We did it!!! With lots of support from all of you and great power from above – we did it!!! Summer English Camp in Shanghai officially ended when “Mr. Dale” took off his red baseball cap and laid it on the podium!

It is just amazing what a group of Americans in China can come up with as carnival games using basketball hoops from the Dollar Store back home, Frisbees, a Nerf football, UNO cards, a wooden paddle and ball and a bunch of plastic trashcans from our rooms in China!

There were 29 different acts in our Talent Show!!! We had many singers, dancers and instrumentalists in our show who were quite talented. We had several pianists, one girl who played a Chinese piano that looked like a harp, flute, clarinet and horn players and even one performer who played a trumpet made from a plunger! Our five guys (Nathan, Michael, Javan, Peyton and Lane) who sang barbershop with lots of harmony were outstanding!

We are enjoying a great weekend in Shanghai!

The China vs. USA volleyball game was a blast! We all had a great time together watching the sweaty players and cheering them on. We have many outstanding male athletes - young and old - on our team and they gave it their all. The girls who played were Mary, Liz and MJ who was our secret weapon because she had several great plays! (MJ is a grandmother!) The United States won all three games, even though one was really close!

Hello blog readers – we love you and we thank you for thinking of us! We want you to know that in order to read our entire blog entry you must click on “Read More” located at the bottom left side after the first paragraph. We don’t want you to miss any of the news from your loved ones

In the Opening Program Sunday morning each teacher introduced him/herself to all of our Chinese students and then all of the American teachers recited "You can build a wall or you can build a bridge..." with motions and then we sang "You've Got a Friend in Me" with help from a CD playing the song loudly in the background! The Chinese officials and Dale gave speeches and then the Chinese teaching assistants introduced themselves and sang a song. It was a good program in a beautiful auditorium:)

Everyone on the Shanghai team has arrived safely in China! The Delta flight from Atlanta departed at 10:30 AM Thursday morning and arrived at 1:33 PM China time Friday afternoon, but we felt like it was 1:33 AM since China time is exactly 12 hours ahead of Eastern United States time. We don't have to adjust our watches but we do have to adjust our bodies to the different time!!!

The next blog that we post will be from Shanghai!!! We are indebted to our family members and friends who read our blog and think of us. We appreciate your part in our trip to China more than words can express! In just two days we will be on our fifteen hours and 40 minutes flight to Shanghai....Our adventure begins:)

Love,
Dale and Louise

We welcome to our blog the Shanghai 2008 team members and their family and friends who support them! Our blog is now up and running once again and we are excited about the Shanghai 2008 team:) We have an awesome team with many experienced team members returning to teach in China! Even our new head teachers come to us with many years of teaching experience! Right now we are preparing lesson plans, shopping and getting ready to pack for our journey to China in July, 2008!!! Thank you so much for thinking of our team.

Love,
Dale and Louise