Jade, Jade, Jade and a party!

Mostly this week was uneventful. We did the normal everyday stuff and threw in a haircut or two or three and a beautifully re-done perm for my wife/mom/best friend! The action started on Thursday when Bruce (our boss) took us to the Jade factory that is close by.

When parking and then walking into the surrounding buildings of the factory your thought is "Are you serious?" I didn't get a good picture of it (I didn't think of taking one at the time) but there is like a scrap yard of metal and tin and old tires and other trash everywhere. Then as you get past that you see a huge pile of "jade trash"...rocks and stone that is not fit for jewelry or has already had pieces cut up. The boys were in it, on it and loving it!

The owners (a family) took us for a tour and we saw where they cut the Jade and then ran it through the machines to make it into round smooth balls for necklaces and also where they cut the delicate intricate designs of jade. It  as pretty cool. Also, they make the glass doll eyes. Impressive! So artistic! It's done by rods of glass and fire. They had 3 ladies working and they pump out 500 eyes a day. They were nice enough to give us some.

The Jade "Trash" pile

This is a closer look at what was in the pile

Jade stone cutters

Jade tumbler machines

Jade balls being formed into the necklace

Making baby doll eyes

On Saturday between our morning and afternoon classes we went to one of our students birthday parties. Angel is her name and she turned 10. I have been to some big and great birthday parties but this one had to have topped them all! There were 17 big round tables one of which was twice the size of ours (I think that was for the grandparents and close family) and another big rectangular table for all the kids, all of which were full. There was a clown, a DJ, a human Hello Kitty, games and prizes. Angel played the Gujin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guqin) which is really pretty, she's a great player...as far as I can tell anyway.

Angel playing the Gujin (pronounced goo-gin)

Anyway, for Chinese they do not celebrate birthdays every year. Here's a run down of the big ones....100 days, 1 year old, 10 years old, 20 years old and 30 years old. Basically every decade is celebrated with a grand party. The girls BIGGEST party or Birthday is 20 because that is the last decade they "should" be with their family, living at home. If the girls is not married by 30....no bueno.

Angel still came to her evening class! She's a great student and very bright.

The boys continue to be a "Superstar" status symbol here and they were spoiled and got to bring home some of the balloons and they got some of the better prizes.

The boys on stage with Angel

EVERYBODY CONGO!

Hello Kitty is very very popular here.

The boys were given and took home the big ballon pillars. We usually get stared at when walking the streets...imagine the looks we got walking the 2 or so miles home...Priceless!

I haven't mentioned food for a while but we did get to try something new at the party....Turtle! It was surprisingly delicious and we ate it up.

Yep...Turtle, one of the cuisines that we haven't had yet...we just experienced it!

The underside of the turtle. It was good, we would eat it again for sure.

The food kept coming and coming an coming and coming and coming....it was getting stacked.

Last but certainly not least....Jami and Ethan made some Chinese rolls with meat in it for lunch on Sunday and it was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!! Jami has been looking and looking for the right bread recipe for it and with the help of our friends Qin, Lucia and her husband Hao and some Chinglish instructions they got it!

SUCCESS! Yummy! And doesn't her hair look great!?