Late post - I was late with this post from Cindy (DON)

We leave tomorrow am about 11 am- some chinese flight,
we don't have tickets or ibfo. We get into BJ about noon
 or so. We are checking into our extravagant holiday inn
 and calling some of our friends- well. Once we go to
starbucks I mean! Here is a bloggy blog:

Whew! Another camp for the history books. Foreign
teachers are VERY (VERY!) important in this culture and
 the kids feted us with gifts and hugs and tears and at
 least 600,000 pictures. We will miss them greatly- so
 earnest and always looking towards success in the future.
 We are asking that we made a greater impact than just
 pronunciation. We made some awesome discoveries and many
 things were clearly planned for us here!

Tonight we are packing, cleaning, packing-if anything
 (cup, towel,pillow, etc) is missing or broken they charge
 an exhorbitant fee. Since my carpet hasn't been swept
 since Y2K, I've used the same towel for 2 weeks, my
toilet/faucet/lamp/and electric outlet have been broken
 since day one, there is a giant splatter on the wall
that looks something like blood and/or red pepper noodles
 and there has been standing water in my bathroom floor
the entire trip, I can't imagine how they would charge us
 for damages. I will have you know, though, it is  3000
 yuan if you steal the peephole from the door :) Consider
 yourself warned!

Our NLG team has been awesome. Through every struggle
they have maintained a good attitude and a helpful,
flexible spirit. Our team of 6 provided 4 of the 8 lead
 teachers as well as 5 of the 8 extra-curriculars (music,
 crafts, etc) so we have been a blessing to the larger
team. Each one has been fun, friendly, competent,
responsible, encouraging, helpful and more-we have had
 a great time together. We are off to Beijing eaaaaarly
 in the morning for a few days of de-briefing, meetings,
 learning, and a bit of sight-seeing.

The first sight I am seeing is an ice cold caramel
Frappucino from the Starbucks on our block. After weeks
 of warm water, hot water, warm pepsi, warm tea, hot tea
 and even warm Tang, we are looking, begging for a cold
 drink. Speaking of cold drinks, Laura, our resident
chinese tutor, taught us the word for cold water, always
 a rare treasure to find. Being very cocky in my language
 skills, I asked my students last night for "cold
toothpaste" instead of cold water- lol!!