Birthday Wishes and Big Fish Dreams

  This week's blog is dedicated to my Dad.  Please be patient, because this one is a long one.  I think it will definitely be worth your time.

  I don't know how we do it, but it seems like we continue to pack a lot of life into each week.

Civilized or not civilized question for the week: Are you a civilized nation, if you are supposed to be like Vegas and you have a McDonald’s that closes down at night and doesn’t re-open until 7am?  Hmmmm!!!

TEACHING/SCHOOL:  This week at school was Taylor's week to shine.  She started the week off by giving a speech to the entire student body and staff.  Roughly there were 5000 people at the opening ceremonies of her sports week.  She did an awesome job and was not overwhelmed in the slightest by the large amount of people.  Cecelia and I were so proud of her.  She worked hard to memorize her speech, but they had the kids read their parts.  Cecelia and I stood with the teachers and staff.  When Taylor said the names of the Chinese students on the committee she was introducing, their was an audible sound of amazement.  Many teachers commented to us on how well she did with the Chinese.  Both Taylor and Claire are amazing at their sound pronunciation of the Chinese language.  I can't describe to you how difficult learning this language is for us adults. I commented to Taylor that I am not sure that I would have been able to speak to so many people without being really nervous.  She just shrugged and said that it was actually kind of fun.  This was nice to hear, since she was a little reluctant at first.  I can't imagine her ever being nervous about talking in front of anyone in Oakhurst, like Taylor needs an excuse to talk more.

Tay winning the 400

  After doing her speech, she then competed in two track and field events and three swimming events.  The difficult thing for her this week was that despite the fact that she is actually a fourth grader, she is in a fifth grade class and had to compete against the fifth graders.  She did well against the fifth graders, but to be fair we compared her results to the fourth grade times.  In the 400 she took first and won by two seconds.  In the 25 meter freestyle and backstroke swimming event, she beat the fifth graders and won.  Her swimming relay team got second place.  As far as her other events, she did pretty well and placed well in all of them.  On the final day of events, the afternoon was taken up by Cecelia and Taylor competing in parent/child events.  Cecelia and Taylor won four events.  They were rewarded with bars of soap and paper towels, both highly  prized in China

.

Taylor Phelps winning the Freestyle!!!!

  Cecelia had a nice week.  She only taught on Monday and Tuesday.  She did go in and work occasionally, but it was on her own time.  Paul and I had regular schedules and actually I was planning for mid - terms so it was a week of review.

ADVENTURES:  This week's adventure revolves around Paul's birthday on Friday the 26th.  Initially we were going to take him out to dinner for his birthday in Goungzhou and shopping for some clothes.  But, he decided that he didn't want to spend his birthday in Goungzhou and wanted to do something more exciting, so he and I went to Macau.  So, on Friday afternoon after school was out he and I rode our scooters to the South Goungzhou Rail Station.  From there we took the fast train to north Zhuhai and then a cab to the Macau border.

  If I haven't explained to you yet, Macau is called a SAR.  Hong Kong is also a SAR.  These two countries are actually part of China, but they act independently.  So when you go into these cities you have to cross a border leaving China and then another one going into Macau.  When you do this you get two stamps in your passport going each direction.  Macau is also the Las Vegas of East Asia.  It generates  five times the revenue that Las Vegas does and is bigger.  The casinos are spread over three distinct islands.  Macau is amazingly beautiful and has quite a bit of the historic Portuguese landmarks still remaining.  When you walk around the historic part of town, you get a very European feel.

  Anyway, when Paul and I got to town we made our way to a hotel where I had made a reservation.  Apparently there was an error in my online reservation, so we did not have a room.  Now you might think that this would put a damper on the weekend, but Paul and I look at every trip as an adventure.  So he and I wandered around to a couple of other hotels and found one that made us a great deal.  Initially, they had told us 800 Macau dollars per night, but when we looked at the room Paul talked them down to 650 a night.  So in US dollars that is about $100 a night to share a room.  So what kind of room do you get in Macau for 650 a night.  Paul and I ended up describing it as a Hostel Brothel Sorority.  It was a small room with two single beds with mattresses that were hard as the wood floor we stood on.  The shower and toilet were all one fixture and the window to the room was wall papered over.  The other thing about the hotel was that it was also a massage parlor.  Our room was the only one on an entire floor of massage rooms, which you would think wouldn't be a problem after a certain time of day.  But, apparently the massage studio stays open 24 hours a day.  More to come about the Brostel Sorority.

  After Paul and I dropped our bags off in the room, we walked up to The Grand Lisboa for dinner and gambling.  Paul was really enjoying himself at dinner, because he was having a steak filet with an amazing mushroom gravy sauce, veggies, drinking a beer with his good friend and brother (me of course) and listening to Foreigners song "I Don't Want to Live Without You".  It was hard to imagine that we were in Macau and not in Vegas.

  We then made our way to the casino floor and got totally hosed at the slot machines.  When we got back to the Brostel Sorority at around midnight, Paul thought it would be good to sit in the sauna and get a massage.  At two in the morning, we finished our man spa and went to bed.  Both of us had fallen asleep on the massage table, which was a good thing since we didn't get much sleep in our dungeon.  But who needs sleep in the Vegas of the east, right?

  We did get up at around 9 and headed out for breakfast at McDonald's.  Nothing like Macaroni, Sausage and Egg Combo to start your day off right.  We then did a bit of site seeing and at some of the old Portuguese landmarks.  We finally made it to the Wynn casino.  This was one of our main objectives, because it is the only place we have been able to find a good cigar.  A couple of Romeo and Juliet cigars for later in the evening and we were off to the casino floor.  Without much success at the Wynn, we headed to the MGM Grande to gamble and go to Octoberfest for dinner.  Again we just got killed on the gambling floor so we took our bruised pocketbooks to Oktoberfest.  On the way to Oktoberfest we walked by the most amazing seafood buffet that we had ever seen.  There was this glass that had racks of ice with seafood piled on top of it.  There were whole scallops, oysters, shrimp, snails, and sushi.  The final selling point to us was the piles of Atlantic Lobsters.  Oktoberfest then became an after thought.  There were other amazing things at the buffet and they were equally as good as the seafood buffet.  We stuffed ourselves full, topped it off with a nice Shiraz and then headed back to the hotel while smoking our fine cigars.  On the way, we stopped and enjoyed a water and light show at the Wynn.  It was an exquisite evening.  The city really comes alive at night, as you can imagine.  In the old Portuguese square we took some pictures with some friends and then headed back to try and get a decent nights sleep.  We had planned on getting up early the next morning and catching a train.  Paul also wanted to try to catch the Oregon Duck game that was going to be on early.

