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.
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.
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