Goodbye Mianyang!

Two students giggling during class. The living conditions at the school may have been awful, but I'll miss all the students! They were so much fun.

Left to Right: Me, Martha, Lila (Lee - La, one of the school's teachers), Julia, and Ricki

My host family took me with them to a temple. They were there to pray that Coco might have good grades this upcoming year, and let me join in. My host mom is the most religious Chinese person I've met so far...we burned incense in front of every little outlet and temple.

The surrounding area was very beautiful, covered in trees.

My host mom. I had a hard time getting a photo of her because she kept wanting to use my camera to take photos of me - she likes painting and drawing a lot, so it would make sense that she'd love taking photos as well.

Coco and I. She's not nearly as religious as her mother and honestly thought the whole thing was just a bother. At one point, I saw her shake a big box filled with little sticks - one fell out and she picked it up and brought it over to a man, whom I assumed deciphered its meaning. Huffing slightly as she spoke, she told me that the man foretold that her grades were going to be good. I guess now she has to get good grades...

This sign has a lot of information about the temple...most temples, I can't even really always tell if they're supposed to be Buddhist, Daoist or what - but that's usually because, like this one, they're a mix of several beliefs. The sign's use of English is also just interesting/funny in itself.

They tried kidnapping me again for the night, but I didn't have PJs with me or anything at all really, so I asked if they'd bring me back to the school. Then there was even an offer to drive me into Chengdu but I'd already bought my train ticket. My host mom even offered me a job at the school - but from what I've heard, they're not allowed to higher foreigners (only use volunteers). Besides, I don't think I could take living in Mianyang, although I'll miss my host family and the other volunteers (most of whom have already returned home).

As of now, I'm in Chengdu, with Xie Miao. I'll update more about that later, but so far it's been a lot of fun, although I keep forgetting to stick to Chinese with her - I need to keep using Chinese while I'm still here and am still able to!