Fenghua Computer Lab

The Deck off my Computer Lab, far right of pic above (Staff only on this one)

Computer Lab at Fenghua our New QSI Secondary School. This is where I spend a good part of my time. Computers are a major part of the QSI school.

Great Air Conditioning

Click on the pic to get the "whole" story

Having a broken AC unit in Southern China is not fun. My classroom unit has not worked for the past three days and it has been warm with the typical high humidity. Thinking about how warm the day could prove to be as I was walking to work this morning and following this young guy, I was  thinking how nice it must be to open and cool.

Both the way this child is being carried, (everyone has a built-in baby carrier) and the split pants are very typical in China for boys and girls up to about this age or so. It proves to be very convenient as you can squat any time and take care of business. Yes you must watch where you step. Little puddles on the sidewalk are not spilled tea!

From on Top of 21st Floor

We live in Shekou

QSI Fenghua Secondary School and track

No ladders, no kidding!

Tim is facing the school, you can see his apartment in the background

Next door, Some secondary teachers live in this building

The view from there.

My friend Howard's Sat. morning community kids soccer program

These were taken on Sat. (day before Easter) from a apartment building near the new QSI Fenghua Secondary School in Shekou. This gives a little of the idea of what this part of Shenzhen is like. It is the very small (village) part of Shenzhen, but still has more than a million residents. I don't know what the exact area is but I doubt it is much more than a few square miles. These are just a few shots to give you a feel for the density of the buildings. I takes me about 20 min. to walk from the school you see here to my apartment shown in the pic of me. About 5 min. by bike, which could be stolen, so I usually only ride on the weekend when I can take the bike into the building, or between 10-20 min. by bus depending on how long you wait and time of day.

Arm and Hatchet

Click to see a close up view

This is a friend of ours Howard from Washington D C

China version of a popular American product. We see this kind of thing all the time. It always brings a smile to our face.

Dropping in at Starbucks

I was sitting at Starbucks having a coffee and look up to see this guy dropping down sitting on his board. He had been washing the windows and dropped down to the ground. 

Strawberry Tea

Cake and Ice Cream

Baskets to bid on

Anxiously awaiting, we're next....

Lets get those steps right

Ready to Serve

One half of the gym for one of the two shows

All for a good cause

A QSI traditional yearly Spring event is what is called the "Strawberry Tea." Although it sounds innocuous enough it is actually a very large fund raising event for Liu Tan our schools adopted Chinese village and service project. Strawberry Tea has little to do with Tea, and Strawberries are only used in a slightly decorative way. It does involve tickets, some cake and ice cream and a large talent show that allows students and some staff to show what the've got. This year there were two different shows this past Saturday. Many students participated and many parents and friends enjoyed the afternoon. Here are some pictures from the event. Oh, a big hats off to Abbe DeWitt for a fantastic job organizing over 50 volunteers, running a large committee and pulling this event off.

Ping Ping

While we were in Yangshuo we had a full time guide to help us make the most of our time. Ping Ping was awesome. We did so many things in just 2 and 1/2 days, it was amazing. Ping Ping got us the best seats the best and most direct route into venues. We saw more things that interested us than we could have imagined. If you ever to to Yangshuo you need Ping Ping she was sweet and arranged all our transporation needs as well as our hotel. We had a driver even when we arrived at the airport at almost midnight. If your interested here is her e-mail.

pingping1982@163.com

Balloon over Yangshuo

They are waiting on us to decide if we want to go up, I am just taking pics.

Bev and Shirley wave goodbye

Gail

Another Balloon

That is a lot of flame

Coming down, had dropped the line and gone up a little

After the flight

The End

Gail and Tim were able to take a one hour Balloon ride over the beautiful karst limestone formations of Yangshuo. While we were riding around on our bikes ,we came across this basket being taken out of the back of a truck, we had previously inquired with Ping Ping our guide about taking a hot air balloon ride. The weather was perfect,  air was clear and we were there. The company looked competent, professional,and they were all dressed in red. We decided to go upright then. A quick trip to the weeds before the flight, a kiss to the wives and we were on our way.

Awesome, beautiful, breathtaking and not as scary as I thought it might be. The basket is a little low and seemed to be made for people a little shorter than Gail and I. We tried to not rock the basket. Space was limited with our pilot and another Chinese couple that went up with us. We burned up two of the four propane tanks in the hour ride. Each tank looked to be 12 -15 gallons. I had to flip my hat around to keep from burning my neck when the burners were switched on. We traveled up almost 1000 meters high at one point, (over 3,000 feet). These are some of the pics from our trip.