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.