Peach Blossom Festival

This was a week of a lot of bad news from the US and here in China. The bombings in Boston, the explosion in Texas, and the earthquake in Lushan, China. We have followed the news reports, and we pray for the families affected by the tragedies. Here in China, the quake was very bad with thousands of injured. The govt seems to be trying to do a better job than the previous quake that happened 5 years ago. That's what the Chinese TV is broadcasting. We have many students from that part of China. We don't know if they will try to go back home. I hope they stay here, but it would be hard for them.

We were invited to accompany 200+ primary school kids and teachers to the Peach Blossom Festival last Saturday. The students were from 6 - 12 yrs old. It was held in a small farming village west of Baoding. Out friends who went to the Holy Land with us and few ago will remember Sammy the camel in Jericho. I thought of Sammy when we saw this double-humper.

Of course it was crowded.

It was just like any other festival/carnival. Rides and food and plenty of peach blossoms to mingle with.

We had a great time with kids. The students are learning English, and they have never spoken to a foreigner before. So they were very shy about talking with us, but with a little encouragement they started to warm up to us. Marianne was very popular. This little guy was not in our group, but he really wanted to get Marianne's attention. His mother was very proud of her outgoing son.

 Happy faces.

Our faces hurt from smiling all day and having our picture taken so many times. When we get home, Marianne wants to get a pink phone cover with little ears like the girl on the right. She is one of the teachers.

The kids were very concerned that we had enough to eat, so they kept giving us milk and snacks. We brought some P&J sandwiches, but as you can see from the pile of snacks in front of Marianne we did not go hungry. Our friend, Felice, accompanied us on the trip. She is also our Chinese teacher and Mahjong teacher. She is a delightful young lady who has been a great friend to all the foreign teachers.

After the festival, we headed to a nearby strawberry field to do some pickin'. The students made sure that we had plenty of strawberries.

It was a long, fun day. We were pooped when we finally got back to our apartment. We made some great friends among the headmaster and teachers. One young man told me that I must've been very handsome when I was younger. I took it as a compliment, but Marianne and I had a great laugh when we were alone. My ego was a little bruised, but a little humbleness is good for the soul.

Have a great week, y'all. The semester is half-way complete.

Spring

Ni hao everyone,
   Sorry for the gap since our last post. Not much happening in Baoding in March. The weather was still cold, but not the bone-chilling cold we had in January and February. There were a few nice days with warm temps and clean air, but that was a rarity. The air has been pretty bad. We wear our masks whenever we go out. The new govt has been saying that cleaning up the environment will be a bigger priority in the coming years. It couldn't come soon enough.

   I forgot how long a month March is. April has finally come, along with Easter. Easter Sunday Mass included a marching band and thousands of firecrackers and rockets. It was certainly unique.

  Our classes are going well. Our students are getting Spring Fever, and so are we. We are thinking a lot about coming home. We have less than three months to go, so we're trying to focus on our classes and hopefully the time will pass by quickly. The trees are starting to bloom and things are greening up a little. We miss the Carolina spring, even with all pollen that comes with it.

  This past Thursday was a holiday, Tomb Sweeping Day. It's when you go to the cemetery and clean off the tombs of your ancestors. We had Thurs. and Fri off so we went to Xi'an. It is where the Terracotta Warriors are located. Its about a 30 minute drive outside the city walls of Xi'an to the site. Of course the tour bus we took had to stop at the museum and gift shop!

There are three pits. This is the largest one. Since it was a holiday, there were thousand of people there with a lot of pushing and jockeying for the best camera spot. It is an amazing exhibit. They said that less than 1% has been excavated. It will take them over 200 years to unearth the rest of the artifacts. That will keep people employed for a while. The building construction in the area near the site is booming. The roads are not always keeping up with the expansion. Traffic is a big issue, but doesn't seem to have the priority it needs. The tour took most of the day. We met a lot of other foreigners on the tour. I was nice to share experiences about working in China. Our story is not that unique. The other teachers we met told similar stories. In some ways we have it better than some.

When we got back to the city and went for a walk on the city walls. Here's a little of what we saw.

There is a Muslim Food Street near the center of town. It was packed with people.

This place looked like it was ready to explode.

We only had one full day in Xi'an. Would've like to spend another day biking around the city walls, but we headed back to Baoding.
 The door to the Xi'an train station was a little confusing. We did find the open door.

 Even though Thursday and Friday were holidays, we had to make-up the Friday classes on Sunday. All the schools had to do that. Its like that on every holiday.

Well, thanks for reading our post. Hopefully we'll have more to post soon. We miss everyone very much. We think about home everyday. Please continue to pray for us, as we continue to pray for you.