San Jiao, a hike in the Countryside

Throughout our year in China, Huang Qing has arranged for us to have continuous, enriching experiences.  In this case, her childhood friend, Mr. Liou, is now the headmaster of middle schools in San Jiao.  Qing arranged for all four of us to stay in his home for 5 days, visiting his rural schools.  And twice, he took us into the countryside, for long excursions with his family!  Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Liou (and daughter)!!

As we walked along, we looked for children to give books and toys to......

The soccer balls that we gave away had been used in the classrooms earlier in the year, to teach English phrases.

Chris had fun playing soccer with some of the ball recipients:

Click here to watch some soccer.

This girl's job seemed to involve sitting in the corner of the kitchen, feeding fuel into the cooking flame.

The countryside was picturesque.

Chris always notices the little things.

Traditional farmstead.....It made me sad to think about how young adults are going off to the cities to "seek their fortunes", leaving young children and grandparents in the countryside.  They are choosing the crowded, noisy cities over the peaceful, rural landscapes.

The farmer who lived here (alone) invited us all inside during a little rain-storm.

Kevin liked his rooster.

This was the "front room."  Notice the (frequent) poster of Mao Zedong.

Grace (another English teacher) and I were exploring the old kitchen.

Smoking Meat

We met other interesting people along the way:

Mr. Liou's wife had brought all of the ingredients for us to be able to make dumplings at another farmhouse.

Grace and the farmer cooked the dumplings and other lunch items.

We left the village, and hiked up a pretty steep hillside, in search of dinosaur footprints.

We found it!  A real, live DINOSAUR   FOOTPRINT !

On another "countryside" day, we came across this neighborhood shrine.

And, a farmer working the garden.

It was arranged that we would have lunch at this house.

We also visited the homestead across the way....

(Teacher) Cecelia was with us, along with her husband and daughter.

Kevin (bravely) ate a duck foot.....a favorite snack in China.

Other English teachers came to lunch, too. Even Qing, Sam, Qing's parents, and Melody came all the way from Chongqing.

Click here to see how to make a leaf-wrapped sticky-rice dumpling.

"Thank you for a marvelous meal!"

"Good-Bye!"

Back in Mr. Liou's apartment in San Jiao, it was intersting to watch the bee-keeper across the street....another way to make a living in the countryside.