Dear Parents,
Morning exercise was cancelled today due to rain. Rain stopped just in time for our breakfast. We had a very romantic, candle-light breakfast today—thanks to power outage at the dining hall!
After breakfast, we went to Mu4tian2yu4 Great Wall. It was cloudy, perfect for a physically challenging morning. All of us climbed to the top. About half came down with Bonnie, Gong Laoshi, Tian Laoshi, and Yan Laoshi on foot; the other half took the ski lift chair down with Ruiduan and me. Usually there is an option of taking the toboggan down, but due to occasional showers, that option was unfortunately not available to us today. Once we all got down, Bonnie gave the children a chance to buy ice cream and souvenirs.
From the Great Wall, it took us an hour and a half to get to Shun4Yi4 to visit a porcelain and pottery educational workshop. There, we first heard a brief lecture on the process of porcelain making, then had a hands-on experience painting porcelain plates of our own. After that, we watched a video that explains the making of pottery, followed by another hands-on session on pottery making. It was my first time making pottery and it was a very sensual experience that defies definition. We could choose to take either the hand-painted plate or the pottery home for free; if we would like, we could also take both of them at a small cost.
We left the workshop at about 5:30, and headed for a place that the children were very much looking forward to—the MacDonald. Bonnie got the children into groups of 4 and gave each group 100 Yuan for them to buy their own dinner there. Food at MacDonald, and money to spend however they wanted it—what could be better? When you call your children next time, ask them what they got for dinner at MacDonald, how much they ate, and how they made use of the leftover money.
We returned to the dorm a little after 8pm.
Hope your weekend is as fulfilling and as joyful,
Agnes (aka He Laoshi)