More pictures

View (from our porch) of the group that went horse-back-riding Saturday afternoon. We left Beijing around 8 AM and arrived at our destination around noon. We waited around an hour for lunch and then we went horse-back-riding for about an hour in the hills. Most of the people on the left of the picture are my students, and most of the people on the right are locals who are going to take us horse-back-riding or who are there to help us.

An MSN conversation with a friend of mine made me realise that maybe I should tell you that you can click on the photo to enlarge it. That way you can see the photo better.

Please click on the photo!
The first picture I took on our horse-back-riding trip.
Franklin - the class monitor. He has a 5-year-old son and he's very...responsible and just. He likes to see himself as the wise old man dispensing good advice to everyone.
A local galloping on his horse. The scenery was lovely.
Maxine - the Chinese English teacher who also went on the trip. She's a blast. In China you show friendship by holding hands. I only found out her name was Maxine today, when she called me. It was quite funny - we spent the whole week-end together and I never knew her English name! The students call her "Teacher Chu."
Scenery from our ride. Those are some people from our class way ahead of us in the distance...
More scenery...

A picture taken in one of the village's streets as we made our way back. I saw a dead horse on the side of the street that had just been butchered. It's head was sawed off and it's stomach and guts were sprawled on the street. I didn't look much because once I realised what it actually was I tried to not think about it. It was quite horrifying. A man seemed to be cutting the horse - not sure what he was really doing.
After riding horses we went by the river to go-kart around a small track. It was expensive and short, but nothing beats Chinese adventure: you're in a metal-framed vehicle (no roof or windows or anything) that could tip over at any moment, you have no helmet, and you're on the rockiest, bumpiest track on which you could easily seriously injure yourself if you were to fall - fun, fun, fun!!!
To cross the river we went over a wooden-plank bridge that I would actually hardly call a bridge at all.
There were rafts that we could ride on - we used poles to push ourselves forward.
A village street scene.
There were a couple pigs running down the street - by the time I took my camera out and turned it on, they were long gone, but I was able to take this shot, which is pretty funny.
Two of my beautiful students.
The sheep at the farm where we picked our dinner...
Three of my students looking at me in the sheep pen.
A farmer cutting up a sheep - yum! Dinner!
A woman preparing the meat. The heads are at her feet. A dog came to lick up the fallen blood just like the dogs did in France when I saw a chicken being slaughtered.
A village boy (eating I'm-not-sure-what) that was at the sheep-slaughtering scene. So were the old man and 1 1/2-year-old in the picture from Monday. What a spectacle! Despite the cold, young children still have holes in their pants.

My afternoon class didn't go so well today. Oh well.

After class I cleaned up my apartment because I was to meet Jack and Chang Ping at 5 PM. They were going to come over to make me dinner again. This time Chang Ping cooked, Jack helped prepare the meat and vegetables, and I talked in English. :-) She made us mushroom soup, an omelette with cooked tomatoes (a Chinese dish I often see in restaurants), a cucumber salad, and green peppers with beef (mostly fat). It was super delicious. They also gave me Chinese tea which I'm sure I'll be thankful for in the winter.

Jack is going to help me fix my camera which broke after some water got into it. The camera was in my handbag when the bottle of water in my bag leaked - couldn't do much about it because I was out when it happened. Only realised the extent of the damage once I got back home. Haven't been able to turn it on for a week now...

And Chang Ping (English name is Alice) will take me to Xidan to buy winter clothes this Thursday. I'm seeing my cousin for most of the week-end (Friday evening and Saturday during the day). I told her I wanted to see Beijing University.

Tomorrow I must work on the midterms and prepare for next week and do an editing job on an English essay I promised a colleague I would do.

Lots to do. :-) Every week is so different I find. I do such different things...