Keefe's Come to China!

We were fortunate enough to get some more visitors here in Ningbo! They included Ben and Alex Keefe, Doug is racing Ben around the school track here.








Here is Ben and Dad, Chris, getting around with a local Pedi-Cab in the heart of Beilun. It cost about $.60 to get from one end of town to the other at our apartment. As this photo shows, they enjoyed the ride (even the driver!)








Guess who likes this ride? This is Alex and mom, Beth, getting to race dad and ben keefe.
We are really lucky to have family that would come all the way over to see us. They got to see Beijing, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai. Well done, and thanks for coming!

Plant Shopping

This is the huge greenhouse we went to to pick up new plants for our new apartment. The runner in the family is scoping things out!


This is the runner in the family trying to tricycle away. We all wanted to take this vehicle home to Mr. Palmer for his garage to garden commute!

This is Shirley holding up a plant that is full of "Venus Fly Trap-Like" bulbs. These bulbous portions hold water and also trap prey inside. They were amazing!

This is Tim and Kirst roaming around the nearly one square kilometer facility!

Chinese Chicken Hill

Howdy there sports fans. We're coming to you live from Beilun, China and we're bringing you a fun filled expedition that included great uphill biking and backcountry cycling! This is Ken Li, our great friend, personal guide (just kidding), and PE teacher at AIAN!




This is the bride taking a quick water break. It was pretty steamy even though there wasn't a digital thermometer stamp on the photos. These are the hills to the west of where our school is and after the long climb up the hill dubbed, "Chinese Chicken Hill" by Robbie which also has a tunnel at its pinnacle followed by a wicked long down hill! I remember my speedometer reading 35 mph!




These gentleman were some smiley guys we ran into in the bush. They got a good kick out of us while they were on their way back for lunch. Most people we know, don't get a to experience as many authentic encounters. Robbie and Ken both have been really good about getting us out and teaching us how important it is to explore.




This was a result of Doug trying to jump a concrete aquifer. The front tire made it fine, the rear got a snakebite. OOPS! Ken had never fixed a flat before and insisted he do it. So far, so good. I haven't lost the rear tire! You're the man Xiong Di!

Vball for AIAN

This fall, I got to coach the boys team at AIAN. It was a surprise when the original volunteer backed out after the first practice, but I think it worked out ok.











The boys I got to work with were hard working and willing to try anything, especially have fun and get better.













We hosted the tournament in Beilun, even though we don't have an in indoor facility. We borrowed a local Chinese HS gym and it worked well enough.

We didn't win any games, our experience was a little less than other teams. We had two high school students, and only one of them could reach the top of the net.

We were the only team that had MS students, but they carried themselves with class and character and fought for every point we got.
Overall, it was a huge success and we earned the respect of other teams. We also won the sportsmanship award, something I hope they take great pride in!


Check out the video below. It was taken from the local TV news channel. Press the arrow in the bottom left hand corner.

Pinwheels

So back in September, Kirst had the job of organizing a schoolwide event called Pinwheels for Peace. This is an event that expresses our school's commitment to promoting peaceful actions and philosophies to our students. It also allows students to show their concepts of what peace is to them.

The students were able to make small pinwheels out of paper, chopsticks, pipe cleaners, and beads in classes. Depending upon the grade level, they had to do some class discussions, research, or higher order project to further promote peace around the world.



The most interesting component, is that thousands of schools all over the world were doing the same thing. This wasn't a Chinese activity, it was a global activity!

Praise to Kirst for all her additional efforts to make this even go smoothly, effectively, and worthwhile for all the staff and students. She made it real and easy, often a challenging concept for adults! Way to go KJPT!!!

February Update

We realized that it has indeed way too long since our last entry. Hopefully we still have a few interested readers out there. Kirsten and I have been rather occupied with a variety of events. Most recently, the job fair in Iowa, the center of the universe itself!

We will be making some back logs of our events to the best of our ability. Hang with us, we'll try to make it right and give lots of photos to go along!

Stay tuned!

Shang Hai!!!! What a fun place...check out the Jia hotel!!!

Ok so a few weeks ago....not sure when Doug and I ventured back to Shanghai...the place that we have not been since we arrived in China. Honestly we didn't want to go back because we didn't like it the first time. We were so tired and it was so hot and we had no clue where we were or what we were doing. Anyway we decided it was time. And we were lucky enough to go back with to very good friends Trent and Shawn Citrano. They know where to go how to get there and what to do so we were excited. We also had gotten tickets to the Acrobatic Troupe that is famous in Shanghai.
So here we go. We made reservations at a wonderful hotel called the Jia. It is a boutique hotel that is very new age and amazing. We got upgraded to this amazing room. You could live there with the small kitchenette and the wine bar and free drinks. Yup very nice. We went to the restaurant in the hotel the first night and it was delicious food. it was Italian and we all seem to crave Italian every time we go some where that is not Beilun. The next few days were a blur but I will explain the best I can.

The four of us went to a place called Taekon Lu (or something to that nature). This was a place of just streets that was old housing or something that had been turned into shops, and it was just a maze of shops. This was a photographers dream. The first two pictures are from that area. The first one is of lunch and the other is just cool. We ate pizza and bought presents and just hung out. It was so much fun to be in a place that you could buy anything...I mean anything and there were so many foreigners. (side not: One of the TA's from school went to Shanghai for the first time in her life...she only lives three hours away...but her first comment was that there were so many different people. Funny comment huh?) Ok where were we. There were just tons of winding streets. Doug and I will be happy to go back to that place.

On this trip we also saw some of the sights. The four of us went to the tallest building in Shanghai. Where you took this crazy fake tour thing that was like a laser show on crack and then they shoved you into this elevator...but they did have nice bathroom when you got the the top. Well we went up 474 meters to walk out on this catwalk area that had glass holes that you could all the down to the ground. The third picture is of my feet over the city. It was a little freaky. There were some kids that saw the holes then screamed and cried. This was called the SWFC Observatory.

Well that night after our hiking around all day we went to the Acrobatic troupe. Yup it was like what you see on t.v jumping through hoops and standing on chairs really high in the air. We were nine rows back with no intermissions and the whole time you ohhhhed and aahhhed. I mean it was the stuff that you hear about. You would think that it was going to be cheesy but instead you sat in the audience with your mouth open as this nine to thirteen year old boy bent his body in ways that made him look like he had no skeleton and then he was like this muscle. This kids were young. And every night they do a different show!!! So if we came back we probably wouldn't see the same thing.

Well I guess that's it for Shanghai. You do need to know that moving around Shanghai is one of the easiest things to do. I mean there is so much to do. It is not a small town but the subway is great and so easy to use. I mean it is a little polluted but there are areas that you can do anything in. They also have a running club and hold a marathon every year. Are we considering it...you better believe it. We would have to start training in July but I think it would be a great experience! Ok that is all for now in the world of Kirsten and Doug. But we do love Shanghai!!!