The end of this week was a very busy time. The week of teaching saw more successes than the previous week. Students are getting over being so shy and we are building some relationships where we can learn from them and they can practice their English.

On Friday, we went hiking up one of the hills/mountains behind school, which was really fun. We were able to see for a long distance--see all of the farmland and hills in the distance. When we came down, we walked around campus to see some of the freshman registering and we had a chance to talk to many of our top students. I have set up some people to get together and play football (soccer), badminton and ping pong and some students who want to teach us how to cook. We ended up getting invited to an official dinner that night which was really fun. We have been eating a lot of food (which I love).

Saturday morning, we got up early to go to Guiyang (the biggest city in the area). It was a two hour bus ride, which cost about $4 per person on a nice bus. It was fun to see all of the mountains along the way and small towns. The city is very busy and we were able to eat pizza (the first thing we did) at Pizza Fun. They had some strange pizzas like a Japanese sushi pizza, tuna pizza, spicy chicken pizza, supreme, pepperoni, and my favorite peppered beef with strange squid pieces. It also had lots of other american favorites, so we loved it. We also made a visit to one of the two Wal-Marts in town--the one with Mao blessing it. It was crazy busy with tons of people running around aimlessly with carts full of things that you cannot get anywhere else. We got some American food and other things (ping-pong paddles).

In town, we were able to meet some of our other teachers from the same organization. It was fun to talk and hear how school is going for them. We enjoyed it greatly!! Their campuses are very nice, but it made us appreciate the quiet and organization of Anshun and the college. Our college provides textbooks and lots of help, which is not provided at many of the other colleges. I cannot imagine teaching without having a textbook. We tried to get some cheese, but we could only find a big 11 pound chunk of cheese for $40--that was quite a bit so we ended up not getting any.

On Sunday, we were able to fellowship with a large amount of other foreigners teaching and working in the area. It was great to be able to hear how they were doing and how the Father is working in their lives. There were many children and they came from a variety of places such as England, Netherlands, and various places in the US. It is always nice to get together with people who share some of the same values and to share stories and hear about sports from around the world. I now can find soccer matches on TV from England, but still no NFL. I did watch a charity game between Chinese All-Star players and some NBA stars. That was fun!! We are adjusting and learning more, and it is becoming more like home. We are still trying to figure out plans for our week off for National Day Sept. 1-7. Maybe camping or visiting friends in Yunnan. We hope your lives are blessed. We will try to get some pictures out again soon.