I'm so excited that the last update appeared to have sent so I will just keep going....not that you have to keep reading!!!

Roads
The best. Almost all the roads seem new & very well constructed with ramps going every which way in the city and beautifully landscapes. Street sweepers are out in huge numbers using broom made of probably some type of straw. It's so clean around here. Outside the downtown area, the roads are like super highways...but still often landscaped. We've been through several loooong tunnels and over loooong bridges.

Shopping
We spent two entire days shopping for things we'll be taking to the leprosy villages. Jenny for sewing & hygiene. Rog for projects mat'l & tools. Me for classrooms & students. We were in huge supply buildings ( 11 4 story buildings) crammed with everything you can imagine. With our list in hand, we sorted through the mountains trying to find what we think we need. Not an easy task. I thought it was hard in Thailand to give out reading glasses. I truly struggled with trying to pick out reading books that I could not read for students when I don't even know their reading levels. LiRunJiang was helping me--thank goodness--but he has very limited English so we must have been a comical pair trying to figure out what I needed to buy. I was able to get lots of posters, maps, pencils, scissors, etc...so atleast it'll be a good start for the two classrooms we will be setting up. Rog was with Yuan--who spoke no English but is very smart & they were able to find much of what was on Rog's list. Jenny, of course, speaks fluent Chinese and her company & many friends had given her about $6000 to spend---most was for sewing machines but her shopping pile is huge: scissors, thread, sewing kit boxes, towels, undies, soap, q-tips, etc.... What we couldn't find at the supply centers, we found at Walmart!!

The Three Amigos
We've been having a blast with the three local Chinese who have been driving us everywhere & feeding us constantly: Meizi, Yuan & LiRun. They laugh loudly & often & try to please us in everyway possible. We feel so pampered & lucky!!! And to top it off, we have Jenny to intrepret for us!!!!

Housing & Building Cost
Back to all those millions of housing units...we were told that each is about 100 sq meters and cost about $600 a month which is about what one person can make per month. And the cost of construction is between $10 -20,000 per sq meter. What a housing boom!

Breakfast
Normal breakfast here is a very large bowl of a soup with rice noodles topped with lots of hot sause and you can add fried pork rind, onions, chilis, peppers, etc. or....boiled eggs & steamed rolls. Can you guess which I choose??? Even Rog is eating the eggs.

Lunch & Supper
Huge. It's amazing how many main dishes on set in front of you at each meal--at least 6. And an overflowing bowl of rice too. Everyone uses their chopsticks to dig in taking from each main dish and adding rice to their bowl. Rog is now an expert at using sticks & I'm improving though it's okay that it takes me much longer to eat!! Rog is trying everything and as you can imagine--liking everything. Our Three Amigos took us to a western style restraurant where one of the dishes we had was pizza. Li even ate his pizza with chopsticks. I wanted spring rolls last night so they knew where we should eat. We also got a plate mounded with deep fried fish--about 2 inches long. Yuan must have eaten 20 of them...with chopsticks....expertly eating around the tiny bones. His plate was full of those bones.

Fashion
Boy am I underdressed here! Women around here wear gorgeous clothing with lots of glitter & frills and fancy high heel shoes. (Marcee, you'd love it) Many young girls wear very short skirts & high heeled black boots. Picture someone dressed like that driving a motorcycle!

Language Barrier
Though we know we are missing out on lots because we have NO idea what is being said around us--and it seems no one speaks English anywhere we go--the good side of that is that we have lots more time to observe what's happening all around us and notice details that we usually don't because we are too busy talking!!

School Visit
We were welcomed into a private school that teaching English to students after school & on weekends. I felt at home being surrounded by word walls & sight words, posters of word families, and student work displayed that looked so similiar to USA. Most students were not there as it's still New Year holiday here but the few there were fun to visit with. This school was the first in the area to use the Smart Board and the head master was proud that so many other school officials came to visit & are now using them. I still can't fathom how we'll be able to use them in the villages as it even at that school, they did not have them hooked to the internet but had purchased a Houghton Miflin program--and I don't think we''' have that. What will be will be! Befire I left, the head master offered me a job--which I heard would pay about $1000 per month and housing was not included. Not even tempting.

Stone Forest
Since our shopping was done, the Three Amigos & us headed out of town about one hour to the Stone Forest. Stunning and humungous---(give me a break about spelling as I don't want to take the time for spell check or re-reading!!!) Giant limestone towers of every shape and size erupted over miles. These towers are called Karst--which is what the towers we canoes to by Pughet last year were. So here we are seeing karst on land! A rather new park has been established there with well built paths throughout the towering stone structures---some going waaaay down & some going waaaay up. We hiked around taking lots of pictures & truly enjoying the beautiful warm day. THe most famous tower was Ashima--named after a legendary lady who refused to marry a wealthy & powerful man but instead waited for her true love. We'd brought lunch (bread, peanut butter, chips, buns filled with beans, sweet rolls & diet& reg Coke we'd bought at Walmart) & found a perfect tables with six stools all carved from the limestone & nestled in the between the towers. Jenny pulled out smoked salmon she'd brought from Vancouver--delicious. What an amazing place to truly enjoy a wonderful feast. Only 3 people passed through as we ate & ate & ate. How lucky can one get?????? After lunch, we hiked around a bit more and then came to a stage where the local tribe (Asi) were performing traditional dancing & singing. We went to an adjacent Black Stone Forest where we again climbed among the towers, stopping to eat again & taking a rest on the green grass. Besides the towers, we enjoyed the many blossoming trees. One path we walked had blossoming cherry trees that had been connected to form an arch over us. What a wonderful day. I will try to remember one of the sayings I read on a sign that explained how the stone forest was formed by rain breaking down the limestone: Time & softness overcomes hardness.

Terrace Farming
As we drove to & from the Stone Forest, we passed lots of active terrace farming. So many hillsides had areas leveled and filled with manicured rows of vegetables. In the valleys surrounding the villages where all the houses were built, the flat land was being farmed in small plots. There were also hundreds of green houses. It seemed no land sat idle.

Fruits & Nuts
Everywhere you go there are fruits & nuts for sale--many we've seen in other countries but many other we have not. Jenny is very adventurous and trying lots of them even she has never seen. She & Rog both really enjoyed the snake skin fruit they ate yesterday. Jenny is loving the roasted sweet potatoes & was in heaven when she was given some root that she remembered eating as a child. It's not unusual to see people eating all these cooked roots anywhere we go. When I looked at the deli in Walmart, I could not recognize one thing.

Streets
Visions of playing frogger in Kolkata are returning to us as we watch pedestrian after pedestrian dogged moving vehicles. Rog said it puts real meaning to the saying A miss is as good as a mile. And once they do get to the sidewalk, they really can't walk safely there either as cars park by backing up right over the sidewalk.

Sunday at the Park
While waiting for Juan to pick us up Sunday, we went to a park. Rog & Li sat with our purchases which drew lots of attention & they were soon surrounded by kids & teens interested in looking at a map they had out. I strolled around delighted to see so many people enjoying themselves. Many kids were with grandparents and playing on the swings & slides. There were lots of games of chess & mohjong being played by groups of men. Several tables were being used for adults & kids who were painting. There was a roller skating ring & jump house too. So much fun being had.

Translation
We have had many laughs as we read signs that do show an English translation below the Chinese. Here's just two examples:
Carefully slip
Don't Drive Tiredly

Wow!! I think I'm caught up...which is good since I sure don't know when I'll have this much time to use someone's computer again!!! Hope all is well with you and yours! Please feel free to email us as we were able to read some today & loved hearing from home.........