Last Thursday through Saturday was midterms at Longde Middle School so we didn't have to go to class.  My friend, Mary, was in town so we had some fun times hanging out in Longde.  One day we hiked up to Beacon tower with Levi and Elijah (the two youngest of my teammates' kids).  We had a lot of fun hiking around and taking fun pictures together.  It was crazy windy on top but a beautiful day!  It was so much fun to have a friend in town to hang out with!  (We don't usually get many visitors out here!)

On Friday, two other fellow ELIC friends came out to Longde as well.  On Sunday we took a "field trip" to a nearby county, Jingyuan County, where Damon had been before.  It was a beautiful drive winding up crazy steep mountain roads through the mountains.  (We even saw where there had been a landslide a few months before..ha).  We got there, took a few pictures while waiting for some friends from our same province who also met us there.  We then rode the tram then hiked in through the mountains.  It was so nice to be in such a beautiful, quiet place.  The boys had lots of fun playing in the water.  Us girls sat in the sun and hung out getting "tan" while waiting for the rest of the group to join.  We then hiked again to a pagoda where we had lunch and then hung out for a few hours, talking and playing baseball!  Our driver even got in on the baseball fun!!

About an hour or so before we were planning on leaving, as Damon put it, "Elijah got board."  No, I didn't spell board wrong.  It's a joke.  Get it-like he was "bored."  Except, actually he stepped on a board that had 3 nails in it.  They wen through his shoes into his foot.  It was a pretty scary moment as Kim and Damon ran down to the creek to get him.  We went back after that.  Thankfully, he had had his tetanus shot recently so it is all good. They are just watching for infection.  Please be remembering this as it heals.  Thankfully, it was not any worse.  Once again, the Father has protected our team, even in times where it seems very scary at the moment. (We were about a 20 minute walk, 5 minute tram, and half hour drive from the nearest town which is very, very small).

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Yesterday I asked Levi and Elijah (the youngest two boys on my team) if they wanted to go hiking with me after lunch.  (Their mom and other four siblings are out of town).  As we were leaving, Mayi (their good Chinese buddy) and friends asked if they could come.  I thought about it but I was worried if something happened I would be responsible for like 6 kids on my own so I said "maybe not today." Levi, Elijah and I headed over to the entrance to North Elephant Mountain Park to hike up to the temple, the little tree sticking out the top and then who knows where.  We hiked up the straight up stairs, panting and taking breaks near tons of other kids out enjoying the beautiful weather.  We got to the first pagoda and then who did we see?  Mayi and 3 of his friends.  Ha. I guess they will be hiking with us!

We hiked up to the Buddhist temple and looked inside, got scared by a massive dog that tried to attack us (and scared us half to death), and then left as we don't want to be spending too long in there, especially since Mayi is Hui (Muslim minority group).  We walk around the temple to continue on the path.  There are two paths the boys point out to us.  One is a straight (literally) up "path" where water flows down the mountain and the other they say is longer but is like a "road."  As I didn't want to see my teammates' children sliding down the side of a mountain, we went for the longer path.

Wow, that longer path was not easy either.  It was all dirt and really steep.  Nothing like hanging out with six 10-12 year old boys to make you feel out of shape!  I tell them to go on ahead (emphasizing to be very careful) and I slowly make my way up.  I get to the top and they are on top of this big dirt hill/thing which has this one little tree sticking out.  I shoot some pics of them being all strong as well as pictures of all the other kids hanging out on top.  We then keep hiking along a path.  The next place we get to is this dirt structure that Mayi says was used during some war I think by the People's Liberation Army. Not sure.  He does try to speak slow standard Chinese but it's still hard for both of us at times. :-)  We climb around taking pictures and keep on walking.  They boys are so cute-they are looking at rabbit tracks, helping me down the dirt slides that they just jump, holding my backpack so it doesn't get too dirty, and pointing out things for Levi and Elijah.  After hiking a while longer, the boys decide it is time to head home. As we start walking, they spot some of their classmates from school.  These boys then join us.  By this time, Mayi and friends have learned my English name (putting the total count of people who know my name in Longde other than my teammates at 3 I think).  They shout for me to take pictures of them climbing trees and doing funny things.

I thought going up that steep dirt path was hard.  It was nothing compared to going down.  The boys just straight out run down it, but I'm a little nervous about how that much momentum will effect me!  I take it slowly.  We then head down to this flat area and the boys climb trees (short) and play hide and seek for a while.  Eventually we hike back down the mountain and then stairs and walk home.  They all talked about how much they love climbing mountains and decided we need to do it again next week.

