First Pictures!

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Finally, I was able to poach some pictures. There are a lot more I'd like to share from this week, but this is the best I can do for now.

Quick update: Thursday, we went to the kindergarten in the morning, which was again so good! Then had a Chinese calligraphy class that afternoon. That evening, I went with Ashton and John to the English Corner, a weekly gathering on a university campus for anyone (primarily college students and recent graduates) to practice their English. We simply made ourselves available to speak with anyone who wanted, and we each soon had a small crowd surrounding us. The 2 hour conversation that I had, if it can be called a conversation, was excellent! It was fascinating and varied, and I learned so much! I'm definitely gonna do a separate blog post to share about it in more detail. It was coolest thing I've done since I've been here, even more so than the kindergarten (and that is saying a lot).

Today (Friday), we had volunteer placement at the kindergarten again (this will be nearly every week morning from now on), and it was again, excellent. Although, a bit more crazy! This afternoon, we didn't do a whole lot, but after dinner, I went out with Ashton, Eric, and Johnny Sa to see some of the town. We went to Art Street, a cool shopping street with lots of places to barter for Chinese art. I got a couple of swweeeeeeet paintings for so cheap. We wandered around the center of the city for a while and hung out around the Bell Tower, which is essentially a gorgeous traditional building marking the geographical center of the ancient city. As we were trying to catch a cab to make our way back to the apartment, I saw my first car accident across the street. I can't believe that doesn't happen more often, considering the crazy way they all drive here!

Tomorrow morning, our whole Army group is flying to Beijing to sight-see for the weekend! We're staying relatively close to Tienanmen Square, and have plans to see all the big stuff, plus whatever else we can cram in...We'll fly back to Xi'an on Monday afternoon, since we don't have our volunteer placements that day due to a huge Chinese festival going on this weekend and extending to Monday.

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Photos

Pagoda
This is at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, not more than a 5 min walk from our apartment. This is all the guys on the team (with the exception of Maj. Wilson), from left to right: Dave, Eric, Johnny Sa, Ashton, myself, and John.

Terracotta Army, Pit 1
This was the most impressive view at the Terracotta Army site. So huge! And the detail and variety from soldier to soldier is amazing. We also saw 2 other, smaller pits, and met the farmer who discovered them originally.

Terracotta Photo Op
This was a standard tourist photo op: replica soldiers and a fake backdrop of Pit 1. This is the entire team of Army students.

Kindergarten Singing
I am teaching "I'm a Little Teapot" to a small portion of our class. They loved the line "pour me out" the most since they got to fall on the ground.

Head Massage
My head was quite popular with some of the little girls in my class. They loved rubbing my head and giggling uncontrollably. So cute! The little girl in my lap is named Yo-Yo, and the girl on the left edge of the picture is named Snow.

Duck-Duck-Goose
This is a number of the boys in my class playing "ducka-ducka-goosa" as they call it. The games last at most 3-4 min before chaos ensues...

Standard V
I can't quite remember this gentleman's name, but he's displaying the standard picture pose for these Chinese kids. And maybe he should brush those teeth a tad better, eh?

Heartbreaker
Michael strikes me as a future charmer. Look out, ladies!