Jam-Packed and Dragging

You know it's the end of the school year when you're more exhausted than rested on Monday mornings... for more than 3 consecutive weeks. There's just a lot going on over the weekends that require much energy, and starve the body of sleep.

This weekend was packed with a number of events. I'll explain briefly, but mostly just share media to do the describing for me.

The "weekend" started early, with a late night out on Thursday, for a girls night out after watching the week's episode of SYTYCD. Woo hoo! 

Setting up the projector outdoors to show
on the sheet tied to the tennis court fence

Friday night, I was booked for two places at once, splitting my time between chaperoning at the HS lock in (another one; two weeks ago was the Guerrilla Film Festival Lock-In, during which students created movies during a 24-hour period). I took charge of setting up an outdoor movie. The students were camping out in tents around campus, and I climbed up the fence of the tennis courts to tie up a big sheet, onto which we projected a movie. Finding enough extension cords and power strips was an undertaking, in order to supply the projector cart with necessary electricity (from the guard house, which was over 10 meters away) to power all the technology. But it was a good time. They watched Whip It from inside their mosquito netting. 

Simultaneously on Friday night, the "Hasta Luego" fiesta was being thrown by some of our closest Chilean friends, in honor of several of us who are leaving the AIAN/Beilun international community at the end of the school year. Good food (complete with my fave dessert, tres leches, made by Chilean host Francisca!!!), fun games, rockin' music, and fantastic socialization! 

Beilun International "Family Portrait"
Despedida (going away) Party on Friday night.

After the gathering ended, I went back to the school to clean up movie stuff (high schoolers were already conked out in their tents just around midnight). Since I was still up and about, I met up with some friends for some dancing, getting in around 2am.

Saturday morning, early, I headed back to school to oversee breakfast and chaperone the HS trip that took students into Ningbo to visit museums and key city locations for a service-learning project that they've been working on in conjunction with a local school for the children of migrant workers. 

Saturday morning. The HS students were zonked before
the excursion really even began!

At the Ningbo Planning/Development Historical Museum

One of the many models and displays of the city of Ningbo,
in the At the Ningbo Planning/Development Historical Museum

Checking out landmarks of Ningbo on the model.

At the Ningbo Arts Museum

Ningbo Arts Museum

The youngest daughter of one of our Mandarin teachers,
who came along on the field trip and peeked through this sculpture

In juxtaposition to the topic of their work-service trip,
which involved volunteering in the migrant worker community in Ningbo,
we took the students to a new, fancy mall for lunch,
and to observe the contrast in classes within their city.

The last part of the trip was to the Ningbo Railway Station,
which is a hub through which many migrant workers reach the city of Ningbo.
They were to observe, photograph/film, and document their reflections
as if through the eyes of arriving migrant workers at this location.

Returning from Ningbo that (Saturday) afternoon, I packed up some food and supplies, and headed out to meet up with about a dozen friends, to camp in a bamboo forest that is about a half hour's drive away. Pictures are worth oh-so-many words:

Jett was excited on the car ride out.
Fresh air! Head out the window!

So this was funny...
Shortly after putting up the tents, a couple Chinese ladies from the village below
came up to investigate the ruckus we were making in setting up camp. 

They had never seen a tent before, apparently...

Kate and I explained and demonstrated how the tents worked.
I suggested that Kate go inside to show them what "sleeping" inside would look like.
They were floored and astonished, and kept playing with the zippers.

Dana, Kate, Kari, and I, all wearing our bright tanks.

Setting up camp in the middle of a bamboo forest, on what appeared to be terraces
that trees are repeatedly harvested and replanted on (these trees were about 3-4 weeks old),
on the (German) Hape Toy Company's property, from which they make wooden toys.
We're friends with the company's manager and a Chinese family who helps run the operation.
They graciously allowed us to access and camp on the property,
which borders a clean lake and reservoir behind a nearby dam.

Hammock time!

Misty mountains that surround the lake/reservoir.
It was somewhat humid and warm, but without precipitation!

It's a bit blurry, but that's us swimming in a body of water in China...
Scary? (I eased my own mind with the excuse that it's clean(er) mountain water,
rain/bamboo forest runoff, and nothing to be concerned about behind the dam.)

This is our Chinese friend, Andi, roasting rice sticks
(similar to roasting marshmallows?)
TIC.

Hobo stew dinners

Kari plays guitar while we gathered 'round the campfire.
We had a couple guitarists accompany
a round of campfire songs. Also, camp chants participated
in by some enthusiastic campers (Kate, Erich, Kari)

Breakfast on Sunday next morning 

Jett surveys the newly-explored territory of the reservoir and bamboo forest.
He loves camping.

Beetles and millipedes, creepy crawlers galore in the bamboo forest.
Bamboo grows so quickly that we even had some shoots spring up overnight
 beneath the tent, under our backs, and poking into our sides as we slept!

Hiking, swimming, cooking, singing, laughing, and enjoying each other's company for a weekend camp trip. Fun, fun, fun!

Packing up in the later morning on Sunday, and then getting home around noon, I just wanted to sleep. We did very little sleeping the night before, and the ground had rocks and bamboo shoots literally springing up over night and relentlessly poking us in our sleeping bags. At home, after bathing the pupperz (who thoroughly enjoyed his first overnight camping experience, and was dirty and all pooped out!), doing laundry, getting stuff put away and showering, I took some Tylenol for my knee that was swollen and in pain (because I'm allergic to ibuprofen and all related anti-inflammatory painkillers). Apparently, I'm allergic to Tylenol as well. I had to shoot myself with an epipen to breathe more easily. Resultingly, I zonked out, sleeping hard for about an hour, until some friends came over, waking me with Jett's barking at their arrival at the front door. Handprint on my face. Cheek imprinted with pillow lines. So out of it.

While I was pulling myself together, our Chinese friends, Alice and Shelley, cooked a traditional Chinese dinner. Kate came over too, and we shared some a meal together in celebration of Shelley's birthday.

Chinese birthday dinner for Shelley
Top L-R: Kate, Kari, me, Alice (cooking), birthday girl Shelley

Shelley and Alice with the Chinese feast they prepared
at our apartment... while Kari and I slept haha.

This is the birthday girl Shelley with the cute little panda and mouse(?)
mini cakes that Kate found at a local bakery.
The chocolate-flavor had raspberry and mousse cap/filling.
The vanilla-flavor had some sort of berry filling too, and a marshmallow cap.

Mmm! All five of us at our girls' celebration birthday dinner for Shelley.

Kari, Shelley, and I pose

with the playbill boards

outside the Ningbo Grand Theatre

After dinner, we went into Ningbo's Grand Theatre to watch a dance show. The performance, in the style of Chinese modern ballet, told the story of the traditions of marriage in China, especially the culture of Ningbo area. This show has traveled China in the last couple years, having been performed in the National Theater in Beijing, and was introduced in Europe, Taiwan, and Hong Kong areas, gaining great success. It was beautiful and entertaining--the music, the story, and the dance. Alice and Shelley explained the storyline that was projected in Mandarin on a screen between acts and transitions.  All of us, Shelley and Alice included, were intrigued to learn of old marriage customs and how they've developed and changed in the context of modern-day culture (especially since Alice is getting married this November, and many of the traditions of match-making, courtship, family meetings, and ceremonial arrangements are very pertinent in her life today).  

Images of the show!

So, as I am sleep-deprived, I apologize if this entry is random or parts might not make sense.