Some how this one slipped by me. I thought I had documented our trip to see Charles and Mary and just needed to add photos, but I find no entry. This was an amazing trip, so I can't leave it out! Charles was one of my students in 2004. He chose the adjective of Charming and ever since has been Charming Charles. He definitely lives up to his name! His wife, Mary, joined us part way thru the class and was a delightful addition. She is a beautiful women and very gracious. We became good friends. In 2006 Charles, Mary and their daughter, Lucy came to Xinyang from their home to visit me. They treated me to a wonderful meal and a good time. This year, 2008, I told Charles it was my turn to visit ... read more

Yesterday was as busy as today, and we collapsed when we returned to our hotel around 11pm. I will have pictures to attach for today and yesterday when I return home! The Olympic Venues - Ken, one of our fellow teachers, is here now too. He arrived here on the 2nd and will stay until the 10th. He met us for lunch and then we took the subway to the Olympic area. The new Beijing subway system is amazing, and they have done a great job merging it with the old. I feel like a pro using the subway! We took a special bus around the whole area - the stadium, the birdsnest, the Olympic Village and all! WOW!!!!! The bus ride was over a half an hour. It was a beautiful sunny day - and ... read more

Tonight we get on the fast train (11pm to 7am) to Beijing. It is with a mixture of happiness and sadness that I spend my last day in Xinyang. I have so many good friends that I leave here. Some I know from past experience I will never see again and also many I may never hear from again. I am sure the dear friends like Yarna (our Chinese princess) and Charles (the charming) and Mary (always so gentle and beautiful) and Tony (who no doubt show up on my doorstep in the US someday!) I have no doubt will be here if we should return. I hope others we will see again - those wonderful students: Leo, Charlotte, Gillian, David, Vivien, James, Albert, Serius, Jonny, Jiang Ying, Amy, Victor, Jack, Sher hong, Chungun, Selena, Larry, ... read more

WOW - we go and go and go. I have had no time to post entries or pictures. Teaching was over yesterday, Friday, so I can no longer post pictures. It won't work here at the internet cafe. We moved out of our hotel into Yarna's apartment down the street. She lives in another city, but her husband bought an apartment for then in Xinyang, so they have a place to stay when they need it. Today we didn't do much. I made 2 trips to immigration to try and get our visas extended today. We are over staying our visas by 2 days, so it will cost us almost $150 each to extend them for 7 days - ugh! Oh well, now we won't be arrested! We didn't have enough cash today to pay for ... read more

After a busy start - flying into Beijing, sightseeing, training, traveling to Xinyang, 10 days of teaching straight, and then off on an unexpected adventure that included a 4+ hours bus ride (one way), my first night staying in a Chinese home, and an amazing four hour trek in the mountains and a million stairs back out of the canyon - today was an odd one for me. Megan headed off this morning with the Chinese (my students) and American youth (20+ from Colorado and Minnesota) to do their community service project. They were working on a road (Megan said she wouldn't exactly call it a road) to a junior middle school somewhere in the area. After seeing them off I had the morning free. I didn't have to teach until 4:30, at which time I ... read more