This has been a long time since our last post. There has been only small little exciting events here and there, but mainly the everyday teaching and retreating to the warmth of our house. The weather has gotten a little cold and since we are in the south of China, that means no heaters in buildings, except our apartment. We are blessed to have small heaters that make it comfortable. This weekend was a very exciting one on campus--there were all kinds of balloons, arches, marching bands, and lots of cars. Three events were going on at the same time: the Guizhou championship table tennis and basketball tournaments and a conference on economics in the province. There were lots of people on campus and it was fun to be able to see some of the festivities and check out some of the matches. On Saturday morning, I went and helped a student teach her class again, only this time I did not have to trek across muddy streets to the countryside, but she had it on campus. When I arrived, I found out why. She had about 20 students, instead of the six from before. She was offering free tutorinig to the students from the countryside, because she is kind and also wants practice. I have been teaching them English songs, so we learned Take Me Out to the Ball Game. It was really fun and a good experience, but the students are very shy (they are middle schoolers).

After that, I made it to some of the table tennis tournament, I have been practicing, but I am certainly not good. The matches were open to all ages and champions from across the province, so this meant from 12 years old all the way up to those in their 40's. I was most impressed with the 12 year old, who kept winning easily. As a foreigner, one of the players and also a coach from one of the sports schools, had me talk to her daughter on the phone because her daughter is going to Chicago in August. It is always interesting to see people's reactions and hear them talk about you as though you are a spectacle. At night, we had some of our students over to watch a movie. We watched the Prince of Egypt and it was really fun. We were expecting a few students for supper but no one showed up, so we had some leftovers from my attempt at making homemade spaghetti sauce (it is getting better).

This has been going very quickly as we have had incredibly cold weather that does not make us want to do much. We have been bundling up and staying indoors more than I would like to do, but tonight we went with our same friend Hope to teach at a middle school in the countryside. It was a 40 minute busride outside of Anshun into the mountainous area, but it was well worth it. We went to a middle school there and taught a 45 minute class to 82 students. I cannot imagine having 82 students, when in America 30 or more is more than enough. I cannot imagine trying to teach a foreign language to 82 students in a small classroom with lights that did not work, but this is much of what happens outside of the cities. It was a real eye-opener to how blessed our classrooms and schools are in America. This was not the first of these experiences, but it still just amazes me. The students were so shy, but so intent on doing what we were teaching. It made Patty miss teaching middle schoolers in America.

Farmers are busy in the fields here as we expect they are at home. It is a most interesting difference. Farmers have harvested their corn and are drying it (either by shelling it and drying it on the roads, or by tying the ears together and drying them hanging in their doorways). They are now plowing and dragging their fields. This is very fun to watch. Each of the fields is about the same size as a small backyard, and the plowing is done with a waterbuffalo and a small wooden plow with a metal blade. To drag the field, they have a piece of wood shaped like the number 8 with large spikes beaten into it that they pull through the field. Most of the people working with the waterbuffalo are either old men or young boys, but most farmers have been women. They do a lot of the hoeing of the crops and upkeep. I have been adventuring out to see how people work--there are some brick factories and rock quarries nearby. Many of the workers are women with children on their backs or chasing after them. It is such a big difference!! Today, I even saw a woman carrying about half of her cornfield, stalks and all down the road on her back--it looked like she was about to pass out from the weight. There is definitely no lack of hard work, determination, and pride in the workers here, even the street sweepers seem to take great pride in their job--making sure every last leaf and piece of paper is off the ground (though tomorrow the job will be exactly the same). We ask for your thoughts as we try to interact more and understand more of the culture.