  We actually went to bed at a decent hour.  Right around ten, but sleep was not to be in the cards.  The Brostel was hopping.  We maybe dozed until around 12 and then the fun started.  Paul's back started to bother him so he got up.  Then the mother hen of the Brostel came up and started yelling at the girls that are masseuses there.  This went off and on for about two hours.  Finally I got up and was answering some email until about 3 am.  I told Paul it was pointless and we packed up and headed out to find a goof wi fi connection.  We were not successful at the first casino, so we walked up to the Grande Lisboa.  While at the Grande Lisboa we got some news that would change our lives forever.  Paul received a phone call from his wife Shannon informing us that our dad had died that evening.  We then spent the rest of the morning getting a hold of family on Skype to try and help take care of things.  It is probably an understatement to say that it is difficult to take care of business from the other side of the world.  Fortunately  for Paul and I, we have two outstanding brothers that are working to take care of business in our absence.

  Some of you may be wondering why I would save a piece of information like this for the end of the blog.  The reason is, because my Dad would have wanted it that way.  At no time in my life have I felt so good about someone passing away.  I know that may sound strange, but what I mean is that my Dad and I had a long talk before we came to China. He told me in no uncertain terms that if something were to happen to him while  we were away, we were not to come back.  My Dad was extremely proud of Paul and I for taking the risk to come here.  He was following the blog every week and was getting a lot of enjoyment out of our adventure.  My Dad must of had a premonition, because even as of a few weeks ago when we had a nice Skype conversation he reiterated the same instructions.  I feel comfortable that my Dad is in heaven with my Grandparents and Mother.  The next section is a tribute to my Dad.

SAM OETINGER:  To describe my Dad, I am going to give you first a brief synopsis of a movie called "The Big Fish".  "The Big Fish" is the story of a son that has a difficult time relating to his dying father.  The son feels that he never gets the whole truth from the stories his father would tell.  In the end when the Dad dies all the people that he told stories about came to his memorial.  They had been embellished a bit in the stories, but who they were was true.  So, my Dad was "The Big Fish".

  Growing up in our house was a rather interesting experience.  We were like rolling stones.  You can ask Wes, Paul and I and we will probably tell you different versions of how many schools we attended, but I know for sure that I attended 19 different schools before I graduated from high school.  Those 19 schools included a two and a half year stay at San Dieguito High School in Encinitas, CA.  Mike can tell you about the many schools he attended, but mom and dad had settled down a bit more for him.

  Anyway, the reason that we moved so much was because my Dad was trying to do the best he could to provide for his family.  I know this, because he and I didn't exactly see eye to eye on certain things and during a rather tumultuous time in my early adult life we had our very first heart to heart that changed our relationship for ever.  You see, I was much like the son of "The Big Fish".  My dad had told me so many stories I didn't know what to believe and I blamed him for a lot of things that happened while growing up.  It was at that time that he told me about what he had tried to accomplish while I was still living with them and apologized for not helping me more with college and all of the responsibility he had heaped on my as a young boy.  I realized then that the man wasn't afraid of hard work and was always looking for the next best thing to help him with supplying for his family.  When my dad got involved in the movie industry the stories he told us were way out there, but for the most part true.  I will never forget when we moved to California from Eugene, OR.  The six of us drove during the summer in a Chevy Vega station wagon with no air conditioning through the Central Valley to meet this guy named Chuck Norris in Hollywood.  I will never forget the day that I met a young Chuck Norris.  My Dad had been hired to promote this movie called "Good Guys Wear Black".  I am convinced to this day that if wasn't for my dad's hard work, Chuck's career would not have gotten off the ground as fast as it did.  Now, don't misunderstand me, Chuck Norris was going to be a big star no matter what, but because of my dad's hard work his career took off like a meteor.  I remember driving with my dad out to the most obscure towns in the middle of the Central Valley and Mojave area to deliver the film cans for the movies at some podunk drive in theater.  Those damn film cans were heavy, man.  There were times I hated lugging those stupid things around.  From that point I kind of lost track of what my dad was doing in the industry.  I was experiencing the angst of those teenage years.

  Occasionally I would get involved with what he was doing.  We got invited to go sailing on Thanksgiving Day out of Corona Del Mar on some rich guy's 60 ft. sail boat, but I don't remember who it was.  Over time as I was beginning college and moving out on my own he would tell me about some thing he was doing, but ignorantly I felt like he was just flaunting money and throwing names around.  One time, while he was working in Utah he came into L.A. for a meeting and asked me to meet him for dinner.  We met at some restaurant called The Brown Derby.  He was excited about our meeting, but I was still pissed at him for breaking his promise about helping with college so I didn't really appreciate what I was experiencing.  When I finally grew up and became my own man, proud of my accomplishments for the sake of me doing them and understanding where he came from I started to experience some of the great people he had told us about.  I had heard stories about Burt Reynolds, Dom Deluise, Jerry Reed(The Waterboy).  One day I went to visit mom and day in Vegas.  We were sleeping in a motor home in the parking lot of some casino and Dom Deluise comes banging on the door to play a practical joke on my parents.  I couldn't believe it.  My mom had a special relationship with Michael Landon up until his death from cancer.  Finally, all of my dad's stories really came to life when Cecelia and I moved to Oakhurst.  We were looking to relocate and my dad set us up to meet a friend of his that lived in the area.  We arrived in Oakhurst and were shown around town by Richard Keel.  If you don't remember Richard Keel, he was best known for his role as Jaws in the James Bond movies with Roger Moore.  He was larger than life.  He put us up in a bed and breakfast in Ahwahnee, introduced us to the principal at Wasuma and treated us to dinner.  He was a huge part of why we moved to Oakhurst.  The thing that most impressed me about Richard Keel was that he wasn't just an acuaintence.  He and his wife genuinely spoke about the friendship that they had with my mother and father.  I had never heard any stories about my dad working with Richard.  Richard shared a few amazing stories about my dad.  When my mom passed away, the Keels sent a note of condolence.

  So you see, to me my dad used to just tell tall tales and I didn't believe him.  He would always embellish everything to make it sound important.  Even as he got out of the business and moved to different things he would always make everything sound so much bigger than it really was.  We used to tease him about how he should become a tour guide because of the great stories he could bring up off the top of his head.

  Recently I was with a group of men that could talk fondly about what they had in common with their dads.  I felt envious because even now I have felt like what ever I have done in my life has come from my own efforts, through my faith in God, and hard work.  I would never attribute any of that to my father.

  That changes from this day forth.  In thinking about my dad, I give him credit for giving me the drive to look for the next thing that will help my family.  I thank him for being "The Big Fish", because I am one of his "Little Fish".  I may not embellish as much as him, but I do exaggerate and have a creative mind.  This blog is a perfect example of that.  Finally, I give him credit for instilling a work ethic in me that helps me to work hard and be proud of my accomplishments. In his nearly 70 years of life, he experienced quite a few amazing things and I appreciate that wonder of discovery that he and my mom shared with us.  Why do you think my family is living in China and experiencing this right now?

