This year is soon coming to an end. There are countless things that we have learned during this time, numerous close friendships we have made, and a number of trials and strange happenings. It will feel very different not being around Anshun for the summer, but we are looking forward to having a summer of travel, though dreading it also. There is always a great amount of unknown and uncertainty behind it, but we are strengthened knowing who we put our trust in. For our families, here is a run-down of what we know about our summer plans. We are finishing up with classes and leaving Anshun on the 4th of July for Guiyang and then later to Xian (30 hours or so by train). We will stay there for about two days to see the terracotta soldiers and some of the historical sites there as Xian was the ancient capital of China. The temperature for those days are forecast to be 100 degrees or more (ahh!!). From Xian, we will take a train to arrive in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia on about July 8th. We will travel to numerous different places in that area like the grasslands, ride horses, enjoy the Nadaam (Man Games), etc. and then travel to a variety of places in Inner Mongolia before heading to Ulan Bator the capital of Mongolia. We will travel to Beijing on August 1st to fly to Kunming in the Yunnan province. On the third of August, we will arrive in Dali and visit Dali, Lijiang, Shangrila, the Tiger Leaping Gorge, etc. with a student Bobby. Then we are planning on going to Zunyi in the Guizhou province to visit some students. We are not quite sure when we will arrive back in Anshun or when we will be able to get online to contact everyone, but we are hoping to be able to visit some internet cafes along the way. We are very excited, but also a little nervous. We will be traveling almost entirely with other people so that is good and we know who will also be with us.

Here is a little run-down of things learned, observed, and strange happenings from the year. Our Top Ten, only in Anshun classics:

10) Animals everywhere. Since arriving we have had many interesting encounters with animals from the roaches (only the first days) to the 3 inch millipede, and finally the huge spider in the shower today. They sell snakes at the market, but we saw our first one in the wild yesterday as some boys were taking home a 5 foot snake by the jaw. Needless to say, we have had countless interesting experiences with waterbuffalo. They are everywhere from right outside our door to falling in streams, plowing fields and taking for kids or rides through the countryside. Patty has had a harder time seeing dogs, she misses her Tip Tip, especially as we see them being sold to be eaten or the little babies in small cages sold as pets. Animals are a fun part of our life and always worthy of a strange occurrence.

9) Food. We have had many chances to eat all kinds of strange foods since coming, especially when we visit student's hometowns or go to special occasions. Here is a partial list: chicken and duck feet, snake skin, bamboo, frog soup (yes real, dried frogs), liver, kidneys in la jiao (hot sauce), hot pot (yummy), lots of very spicy food that we love, and some wonderful times when we can have favorites from home like pizza and chocolate.

8) Chinglish-It says it all. One of the team favorites is this quote from writing class. I love the Chinese New Year because we will go and buy lots of crack. (meaning Chinese firecrackers). The signs are often great and fun to see their translations. Beijing put on a huge campaign to fix the Chinglish before the Olympics (it would be interesting to read their new signs as the old ones were very funny or funning).

7). Chinese special events. Nobody overdoes a special event like the Chinese. I cannot imagine what the Olympics will be like after seeing the events put on for much smaller events. They are into all of the fads of entertainment events, the clapper sticks, the clapping hands, whistles, the glow sticks, confetti, fireworks, and huge light shows. The only problem is that they try to overdue each of them at every event. The music is always too loud that you have to cover your ears, because loud singers are good singers (I guess!!) and if that is not enough the other things will surely deafen you. The idea of a special event is to impress everyone, so lots of money is spent even if it is a meal between teachers or for graduation. The more the better.

6) Weddings. I was able to go to my first wedding last week. It was quite the affair. There is no real ceremony besides bowing three times to their elders and ancestors, drinking some tea, and a few other small things. The food, drinking and smoking are the major parts of the occasion. I was offered hundreds of cigarettes by almost every male there, and had to constantly say, "bu hui" I cannot smoke instead of I do not want to. We ate twice in two hours, each meal had 30 different dishes, tons of rice and lots of strange toasts trying to get each of the guys to drink. It always takes a while to get them to understand that I do not drink, as that is counterculture, but after a while they stopped drinking alcohol and started drinking the juice I was having. A normal gift for a wedding is 100 RMB or more depending upon your relationship to the couple and they will often gamble and just sit and eat sunflower seeds all day waiting for the meal and play jokes on the couple at night when they are exhausted and want to go to bed.

