JAMES SAID HE SOLD OUR CAR!

OK, SO MAYBE HE SOLD OUR OLD 2000 PONTIAC GRAND AM. BUT, DON'T WORRY ABOUT US IF HE DID, BECAUSE WE FOUND A NEW ONE, MUCH COOLER FOR A STEAL OF A DEAL.

WE ARE HAVING IT SHIPPED BY FREIGHTER TO TIFFANY'S HOUSE IN PORTLAND, OREGON. WE WILL THEN DRIVE IT HOME TO PROVO, UTAH.
IT IS ONE OF A KIND. DON'T KNOW THE NAME BRAND,
BUT IT IS MADE IN CHINA, SO IT WREAKS OF QUALITY.
IT IS TOTALLY LOADED, COMES FULLY EQUIPPED, GASSED, RUNNING, AND READY TO GO.
IT ALSO COMES WITH A HOME BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY.
YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT...AND AS YOU SEE IN THE VIDEO CLIP, IT CAN COMPETE WITH ANYTHING ON THE HIGHWAY.
IT REALLY HAULS.
WE ALWAYS LOVE A NEW ADVENTURE IN CHINA.
WATCH FOR US ON THE NEWS AS WE TRAVEL ACROSS AMERICA! GRANDMA DARLING DANA WILL BE ON THE BACK.
WE LOVE IT! WHAT DO YOU THINK?





JAMES EMAILED US A DAY LATER, TO TELL US THAT THE SALE OF OUR CAR FELL THROUGH. NOW WE ARE IN A REAL QUANDRY AS TO WHETHER OR NOT TO COMPLETE THE PURCHASE OF THIS "COOL RUNNINGS" RIG.

KITE CITY -- WINDY WEIFANG

KITE FACTORY.

Here are some kite photos, sadly lacking from the long previous post. Hope you enjoy the kites. I bought the big eagle one ABOVE, and Dana bought the large dragon/bird-like one...

Cost: about $10. American Dollars.

LOBSTER KITES...

Kite flying cord or strings are rigged to these large, fishing-like reels. They can get a lot of cord on them to fly them high. Oh, by the way, you never see children flying kites...only old men fly these here, because young men and boys cannot afford them... When the boys are finally old enough that they can finally afford a kite, they take advantage of their lost childhood and go fly a kite.

Butterflies are so beautiful on kites. They can really fly high.

(Click on photo for full enlargement to see these kites close up...)

Some cool collector, mini kites, which actually fly...

Kites are made into almost everything... See the green dragon kite. That's the one Grandma Darling wanted, but a larger size.

Dana found the gift shop outside. Check out all the stuff...

SIGHTS OF WEIFANG, CHINA -- 2 DAY TOUR

"KITE CITY" ... WEIFANG

The Shandong University International Office in charge of foreign teachers took us to a nearby city called Weifang, for an overnight tour. We enjoyed the clean air and the wind of what is known as Kite City. We stayed in a wonderful 4 star hotel with hard beds... We enjoyed the comradery of the other teachers in our group. The University only charged us a total of $300. yuan for the trip, which is about $43. American dollars for the round trip 2 hour bus rides, four chinese food meals, the hotel, the entrance fees for the Kite Factory, and the Vegetable Fair entry, etc... We bought our own kites...

Weifang Arched Bridge is famous for it's rainbow colors. The river was clean. WOW!

The old men had bull whips which they used to keep their wooden tops spinning rapidly. It was pretty cool to see and hear them crack their whips and hit the tops to make them go faster.... I do not think young men can afford whips or tops, just old men. Kites are the same way...Only old men fly them here...for probably the same reason.

Our hotel room was on the 13th floor and had a view...

I was seated at the head of the table, as designated by the knapkin on my plate!

Weifang has some cool street crossing clocks...They tell you and the cars, how much time you have to wait... or to get across the street. They are not just green and red lights, they are red or green digital clocks which count down... What a great Idea for America!

The guys at our hotel....

See anything wrong in this sign?

This is the park across the road from our apartment....It is a fun place. Today I road on the Ferris Wheel which goes a bout 1/2 mile per hour....Really slow, but high.

We had a great Chinese Food Dinner with the other English Teachers...

I was gathering rocks for a craft project in our English Class. Everyone was wondering what we were doing. This lady is a grounds keeper, normal it would seem, until we witnessed the giant bamboo chops sticks she was using to pick up the trash...

Cool Water ride for kids...inside the bubble roller thingees...

A Fun ride in the Local Jinan Park...

This was a group Dana started teaching a Dance while she was waiting for the bus and for everyone to return. They loved it and did pretty good with little practice. That's Dana!

SUNDAY NIGHT ENGLISH CORNER OR FIRESIDE TIME

Every Sunday night from 6:00 to 8:30 we have an English Corner at our apartment. I made some brownies for those who came. This is Gordon going around passing them out. About 30 students from our English classes showed up. They get just a little taste of an American brownie. Some of the students bring fruit, which I forget to put out for them. Oh well, we have a fun time without eating. We usual start the evening with an American culture DVD which usually is one of our Family reunions.

We divide the groups up to 6 people in a group. The play some type of game and then the rotate to another spot every 15 minutes. This group is playing old maid in our newly painted bedroom.

In our kitchen we decorated Easter Eggs. The students had never seen a hot glue gun before. They poked the shells and blew the inside of the eggs out and then used magic markers to make them creative and beautiful.

One of the areas they go to is the puzzle room. This is in my sewing room and every week they work on a different puzzle. I finally found one type of puzzle that they really like to do. It was hard to do but they did it in 2 hours.The living puzzle
This is in the dining room where they are playing the famous American came, UNO. They love playing card games. We make sure they know that we don't play anything that could be considered as gambling.

In the computer room they usually have a conversational discussion with Jay about pronunciation of the word "usually" (an extremely difficult word) and other American English subjects. In the front room we play "I like someone who _______." This is a hard one to play, because they can't use Chinese and they have to work hard at finding the right words. But they love the get acquainted name game, "Let the Animal games begin."

It is a great English corner night. We enjoyed having them come into our home and experience a little bit of American culture and have some fun with us. Most all of them have have not had any association with anyone who is a Foreigner. It was a great Sunday night activity.

This is Andy with a flower gluled on and his drawing of alittle bird on his beautiful Easter Egg.