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This Saturday we had beautiful weather in Longde so Hannah and I decided to go hiking.  Kim and the three boys came with us for the first half hour or so then they hiked back.  Hannah and I decided we wanted to see if this back path from the reservoir would connect to the abandoned village or beacon tower or who knows where.  (Beacon tower is where we had hiked before with the amazing view of Longde.  It was a beacon tower during the Song dynasty I believe).  We were hiking and as the trail would split, it would often be between going straight up or going South which is where we thought we were headed (and was not as steep).  Eventually, we realized we were no longer on a trail.  We were merely walking on the ledge of these tiers walking only through briars and pokey bushes.  After a while of completely cutting up our legs, we took a break and decided we needed to go straight up.  We saw Beacon Tower up in the distance and we knew we needed to get to the other side of the mountain in front of us.  We walked up steep side of the mountain and finally got to a flat level we could walk along.

Eventually we got to right below Beacon Tower and realized we still had to hike up to it to then hike down to the road on the other side.  I always love the view from up there.  It is such an amazing 360 view of Longde and the surrounding area.  We got down to the small road/path and headed for the abandoned village. 

Along we way we hiked up to a Buddhist temple that is built into the side of the mountain.  It was really interesting to see. The monk working there was also friendly and talked with us a while though we didn't really understand much of what he said.  We did not go into the temple, however, as we are really trying to protect ourselves right now against these kind of spiritual things.  As we entered and as we left we also took some time to ask for light to come into places like these.  We climbed down the incredibly steep steps back to the trail and headed over to the abandoned village.

This abandoned village is so cool.  It is like a photographer's dream place (if only I was more artistic and knew how to use my camera better!).  It is all mud/hay houses in decay with random stuff left over as well as lots of caves built into the mountain/hills that stored things.  One house had newspapers posted all over the walls for some reason which were from 2007 so we think at least someone was living there still 5 years ago.

After we left the village we were pretty sure the path would connect to the mountain on the West side of the small creek between that mountain and the one we climbed up to Beacon.  We followed the path, already very tired.  We walked and walked.  Then the path didn't seem to be heading back to Longde.  Uh oh.  We decided to walk through some fields to a small path we saw ahead.  We followed this very muddy path to a small path that was running along the ledge of the mountain and was heading very steeply down.  We eventually realized after seeing all the footprints and the piles, that this was a path for cows.  It got more and more steep as we headed down to the creek.  Eventually we realized we were in trouble.  It was a straight down path covered in mud.  We ended up having to squat down and grab briars for support as we slid down the path.  When we finally got down to the creek level we had to keep crossing over back and forth over the nasty muddy creek.  We didn't know if we would ever make it back!!  We were filthy, starving, sore and could feel blisters forming!

Finally, we made it back to the small village by the reservoir and walked back along the reservoir to Longde.  We were so tired we even took a break about 5 minutes from home (we hadn't taken a break in a hour or so since it was so muddy).  But, we sat by a sewer so that pushed us on home.  We got back to the Cagles' home after our five and a half hour hike, took off our shoes, washed our incredibly dirty hands, and chowed down on crackers before the incredible Pot Pie Kim had made for dinner.  It was the best thing I had ever eaten!

What an adventure!

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In Chinese cities, apartments are organized into "xiaoqu"s.  This is basically like a housing complex, with a gate of course, because this is China and there are gates on everything.  We live in the "Xihuayuan" Xiaoqu.  It is at the far West end of town.  (Longde is basically one street that runs East-West) with a few small roads off of it.)  The school I teach at is at the far East end of town (uphill).  It takes around 25 minutes to walk to school, depending on how fast you walk.  Though the walk is not too far, we often also take a cheap taxi from the gate of our Xiaoqu to the school (in like a few minutes depending on how many people we have to dodge on the way in the middle of the road).

Our Xiaoqu is a lot of fun.  There are always old grandmas out taking care of babies.  Levi and Elijah (the youngest two boys of my teammates) have made lots of friends and are outside everyday from the time they are done with homeschool until dinner and often even after dinner.  If they aren't outside, their little friends will yell their Chinese names outside until they come out to play.  I always enjoy looking out my 6th floor window watching the kids play outside, roller skating, on their ripsticks, or carrying around the small dogs of the neighborhood.

