4/25/2009 Beach Bum Entourage

Today, Uncle Wu Xin took us to the river park, which also has a pretty good-sized beach. He not only was our guide....he was our photographer.

The girls had a good time running around and playing about in the sand. Miriam found a "seashell". I told her it could not be a "seashell", since we were not at the ocean. She called it HER seashell just the same.

She also enjoyed hopping.....

And climbing on rocks.....

And jumping off rocks.....

And even jumping with her sisters......anyone remember the Monkees?

Rebecca liked imagining herself to be the "Queen of the Universe".

And Claire, well she must have been imagining something.......

We were not the only ones there. This is China after all. Those 1.3 billion people have to be somewhere. I spent some time taking pictures of two Chinese children playing in the sand. They did not seem to mind. They were in their own little world. She began by watching the sand fall as she threw it into the air.

He scrapped up sand and began to create his world.

They seemed to believe that what they were doing really mattered.....that their world was something special.

They decided that they must leave their hand prints on their work, sort of like God did when he created His world.

They reviewed and admired their handiwork. Maybe they felt just a little of what God felt when He scanned His universe and said it was "very good".

Others were also building sand kingdoms and works of art, too.

And yet others liked playing in the water........

Finally, we had to leave the beach and make out way back through the park to our car. Elizabeth thought the "Talking Rocks", that played music, were interesting.

And yes, they had to pose for me in this twisty-limbed tree. Elizabeth thought it was a little to high. You might can see it in her face.

Like I said before, people are always interested in taking pictures of our kids. I hope Rebecca does not expect this kind of attention when she gets back home.

Elizabeth always finds the bamboo....wherever she goes.

And Rebecca has always liked rocks.

And Miriam....she knows how to mooch a ride.

And what a good day we had....and the kids...they had a ball.

4/18/2009 Big Bamboo and the One That Got Away

Today we visited a farm. This was a recreational farm, and it was owned by Sun Xin, Claire’s old classmate. Customers stayed there mainly to fish, rest, play cards, and eat. Upon arriving we had tea, coffee, and watermelon. Rebecca tried some Kong Fu tea.

Sun Xin showed us around her farm. The kids chased the geese, which was fun to watch.

Miriam enjoyed picking and smelling flowers like the banana magnolia......and making leaf/flower arrangements.

Elizabeth liked posing among the bamboo and spending time with Ms. Liao.


We walked in the bamboo thicket and watched them dig up bamboo shoots to eat. This type of bamboo grows very tall and fast, and is extremely invasive. The bamboo Claire is standing next to is only two months old.

The kids also chased the chickens through the woods and picked wild strawberries near the abandoned pig buildings. For lunch we had another wonderful feast. I really liked the soup and mung bean sprouts. The kids had watermelon for dessert. The kids ate till they were full, and we all had a good time.

Next we went to the fishing pods. On the way I shot a video of a water buffalo being guided by its master.

Hanging out with the fisherman catching carp was a treat. I asked the man below if I could take a picture of him. He asked, "Why me, with all the other fisherman around?" It was the cool red hat, of course.

They were really enjoying themselves. One man kept talking about all his big fish. His catch was making the others look like amateurs. In the video, he is telling me, "The Biggest!"

I hung a big fish that broke the tip off my pole. I am not sure how big the one that got away was, but I am pretty sure it was a Jiangxi Province record for grass carp. Elizabeth was not impressed and preferred fishing with Ms. Liao.

Before I could let another one get away, it began to rain, so we sent went back to the city. We had coffee and dinner at a very nice restaurant in the new part of Xinyu on the river. We had Belgian coffee, sirloin steak, and pizza. It was a good time for all. We were surely getting tired, so we went home. This had been a very fun day.

4/17/2009 Three Peanut Pride and the Strawberry Pickers

Today we got to meet some of Claire's childhood friends. They chatted for quite some time before we decided to go to lunch at a nice local restaurant. Claire's friends did all the ordering. The food they brought was colorful and interesting, and SPICY. I was coughing after trying the octopus.

I liked the greens, beans, soup, rice, and peanuts the best. Can you pick up three peanuts with chopsticks? Unfortunately, my wife showed me she had this same great peanut talent, but I decided that one three-peanut picture was plenty.

Most interesting was the hot drink made from corn....who could have imagined?

The kids fared well with Rebecca adventuring into the spicy octopus. It is time for me to admit something that I am just now realizing about myself. Well, my cuisine preferences are sort of low brow. The meal we just had was a special feast, but instead of really enjoying this kind of meal, I was wishing I had the fried noodles from yesterday, which cost about 50 cents US. I should have realized this before since I often request grits for supper and think I am splurging when I add a frosty to my Wendy's double stack. Anyway....the kids may have inherited this same trait from me, because what most excited them were the watermelon slices. Can anyone spell “Mississippians”? The most animated event involved who was going to pay the bill. If I did not know better I would have thought there was going to be a fight, but that is how the Chinese do it sometimes. Needless to say I stayed out of that skirmish in order to keep my tightwad image unscathed. As we left the restaurant, I shot some of the local color, literally.

Later that afternoon Wu Xin and Xiao Ping took us to the strawberry patch. You had to pay for the strawberries you picked, but you also could eat as you picked.

The girls left with strawberry juice stains on their hands, fingers, and shirts.

They had a great time.

Next, we went to Xian Nu Lake to watch the boats. The boats were very different from my cousins' fishing boats.

We chatted with some sport fishermen on one boat about to go out to fish for the night. Claire asked one of them if they camped at night. He said of course not....we fish all night, but just to be safe we tie ourselves to the boat in case we doze off. Now that's a real fisherman....no Motel 6 for them.

Of course the night ended with eating more strawberries. The girls just could not get enough of them.

4/16/2009 Ping Pong and Noodles

Today was fun. We slept late. I had sliced toast with peach mango jam, coffee, and milk. Mr. Wu left at 8:30 to play ping pong. The rest of us left at 9:30 AM and took the bus to the retired people's activity center in the area where the Wu's previously lived. People on the bus always make a big fuss over our kids.

After we arrived we all got to play ping pong. Claire and Rebecca enjoyed themselves, and Rebecca really began to catch on. She said it was better than playing video games.

Mr. Wu and his buddies are very good. Mr. Wu looked like a young man while playing.

After that we went to the noodle shop. My fried noodles were great. The others had noodle soup, which they also liked.

At lunch all the children get out of school for lunch until 2 PM. The workers also get out. The streets were crowded. The Chinese children going home for lunch were very interested in my children. It was lots of fun. We had a wonderful day.