To all our families, friends, and supporters:

We give you much thanks and appreciation. We could not do this without you. This may very well be the last blog for this camp. Tomorrow will be filled with activity--our last day of classes, cleaning our rooms, closing ceremony, and a picnic (if it ever stops raining) in Hua Xi at the Principal's home, and the dreaded packing. Then we depart the school at 8:00 am on Saturday morning to go to the airport to head to Shanghai and Xinning.

Many of the children are getting tired and cantankerous. This requires even more of our teachers. We have our carnival tonight with the hopes that it will be outdoors where we can spread the children out and minimize disruptions. Our teachers have planned some very interesting games (fourteen in number) for the students--many games were created out of materials found around the camp as well as creative uses of the hardscapes and softscape around the school. Ask John and Nancy bout "stringing up" Al Einstein and his friend on the square.

The teachers have been planning and rehearsing for the closing ceremony. Lift us up as it is hard to get 170 9-12 year olds to sit still for very long and to pay attention--especially if they are not the one who is the center of attention. The closing ceremony presentations are cleverly conceived and the teachers have been working on their execution. I hope the students will listen to the messages in each. We have chosen our best boy speaker and best girl speaker. They will each give a speech at the closing ceremony. Wendy has been working with them on writing and delivery of the speech. Chris and Anna T. helped select the best speakers through an interview process using the criteria they developed including such items as vocabulary, naturalness of delivery, use of complete sentences, and comprehension of spoken English. They interviewed the best boy speaker and best girl speaker in each class to determine who the best overall boy and girl speaker were. It took them about 3 hours to interview the candidates. They were very thoughtful in their deliberations.

Michelle is still on the mend so Anna C. and Mollie have been filling in for her. They have risen to the task with flying colors. Remember Michelle's health as well as Josh and his aching knee.

Here are some shouts:

Hey everyone. Week 2 is going well. We have had thunderstorms all week. Thanks for thinking about us. Guiyang is awesome. I really miss y'all. The Wooldrigdes left for Shanhai this morning. Love Ya'all!! Mary Anne

Hello all! Week 2 is awesome. Students are very open to us. Many have come to see things as we do. The Chinese assistant in our class also. Thank you for all your thoughts. Love you all. Chris

Hello weveryone! Week 2 is going by insanely fast! Please think about our head teacher Michelle as she is not feeling well. Please think about Mollie and I since we are having to improvise. It's going to be so hard to leave these kids!!! Anna C.

Mom and Dad, Hey there, I really don't know what to say. I will definitely have to say that there are better days than others. That is all I can really say. The team is great, we love goofing off and stringing up a room. My birthday was GREAT. My class (Class 1) gave me a surprise birthday and had a bit of an icing fight. It was great! Thank you again for the gifts. Oh yea and I love the card (I know Lingda got it, but she singed it from you). I love you all. Tina

Hi all, The camp is going well and the students have shown signs of improving their English skills. The weather and food are still an adventure. Best line today so far is "Is that good?" I put angelfood cake or some form of it in my rice gruel breakfast to change the flavor a little. Looking forward to graduation and the events to follow for our team. Keep the team in your thoughts, they are all awesome and very special to me and our family. Love you all very much. Dave

I hope these shout outs have given you some insights into the work, fun, and crazy situations we have experienced. They are too numerous to list and most of them are "you had to be there" situations to understand the full impact. I mean there are just not words to describe the crazy experience of dropping your shaving cream or wash cloth or soap or (well i think we will stop there) down the squatty potty while showering and trying to figure out 1) should I retrieve it; 2) how can I retrieve it; and 3) how do i avoid the jokes that are about to come. None of us can describe the greasy floors in the canteen--they are something you just have to EXPERIENCE!!! Those with youth and ice skating experience certainly have an advantage. No one can describe the desperate feeling of trying to break up a fight when the yelling is in Chinese and and they do not understand command in English which would stop the altercation.

So, for all the Guiyang team I thank you for reading this and enduring my streams of consciousness or unconsciousness depending on the day and the events of that day. We have felt your daily (hourly) calls to the boss and coveted them. Your faithulness has allow us to shave ourselves with our Chinese friends. I wish each of you could have heard how many times in our morning talk you were thought of as well. While we might be the legs, you are the catalyst. Thank you!

Noel, if you are reading this please know that we have counted you as a member of this team. We have remembered you often and hope someday the rest of us will meet you. We trust that you have continued to heal.

Doug, for the Guiyang team.