visit some of the other teachers that are with the same Drake program. I went with my friends Steph that has been teaching in the Shiz with me all year and Kim she's from Chicago and just got here about a month ago. We had a good time visiting with them and see how beautiful the area around Chengde is. I'm totally jealous, hills, trees, mountains, fresh air, less people... 
The big tall building holds a wooden buddha 5 stories tall and is a World Cultural Heritage piece. 
There were also many locks on a little shrine behind it for "good luck and peace" there were a lot but we could only find some dated back to around 2003. 
Steph and I also took a picture with one of the guys hanging out around the big buddha. He was making eyes at us so we decided to go over and say hello and take a picture with him. The other picture is a picture of th city of Chengde from the temple.
I'll be finished teaching on Friday and I'm a little nervous that my students will cry. Which in turn will make me cry and make me feel goofy but I guess you can't be somewhere for almost a year and not make attachments, especially when they make your day so many times. My next post will be post-year teaching in China and class pictures, after their final choral reading exam I'll be giving them candy and taking pictures (which will make them miss me more :) ) But here a just a few pictures from my quick weekend to Chengde.
As a continuance, if you look back at a few posts you'll remember that I had been proposed to by a man, and that my friend's student also proposed to her, we found out that it was the same guy who asked both of us!