Right outside our gate are lots of shops to buy fruit, vegetables and some basics like milk, drinks, and some small snacks.  There are also a few restaurants nearby that we sometimes eat at.  On a nice day (like the day I took these pictures), old men will play Chinese card games huddled in groups.  All surrounding Longde there are mountains, including the "famous" Liu Pan Mountain where Chairman Mao wrote a famous poem and where the Hui minority people joined the majority Han in the Long March.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_March)

I enjoy living in our small Xiaoqu.  Everyone says hi when they see me and the children all wave. (They are no longer afraid of us!)  We have had a few sunny days finally the last few days so it has made our Xiaoqu also come alive again with people getting outside and enjoying the warmer weather.  I am looking forward to Spring and getting out and chatting with the people in our Xiaoqu.

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After about a 6 month break, I am going to be back at blog writing!  I'm going to try to do at least three a week so make sure to check back!!

A few weeks ago, our team took a visit to the Longde Hospital.  For those of you who followed my blog last year, you will remember that it is a brand new hospital so that is very exciting for the town!  My teammates had some people mail them some small toys, school supplies, and gloves and hats.  They then also purchased some fruit and sodas and we went to the hospital to the children's ward to hand these out.  In most Chinese hospitals, you have to bring your own food and provide a lot of your own supplies such as extra blankets.  Many of the children we saw in the hospital were very young though there were also other older kids running around in the hospital.

It was such a joy to be able to send time with these people and see all the beautiful faces.  Enjoy the pictures.

Well, after a long break, I am back!

The second week back in Longde, our school participated in the city-wide Teachers' Day Sports Competition.  There were really only two events, Tug of War and Basketball.  As probably the tallest person in Longde, I was obviously recruited to be on the Longde Middle School Women's Tug of War team.  The competition started on a Wednesday afternoon and lasted through Saturday afternoon with an average of one competition on each morning and afternoon.  Though each competition only lasted about five minutes, I managed to miss most of my classes during those days.  Oh priorities.

During the competition days, we also ate lunch and dinner together each meal at the same restaurant.  Though it was pretty tiring going back and forth to the school for competitions (and being critiqued each time by all the bystanders) and eating all meals together, it was also an awesome time of getting to know many of the teachers.

One of the nights, there was also a huge gathering of students from all the schools in town for a big celebration/performance night in the downtown square.  I saw a bunch of my students and they loved having their pictures taken!  Such beautiful faces!!

Camp training is well under way in Hong Kong for Camp China and Engage.  They all got in yesterday morning and had to sit through an afternoon and evening of training.  But, they have been INCREDIBLE sports and are so excited for the summer.  I will be staying busy this summer probably not posting much on here.  To see more about training and this summer, check out the camp blog that I will be sending out in my next mass email in the next day or two.  Thanks for all your thoughts.  It has been a crazy transition and very busy but the Father has been providing through people's thoughts, encouragement, and a few teachers bringing me peanut butter m&ms! yum!

Eden and her sister with one of their best friends

So a few weeks ago when I came back from a weekend away my team surprised me with an early birthday party and gift!  They decorated my roof access balcony and bought me a fun little table to sit up there and enjoy the outside, as well as a pretty flower.  (The kids also spent a lot of time and work cleaning it as it was REALLY dirty up there)  It has been a lot of fun to have a nice table and chairs to use while sitting up there getting sun, working, or just relaxing.  And-it is decorated way cute now!  Here are a few pictures I took the day after (it is a little rainy so the pictures are kind of dark-but still fun!)  They called it "Kaini's Eclectic Cafe" because my Chinese name is Ma Kaini (Ma is my Chinese family name so friends call me "Kaini").

Well, it has been a long time since I've updated my blog.  The last few weeks have been pretty busy and it is only going to be getting busier but hopefully I will try to make posting a priority again!  Here's some pictures I took a few weeks ago when it finally starting getting warmer (above freezing even at night).

Most of my teammates were sick one weekend so I took out Levi and Elijah to go fly their kites down by the reservoir.  I also had a chance to talk to some people while I was sitting watching them.

Here's how announcements are made in Longde.  We don't have a newspaper.  Just a couple of these boards around town you can post things on.

As I was walking around one day, I walked up an ally (in the middle of "town") and found this little area that still hasn't been torn down for new apartments.  It even still has a dirt wall around it.  In one of the pictures you can see a blue and white jacket hanging to dry-a jacket from my school.  It is amazing how many people live in this area of China.

This is how I am usually greeted when walking home from school in the afternoons-by classes of elementary school kids also walking home.  They love getting up the nerve to yell "hello" to me and point me out to their friends.  Sometimes they even almost run in to me as they are trying to get their friends' attention!