CALENDAR!

Well, despite being able to blog, I can not post pictures yet. I don't know why that is...but I will try to get that up and going asap. I figured, though, that being able to blog with no pictures is better than not being able to blog at all. :)

On the 7th, the Overseas Dept. arranged another fieldtrip for us. It was alright, though. Not too grand. We visited an ancient town here in Chengdu called: Huang Long Xi. Hmm...not too much to say about this though...there was a bridge, and some horses. Other than that...alot of it was very "tourized. " Well, despite the lack of anything really interesting...I got to spend some time with my friends...made new friends...and kept myself busy on a Tuesday afternoon.

We have been told of this, even before Steve left for UW. Susan Jeffords, Vice Provost for Global Affairs at UW came and visited us on Tuesday the 14th. We were supposed to give our presentations the day before. However, her flight back to Chengdu from Juizhaigou was delayed and then canceled because of the weather. We each gave a 10-15 min talk about our research so far. Not many of us are really far, especially for those of who are doing things over at Yangjuan. We had a great time with Jeffords and Patricia Butterfield. It was nice seeing UW faces. Besides talking about our research, we also gave them a short summary of the things we have done outside of academics. Also, me and Sarah promoted Yangjuan Calendars. :) For anyone else who is interested in buying one of these calendars, please! contact me! I know that I havent done my PR over blogger yet...so I will do it here.
The village that I do my research at is called Yangjuan. Prior to Steve's and a couple of other people's help, there wasnt an elementary school in that area. The nearest elementary school was a 40 min walk away. Imagine walking to and back...sometimes in the dark with no street lights or anything! Let me tell you, walking in the dark there is frightening. You only have the moon to provide you any light. Anyways...so since this elementary school was built, alot of the kids dont have to go too far to get to school. However, since alot of the parents there are farmers and rely on harvests to provide them with a living, money isnt easy to obtain. And education in China isn't free like it is in America. So, often times, if a family doesnt have enough money for their kids to go on to middle school, they lose the opportunity to learn. So, what a couple of UW students started doing was selling calendars to fundraise. Every year, pictures taken from Yangjuan are compiled into a calendar. They are selling for $20 each this year. All of the money then goes to Steve who takes it to Yangjuan every August. Scholarships are made and based on academic standings, children and parents are given some help with paying for middle school. I personally attended 2 of these scholarship ceremonies the last time I was there. They were deeply emotional for everyone. Last year, calendar sales made around $3000. That's 24,000 RMBs toward these kids' futures. So, if anyone is interested in helping out...there are several ways. Tell people about this fundraising...we would love to have help in the PR department. Also, if you want to buy one of these calendars, e-mail me: sungd@u.washington.edu I can order one for you and then have our coordinator email you when they are ready to be picked up. Thanks everyone...this really means alot to everyone involved in this project...but especially to these kids and their parents!