This market appeared to be new and was just being developed into a full-fledged market. Sue and Prentis purchased a beautiful Chinese plate for their home in Colorado here. Pazi saw some decorative Chinese balls that were 6 yuan each (less than a dollar!). This "find" grabbed the attention of both Sue and Warren, and after seeing Pazi's purchase they decided to buy some too. This market was really lacking so after no more than an hour we left.

The last market was called Huge Dragon Curio City. This complex was by far the most developed. The entrance and buildings leased by the shop owners seemed to be new and of a higher quality than the previous two locations. There were even numerous gazebos spread throughout the market for resting. Unfortunately, what this market lacked most was not aesthetics. It lacked realistic dealers. The "antiques" we looked at were in the 7,000 RMB price range! That is roughly $1,000 dollars. We knew this market was not for us when at one shop Sue accidentally stepped on a carved antique panel and split it in half. The owner demanded she pay for it but Sue felt it was the owner's fault for putting it on the ground. She walked out with an angry shop owner fuming. We decided to take off at this point before the authorities could be called in.

With time to spare before going back home, we decided to go back to the Ming Qing and browse a bit more. This turned out to be a good idea for Pazi and Adan. The second time around the market gave them the opportunity to uncover a gem. Pazi really liked one shop and bought a few pieces, but more importantly made sure to get contact information. The larger furniture they had was very affordable and of high quality. Adan and Pazi are contemplating buying furniture to ship back home to the states.

Guangzhou Zoo
Pazi and a couple other teachers from QSI decided to take their classes to the zoo. It was a fun and exhausting field trip to China’s third largest zoo. Pazi’s 4 year old class took an hour long bus ride to the zoo. After arriving, they hopped on a train and took a tour of part of the zoo. They got a chance to ride along side spitting camels, gigantic giraffes, happy and playful elephants to lazy kangaroos, lions and white tigers. With only 4 hours to tour the spacious zoo, Pazi’s kids had serious trekking to do. After 2hours of excitement, the group decided to find some shade and eat lunch. Later the kids headed to feed the giraffes. That was definitely the highlight of the trip. Unfortunately because of time restrictions, we didn’t get to see the entire zoo and the over 200 animal species it holds. Guess that means Pazi and Adan will have to make a special trip to Guangzhou together to see the rest of the animals.

Fun in Foshan

Last weekend we had another fabulous trip in China. This time we had the opportunity to experience Chinese pottery from all aspects in the small town of Foshan. We viewed pottery exhibits, toured ancient kilns, watched professionals make amazing pottery items, use the pottery wheels ourselves, and then buy incredible pieces of one of a kind pottery.

The whole trip was the idea of one of our fellow teachers at QSI. She had taken her 11 year old students on a field trip to learn about ancient Chinese pottery and had a ball taking them there. Upon returning, she pitched the idea that our school should consider taking a "teacher excursion" to Foshan. It was put to a vote and unanimously it was decided that we take a day long trip to experience the ceramics.

Foshan is a town almost exactly two hours away from Dongguan. Our group met on a Sunday morning at 8:30am outside the school. We departed shortly after on a chartered bus with about twenty five people in all. When we arrived in Foshan we took a brief tour of the "ceramic district." Here we viewed several art exhibits with pottery, watched a demonstration about pottery's early beginnings in China, and viewed a gigantic kiln hundreds and hundreds of years old. Everything was very interesting.

Soon after we attempted to start working on the pottery wheels but they were completely full with another tour group. Since it was around 11:45 our group decided to have lunch. The site had an "on-campus" cafeteria. At first everyone in our group was a little apprehensive to eat there, but much to our surprise the food was quite good. This was especially true considering that the cost was 6 yuan (less than a buck)!

Once we finished lunch the pottery wheel area had lost some traffic so we were able to get on. Adan started working the wheel first while Pazi observed him and several others in the group. It did not take long for Adan to get the hang of things. He learned that it takes firm and steady hands to make the clay do what you want. Later, Pazi jumped on and was just as successful. She did a great job of making many shapes and sizes. In one sequence she went from making a vase to a plate. We had fun but decided not to purchase our work. It was too spendy and would take several weeks to get to us for the business only fires up the kiln once very two to three weeks after it's completely full.

After we finished working on the wheel and cleaning up, off to shop we went! Since Pazi and Adan didn't spend money on their mediocre work, they had extra money to buy amazing artwork. It took us some time but in the end we found what we wanted. It was a very funny story of how things ultimately unfolded with our purchases. It all began when Adan came across a jade vase that caught his eye. We began to bargain with who appeared to be the shop owner. A tall, large Chinese man with a shaved head in his mid-twenties. Unfortunately, Adan and Pazi felt he was charging too much and when it became apparent he was not willing to negotiate the dealing went dead.