  Thanks Dad for giving us the ability to take risks in life.  I love you and am happy that you had the opportunity to have two loving women in your life.  You were lucky to have Mom and Chris to share your life with.

  Finally, as I was snuggling with Taylor tonight before she went to sleep she asked me if I was going to be alright.  I told her I was great, because I believe that her grandpa is in heaven with my Grandparents and his wife.  She said that she had seen two butterflies together today and that they looked like they were dancing for joy.  When my mom died and we had a memorial for her, a huge swallow tailed butterfly landed on my head and stayed there for a long time.  Since then, we have always associated that butterfly with my mom.  You can make your own connection for what Taylor and Claire saw today.  I know I have my own conclusion.

The Way of the Water Buffalo

  To my teaching friends in Oakhurst, I hope you had a great week off.  Now get back to work you slackers!!!
  Anyway, this week's blog will address a couple of pressing issues that we have been discussing here.  The first being are we more civilized in the U.S. and is it better to be a man in China or the U.S.
  First I will get back to my normal format and let you know about Teaching and Adventures.

Claire preparing for take off!!!!

TEACHING:  This week, teaching was really difficult for Paul and I.  I had one class on Monday and then two classes on Tuesday.  Both days were getting ready for exams.  BORING!!!  Paul had a few classes on Monday and Tuesday as well.  The rest of the week we had a sports festival, so Paul and I spent the rest of the week watching our kids at their various events in the mornings.  We would then go on scooter adventures.  More of this to come later in the Adventure section.  The other great thing about being out of class was getting to watch Claire Bear.

She really does think she can fly!!!!

  Claire is doing very well at school and in the sports arena.  Her years of track have really helped her here.  I don't mean to brag, but she is a Star with a capital S.  Her swim relay team won their event.  She also won the 50 meter backstroke.  The really awesome thing she did this week, was break the school record in long jump and 800 meter race.  Her Chinese teacher was so impressed with her, she gave Claire a hard time for not signing up for more events.  Anyway, we are all very proud of her.
  This next week will be Taylor's opportunity to shine.  She is starting the week off by giving a speech to the entire student body, all 5000 of the students and staff.  It is a great honor to do this speech.  Taylor is working hard to memorize it.  At the practice the other day, she did an outstanding job.

Perfect Landing

   I did have a couple of meetings this week to work on curriculum and listen to an I.B. presentation.  The curriculum meeting was great, because a number of us teachers have gotten together to collaborate on lessons.  We are putting the I.B. model into practice despite the loose framework that is followed here.  Just like the rest of the world, the school worries more about test scores than anything else.  Being a private school it matters even more.  Got to get those kids into Universities!

  The I.B. presentation was not as fun.  It was presented at 7:30 in the evening and given by a Chinese National that didn't speak very good English.  He meant well, but the fact is that the I.B. model is supposed to be cross curricular and yet, just like everything else, it comes down to specialization.  Anyway, I am not going to beat the drum for or against the program, teachers are always going to do what they feel is best for their students.  The students here are going to do well, because of their work ethic.  Their biggest struggle is thinking out of the box.  But, I guess that is the big problem for most of us until we start working in the real world and do whatever is necessary to be successful in our chosen careers.
  Anyway, time for me to get off of my soapbox.  It is time to get to some adventures.

ADVENTURES:  As I mentioned earlier, Paul and I would go on scooter adventures after watching the sports in the morning.  Our goal each day was to find a new historical building or cultural spot each day.  So the first day we headed out to find a famous Pagoda that we have seen on some of our other travels.  We started out fine, but the next thing we knew we were riding our scooters on a highway.  So, imagine driving down Hwy. 99 going south from Fresno to Bakersfield and seeing two guys without helmets riding in the slow lane doing about 25 miles an hour.  The first words that might come to mind are Stupid, Idiots, Psycho or Suicidal.  We crossed a bridge and went through a tunnel and got off as soon as we could find a place.  We decided that even after a short trek, we needed to stop for a beer and some lunch.  We finished that afternoon off, by going to the driving range and playing a putting game with the manager.  Needless to say, we never found the Pagoda.
  The next day, we started out early.  We dropped Taylor off at school and then headed out to find this Buddhist Temple that we saw on a map.  This time we were successful.  It was a small, but nice temple.  Paul and I wish we could read the characters better.  It would be nice to understand what the statues and incense were all about.  We really love the incense.  There are rooms with statues in them that have hundreds of round incense lanterns in them.  The smell is intoxicating.

Doesn't he seem docile???

He is standing where I was!!!!!

  After leaving the temple we decided to ride around the countryside a bit.  We had not ridden very far when we spied some Water Buffalo grazing in a nearby field.  We decided to stop and try to get some pictures of them.  Taylor had yet to see one of these amazing animals and I wanted to get a good picture for her.  So with Paul following a few paces behind me, I walked to a place that I thought would give me a good picture. I didn't have my big camera only my cell phone, so I needed to be close to them to get a quality photo.  Now understand, these animals seem very docile and the one we were close to was tethered.  So you would figure that someone had to take the animal out and hook it to the tether, right!!!  I put my camera up to take the picture and the bull looked right at me.  I was thinking great what a picture, until I saw the whites of the animals eyes and heard Paul yell "Run Rusty Run".  As I glanced around the phone in my hand I saw the Water Buffalo take its first initial step towards me before it began the full on charge.  I never saw the rest of the steps.  I turned and ran like my record breaking 12 year old.  I didn't care what I was running through.  I was just praying that I wasn't running into a cobra or asp of some kind.  When I made it to Paul the danger was apparently over and my heart started beating again.  When I looked back, the buffalo was standing in the place I had been.  Trust me, not for one minute was I trying to prove my manhood.  I wasn't trying to slap the bull on the butt, like Tim Allen in "Road Hogs".  After this adrenaline rush we headed out on our Harley's, oh I mean scooters.

  We then traveled south for about 15 minutes and saw a large interesting object in the distance.  We made our way and found Baomo Garden.  You had to pay to get into the garden, so Paul and I decided to come back with Cecelia and the girls on the weekend.  We then made our way back home and I got a massage and then went to the driving range to practice.
  On Friday, I played my first round of golf in about eight weeks and Paul watched the Oregon Duck Game. I had a great time and shot 78 on an absolutely beautiful golf course.  That evening we went out with some teacher friends to have hamburgers and beer at a Canadian restaurant called the Brew.

