Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
Da Jia Field Trip with some Morning Students and Their Families
Surrounded by rice patties and the sound of the nearby ocean we headed to a place where we would cook our food in traditional kilns, hunt for crabs, and get downright dirty with both paint and mud.
This is Peggy's son (I think they've named him Christopher, but they might have changed that) the dog is apparently 11 years old and would meander around the tables fully aware of it's ownership of the place, but not too proud to look at you with those puppy eyes when attempting to acquire your food.
No pictures could be found of the making of the fire, but needless to say wood was acquired, broken, and fed to the base of the kiln. We then placed our food inside the top and covered it with a large tin bowl. The next step was the most fun I had all day!
Creating the mud!!!!!
Seriously, they poured water into the dirt-pit and we had to 'churn' it! We would then fill buckets with it and cover the kilns to aid in the cooking process.
Me with my former student, Olivia
She wasn't so sure about this whole mud thing. . .
I wasn't quite so sure I wanted to get my hands dirty . . .
from left to right
11 y/o dog, Cooper, Frances, Lien, Betsy, 3 unidentified students, Katy, Gerald, 3 more unidentified people
Yes, I eventually got my hands (literally) dirty!
Teachers: Katy, Jenny, Betsy Lien
Students: ?Yvonne?, Cooper, ?Angelica?
Plus a very amused Charlene
Empty mud-pit . . . what to do . . . why jump in of course!
Destiny, Cooper, Lien, Katy, Allison, Olivia
Now let the masses join!
Betsy, Olivia, Lien, Destiny, Cooper, Katy, Allison, Kiri, 2 unidentified students
After we put the mud on top of our kilns we headed out to hunt some crabs. I failed in my pathetic attempt, but I had fun watching . . .
Lots of people hunting for crabs
Finally we were able to take our food out.
I'm pretty sure this is a pre-mud shot, but I was too lazy to move the pic . . .
This is a post-mud & pre-opening shot
After lunch we went boating in a little man made . . . water place . . .
The thing I found most interesting, can you guess? . . . It's a little morbid . . .
Yep, a dead turtle. I never thought about the fact that turtle's shells aren't actually detachable. It was as shriveled up and the rest of it, and 'seamlessly' attached. I was truly fascinated, but I digress.Check out Kiri and Kailey in the boat on the right, they probably ferried about 10 loads!
So what was everyone else doing . . .
You guessed it, not much (myself included . . .)
Charlene, Jenny, Fenny, Betsy, A dad?
With the strong wind getting anywhere was hard work, so inevitably there were some . . . challenges.
Kailey and Kiri collide with Destiny and Lien's boat!
I guess I just wanted to look like I was doing something, so I took pictures . . . a lot of pictures . . .
Betsy!
Jenny!, and Andy
. . . what can I say . . . the 'self portrait' thing is a work in progress . . .
I really don't know who this guy is (if he was even part of our group or not, but kudos to him for mastering the PVC raft!
PVC raft master!
Kiri!
The ever photographically diligent Frances
The 'double self portrait' yet another ability I've not quite honed
Charlene!
I should have cropped out my arms, but not a bad attempt . . . you know, practice and all that ;)
Betsy work'n hard and, Katy hardly work'n
Shauntelle!, and Sunflower!
The next activity was making some sort of traditional dessert ball. (I'm pretty sure it had taro and some other kind of sweet root, but they were good)
My fingernails were, seemingly, permanently encrusted with mud, so I, again, took pictures . . . a lot of pictures!
I realize that I'm not naming everyone in the pics, and that sometimes it will be difficult to figure out who is who, but the only people I know names of are the Chinese staff, Students, and the English teachers. With the exception of Frances and Gerald (my bosses), the former of these will always have a red Berhan shirt on, and the latter a blue Berhan shirt (
although some are wearing jackets). As for guessing which students are ones I'm naming and which ones are ones I don't actually know . . . well, I'll try my best to be as clear as possible . . . ;)
Andy
Andy, Shauntelle, Fenny
Gerald, Seth, Holly, Angelica
Seth displaying his pitching arm while pounding the dough and Holly helping a usually camera shy Angelica
Seth and Angelica are Frances and Gerald's kids.
My student Robbie, Olivia, Kiri
Two of my students: Wade, and Terry
Can you see the mischievousness emanating from one of them ;)
Betsy, John, Vivian (with a Berhan sweater) and John's older brother, my 4th grade student, Eric W.
In the very middle of the picture in the distant background the guy in the blue Berhan is Nathan, and this is the only picture of the elusive English Teacher . . .
An always rushing Peggy, and an always laughing Allison
A close up of the dessert in progress
While the 'balls' were cooking we headed out to cut sunflowers, this is where I got burnt due to the sun finally showing up, but hey "hakuna matata" (it was the first phrase to pop into my head when thinking about my sunburn)
Katy, and Sharon
She wrangles (teaches;) the little two year old's that I wrangle (teach;)
People in a Sunflower field
I see the back of Destiny's head and the side of Cindy's, can you?
Betsy and Jenny amidst the sunflowers
Katy amidst said sunflowers
And Destiny displaying her finds
Next we painted clay and wire crabs. I like this picture, although I wish the focus was exactly opposite . . .
A father and son among the table I was assigned
and My painted crab, "Gorthan"
After that we went home (of course the English teachers were loaded down with any left over food and dessert balls) and we crashed for the rest of the weekend!
