Be it ever so humble

From the south of China we get a very different view of the world; here are some pictures of our place.

Since the campus is on the edge of the city and we live on the edge of the campus, this rural view awaits us each day, to the sounds of crowing roosters. We've been watching this rice field get ready for planting.

One floor down we can see our neighbor's balcony, which like ours is the spot to dry clothes.

This is as posh as a candlelight dinner can get. The towels behind the man of the house indicate the location of the WC.

 The furnished three bedroom apartment is about 1000 sq. ft.

 And fresh flowers give it a homey touch.

This is the only room in the apartment with A/C; the rest of the place is cooled with fans and cross ventilation. 

 This is where we do our teacher work; the door to the right leads to the balcony.

Don't you just love to see a man at work in the kitchen?

And we celebrate the end each week with a martini. We do have an extra bedroom, so you're all invited to visit our home sweet home, China version.

Easter in Qinzhou

We've had such a wonderful Easter celebration here that we had to add a few extra pictures.

Like many cities in China, Qinzhou has a Catholic Church and a Christian (Protestant) Church. The local Catholic Church had their Easter banners out.

The service we attended at our local Christian Church ended with a lengthy program of music and dancing.

All in attendance were given two hard boiled eggs and two steamed buns to enjoy while the Easter performance was in session -- lunch in the pew.

This little cutie became Daniel's  playmate during the service.

Easter Eggs

We've just finished a mega egg decorating project for Easter.

It started in the market, where we became very popular with the egg sellers during our daily trips.

Then home to boil over 200 duck eggs (the chicken eggs are brown here, so we opted for duck, although some of them had a bluish tinge.

All of our students took part in decorating their egg with wax crayons and then dipping them in the colors.

Each student then explained the symbols on their egg.

These girls, all from the same village and living in the same dormitory, wrote "SAY I LOVE YOU."

And Richard was quite pleased with his birds and dolphins.

They haven't stopped talking about their eggs - Happy Easter!

Beihai

We enjoyed a recent visit to Beihai, a nearby port city; as Galveston is to Houston, Beihai is to Qinzhou.

Known as the Pearl City because of all the cultured pearl farms, you can even buy pearl powder which claims to give you lovely white smooth skin. 

We stayed in the Old Quarter, a moldering collection of colonnaded streets; it reminded us a bit of New Orleans.

Christianity was introduced here the end of the 19th century, and the small Beihai Christ Church continues to be active. 

The city's beach landmark is this large metal sculpture.

We strolled along Silver Beach on the Gulf of Tonkin (China's Beibu Gulf).

Viola (R), one of our co-teachers, is from Beihai so offered to be our guide; her childhood friend Grace was also a great host. 

We enjoyed this lovely sunset, followed by some of the local seafood -- a wonderful change from our usual routine.

Hospital Visit

It was suggested that Diane try traditional Chinese medicine for a skin problem she has, so the anthropologist in her said why not.

I went to the Qinzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine with our foreign affairs officer.

The triage nurses took us to an examining room.

The doctor asked several questions, examined my hands, checked out my tongue (I was determined to be "hot") and wrote out the prescriptions.

The scripts were then dropped off at the pharmacy

where we watched them being filled.

Samples in a jar.

Place in water, boil, add some vinegar and "Chinese ice", and soak hands. This, plus a tube of western ointment, should do the trick. Cost of office visit and meds: $8.