MISC:  This last part is a little difficult because I feel that words are not enough to describe what we are experiencing here.  I know I have mentioned it before, but I wish you were all here to see and feel what we are doing.  Please forgive me for waxing a little poetic, but after seeing the Garden at Baomo today, it is hard to want to come home.  The beauty of the Garden and the atmosphere almost brought Cecelia and I to tears a number of times.  It isn't just the beauty, but the appreciation of the atmosphere.  The sound of the running water and the beauty of the rock formations, as well as the pace of life make me feel like I have just been chasing my tail.  It really makes you ask the question, "What are you really pursuing in life?"  Should it be less about things and more about experiences.  I have always felt like I have lived my life to the fullest.  I also feel like I take time to appreciate things like my faith, family, friends and home.  I often hear people say, "Appreciate your children,  they grow up so fast".  This statement to me has always been kind of stupid.  I totally enjoy watching them grow up and being there for their successes and failures.  I am proud of them and can't wait to see them grow up into beautiful people.  Besides, who doesn't appreciate their children.
  Anyway, what I was trying to say is that it feels like there is a deeper sense of appreciation that I need to attain.  I know that I talked a little about this last week, but I feel like it is something that seeps into your soul while you are here.  It will probably make me a better man.
  I have added a new slide show in order to share as much as I can in pictures.

MISC. P.S.  I had forgotten about the questions that Paul and I were contemplating regarding being civilized in the States or in China.  These are questions that make you want to go Hmmmm!!!
  Is it more civilized to have the kids pee in the chlorinated pool in the U.S. or for the little boys we see get out of the pool and whip it out to pee on a nearby tree?  Hmmmmm!!!!
  As a man is it more civilized to have squat pots, in which you never have to worry about putting the seat down or to have to deal with the seat in the U.S?  Hmmmmm!!!!

Back to School and Macau

  TEACHING:  This week at school we got back to work after the week off.  It wasn't too bad getting back into the swing of things after the break.  We had all started to feel somewhat comfortable with schedules.     Unfortunately Paul got sick at the beginning of the week and was laid up for a couple of days.  He is fine now and was able to make it to Zhuhai with us this weekend.
  Cecelia had a good week, but had some difficulty with technology.  She does an amazing job of winging it.  I helped her out one afternoon.  Her job is very challenging.  She has such a large range of students learning English.  Our school is just like any other in that trying to service every type of child is challenging.  The main difference here than back at home is that the middle group of students is definitely the driving force.  They definitely have the attitude that the group is greater than the individual.   I have been asked to write an article on how to teach vocabulary.  I am going to collaborate with Cecelia.  We have already been having discussions with the way I am training their elementary staff.  My focus is to have the math teachers reinforce the vocabulary through math.  Even though they have internet available, the teachers rarely use it to create or get ideas for lessons.  I assigned each grade level to find a new website they can use for their classes.  They present to each other this week.
  Golf has been a little slow around here, until this week.  I am getting ready to present to the PE staff and administration a comprehensive golf program for their school.  Also, on Friday I thought I was giving another presentation to some important people at the school, but ended up going with a family to a golf course and giving lessons to their two children.  I was also invited to dinner afterward in the clubhouse.  I guess I passed the test with these really important people, because I was invited back next week.  They also requested that I bring my daughters with me.

In an effort to share some of where we are I am trying to add the slide shows.  If they don't work, I will just continue to add them to the blog.

  ADVENTURES:  For those of you that don't know where we are,the best way to find us is to go on Google Maps and punch in Guangzhou.  We are just south of there near Zhuangjia
  While thinking about the blog for this week.  I began to think about how grown up my oldest daughter seems to be getting.  She went on her first overnight field trip this week with school.  As a parent, it was a nervous and gratifying experience all at the same time.
  It was nerve wracking because the details of the trip were lost in translation.  Here we are in China and she is going to spend the night with people that we have only known for five weeks.  We did know the people running the field trip, so we felt comfortable that she was in good hands.  Besides, the way they keep track of the kids while on campus is like being in a military camp.  They are so protective that one evening it took us about 20 minutes to get Taylor off of campus, because she didn't have a student card.  Even though it is a hassle sometimes, we really love that about our school.
  Anyway, she went away with a smile and didn't look back.  Cecelia had given her the phone she uses so that she could call and let us know how she was doing.  It was great to get those calls in the evening and hear about the exciting things that she had experienced.  Over the two days she went to a poor school and gave money and books away.  She was chosen to be the giver of the items, because the kids in the village rarely have an opportunity to visit with foreigners.  She got to experience what it was to be a rockstar for a day.  The kids were asking her for autographs, holding her hand and wanting to touch her hair.  She then went to a fishing village and went out on a fishing boat.  She also went to a museum and a Buddhist Temple.  The excitement in her voice while she was describing her adventure was infectious.
  We went to Zuhai and Macau this weekend.  Zuhai is about an hour away from us in the south on the fast train.  The train to Zuhai is amazing.  It is so quiet and fast.  Paul and I watched and clocked the train going 198 kilometers per hour.  We were hoping to hit at least 200, but it just didn't happen.  When you are going roughly 120 miles an hour on this train, you really don't notice the speed.  It is amazing to watch the countryside go by and realize that agriculture and city can totally coexist.  After getting out of the taxi somewhere in the area we wanted to go, we went and had lunch.  So far, I can say that I have ordered the most exotic meal so far.  It was called "French Vanilla Sheep Who Fight Fire".  I couldn't resist and took a chance.  Come to find out it was half a rack of Lamb with this amazing sauce and vegetables.  Who knew that I have been ordering it wrong in the states all along.  I can't wait to get back home and order the same thing.  When we got to Zuhai we made our way to the beach.  Needless to say our first beach experience in Southern China was disappointing.  The tide was out and we walked along the rocks of the bay we found.  I promptly took a step onto the sandstone and quickly found out that it was mud.  No wonder all of the Gobi fish were having such a good time.  My Nike running shoes will never be the same.  Paul had a good time watching the rats run in and out of the boulders near the shore.  After that, we decided to go ahead and visit Macau.  Macau is supposed to have a nice beach.  We took about an hour getting through the border.  For those of you that don't know, Macau is part of China, but it is still a separate country.  So you have to get a new stamp in your passport when you leave China and then enter Macau.  I commented to Paul after we were done, that I have done a good job as a dad, because my kids now have more stamps in their passports than I did when I was 40.  I guess that would be a feather in my cap.  Anyway, I digress.  We then took a shuttle to the Sheraton Casino so that we could see the strip.  It is supposed to be larger than Vegas.  When we arrived we were not disappointed.  The Casinos in the area are extremely large and sprawling.  The Galaxy and Venetian are particularly large complexes.  It was still early so we took a cab from the Sheraton to find a beach.  We finally found one and the girls had a great time frolicking in the 80 degree water and playing in the black sand.  After cleaning up we headed back to the strip and ate dinner at the Venetian.  The inside of the Venetian is just like the one in Vegas, with the water and Gondolas inside the Grand Canal.  Paul and I gambled for a little while, and Cecelia and the girls went window shopping.  After a bit, we switched and Cecelia gambled and Paul and I took over with the girls.  I was the big winner of the night.  I started with $120 Hong Kong dollars and finished with around $320.  It was a nice little chunk of change that helped me pay for my new Rolex.  Yes, I did by a new Rolex.  It is amazing how far your money can go out on the street.  I got mine for 100 Yuan, while the suckers inside were paying $85,000 for theirs.  Man can I spot a deal.  I was so excited about the deal, I bought two.  One for me and one for a friend.
  On the way back that evening we got to see the other strip lit up.  It was beautiful.  There are three bridges that connect the different sections of Macau and they had lights on them as well.  The whole place is rather surreal.

