Thursday, September 23, 2010

Greetings from Yantai!





Monday was Fun Day at WECL-Yantai. Starting at 1.30, the 5 different classes competed in 'dress up' (pull on items, run to base and back, undress and then the next person does the same), water balloon toss, 3 legged race, tie the wet noodles together and a ball toss. We had a ball! The Chinese love games and they don't have to be sophisticated. We have 16-43 year olds playing. Watermelon followed and the winning team got a cake yesterday. My class only had 7 people participating but we overcame the opposition--we won! I'll send pictures of the cake later. It was a fruit cake; translation: it was a white cake with fresh fruit inside and decorated with fresh fruit on top. The icing was delicious!!
After a week of sunshine, it started raining on Sunday and we feared Fun Day might be cancelled but the weather cooperated and a good time was had by all. The rain also brought cooler weather--yesterday (Tuesday) the umbrellas were out in force as the wind was gusting and it rained off and on--the temps dropped into the low 60's--it was wonderful! The temps are the same today but supposed to get back to the 70's by late afternoon today or tomorrow. Still nice.
Our class schedule gets a little squirrelly about now. We conducted classes Sunday, Monday and Tuesday; have today (Wednesday), Thursday and Friday off; hold classes Sat-Sun-Mon-Tues-Wed-Thurs and then have 1 Oct-7 Oct off for National Holiday. When we return, we'll have classes on Fri and Sat and then return to the M-F schedule. If it Autumn Holiday tomorrow; it celebrates the illicit love affair between a fairy and a mortal (they get together once a year). Moon cakes (round like the moon) are plentiful; it is a time of reunions. Families are VERY important in China and spending time with them.
We are headed to Dalian over the 3 day break. WECL has another school there and we have met the teachers. They have a zoo--complete with pandas! Pictures to follow.
Berkeley sent us a care package which arrived safely after 16 days--20 lbs of CHOCOLATE!! The dark chocolate Hershey kisses are my favorites! We'll use most of the bars as gifts for our Chinese friends. You can get chocolate here but it's not as rich and good as Ghiradelli's or Hershey's!!
Hopefully the pictures will give you some idea of the fun we had Monday.
Until next time . . . .

1 comment:

  1. I've played this dress-up game with kids of all ages, and every time I end up in tears I'm laughing so hard!

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