Before I tell you about our final sightseeing adventure, I want to tell you a little bit about the work we did in China. Due to confidentiality issues, I can only tell general things. The main purpose of our trip was to work in special education schools that are affiliated with Government run orphanages. We were there to teach the teachers how to use music and play as therapy. The teachers are amazing! They have very little education and yet they have huge amounts of love for these beautiful children! And they are truly willing to learn new things. Teaching them and working with the children were the biggest blessing of this trip. Any other details can only be shared in person so let's get together soon and I can tell stories and show you pictures!
Now for the final sightseeing adventure...On Monday morning we left Xiamen and took a bus back to Longyan. Our friend Peter, and tour guide for the day met us at the bus station with his 13 y.o. son and son's friend for the 1.5 hr. drive into the gorgeous countryside to see the ancient round houses.
We enjoyed breathtaking mountains, farmland and villages along the way! The weather was perfect too, not too hot, overcast and cloudy with sprinkles.
about halfway into our road trip the van started sputtering, backfiring and slowing. Luckily Peter found a mechanic in this small village (across from the farm) that replaced the fuel filter and cleaned the carb so after only an hour and a half delay we were back on the road again...The round house that we visited is the newest one in the area...only about 100 years old. These houses were built by the Han dynasty and each one is a self sustaining village. The circle design is for protection from invading armies.
This one had an outer circle and an inner one (although some have many more concentric circles buildings)with common rooms on the ground floor including kitchens with chicken coops and well water in the courtyards. Dining areas, a small stage for worship or performances and retail markets for the tourists. The second floor is for visitors and guest quarters and the top 2 floors are for residents. There is a wing on either side - one for schooling and the other for business.
the water wheels for irrigation
This shows the outer circle and inner circle looking down on the stage area.After an excellent sightseeing adventure we headed back for dinner in Longyan and drive back to Xiamen...at least that was the plan...until the van started sputtering and coughing and then died. After several attempts to get it started (including the valient push start attempt) Peter made a couple of phone calls...unfortunately, there aren't the tow truck services that we have in the states...and we found out later that if we abandoned the vehicle for any length of time, it would have been stolen...so we prayed together and then at last it started! We kept praying for about 4 hours as we limped down the path toward Longyan and it finally died just outside of town where we could get a taxi. Peter was then able to send us to the office to sleep while his friend got the van running enough to get it to a shop. Needless to say, we took the bus back to Xiamen the next day and arrived just in time to finish packing for our trip home on Wed...
Throughout our journey, God was present each and every time we called on Him and even when we didn't He made his presence known to us.
I am so thankful for good health, great times, great friends, great work and a great family to come home to!
Thanks to all of you that shared in my adventures with me. I hope you get to have such amazing opportunities in your lives too!
Until the next adventure! Love, Debi