MISC.  That evening, when we returned home Cecelia found an article on Yahoo.  It was the ten places that people should go that would change their lives and attitudes about the world.  I can honestly say that we are experiencing one of these places.  The daily living here makes us realize how lucky we are to have the opportunity to share this with our children and my brother.  Our lives have already been enriched and the world just seems smaller.  I hope that by us being here, it will give some of you a little wanderlust.  It is truly an experience that I would encourage all of you to do.

PAUL'S CORNER:  Rusty has done a great job explaining a lot of what is happening in our part of the World.  However I wanted to share some of my thoughts on our experiences.  It is an absolute blessing to be sharing this time with my brother, sister and my two wonderful nieces. They always make me feel as one of the immediate family.
    Going to Guangzhou, Zhuhai and Macau have been wonderful but there is so much history right where we live that we actually would not have to travel far to see something of interest.  This area was once all considered to be part of a territory known as Panyu.  It was settled by the Qing Dynasty in the 1600's and now is the 3rd largest financial district in all of China.  It definitely is an area where the combination of industrial, municipal, residential and agriculture come together.
     Although we all continue to work on speaking Chinese we still are a long ways away from being fluent.  I have had some degree of success ordering food, and having conversation with any Chinese citizen who is willing to listen to me.  I especially enjoy matching their tone and inflection when they become frustrated with me.   I am committed to learning the language and  will continue to joke with the taxi drivers who do not understand English.
     Lastly I will mention that anytime Rusty, Cec, Claire, Taylor and myself take off on our scooters it is always an adventure.  From driving the wrong way on major streets (the Chinese Way), to having taxi drivers dropping us off because we lack the skills to give better instructions, or finding a Church in China filled with beautiful voices from Africa.  I am loving China.  I told Rusty that I actually feel less restricted here than in the states.  I would also like to say that the only thing that would have improved all these adventures is if my wife, Shannon was here to share these special memories with me.

Still looking and praying for a Church home.
   
   

Mid October Festival Adventures

  What is the Mid October Festival?  Many of you are probably thinking, "Wait a second, our October break isn't until the last week in October".  Not so in China.  The Mid October Festival week is a celebration of The first full moon in Autumn, and China's Independence Day.  The Full Moon is commemorated by fruit being delivered to all the workers.  Also, everyone recieves Moon Cakes.  Now I know that I have said that the food here is amazing and we haven't come across anything that we didn't like, but it is different with the Moon cakes.  Moon cakes come in a variety of flavors and they are to celebrate the harvest time, but to our American tastes, it just doesn't gel.  The first time I was offered Moon cake was in the village.  A nice family offered me a bight while I was buying some drinks at their store.  I didn't want to offend them so I gave it a try.  Besides, the whole family was eating it and seemed to be enjoying it immensly.    I took a nice big bight and then proceeded to do the best acting job of my life.  To this point it was the worst tasting thing I had tried so far.  It even beat out the shrimp eggs attached to the half kilo of shrimp I had for lunch one afternoon.  Besides aren't shrimp eggs considered cavier.  Anyway, as I thanked the family with a warm smile on my face and a good healthy swallow I turned and walked briskly back to my family that was waiting for me to have lunch.  Thankfully I found a gap in the buildings on my way back and deposited the mouthful of Moon cake in a very polite manner in the opening.  I still had a piece of the Moon cake when I returned and put in a mouse hole near the dumpling restaurant where my family was waiting.  Now you know that something is not so good, when the mouse came out of it's hole, sniffed the Moon cake and then ran back into his hole.  Eventually he came back and took the rest, I guess figuring beggars can't be to choosy.  So that you don't think that I am insulting the culture here, while talking with a couple of our Chinese friends we found out that most of the people here don't like them either.  There are a couple of types that are good.  They make an ice cream version that is supposed to be very good.  There is a great story about Moon cakes that we learned recently.  Apparently they played a big part of the Chinese Independence.  The way the story goes, the Chinese were being ruled by the Mongols a long time ago.  So the Chinese wanted to get rid of the Mongols.  In order to get rid of them, they planned a revolution and uprising to throw them out of the country.  The way they passed the word was by putting the notes in the Moon Cakes.  The Mongols hated the Moon cakes and would not eat them, so the notes were passed successfully.  So on the planned night the revolution went off without a problem and they threw the Mongols out.  That is a paraphrased version, so don't quote me on the whole story.  I just thought it was interesting how a pastry helped cause a revolution.

  Well, we didn't teach this week so I thought I would share with you some of the adventures we went on:

Sunday: We took the Scooters to the Driving Range.  I have included a short video documenting this trip.  It included a drive through the local countryside, some of the city and our local village.  I have tried not to make it terribly long, but at least give you an idea of the dichotomy that we live in here.

Monday: In the compound we live in, we have mentioned that we have a nice resort pool, basketball courts, tennis courts, badminton courts, bowling alley and a couple of really nice restaurants.  But, we also have an amusement park.  So we took the girls to the local Amusement Park and flower garden.  The amusement park was very interesting.  The rides were more like rusted carnival rides.  We went on a couple, but roller coasters were out of the question.  The highlights were the bird sanctuary and the family tumbling act.  The bird santuary was awesome.  It had Macaws, Parrots and Cockatoos.  This is not like the bird experiences in the US, where you pay $10 and hopefully a small bird will land on your hand and slurp out of your cup.  This is more like a scene out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.  You step into the cage with a handful of sunflower seeds and you instantly have 5 to 10 birds on you.  They land on your head, shoulders and arms, waiting to be fed.  Claire and Cecelia even had a Cockatoo that tried to eat their hair.  I had a Macaw sit on my shoulder and even had a Cockatoo befriend me and sit on my hand like a bird of prey.  The birds were very friendly and respectful.  None of us had a bird relieve themselves on us.
  The family that did the tumbling act was a young boy and three sisters.  They did some amazing feats of acrobatics.  The most amazing feat was the older sister twirling her younger sister end over end, while laying on her back.  You really needed to see it to believe it.