5) Visiting Chinese families. After meeting a new friend, I have had endless occasions of meeting new Chinese families. I have now gotten very used to it, but it can be particularly strange. He will always take me around supper time, after we have already gone out and eaten way too much (that is a normal sign of friendship to provide more food that the people can possibly eat). I always grew up trying to finish all of the food and even though there are impossible amounts at these meals I will always try to help finish everything. Because we come at meal time, I will again have to eat again. It is rude to decline, so I will grab my bowl and get it filled with rice and they will continue to fill it with dishes. They will most often just talk about me, even if I can understand, because they are too shy to talk to me. The favorite phrase is "Don't be shy, help yourself" as they fill your bowl with more food.

4) The Chinese spirit of perseverance. Chinese people are maybe the most resilient people I have ever met. Even through the hardest of struggles, they will keep a positive attitude and will stay focused on their dreams. We have heard numerous horrific stories of disasters and hardships from our students and it is amazing to see how they face those problems. Chinese people truly do not give up. When we watch sports, we often see that also. They will be behind by many points and often come back to win. I think they will surprise many people at the Olympics. The bad part of this is that this spirit is an expectation, not something that is celebrated. If you do not live up to high expectations you may looked down upon.

3) Shopping. We have had few opportunities to go shopping for clothes as we are too big for most of the clothes in Anshun. We did go and buy winter coats though and that was quite the adventure. I found a coat I liked and it was only 40 RMB ($6) so I tried it on. It almost fit but the sleeves were too short. When I asked them if they had any bigger sizes they thought I was joking--there are no bigger sizes. Knowing this I got it anyway, it was a 7 XL!! Patty had similar problems and finally found one that fit her, a 3 XL. That does some things to your ego. Things are changing as it comes to size as foreign fast food restaurants are taking large cities by storm. Obesity is starting to be seen in the usually small Chinese people, but mainly among the wealthy who find it a measure of status to eat at these places.

2) Traveling. One huge difference has been not having a car while in China. This means that most of our traveling is done by foot or bus and sometimes train and airplane. Each of these methods of travel are drastically different. Walking for fun is not something people do in China, so I am an odd person out exploring the villages and climbing hills for enjoyment. In the villages, people will walk 1-3 hours to go shopping instead of paying 3 RMB to take the bus (they do not have the money). Buses have become fun as we have gotten over being gawked at and laughed about. Quite often the bus is completely packed so there are people sitting, standing cramped together and the occasional person carrying an animal for supper, their farm equipment or huge bags of rice. It is always something new and then there is always someone smoking too. My favorite bus ride was visiting my friends in LuChun. I took an 12 hour bus ride that traveled 144 miles. If you do the math, we went 12 miles per hour. It was a bus with sleeper beds and luckily it had rails to hold onto as the road was super bumpy and I was often bouncing off the ceiling and hoping not to fall out of my bed through the mountains. I didn't get sick though. The train can be fun I have heard. Patty despises it though as it tends to be cramped and sometimes you do not have a seat so you have to stand the whole time. People smoke, take their shirts off, throw food all over the place, etc. This is the cheapest form of transportation so often the poorest and most people take this. You can get sleeper cars as we will take to Xian and I guess those are better.

1) The poverty. Everywhere around us there is severe poverty. Most of our students come from very poor farming families, though you would not know it and almost everyone we meet has faced hardships and difficult times because of lack of money, but it rarely shows in their attitude and behavior towards others. The villagers and farmers who are often the poorest are often the friendliest people. Streetsweepers and trash collectors are always smiling and wishing you a good day. Their comfort is found in being able to work hard and know that they are helping others and hoping that their hardwork will benefit their children and later benefit them. It is a child's obligation to provide for their family members after they get a job. Some of the houses of friends I have visited are super small with 3-5 people living in them, but they will offer to take me out to a nice restaurant because we are friends.

We ask that you keep the people of China in your thoughts and prayers. The more you have learned and experienced, the more they have been deeply impressed upon our hearts. We hope each of you have a wonderful summer and are blessed abundantly.