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.