Tuesday:   We went and got lost on the Metro in Guangzhous.  We had an enjoyable time with the masses that represent China so well.  They have a funny cartoon in the subway that depicts a man squished up against the closed doors of the subway.  The meaning is that people shouldn't push and shove.  Obviously, they don't pay attention to the sign.  The great thing was that we had Paul with us and his broad shoulders acted like a bus in the middle of a street filled with scooters.  Basically he just ran people over as we were pushed from behind.  The rest of us just followed in his wake.  Actually the Metro is very nice.  It is definitely well designed to move millions of people efficiently.
  The other find we made on this day was the biggest book store that you will ever see in your life.  It is basically a seven story building filled to the brim with books.  It even had a basement filled with CD's and DVD's.  Amazon has nothing on these guys.  If I haven't mentioned it before, they do everything big here.  I know they say that they do everything big in Texas.  Well Texas pales in comparison to what I have seen in this country.

Artwork in Garden Area of local Home of Interest

Wednesday:  Today we decided to go on a scooter adventure to a town called Clifford.  We wanted to eat lunch at this Thai food restaurant that we had seen while eating with a group of our teacher friends.  The food was outstanding and the atmosphere was great.  They have big tanks of live fish, toads, shrimp and crabs to choose from for lunch.  There is just something about picking the fish you are going to eat while it is swimming in front of you.  I guess you can't get it much fresher than that.

The carpentry is amazing here

  After lunch we stopped at a shopping center to see if they had inexpensive DVD's that a friend had told us about.  Paul likes to use them to help teach English in his class.  He plays sections of the movies with the English subtitles on the bottom and then stops to discuss different aspects of the language.  It is quite effective, and he is doing very well.  I told him he should have been a teacher long ago.  We also discovered a great looking Indian restaurant run by a man named Phillip.  Phillip was very helpful and allowed the ladies to use his restroom.  We got a menu from him and he also gave us the address to the church in Guangzhou.  We left and told him would be back. (More to come from Phil's place later).
  What would a nice ride be without a little adventure and mishap.  As you already know, my adventures with two wheeled vehicles has been a story unto itself.  Well apparently my scooter did not get a full charge the night before and on the way back my battery died.  I basically had to push my scooter the last mile and a half until we got back into Country Garden.  At that point I pulled the battery out and rode the bus the rest of the way home.  Imagine the looks of "What an Idiot" I got as I boarded the bus carrying my battery.  Thankfully my wonderful wife was waiting for me at the bus stop and gave me a ride home.

Stairwell inside Local Mayors Home

The Gardens are Amazing!!!

Thursday:  Today was all about getting homework done for the girls and then going to the Chimelong Water Park.  There is not much to say about the homework other than to say that when you go to an IB school, you get homework over the vacation.  The parents basically demand it from the teachers for their kids during the time off.  Claire had a Math packet and three, five page reports to write over the break.  Of course she waited until the last few days of the break to start.
  About midday, our faithful cab driver Sam came by and drove us to the Water Park.  I know that I already mentioned that they do things big here, and the Water Park was no exception.  Imagine Disneyland in Anaheim as a giant Water Park with only Water rides and exhibits.  It was Awesome, with a capital A.  The lazy river isn't just a lazy river.  There are waves, tunnels and people shooting you with water cannons from the very beginning to the end.  Oh yeah, Taylor told me not to forget about the Southern Hemisphere Penguin tank.  "They were so cute", she says.  We even saw a stage show while hanging out in the wave tank.  The highlight of the show was the fire dancers.  They were very good, but I questioned the ending stunt.  The show ended with a fire dancer sticking a flaming torch down the front of his pants and then they burst into flames.  Now you can interpret this in two ways.  No. 1 is that the guy thinks he is really manly and that he is proving his manhood.  Or, he is already fixed and had an accident with self cauterization.  I tend to lean toward the latter.

The random pictures are from house that Cecelia and I toured on one of our walks near home.

Friday: This day was a low key day.  We cleaned up and workded around the house.  The girls continued to work on homework and I went and had my weekly Massage.  Of all the creature comforts here, the massages are the best deal.  You can get an hour and a half massage for 60 rmb, which is $10 us money.  I get the hour and a half Thai oil massage that costs 180.  Yes folks that equates to 30 us dollars.  We can't help it, we live in paradise.  I also got a haircut and had lunch for an additional 60 rmb.  So to do the math, one 90 min. massage, a haircut and lunch for a grand total of?  Wait for it, 240 rmb. That is a grand total of 40 bucks state side.  Man you got to love this country.
  After the Massage and homework, we went to have dinner at Phillip's Indian Restaraunt.  I told you we would be back.  We had Mutton Curry (Medium by the way), Butter Masala Chicken (Recommended by Phillip for the Girls), Chicken Drumbstick kabob, Garlic Nan Bread and a beef rice dish that was amazing, but we can't remember the name.  This was capped off by beer and mango yogurt smoothy.  Are you salivating yet?  To top it off, Phillip made us an Indian Pancake with Strawberry filling that was on the house.  He said it was because our girls were so beautiful.  He is a man of good taste, after my own heart.  Even Sam our trusty interpreter and cab driver helped us finish dessert.  We departed from Phillip with a hearty, "We will be back soon" and headed for the Chimelong Circus.
  The Chimelong Circus was going to be Claire and Taylor's first circus.  We were hoping that it was going to be good.  We were not disappointed.  The Circus started out with an amazing laser light show and these amazing bungee jumpers that wore suits that had neon stripes on them.  It is hard to describe so I will try to add a picture.  The girls were not disappointed by the number of amazing acts and all of the animals that were involved.  This was the first circus that I had ever been to that had giraffes in the parade of animals.  They are amazing and majestic animals.  When the circus was over I asked the girls to give me their impression of their first circus.  Taylor said, "It was Awesome" and Claire commented that it was, "The most Amazing thing I have ever seen".  Now those are priceless statements.  Take that Visa!!!

