Friday, June 28

Today we finished our first week of camp. We have really enjoyed our time with the kids. Here are some pictures of the students working during our photography time.

In the afternoon, K made a special snack for us. It was a rice dessert with mangoes and sweetened condensed milk. Yum! Yum!

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In the evening, we were invited to a surprise birthday for one of our new friends here. So, more Chinese food and a birthday cake!

Everyday we are surprised by all the exciting opportunities we are included in. Makes me wonder, "What will tomorrow hold?"

Thursday, June 27

Today we had camp with the kids again. It has been a lot of fun for the students and for me and Ruthann. The kids are still loving origami. During camp we worked together to make one big firecracker origami piece.

I didn't post any pictures of food yesterday. I guess I got distracted by the rainforest. :) So I today I have a picture of our lunch. It was delicious and spicy as usual!

One of the dishes she prepared was eggs and tomatoes. It had variation of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and sugar. It was juicy and sweet!

Tonight we had a special opportunity. We were invited to join a pizza making party for Chinese college students. For the students, tomorrow is the last day of finals. We made pizzas together and then played games like Settlers of Catan and uno. It was a lot of fun! We even made a couple of friends we may be able to see more while we are here.

Before the party, one of the students arrived early. He plays the piano professionally at a hotel. He and Ruthann took turns playing songs for us.

All in all, we had a great day! It ended a little later than usually, but we felt deeply satisfied and blessed!

Yanoda Rainforest

Yanoda

Today we went on a field to the Yanoda Rainforest (translated one, two, three.)

Here is our group before we left. 

This is the entrance to the rain forest. 

We left about 8:30 and arrived around 9:30. We spent most of the day traversing the winding paths and swinging bridges of the rain forest. It was hot, but most of our trip was shaded by the forest. Our adventure led us to discover some colossal spiders, a stick bug, lizards, a tree crab, and more. Below are some of the pictures we took. 

Throughout the park, there were signs that were meant to guide us through the park. Each sign proudly displayed the "We location." You may be more familiar with "We are here."

There were also beautiful red ribbons to caution us of low hanging branches.

This is the restaurant where we stopped to have lunch. We had noodles and fried rice. 

Our view for lunch. 

 After lunch we found a parrot show. The parrots performed for us. It was a lot of fun! 

There was a place where you could get your picture taken with parrots. I'm laughing because once the lady put the parrots on me to take my picture, a group of Chinese tourists began taking a picture of me getting my picture taken. 

Ruthann and the kids on one of the bridges. 

This spider was one of the first creatures that greeted us at the rainforest. This picture does not do justice to its size or the effect of standing inches from this creature. 

A picture of a banana tree.

Some beautiful orchids! They reminded me of Ralph Sears!

During my trip here, I learned something new about crabs. Before today, if you asked me to describe a habitat of a crab my only reference would have been a beach. Today I was told of tree crabs that live in the rain forest. As we were leaving, I spied one for myself. It's a little blurry, but I think you can still make out the crab in a tree! Still seems a little out of place to me.

When we returned to the welcome center there was a group of Li people doing a stick dance. Visitors could try to dance through the rhythmically moving bamboo. 

At the entrance, there were many souvenirs to buy, one was a UFO. S loved this toy. 

Tuesday, June 25

Today we had our second day of camp with the kids. The first day was fantastic and today was great too! The kids have really enjoyed Origami. I think their parents are going to find little folded papers all throughout their house for awhile.

Everyday for lunch we eat at one of the families of the students. Their helper cooks for us. Every meal Ruthann and I are so excited to see what we will get to eat. We always have something different and there are so many flavors! Today we had glass noodles, ear fungus, and some meat. I know some of you may not think ear fungus sounds very appetizing, but rest assured it is not a fungus from an ear. It is a fungus that looks like an ear. Much better, right? You can just think of it as a mushroom. :)

After camp each day we have been going to the pool. The pool has a really unique design. I'll try to add a picture later.

Then we eat dinner. So exciting! Tonight C and S took us to the market near by and we had delicious food cooked for us. We enjoyed beef, chicken wings, grilled green beans, mushrooms, edamame, and more. Afterward we enjoyed a dessert that is claimed to be unique to this area...translated fried freeze. It is at a little stand at the market. First you choose one or two fruits. Then they blend them together, strain it, and add sweetened condensed milk. They put it in this machine that has a cold metal surface that freezes it. Then they scoop it out into a large bowl and you enjoy! The first time we went we tried coconut pineapple. This time we tried mango banana. Delicious!


I'm realizing now that maybe I should have just been honest from the beginning and called this a food blog since that is likely what most of my post will be about! :)

 Ordering dessert!

Panorama of the market!

 Tomorrow we are taking a field trip with the students to a rain forest!! We are very excited! The kids are too!

Traveling continued

Day 2

We spent our time reading, watching movies, enjoying some food (including Haagen Dazs ice cream), and napping!

We arrived in Hong Kong early Tuesday morning as the rest of you were waking up. In Hong Kong, it was Tuesday night. We made our way to the apartment in which we were staying and then went to dinner with Ruthann's cousin at a nearby mall.

The next day we took the train to the airport and ate breakfast at Fairwood.

Sticky rice...wrapped in a leaf

Chicken, ham, and a soup with macaroni noodles and sausage. Served with milk tea and bread. 

Traveling

Day 1 We flew from RDU to LA. At the airport we were greeted by Ruthann's dad and brother! They brought us some lunch and we talked before we headed out. It was a nice way to spend our layover and the last few minutes in the US.

Then we boarded a plane for our 14 hour ride!

Saying goodbye

The last few days before I left I spent time with some of the people I will  miss the most! Many of you were very generous to Ruthann and I. Thank you so much to each of you that fed us, wrote us notes, and found other ways to send us off! We are so grateful for the privilege to go!

The night before we left, we sealed our bags and tried to get some sleep before we left at 5:30am to head for the airport. And the adventure began!

Below are just a few pictorial highlights of the last few days.

Let summer begin!!

Since I am an elementary school teacher, I get one big perk...time off in the summer! This summer I will be spending 7 weeks in China. Some of my friends wanted to keep up with me this summer and hear about all the adventures that I have, so I decided to start a blog.

This summer I will be spending 4 weeks in, Sanya, the Hawaii of China visiting some of my friends from the US and providing a camp like experience for their children. Sanya is an island located south of China. It is home of a military base and tourists, just like Hawaii.

My roommate, RAC will be joining me for the first four weeks. Then she will fly home. We leave early Monday morning, fly to LAX, and then head to Hong Kong. Maybe we will run into Snowden! :) After staying a night in Hong Kong we will fly to Sanya, to our new home for 4 weeks.

I should have access to email so feel free to shoot me a line or two about your adventures this summer!

D. Lisle

Check out these pics! I wonder if this is what I'll really find!