Pazi and Adan continued to browse other stores but nothing seemed to grab their attention. Then finally, about two blocks down from the shop with the jade vase, we saw some beautiful vases with vibrant pearl and pastel colors. The uniqueness of them really drew us in. We had not seen anything like them around. A little old Chinese woman helped us find just the right one, and then another that we liked so much. She was a great seller and negotiated fair yet firm. Towards the end of the purchasing Adan happened to notice a couple of jade vases like the one he had seen before. He asked the shopkeeper the price with his back to her. Suddenly the woman began speaking in Chinese with another man who seemed to appear out of nowhere. When Adan turned around who did he see? It was the same guy from the first shop! Only this time he negotiated a lower price than before. Why you might ask? Well it turns out that the shopkeeper was his mother and she put him on the spot to make the sell and swallow his pride. It was all too funny to see the situation end the way it did.

Home Game for Dongguan Basketball

The other big highlight of the week was our school hosting its first-ever boys and girls basketball games. We played the same school as our first game, QSI Shekou, mainly because there are very few schools for us to schedule games with in our area. Nevertheless, it was a very eventful evening that we can look back on for a long time.

Adan refereed the girls game, while Pazi helped at the score's table. The game ended up being a thriller. The scored was 25-25 at the end of regulation! Unfortunately in overtime Shekou scored on a lone free throw and their experienced defense shut down our girls. Overall, it was a well fought battle to the end.

As for the boys, Adan's squad started out very strong. In fact, they lead for about the first four minutes of the game, but ultimately Shekou's depth and experience prevailed. Two boys on our squad scored in double figures. The final score was 47-37. This was a much better showing for the boys then the previous 45-29 outing a month prior. When you consider that we are lucky to get to practice one time a week and play a game once every month, the improvement being made is remarkable.

Year of the Ox

Wow, it has been a while since our last post. We have been on the road or in the classroom for the majority of this time, and then it doesn't help that our computer has been giving us fits lately. But enough about that, we want to share with you our latest travels that took us to Vietnam and Cambodia.

A while back we sat down and had a conversation about what we wanted to do with our time off for the Chinese New Year vacation. It was to last an entire week and we felt that because of the mass travelers moving throughout China during this time, it was best to vacation internationally. That left us thinking where should we go? For the answer we decided to seek out the assistance of our good friend Warren from Iowa. This man has traveled to over fifty different countries so we thought it would be worthwhile to see where he wanted to visit for the break.

Warren shared with us that Angkor Wat was a destination that he had always yearned to see. Unfortunately, both Pazi and Adan had no clue about this location (lack of world history knowledge). After researching the area, we thought it looked like a great place that was fairly close and safe to visit. Thus, Warren and his wife Terese and Pazi and Adan agreed to make this a group vacation. Quickly, we went to work booking the trip.

Getting the reservations for this vacation turned out to be a bit of a headache. We soon learned that Siem Reap, Cambodia, where Angkor Wat is, is not the cheapest destination from China. For this reason, we decided to take a detour through Vietnam and then head over to Cambodia. We ended up buying plan tickets from Hong Kong to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh), and then Saigon to Siem Reap. This actually saved us a little bit of money and allowed us to add another leg to our trip in southeast Asia.

Making Our Way to Saigon
It was actually a very smooth trip going from Dongguan to Hong Kong and then Hong Kong to Vietnam. We decided to fly in for a late check in to the hotel so we could get a good jump on things for the next day. We quickly learned that Saigon is probably a crazier place to be than China when it comes to traffic. The streets look like an endless sea of motorbikes zig-zagging their way, weaving in and out and around buses, cars, and trucks. It is insane to see just how many families have up to four people on these small scooters.

After a short taxi ride, we arrived at the Duc Vuong Hotel to crash and prepare for the next day. This hotel ended up being a great little place to spend our time in Saigon. It was priced right at just over $20 bucks a night and had a location that allowed us to see the few sites this area had to offer. It was strange to learn, but Ho Chi Minh City really lacked the major tourist attractions of other large cities its size.

Even though the attractions were limited, we found plenty to do. Our first day started out fantastic. We learned that every year the local park near our hotel held a flower and plant sell that covered every square inch of the grounds. We just so happened to arrive in Saigon in time to see the last day of the event. We were very lucky! This tradition for the New Year celebration had an amazing display of several thousand flowers and plants ranging from brilliant orchids to small dragon fruit trees. And the people were not lying about it being the last day of the event, for when we got up the following day and passed by the park, not a single flower petal was left littered. Literally over night, the sellers and park staff worked overtime to clean it all up.

The next major event that happened was a bum deal for our friends Warren and Terese. As it turns out, Saigon has the famous Ben Thahn Market for shopping. We decided to head that way and see what it was all about. The location lived up to the hype in regard to having endless stalls selling knockoffs of everything, but the sellers had no where near the same level of respect as those in China. The ladies selling clothing for example were quite rude to all of us when we asked to see different colors or sizes. It was as if they despised us because we made them work to sell! Pazi and and Adan got very turned off by this and decided to merely browse. Warren and Terese attempted to buy but ultimately walked away with very little.

Then as we exited the market something strange happened. Two motorbikes zoomed by Warren, the first one almost taking him out from one side and then the other on his other side. It was a very strange sequence for as soon as they brushed up to him they flipped around and took off. None of us thought much about it, but an hour later when we all went to change some money, Warren reached for his wallet and found nothing. He believes that the two bikers snagged his billfold, and they very well could have. This meant that Terese and him had to go back to the hotel and make all the appropriate phone calls to get everything straightened out. On the positive side, he still possessed his passport due to our hotel's policy requiring us to leave our passports at their front desk. This helped us all avoid a real sticky situation.