Saturday:  On this day, Cecelia and I started the day off with an awesome Yoga workout.  Who needs Bikram Yoga, when the temperature in the morning with the doors open is about 80 degrees and the humidity is 90.  It is tough holding Triangle Pose when the sweat from your arm that is in the air drips into your eyes when you are looking up.  Anyway, I digress.  After Yoga, Paul and I set off on an adventure to find the Southern Rail way station for the Bullet Train and the Southern most entrance to the Metro.  We took off on our scooters and headed along the river near our home.  I had Google Mapped the route and had an idea of where to go.  I know what you are thinking about now, "Oh know, not another story about Rusty and a two wheeled vehicle".  You will be happy to know that I didn't have any mishaps with my scooter this time.  Anyway, Paul and I rode along the river and then made a right turn to check out a Budhist temple near our route.  It was really cool and even had a Budhist monk that spoke enough English to tell us about the monastary.  He told us his name, but I couldn't remember his Chinese name.  I was not aware that each Budha represents a real person that did something meaningful during their lives.  It is rather strange to see a Budha with a swastika on it's belly.  Apparently this symbol represents peace and harmony, much like ying and yang.  It is sad to think that Hitler took a symbol that represented peace to do the horrible things he did.  The other cool thing about the monestary was all the incense and the unbelievably huge bell that they gong during the week, calling people to pray.
  After our short visit with the monk, we were on our way again.  We meandered through a couple of small towns and then arrived at our destination, the Guangzhou South Railway Station.  Did I mention that they do things very big here in China.  The terminal houses 17 high speed bullet trains and the southern most stop to the Metro to Guangzhou.  It is so large that it is rather Orwellian in nature.  You could put Grand Central Station and the Los Angeles Rail Station Inside this behemoth.  All of the supports on the inside are egg shaped and massive.  You can tell that they built this building to not move millions of people, but tens of millions of people effeciently.  The amazing thing is that their only about 7 trains running at any given time.  Parts of this building almost seem like a ghost town.  Paul and I agreed that their are sections of this building that we wouldn't want to be in at night.  Not because of safety reasons or being attacked, but because of the erie feeling that one gets from just being inside something so large.  I don't think I have been inside a bigger building in my entire life.  It has to fall into one of the engineering wonders of the world.  After doing some scoping out of where to park scooters we headed home.
  On the way back home, we stopped at a restaraunt just down the street from the Budhist temple in a small village.  This time I picked half a kilo of freshwater shrimp for lunch out of the fishtanks out front.  We met a friendly local named James who helped us order from the menu.  By the way, did I mention that most of the time when we order from the menu we usually have to point at the pictures.  We really get in trouble when the menu only has Chinese characters on it.  We can usually muddle through Pinyun, but forget about it when it comes to the characters.  Anyway, James helped us order bar b qued chicken and fried rice, as well as my shrimp.  I pointed at the shrimp to complete my order.  Who needs pictures.  The food came and Paul and I were amazed by the amount of food.  Half a kilo of shrimp is a mound of about 30 on the plate.  The entire chicken came on a seperate plate.  When I say the entire chicken, I mean the entire chicken head and all.  At least the head was bar b qued as well. (We took the bar b qued head home to Taylor)  Finally the fried rice came.  It was mounded on a plate by itself.  There was so much, that it looked like they took a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket and filled it up and then turned it upside down on the plate.
  At this point James finished his lunch and we invited him to stay and have a beer with us.  He couldn't have a beer because he a driving instructor and had a student coming to take a lesson after lunch.  (He must run a pretty brisk business, because all of the drivers, except Sam need lessons).  Anyway he did stay and have tea with us.  He spoke English very well so we had a nice conversation with him.  We commented on the food being so much and he explained to us that the village we were in didn't get many forigners so they were feeding us well so that we would come back.  He also said that because Paul is such a big guy they didn't want him to leave hungry.  Did I mention that we love the people here.  During lunch James talked with us about their tradition of not accepting tips, politics and their economy.  It was very pleasant and we felt like we had made an instant friend.  As we departed, we exchanged numbers with James and he invited us back to have dinner with him and his family one evening.  We will definitely be taking him up on his offer.
  Paul and I then made it back to our home without any eventful scooter stories to tell.

Our new Church Home. The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Sunday:  So today we all hopped on the scooters and headed for the Southern Rail way station to catch the Metro, in order to go to church in Guangzhou.  We had lost internet service at the house the day before so we left early in order to camp out at Starbucks.  Good old Starbucks.  You can't beat their consistancy for worldwide service.  Paul needed to watch the Oregon Duck game and I needed to work on the blog and get some email done.  Cecelia and the girls were still working on homework.  The staff at Starbucks was great, they allowed us to camp out for about three hours at their store.  After we all finished our respective internet activities we headed for McCawley's Irish Pub for lunch.  You can't always eat Chinese food.  I had lamb stew, Taylor had Tacos, Paul had a Taco Salad, Cecelia had a beef wrap and Claire ate an omelette.  After spending some time eating lunch and meeting the owner named Paul, who is from Northern Ireland by the way, we headed back out to the Metro.  We found our way to Haizhou Square and to The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to our new church home.  There are not many to choose from in this part of China so this one will have to do.
  One of the most suprising things about going here is that when we walked in, we actually thought we had time warped to a different country.  98% of the parishiners at the 3:30 English mass are from Africa.  Obviously the Catholic Church has done a great job with missionary work in Africa.  We met a few men that were from South Africa and Uganda.  Another interesting fact that we have learned is that the Catholic Church does not recognize this church for some reason.  I don't know all of the details, but apparently it has something to do with the politics of the church between China and Rome.  I don't know what to tell you, the mass was the same as any other mass that I have been to in the States.  I will tell you one thing though, when all of those African men start singing the Lord's Prayer, you get the feeling that a band of angels have decended into the church and the trumpets of heaven are playing along at the same time.  The accoustics of the church and all of those deep voices creates a sound unlike anything I have ever heard in a church.  It brings chills to your body and a tear to your eye.  I know I am a sap anyway, but it was still a beautiful sound.

  Well that is enough for this week.  I know that I was a little long winded, but it is really difficult to condense what we are experiencing here in a short blog.  It is truly amazing and beautiful here.  There are some challenges with school for Taylor and some of our schedules, so it isn't all bright and rosy.  But, for the most part we having the time of our lives and we have only been here four weeks.  This next week I will be back to my normal blog of Teaching, Adventures and Misc.  Paul has also asked to add a section from him so he will have a little blurb next week as well.  
  By the way, for those of you that were feeling like we were being spoiled by missing a week of school, our next break isn't until mid January.  So enjoy those cushy schedules that you have back in the states with October break, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The grind will be worth it though, because we get a month off starting mid January and we are planning to go to Thailand for two weeks and then to the Great Wall then.  That will give you something to look forward to during your winter duldrums when you come back from vacation.
   So, until next week.  We miss all of you and would love to Skype with any of you.  My Skype name is rustyoety.  Give us a call, it is free.  Just remember, if you are on the East coast we are 12 hours ahead of you and on the West we are 15.

From Bicycles to Scooters

  Well Ok!!!  This was a very interesting week in China.  As I said before I am going to try and categorize the blog into the three sections of teaching, adventures and then a summary of the week for things that don't fit into the other two categories.

  TEACHING:  Well after three weeks Paul, Cecelia and I have not quite settled into our schedules.  For

The first day on Campus

 those of you that don't know, Paul came over to bum around China while his wife and daughter taught.  But both of them went home and Paul stayed and is now teaching at the school.  He has a Bio Chem degree and has never taught in a classroom before.  He is doing a great job teaching oral English and is very innovative.  The kids love him.  He is big and full of life.  The kids are not used to such an outgoing and large personality.
  Cecelia is struggling with the concept of language acquisition at her level.  She is using her expertise and is frustrated with some of the teachers in her program.  They are supposed to be teaching English, but are very unorganized with the way they go about it.  She is trying to organize them and train them to do it in a way that will help their kids be more successful.  She also has to do staff training as well as teach her normal classes.  Her schedule is really disjointed which is also frustrating.
 

