Money to Burn

Well, it isn't real money, just special paper money to burn for festivals. Today, Matt and I were invited to go to a ceremony at a park where they have a memorial for the PLA soldiers who died serving their motherland.

We went out with 4 classes - chosen to represent their school, so they were very proud, two of Matt's and two of mine. Matt's 2 were his special classes - many are very poor, from the countryside and are attending Yi Zhong on a special scholarship, so they work really hard. The two senior classes I teach are the National Merit classes, meaning, they are damn smart kids. We were glad that we got to experience this special festival with these students.

We rode out to the event with one of Matt's classes - on the boy bus. They were fun! There was a little bit of a war between buses because some of the students wanted us on a different bus. So, Matt taught them 5 card draw and we were quizzed on our knowledge about the NBA and baseball. All in all, we know nothing.

We get out to the site and Matt was spotted by all of the hundreds of kids and the accompanying adults. He was getting his picture taken by both the obvious and the more stealthy individuals. He posed for many pictures with people we didn't know and there was a man with a camcorder who was just following him around for a little while, filming the white guy. It is pretty entertaining. Me jealous of the attention, hell no! I want a copy of the tape!

It was very interesting for us to witness and be a part of. Several students guided us around the area and translated everything for us so we could understand what was going on and what things were. Hopefully, I will have some pictures up tomorrow.

After the ceremony, we piled into a bus with my students and started the bumpy journey back. I had a very nice conversation with my kids and one of my best students told me some of the most heart warming things I have ever been told.

Eventually, we stopped off at a little place for the teachers to eat lunch. There was a mountain not too far away, so we went with the kids up the mountain. I must admit that the little journey up had a most inauspicious start. The initial bank down to get to the field plots was very steep and I tripped on my foot because I am so graceful, and took a nice dive. Oh well, klutzy.

So, Matt went off with some of his kids (I was still undecided about going up). I took some pictures of the area, including some of the caves houses. Eventually, I met up with some students who talked me into going up the mountain with them. One of our translators really helped me up - he actually was pulling me up some of the rises. It was fun - I was handed treats on the way up and they seemed to get a kick out of a teacher doing this with her students. They all got a good laugh out of my "You're half my age!" proclamation.

Anyhow, at the top we got a really nice view of the surrounding area and it was nice to be able to do make the climb with the students. Going down was, well, faster.... I got sapped by a number of trees I was aiming my body towards and was desperately grabbing hold of.

So, back to the flat land and back to the buses. We were waiting for the teachers to finish up their lunch only to find that they hadn't really started yet. We were not sure if they were waiting for us or not. We went inside of the restaurant to find them sitting around and talking and playing cards. They told us that our lunch has already been ordered. We get two bowls - one plain noodles, the other a good, spicy, noodle and mutton dish (you mix the two bowls together). From the other room there was quite a bit of interest in our chopstick abilities (they were peeking through the gap in the curtain).

Anyhow, after we left the restaurant, we got on to the bus with one of my favorite students (from Matt's classes) and we head for home. I have managed to miss all of my classes for the day (no word yet on if I am to make them up - I'll probably know at the last possible minute) and am quite dirty and tired, but really happy that we were able to spend this important day in China with so many of the students that we have come to love.