1 week till we leave

I know that some of you have been waiting for pictures and information on my China trip. Now that the week of the wedding is all done, I can take time to post some info for you about my trip. I leave in just about a week. My flight departs from Chicago at 7:20am next Wednesday, July 5th. Today, I did the last of my shopping for the trip. I may have a few odds and ends left to get that I may think of before then, but it is pretty much all done. This picture at the top was taken the first day of school last year at the opening ceremony they had in honor of the English teachers from America that came to teach last summer (that was us). The big blow-up red sign says something about welcoming the English teachers to their school. My classroom was on the top far left room on the 5th floor.




The University treats our entire group along with students to tours of different places each weekend. The first weekend last summer we went to Wolong Panda Reserve which is the largest panda reserve in China.







One of the last weekends we were there last summer, we went on a two day trip to Xiling Mt. All we knew when we left for the trip was that we were going to a mountain and were going to be sleeping in tents that they would provide for us. We didn't know if we were going to be hiking or what. When we arrived, it was a ski resort that they still make use of in the summer time. This was the two floor building that had tents set up in both floors. That is where we ended up sleeping. It was quite the adventure. We did all kinds of fascinating activities on the mountain like grass skiing, rolling in a zorb ball, riding hot air balloons, and mudding in jeeps. This picture below is a group of us in a Gondola or cable car that we took getting up the mountain to the ski resort from the parking lot for the travel buses. This one took us about 10 to get up to the resort. The next morning we got up and took another cable car up the mountain for about 45 minutes till we were 3 miles high. Then we walked on a trail on that mountain for a few hours. On our way back to campus on the buses, some went straight back to campus while other went on a rafting trip down a river. I am excited about what trips we will take on the weekends this summer.