View of one part of the National School

As for me, I will admit I have the easiest schedule.  I am the slacker.  I have ten classes and a photography club.  I have also been asked by the staff to train the teachers in Cecelia's section to use more English in their Math lessons.  I am supporting Cecelia by training the staff to use the vocabulary in all of their subject areas. It is a very Whole Language approach, but it is the IB model that they are supposed to be using and don't.  Even though this is an IB Program, the model is used rather loosely.  The ironic thing about training staff is that in my interview I was asked if I felt like I needed to come and change things.  I told them I was coming to learn and experience their culture. I was looking forward to just teaching and prepping for Math class.  I am also being asked to prepare a presentation to develop a golf program for the school from grades 3 through High School.  The PE staff went to a training during the summer for golf, but are very nervous about presenting to parents in the spring.  I will hopefully alleviate some of their concern with the additional training that I am going to give them.
  Despite the crazy schedules and the training that we are doing we still have to appreciate the fact that we are only working about 25 hours a week.  Also the one unique experience that we had this week, was teaching on a Saturday.  The reason that we taught on Saturday, is that we are now on break for eight days for the mid Autumn Festival.  This festival is like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July wrapped into one.  I will share more about the festival later.
  The girls are doing well in school.  Claire has settled in and is enjoying the variety of classes.  She is enjoying Physics, Mandarin and her Design Class.
  Taylor is settling a bit better.  She had many classes in Mandarin and was very frustrated.  We have changed her classes and she now has more work in English.  Her dad is her math teacher now.  She is not quite sure if things got better or worse for her.  Mom is supplementing English with Book reports and California history projects.  She also has Mandarin class and really enjoys movement and badminton.

  ADVENTURES:  Well this week began with me and my quest to find golf facilities to work on my golf game.  I have found a wonderful golf course and driving range about 7 km from our home.  The first time I went out to the resort, I took a rather precarious ride in a motorized ricshaw.  It was fun, until the guy drove out onto the four lane highway.  Your life flashes pretty quickly before your eyes when a semi truck is bearing down on you doing 70 km an hour and you are in nothing more than a glorified folding aluminum lawn chair with wheels and a motor.  Once I arrived, I checked out the course but didn't have a ride back.  I ended up walking the 7 km back to the house.  Heck I need to stay in shape anyway.  Shortly after this crazy experience we purchased inexpensive bicycles in the local village.  I purchased mine for about 17 us

The bike from the Wizard of Oz

dollars and then bought Cecelia, Claire and Taylor's for slightly more.  We enjoyed puttering around the village on them.  The only problem with them is that puttering is about all that you can do.  On Monday, I took Cecelia's bike and threw my golf bag on my shoulders and headed for the driving range.  I figured 7 km on a bike would be nothing.  Boy was I wrong!!  Here I am riding Cecelia's bike, looking like the mean lady in The Wizard of Oz that becomes the wicked witch.  I was laughing at myself because her theme song kept running through my head as I was riding.  Half way to the driving range one of the pedals broke and left me with only the spindle.  A little further down the road the left crank arm fell off the bike.  I put it back on and nursed it to the nearest bike shop.  I spent 80 rmb on new pedals and fixing the crank arm.  Cecelia's bike only cost 180 rmb in the first place.  I finally made it to the driving range and had a nice hour practicing.  It was rather hilarious when the porter cleaned my clubs and then grabbed them to take them out to my vehicle.  The look on his face when I pulled Cecelia's bike up was priceless.  The ride back was just as adventurous.  I felt confident that I could get back in a reasonable time with new pedals and a fixed crank arm.  It was a rather uneventful ride back until I got

Uncle Paul and Tay riding his scooter in the neighborhood.

back to the village just outside of our complex.  The crank arm fell off again and the seat on Cecelia's bike began to break.  On top of that, I rode right into a thunderstorm that had formed near our house.  I took shelter in the overhang of an ancient temple building at the park near our home.  I tried to put the crank arm back on while I waited for the thunder and rain to subside.  There was a slight let up in the rain and thunder so I started off again.  Just before I got home the crank arm fell off again and the rain began to fall in sheets.  When it rains here, it doesn't sprinkle.

The Oetinger Biker Gang out for a ride on new scooters!!!!!

It either comes down in sheets or nothing.  I was totally soaked by the time I reached the house.  The underlying thing that you need to know about this story, is that my brother Paul had been trying to convince me to by an electric scooter, but I didn't want to spend the money.  I figured having bikes would help us stay in shape and would be cheaper.
 I went down the next day and bought new scooters for Cecelia and I.  We have enjoyed them immensely the last part of the week.  We happily rode our scooters to the driving range as a family yesterday.  It was amazingly fun.

 

Our Italian Villa in China!!

SUMMARY:  This last week the weather got cooler after the thunderstorm that hit on Monday.  It has been anywhere from 74 to 80 degrees with
very little humidity.  We continue to explore our environment and   are amazed by the way that they do things here.  We bought a couch this week at a placed called Furniture City.  Furniture City is so large that it is hard to describe.  Paul and I compare it to about 10 malls in America, all filled with furniture.  It is so immense that I almost got lost just going to the nearest ATM.
  The food is still amazing.  There is a place in the village close by that we call Muslim Noodles.  It is run by a couple of really nice Chinese people named Wan and Julia.  They are both Muslim, thus the name.  When you order a dish that includes flat rice noodles, Wan makes them fresh for you when you order.  It is an amazing sight to behold and the food is unbelievably good.  Especially when the cost is only about 2 US dollars.

View from the deck on the fourth floor.

 Paul, Cecelia the girls and I went to a restaurant that only had Chinese characters on the menu.  Between Paul and I we ordered a potato dish that had beef on it.  We think it is a special dish that isn't on the menu.  Paul says that we know just enough Mandarin to be dangerous.  Fortuneately in this case our Mandarin worked out.  I wasn't so lucky at the grocery store yesterday when I tried to ask the price of three ice teas and ended up having them deliver a case of the teas to me at the check stand.  We are still diligently working on the language.
  One of the amazing things that we keep saying to each other is how amazingly beautiful and diverse this place can be.  One minute you are in the midst of high rise apartments and then the next you are in the middle of a rural area in which they grow citrus fruit and beautiful pink Plumaria.  It is a unique and wonderful place and we feel blessed to be experiencing it.  We keep all of you close to our hearts and pray for you often.
  I am adding a couple of extra photos this week of our house and school to give you a little perspective on where we live and work.
  Next week I will give a summary of how the holiday week went.

Entrance to our local Park

One of the ladies tending her garden in the park

One of the vegetable plots in the park

Local architecture.  Amazing!!!

Bridge and Pond at local Park, this is the view when you enter.

Girls on the bridge at the park

Hey Dad these Sego Palms only cost $3!!!!

Local Cactus field in Bloom