With school out and student gone we planned several outings, but most did not happen. We did go to Cha Shan (Tea Mountain). We had been there in winter and wanted to experience the cool of the bamboo forest in summer. We did the climb again with our friend Becky from the DVD store and with Xiao Wan the friend we made on our first climb of the mountain. It was a good day as you can see from the forest picture. It was also a
good day at the top for seeing, but not for pictures as you can see as well. We will see if there is a third trip up Cha Shan.
In Chongqing we stayed with other Peace Corps volunteers. We ate western food and lived it up. ON the Fourth of July we went with one group to center Chongqing for Subways and ice cream and then to another group for a roof top party. Through Renee Vetsch's waiban we got tickets for our trip to Turkey. We spent a morning at the Anti-Japanese War Site Museum . strange title but an interesting place dealing with Chiang Kai-shek. Matt Lord ha
s done some work for them and he wanted to hand that off to me. I picked up some translating and some editting to do for the museum located on the top of a lovely Chongqing mountain.
We spent two weeks with three other Peace Corps Volunteers doing our Summer Project in Jiangjin, which is located a little over an hour from Yongchuan. We worked there with leaders
from Baisha Normal School and 120 teachers from Jiangjin County (rural). It was a hot two weeks, but the friendships were warm so
it was "cool." We were treated like royalty at every level. We made many new friends and our QQ (instant message) list has swollen. We loved the teaching and the people. We tasted the specialties of the area and they were to our liking. In town we also made friends --two of Renee's students and one of mine and also the owner of the internet bar we used and his good friend, an army officer. Maybe we will be back to Jiangjin to visit again. While there, we spent a day in Baisha, the leaders' hometown, another hour drive over very rural roads. We saw the Yangtze River and their campus and a lovely garden in the center of a middle school which graduates those who become the local leaders.
After we returned to Yongchuan, we spent several days packing up our apartment to get ready for the move to the new campus, not a nother university, just an other campus of the same university. Then we began our travels, first to Nanjing, where our niece lives. Our trip to Nanjing started off badly with us almost missing our bus to the airport.
BUT it all worked out. We arrived in Nanjing safely and found our way to the university. We had a great two days with Laurel and Chad and their two kids. We loved the time, meeting their friends and playing with the kids. One morning we went to an exhibit about the Rape of Nanjing, which is still a vivid memory in China. We were both humbled and proud to be reminded of the faith
fulness of Christian missionaries who refused to be evacuated during the Japanese invasion and did their best to save as many Chinese lives as they could.
From Nanjing we took a bus ride to Suqian. It is a relatively new town and is prospering even in this economic environment because it is a focus for growth in its suburban Shanghai area. The visit there was spurred by Ellen, one of our Family Church Yongchuan friends. She wanted us to see what it was like in her hometown. Again, the family rallied to make our stay more than comfortable. Among the relatives was a non-uncle uncle
who had a car and became our chauffeur for the three day
visit. We taught English one morning in the church's summer school. We toured the sites of the town and experienced how differently each province treats religion. It was a good experience for us. We have more to tell if you ask. Again, we tasted the specialities of the local cuisine. One t
reat was dumplings which were made by the extended Ellen family on their farm. I enjoyed the meal, but even more seeing the old commune
- housing, fields, outbuilding, outhouses, roads, equipment - and getting a sense of how that life has changed and impacted individual people and families.
An incredible day got us to our plane on time and we were off to Turkey. Lee met us at the airport and after a Metro ride to the end o
f the line and a taxi ride, we were in their new and most interesting neighborhood. We have been in our glory most of the time being with the grandchildren. We play and work with them. Lee continues their homeschooling year round so we have been part of that. Both of us are working -- Renee with Rebecca and I with Joshua -- on lapbooks about China. That experienc
e has reminded me clearly of how differently children learn. Their home neighborhood is centrally located so we walk regularly on a popular pedestrian way, and have taken the Tunel and the ferry to the Asian side of the city
. In the afternoon we go to the park and all of us get some exercise. It is no easy feat raising four children in two and a half rooms and entertaining guests as well. My favorite part of Istanbul is the friendly people. I bought a pair of pants that needed to be hemmed. I walked the streets looking for a tailor. Eventually one guy directed me. Two little old ladies did the work - no money - we talked (I think that is fair to say even though we did not understand each other's language) about our families and where we are from. They love their hometown. Then I met the TV repairman who had directed me to them - he got a book and showed me on a map where the women were from and where he was from while we had tea. Of course, that brought the workmen from across the street and more hometowns and food and.... eventually that led to lunch in the workshop and many new friends before I headed home.
I do not even know if it is Tuesday. Renee says it is Wednesday. For the second evening in a row, we all walked to Taxim Square and enjoyed a craft fair. The children were fascinated by the glass blowers and the potter and the weavers. They seem to take long walks with ease and almost no complaining. That is quite a blessing.
