Pandas in Chengdu

Of course most everyone knows that pandas are near extinction and live in the mountains in Sichuan Province in western China. They estimate that only between 300 and 1000 still live in the wild. So we went to Chengdu after our Guizhou trip to visit the Panda Research base. We learned all about panda sex and artificial insemination there at the base. We even saw male and female panda parts preserved in jars at the museum which claimed that Teddy Roosevelt killed a panda in his visit to Sichuan province in late 1800's. Fact check needed!
Anyway, blah, blah, blah. China is working very hard to repopulate their country's mascot. Want to know what we came away with? Pandas do not take uncute photos. Everything they do is inherently cute and kind-- chomping on bamboo, rolling over another panda, growling, strolling, sleeping in trees-- serious cute factor. Check out my pics!!!

Guizhou Project

We just returned from one of the most exciting trips we have had here in China. No beaches or Buddhas, or bahama-mamas ( I don't actually drink these, I am more a margarita girl, but it started with b) Anyway, we learned last year about a partnership between Shekou International School and the Guizhou Province in western China. Since 2004, Doris King and other interested and invested people have been traveling to and meeting with Communist party members, mayors, farmers, school teachers to find out what people need in this poorest section of China. So far, under the guidance of Doris King, a Chinese teacher at the school and the PSA, SIS has raised enough money to fund a new elementary school, water collection units for the farmers and most recently 31 biofuel units for Guizhou farmers.






Biogas or biofuel units look like a concrete well with a small pipe that leads from the unit into the farmer's house. The biogas is created by collecting and recycling all of the human and animal waste on the farm. The power of methane. And what I found particularly amazing-- this biogas source is enough to constantly power simple lighting and gaa fuel for cooking. What is left goes to fertilize the farmer's crops.

So a group of 6 seventh grade boys from SIS including Luca learned about this project and decided to create a plan to visit during spring break and capture film and still photos to make a documentary to showcase the partnership between Guizhou and SIS. Vic and I were invited as chaperones. Renata went as well.

We were warned to expect desperate conditions, but it really wasn't that different than northern Maine. In fact Guizhou is also famous for their potatoes and potato products. We took a train from the capital of Guizhou, Guiyang to He Shitou, one of the villages, and it was the most beautiful train ride I have ever taken, terraced farming interspersed with field of rapeseed flowers in full blooms, small, rural villages with dirt roads. People of all ages in the fields planting or walking their water buffaloes or resting on their haunches for a cigarette break. Really incredible.