More China!

We received another update from Nathan today:

Dear Parents,
We arrived safely in Hangzhou (neighborhood of Shanghai) this evening, but my mind is going back to southern China, where we had some great experiences the past two days. First, the Li River...I encouraged the students to use our boat ride as a worship opportunity; the scenery was then breathtaking, giving a distinct sense of the majesty of the Creator. In the evening, we had a great hour-long conversation about the purpose of cross-cultural study. The basic realization that (I think) the students reached is that simply seeing differences in other cultures isn't worth much if it is not accompanied by greater purpose. The students had some excellent things to say about how cross-cultural study could help us to make changes in our lives or help us to more effectively serve others. The point that I tried to make, and will try to make over the next few days, is that the fun of this experience will be gone quickly...and unless you go home with a purpose for what you have learned, the end of the trip can be more disappointing than it needs to be.
Finally, we had a delightful experience today at a host school in Yangshuo, a small tourist village along the Li River. The school was nothing fancy, and unlike the students we met in Beijing, it's unlikely that any of these students has a future in international finance. Perhaps that is why we were welcomed with a local friendliness that was very disarming. Our students had small-group discussions with their Chinese counterparts and then spent several hours in simple kid-to-kid interaction: dance lessons with Savannah, guitar playing with Bjorn and his friend Eric, Korean soap opera talk with Stefanie and friends, Chinese character writing, Chinese hackey-sack, and so forth. We ended up staying 2 hours longer than originally planned, and we had a difficult time getting everyone to head for the bus. The pictures attached are all of our time at the school, though I don't imagine that they quite capture the magic. Thanks for your support (in all sorts of ways) that made today's interaction possible.

Did you find Cody in the pictures? Hint: He is in four of them!