Team  172, Xi’an China, March 29 through April 18, 2009

Global Volunteers

Weekend Adventures—Part 2

After refueling at the hotel Chinese breakfast, we were off with Raphael to the South.  We drove for about an hour to the Endangered Animal Center wildlife preserve where we saw the endangered ibis, golden monkeys with blue faces, peacocks, leopards, black bears, and of course, some pandas.  The one and two year old pandas were in a special enclosure and we had the opportunity to talk with one of the caretakers.  We all agreed that the pandas are charming creatures.

 

After leaving the preserve we walked to the Taoist temple nearby.  It was a beautiful day to visit a beautiful site.  All three of us had our fortunes told by a Taoist priest and were pleased with our good fortunes.  The Chinese tourists were quite interested in our fortunes as well.

 

After a delicious lunch of mutton soup in a Moslem restaurant, we were off to try and purchase a police hat for Annette’s son-in-law.  We discovered that non-police could not buy the official police hats, but we did get a good picture of a poster displaying police uniforms that should work well for Aaron in his criminal justice class.

 

A visit to the relic market by the Temple of Eight Immortals finished our day with Raphael.  We all did some bargaining and came away with some treasures.

 

We then went to the office to prepare for next weeks’ teaching.  Everyone shared the necessary tasks and we left feeling prepared for English club on Monday and discussions of travel and holidays for next week.

 

Submitted by Annette

Annette at the Taoist temple gate.

Date: 04/05/2009

Fortune teller at  the Taoist temple.

Yang Yang, a six-year old panda.