A Hiking, Eating, Outdoor Adventure

A little boy named Tong Tong lives upstairs with his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Wang.  He is an adorable but hyperactive five-year-old.  My teammate Reagan tutors Tong Tong in English twice a week.  To thank her, the Wangs invited Reagan, her family, and the rest of the foreign English teachers to join them for meal and hiking. 

We piled into two vehicles and drove out about 10 minutes to some small mountains.  Halfway up the mountain was this little complex -- a few homes and a restaurant offering home-style cooking with outdoor seating:

At the restaurant

Sifting sand

Tong Tong watching as chickens are chopped and gutted.

Cooking area

After we arrived, Mr. Wang asked, "Who wants to go hiking?"
"WO YAO PA SHAN!" screamed Tong Tong.  ("I WANT TO HIKE THE MOUNTAIN!")
So off we went. 

Lots of flowers along the way

Sara, me, and Faith

Faith and scenery

Tong Tong forging ahead

These were the only others we saw, a couple of Chinese girls and their sunbrella.

Tong Tong never ran out of energy and his mom was constantly dragging him back from the edge of danger.  He also knows quite a few words of English.  When he saw some water, he started yelling at the top of his lungs, "WATA!!!  WATA!!!! WATAAA!!!!"  ("I found water!  Pay attention to me!  Hey, pay attention to me!")

Later, he saw another puddle.
"HAI YOU YI GE WATA!!!  HAI YOU YI GE WATA!!!!"  ("There's another water!  There's another water!")

After hiking, we went back to the restaurant and enjoyed a huge spread of food, including peppers & pork, a freshly stewed chicken, a whole fish, deep-fried green tea leaves, some stir-fried roots, steamed bread, little clams, and more.

Reagan, me, and Faith

You will not be surprised to learn that Tong Tong can be a bit exhausting to teach, since his attention span is nowhere near long enough to last for the hour-long tutoring sessions his parents want him to have.  So we all have Reagan to thank for her patience in teaching him, and getting us invited along for a fun day in the great outdoors.