At this point we broke off into two groups. Pazi and Adan had a pleasant lunch outside in a neat little restaurant that had customers cook their own skewers and served pineapple fried rice in lotus leaves. We enjoyed the time relaxing in the shade watching the streets of Saigon and its people. After the meal, our location was in a great spot to visit the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, Municipal Theatre, and the Notre Dame Cathedral. Later we would go with Warren and Terese to visit the Reunification Palace and the City Post Office after they finished taking care of their business matters. As we said earlier, these points of interest were interesting but not all that exciting.

Day two of our trip gave us an unexpected treat. Because Warren and Terese booked their plan tickets just a few hours earlier than we did, they got the last tickets on the early flight to Cambodia. That meant that Pazi and Adan would end up spending an extra four hours in Saigon. Adan enjoyed this because he wanted to explore the city more. Warren and Terese's flight left at 10:00am which meant that they would get up, have breakfast, and then go directly to the airport. We didn't fly out until after 2:00pm.

We decided to spend our morning alone in Cholon, Saigon's Chinatown. Since it was the beginning of the Chinese New Year, we noticed lots of decorations and displays everywhere to celebrate the occasion on our taxi ride over to this district. Once we arrived we were very blessed to have our entire morning perfectly fall into place for us. After walking around on foot for about half an hour, we were approached by a cyclo driver. If you don't know already, a cyclo is a cycle rickshaw where the passenger sits in front and the cyclist rides elevated in the back.

For two solid hours our drivers would tour us around the Chinatown visiting temple after temple. To top it off, each location we went to had colorful dragon dancers performing to commemorate the new year It was like going to a free live performing arts show time and time again! The cylco service definitely ended up being worth the cost of around $10-11 dollars. Our drivers were incredible guys that made our experience very memorable. If you ever get a chance to ride in a cylco take advantage of the opportunity. You won't regret it.

Cambodia Here We Come
After our short stay in Saigon, we were off to Siem Reap. It is only a one hour flight to the airport there. When we arrived we really liked the design and feel of the airport. It was a traditional Cambodian-style building and it was very small and friendly. Getting in and out of immigration and customs was a breeze to compared with other airports we have been to. We grabbed our bags, found a taxi, and headed off to find our hotel and Warren and Terese.

Since they had arrived several hours before us, it was their task to find a reasonable way to visit the abundant temple complexes in and around Siem Reap. Most people and tour books recommend a tuk-tuk which is basically a motorbike rickshaw. This is what they arranged. The streets were definitely less crowded than in Saigon so this mode of transportation made sense, especially since we were able to pull over and take snapshots whenever a scene developed for photographs.

The next three days in Cambodia were truly unbelievable. The complexes of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and several other ruins of the fascinating Khmer Empire amazed us with their spectacular structures, detailed carvings, and sheer numbers. We visited nearly a dozen temple sites that each had their own unique designs and histories. Since we knew very little about the Khmer civilization, this was a great "on location" history class for us!

One note of interest about Siem Reap and all of the temples sites is that for a three day pass you will pay $40 dollars to get unlimited access to the locations. And when we write "unlimited" that is almost exactly what is given. It blew our minds that temples dating back to the 12th century had no or very little security. Everyone was given access to climbing in, up and around almost every structure. This seems like an exciting feature, but it scared us to see people climb on craved stone elephants and jump up and down on top of them! Give Siem Reap a few more years and see how these few poorly mannered individuals will deny the rest of us the wonderful privilege of getting up close and personal to these amazing sites.

Days at the Temples and Nights on the Town
So obviously our days were spent seeing the fantastic historical sites of Angkor, but our nights were much different. Siem Reap does it right by having superb restaurants and all night markets. This allows even the most experienced Indiana Jones traveler the opportunity to enjoy every aspect of the town. Let us tell you that the food in Siem Reap was mind boggling. You almost do not believe the menus when you see the prices. We are talking about plates that cost between $1.50 and $3.00!!! We were a little skeptical of the food for obvious reasons, but it turned out to be as good or better than dishes we get in China. Pazi had a ball ordering mango, or papaya, or coconut (probably her all-time favorite) shakes for $1.00.

Then after eating a tremendous meal and having a few drinks, we were off to shop at the night markets. We must say that shopping in Cambodia is also a great experience. Pazi bought several beautiful items dirt cheap. Shirts, skirts, shoes, purses these dealers had it all, and were friendly and willing to negotiate. As for Adan, the only thing he wanted was a stone elephant and he eventually found a dealer that was willing to meet his asking price of $12 dollars.

Blessed with More Adventures
We definitely feel blessed to be given the opportunities we have to travel. The experiences we had on this last trip far surpassed what our original expectations were going in. Saigon was a great short excursion location. We definitely think Vietnam would be a cool place to travel the coast from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh. Then we were blown away by the oasis that Siem Reap truly was. The chance to see such an area so rich in history was something else. What a holiday--Chinese New Year 2009.