in b/n divisions, they threw dough out to the audience-elliot had a ball w/ it.
fellow coloradan teachers! some of the best i've seen.
a free-bee!
a very humid day.
some kind of "sea world festival"...includes the pizza eating contest...
elliot did well, but didn't win his division: 10-14 yr olds.
he could have if he were 14!
for those of you who haven't heard yet: we got an email from our director about this contest. 1st ten to sign up can compete! i RAN to sign ian (& elliot) up right then! it took place ON ian's actual b-day! most of you would agree that there's not another person on the planet who loves pizza as much as ian. how perfect was this?
what's even more perfect is that HE WON! we got a free pizza (for another time!) and 4 movie tickets, which are very expensive here. it's like $10 US to see a movie! (chinese only do it like once on a date if they're really serious! we've been informed.)
same park
this is just outside starbucks-see the green umbrellas? i kept this pic b/c you can see our apt building to the left-one of the white ones, not the pointy thing. starbucks is dangerously close to home:) but really no, b/c it's even more $ than back home. we're not meeting there anymore for our language exchange!
our apt on the right.
A Qing, our ayi (cook, child-watcher, maid, errand-runner, all purpose life manager! i can say, or translate through dictionary.com "could you find out where i can buy kitchen blinds, find me the best deal, and have jack in reception translate it for us?) it takes many steps to get anywhere in this relationship...unless it's "wo xihuan" (we like!) or other equally simple phrases.
a really old, cool park close-by.
in front of the seaworld boat-this whole courtyard is called "seaworld". it's got your more expensive western foods. we eat here once or twice/week depending on who earns it!
that's luke-we're walking home...our apt is the white thing on the right. i've gotten a massage (ouch!) here. for 45 minutes: like $8!!!
this is not the "baoan"(doorman) that reminds me of my brother! (there is one who does!) they're usually smiling at us trying to come in w/ our 4 bikes. we're not the only ones, but we may be the most entertaining! speaking of, at the time of this writing, 2 have already been stolen, w/ 2 locks! if they want 'em, they'll get 'em, no matter how many locks!
this little "7-11 like" shop is in our school building. we get stuff here all the time. they have american foods too, but for more than you'd pay in the states. remember 4.90 is RMB, & w/ the exchange, it's like 73 cents. 
where we go everyday! this is the "main" campus. ages 5-10. 5 floors. 400? down the block is the middle school, another 200? the preschool a couple miles away, w/ a shuttle, another 150? then the secondary building is the newest, couple miles away, w/ another 150? it's a nice system for us: we leave at 7:40, lock bikes (most days), ian & elliot go on to the middle school, luke & i prep till school starts at 8:30. elliot walks back by himself-it's been working so far!
across from the school.down the street from school-looking towards our home.
the daily stop for bananas & grapes! we've learned what to pay-he's learned what we won't pay!
we buy just enough for a couple days b/c it doesn't keep in the heat!
i know it's not in focus, but this is a memory. everywhere we went, people were rigging tv's outside to watch the olympics. this is in front of walmart & a mall. huge screen displaying all the victories of the games! what a special time to be here. 
to make a long story short- we were getting royal treatment at a typical restaurant that most go to for special occasions. we were just hungry on our new bikes! they wanted to serve us so much that this one is actually feeding luke! we laughed; luke soaked up the attention. as we ate, they just kept watching how we did it!
our school bussed a bunch of us to this beach an hour away. you had to rent table space/shade! it wasn't cheap, either! i had only brought about $10 US, but sat in others' shade while they went in the water:) i've never experienced such warm ocean water. it wasn't near as crowded as we'd been told. 
these are our good chinese friends: jacob and joe! most who study english choose english names...ian knows their chinese names-i'd prefer to use my memory on how to ask what time it is! jacob is late 20's, joe is younger. they are studying to pass their verbal & listening english tests soon. i met jacob at Ikea when asking him where i could find a larger trash can! he spoke such good english, i commented, then a whole conversation ensued. our colleages warn us that every chinese person wants to have a language exchange & will hog the time learning english. our story is very different. we have to insist on helping them w/ english-they're so helpful teaching us things the books don't. and just learning about their culture. we've b/c social friends now as well. 
on the left is a fellow qsi teacher from canada trying to learn as well.
jessica. she is a kindergarten teacher, studying english as well. her hubby is somewhere else in china (i think an engineer). we've hung out (taught her what that means!) a few times. we're both so excited to learn from each other.
this is some strange couple we keep bumping into-they follow us everywhere.
kitchen view. if you kept following the road after the bend for 3 blocks, you'd be at our school (well, the elem & middle buildings. the preschool & secondary are somewhere else)
the subway being built (also from our kitchen)
from luke's window. looking out to shenzhen-i guess north. (dad would want to know:)
another from elliot's window. the farther apts are a new area that used to be water! they call it a "reclamation" project-what's to reclaim? the ocean? somehow they take ocean & put buildings on it. this is china-don't ask me how they do it!
this is the only inside pic i've taken of our apt-i guess i keep waiting for it to be "done"-ha! still bare walls, etc. b/c i just don't know how settled i want to be! it seems like just when you feel like it's home, it's time to move again! i will take more... they're working on an IKEA shelving unit that looks awesome in our large hallway b/n bedrooms. the fridge is tiny, the cooking part of the kitchen throught the right door (oh, i'll just show you sometime)
view from (i think) our kitchen. they're building a whole subway right across the street!
view from elliot's room. we know a few families who live in those townhomes-they have no elevators-i'm thankful for ours! just to the left (we recently found out) is a playground we can access w/ our key-card. you can see the tip of sea world, and behind it is a ritzy golf course for foreigners.
more harbour views (our bedrm or family room)
from one of our apt. windows...the view usually invokes some pleasant response, but this day was especially pleasing!
this is Shekou, the harbour to the 16 mil. city, Shenzhen.
everywhere we go, people smile, talk, or touch luke's head!there were a group of high school girls that took turns taking pics w/ luke-they couldn't get enough of the little stud! :)
this is the boat "minghua", which is the focus of "sea world", right next to our apt. complex.
i get the idea that our real estate is pretty prime to the locals, being next to a tourist area. chinese come to sea world on weekends or holidays. it's such a "western" area-uncommon in mainland china. it's home to us, but we're pointed at a lot, esp. when on our bikes!
i bought a pair of the cutest shoes here-was expensive by chinese standards,
but i had to have them: $15.
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