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.
