65th Anniversary

October 1st, 1949 is celebrated as the day in which the People's Republic of China was founded.  Our little team of six and roughly 1000 other "foreign experts" serving in a variety of fields were invited to dine in The Great Hall of the People last Sunday.

The following day, the much more dignified group (pictured below) gathered to celebrate the occasion in the same room!

Guilin

The Li River cruise was a definite highlight of our time in Guangxi province; we are most thankful for the FAO grant for us as "foreign experts" to "discover China" in advance of its October holiday!

Globe Trekkers

There was a group of Canadians passing through on a 9-month tour of the globe... we are pictured with them and the leaders of our local fellowship after hearing the vision of the latter for reaching our community of 500,000 with the message of hope... roughly 1% are currently a part of the fold.

Grace and I (and 5 of our teammates) will be doing a little "trekking" of our own Wednesday-Saturday.  The Foreign Affairs Office has blessed us with a "Discover China" grant... a 4-day trip to Guilin!  We'll be without internet until Sunday, but after that look for some great pictures!

Junior EMs

Had a little meet-n-greet with some of our junior English majors last night.  This is the group that Grace and I have worked most closely with over the past two years.

Great to see them, and to hear all that is happening in their lives as they begin to think about what they'll be doing post-graduation, to realize how far they've come in their ability to communicate in English, and to look forward to building on the relationships we've established with them!

Military Training

This is what our campus looks like from sun-up to long after dark for the three weeks of military training (required of every one of our 3,600 freshmen each year.)

They all say it is pretty tough, but also helps them get to know everyone in their divisions really well before having to "hit the books".

The New Team

This is our new core team (the ones who live and teach full-time in Liangxiang), with Apryl and Emily Cole being the newcomers. Three other members of our Beijing City team will be teaching part-time on our campus.  I love the logo of our school, which illustrates its goal of "Peace on a Foundation of Strength."  The central building on the main campus (pictured in the background) was designed to look like an open book.

L2R: Ben Brewer (Michigan State); Apryl Sniffen (NY); Emily Cole (BC/Ontario); Emily Thomas (TN); G&G (Florida)