Two Sundays -- one dry and one wet!

The dry Sunday was last weekend when Grandma was still here...and we had the good fortune
to stumble across a procession in honor of some Buddhist feast day. We had told Grandma Mary how lucky she was -- as we had not seen thins kind of local cultural display in all the time we have been in China, although I bet they are common in Hong Kong and Taiwan. My friend Julia sent me some pictures she took...




It was a home grown affair..with marchers and dancers in uniforms, young and old.

The dragons came up and made friends with the girls, who were sitting on our shoulders.

That's a lion perched atop two guys...

These drummers were dressed in the manner of the Hui'an, a Fujianese ethnic group...

Then there were various statues being carried on altars/litters. The most excitement, other than the music, came when these guys would stop periodically to rock back and forth and then dash forward...


Now the wet...on this Sunday it was pouring rain with high winds at dawn (later we found out that the remnants of the typhoon that hit Hainan --southern tip of China-- were passing through). I was wondering if it was a good idea to get on a ferry to get to church!.. Things died down enough for us to go, which I was glad of, because we will be traveling on the weekends a lot in the coming month and I hated to miss it. After lunch Helen reminded us that we have been saying for a long time that a rainy day was the right day for Underwater Xiamen..the aquarium on Gulanyu Island. And who wouldn't want to go -- with a giant Octopus at the entrance!



We encountered an impressive array of fish, including the"ugly blue guy" as we christened him..

And the "big mouth fish"

The best part was a moving walkway through a glass tunnel with dozens of sharks, a ray and other fish ..there's a little video clip to give you a taste..


Now the weekend is over and the weekday routine has begun...studying Chinese like mad for me -- as my midterm is this week (and it has been a good long time since I have take a test...), along with some good conversations with friends...it feels to Michael and I like we are beginning to deepen some relationships and beginning to have more meaningful friendships with Chinese people that we know. It makes for some interesting times as we are able to share more of ourselves and also satisfy our curiosity about life in China, especially on the more sensitive issues of religion, spirituality, political freedom, family life, etc.