Last full day in Pingliang

Today was our last full day in Pingliang.  We studied Dumplings in the Language small groups this morning.  We talked about recipes and measurements.  None of the girls in my group had ever used a written recipe before...they just learned by watching their mothers and grandmothers and helping them in the kitchen.  A pinch of this.  A dash of that. After our dumpling cooking discussion, each student had to choose one of the writings from the week to share in the evening's celebration.  Each group had also put a haiku to a melody yesterday and had to practice that for tonight.  

Lunch was pork or beef "sandwiches", apples, and juice or coke at the Activity Center while we watched a photo slide show of the scavenger hunt.  There were some really fun pictures in the bunch.

After lunch, one group which included Sullivan and Zach went to the orphanage with blankets that the students had tied earlier in the week.  The other group went on a walking tour of Pingliang.  The walking tour consisted of one American with a group of 3-4 students and each group had to go out for 1.5 hours.  My group took me to a large park in town.  It was really relaxing to just be outside for a while.  Barb's group did a quick walk through the park, went to a market, and then took her for ice cream.  She thought she has ordered vanilla ice cream with M-m's (that was her biggest mistake--we haven't seen and M-M since we left america) and what she got was literally bean ice cream with  red and green beans.  She said it was good and she threw it away.  One of the students saw her toss it and told her next time she would have been happy to finish it for Barbra.  I think that surprised Barb that ANYONE would eat that.  

Shaun bought some tea for my girlfriend, Debbie, on the way back to the Activity center.  She asked us to pick up $40 in black tea to bring back to her.  So, Debbie, if you are reading this...we taste tested black teas all week and went back for the one we liked best.  We did NOT buy you $40 worth because that would have been a small suitcase full.  But we did buy you a large ziploc bag full.  Will that be enough?  Prices here are soooo inexpensive compared with anything back home.  Barb bought an entire outfit at a store for the equivalent of $16 a couple days ago.

When everyone returned from the orphanage and walking tours, we made dumplings.  The sister-in-law of Alex, the government employee that overseas the activities of the Oasis Training Center, came with friends to help us.  She had the fillings and dough pre-made, and we just had to roll the dough, fill them, and pinch them closed.  Some of the girls were really amazing in the skills at wrapping dumplings.  We learned to do flower shapes, leaf shapes, etc.  It was pretty neat.  I only did about 4 because it is a two handed job, and my left hand wasn't too happy with the usage.  Sullivan, Barb, and Shaun made quite a few.  Zach said he had never been gifted in arts and crafts so his kinda came out like globs.  Everyone had a great time.  Then we sat down to eat.  While we had been out, the staff had decorated the center with red lanterns and new year's decorations to keep in our theme of the week of New Year's activities.

After dinner the students shared their songs and poems.  They did such a great job.  One student and one staff member had their birthdays today so a large three tiered cake was delivered with an elaborate icing dragon on each level.  It was really stunning.  After the cake break, the students put on a play for us.  One of the members of our group, Susan, had worked a little  on 4 out of 5 days teaching the students the play Rikki Tikki Tembo.  Barb had helped her all week as well.  There were songs that the whole group of students sang and their were a handful of individual roles.  I had deliberately not seen the rehearsals, and Shaun didn't see today's practice, so it was a lot of fun to watch how the whole thing had come together.  The students were very proud of their work...many had never been in a play before.

As the night wound to a close, we all gathered our gear from the Activity Center and went outside with our paper lanterns lit with glow sticks to walk back to the hotel.  Before we left the property , though, we gathered outside in buildings' courtyard and lit giant sparklers that burned for several minutes.  Each person had three to play with.  When all the sparklers were burned out, our processional headed for the hotel...about a 20 minute walk away.

Now we are all get packed up to leave for Xian tomorrow morning after breakfast.  I don't know if we will have internet access, so I will write again when I have a chance.

Lots of love to you, DD.  We think of you all the time.