Blind leading the Blind

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The plan was to start the day at 5am and get moving for the Dalian City Marathon. everyone except Uncle Leslie was off to run a Mini-Marathon 3 miles. They volunteered to lead legally blind people who wanted to walk/run a marathon but needed help. The plan was to leave the house at 6am but time passed on and on and on so we ended up leaving at 6:40. The traffic was heavy so we finally made it to the start line with the 30 other volunteers at 8:00 am which was the start time of the race. The Intel group were nice enough to wait on us so we could still run and find the right location. God worked it out but the next day being late caught up with us.
So at the start line there were thousands and thousands of people and as we walked up the race began and people in the crowd surrounded us to start taking our pictures. We pushed through and at first were standing by the group of deaf people and they pointed straight ahead to the blind group. They handed us a rope that we were to tie around their wrist and off we went. The blind group ran surprisingly fast to the point my mom and neema told their person that they were moving so fast that they can go ahead and just run and leave them. So the 2 blind ladies ran ahead and found another guide to help them. Eventually my mom and neema found 2 other blind people that help encouraging them and pulling them on to move faster so the volunteers became the ones that needed help and the crowds were lined up on the side cheering us on.

We all finished and got certificates and somehow discovered that Aunt Amana, Carolyn and Hannaiyah got caught up in the picture taking moment that the race left them behind but they got plenty of pictures and certificates. Uncle Leslie even got one. Next up was a tour of Intel where we ate lunch and then we moved on to a Buddhist temple built in the side of a mountain. We had to walk up a mile of stairs to get there and we all made it although some people got pushed, pulled and carried up the path. Monks that lived up at the top greeted us.

As the day moved on shopping took over and we got custom made dresses made, ate street food and enjoyed the art of bargaining with the locals. Uncle Leslie has the gift of getting the price very low and doing with great theather and laughter. Aunt Amana and Uncle Leslie got another massage to energize themselves. Later in the eveing we had a house party at our home with some of the Chinesse and African students. Full day and night and enjoying every moment

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