I was up early after a fairly late night figuring out what was happening. It turns out that all but 2 campers went home for various reasons. So we started by planning our punt which turned out not to be a punt but sticking to the plan for the most part. We had breakfast. I felt like Po from Kung Fu Panda because we had pork and vegetable dumplings with some sort of bread and soy milk that I was told to put sugar into.
Then we got to work with our 2 campers who were boys around 8 years old. One could speak English pretty well and the other a little bit. He was also shy in the beginning. We also had our 4 camp teacher assistants. It was a 7:2 ratio. We started with an ice breaker game. Then we went into human knot. They were having fun with that one. We then were making towers with cups and paper. The TAs wanted in on it as well. It was fun to watch them. The boys were calculating and trying to be careful and the teenagers tried to do it as quick as possible.
In between activities the boys and I made up a game on the Mahjong table. We tried to build the toughest, tallest structure that could withstand sliding Mahjong tiles at each others. I did not win because they ganged up on me. We then blew up balloons to make balloon towers with. I forgot to take a picture of lunch but they ordered in a plethora food from a local restaurant. I tried a little bit of everything but the soup and tofu. They had a fish that was real good, pork dumplings, flat bread, a chicken dish, a spicy beef dish, and egg plant something or other.
During lunch things were up in the air in terms of what was going to happen with things since we have 2 campers and 3 teachers. I hit a mental wall at lunch and I was told to go take a nap. I laid down and had a brief cry. It's hard to leave my family. I know it has been 2 days but the traveling, time change, and camp snafu caught up to me.
The good news is when I woke up we went to Walmart. By far the most educational experience of the day. The store is on multiple levels which was weird since it's usual one giant site back home. The produce section was amazing. The fruit, veggies, and spices looked amazing. I was told not to try the spiky yellow fruit. The fish section was crazy. They had sharks and turtles among all kinds of things. I found Doritos and had to get some. There was a pretty cool meat section. There was a guy with a microphone pimping out duck. Couldn't tell if it was Peking Duck or not. It was fun poking around trying to find things. I also had a chuckle when we went to check out. Every lane had a capstone of condoms and KY. It turns out that it's not a big deal here. I also bought a bag because my daughter Indi has been trying to make us not use plastic. The woman ahead of me did bring her own bags.
Dinner was good again. We had a bunch of dishes and I tried all but the tofu and scary smelling veggie dish. My chop stick skills are improving. They do feed us well. I think the kids laugh at us sometimes because we do weird stuff with our chopsticks and the way we taste everything.
We also learned that we are in Xiangtang. Someone said it means in the shadow of the wall. Near the place we are staying is close to the hills. It turns out just up the block is a bike path on a nature trail. I wish I had more sunlight but it was lush and beautiful. It renewed my soul.
No comments:
Post a Comment