Earthquake garage sale

The school held an earthquake garage sale today. It was in the main square, and there was a TV set up showing news about the earthquake. CCTV (Central China Television, I think) is running round-the-clock coverage on some of their stations. There was also a money box for donations. The above picture is Dr. Rong and me at the sale.

There were many things to buy...the children brought toys they could do without, and bought others' toys that they wanted. There were also flowers you could buy, and other things like DVDs. Here are some pictures from the sale.



Here are some of my kids selling their toys.



Here's Chang-Chung. He wasn't selling toys, but candy! Every time he made a sale he'd happily dash off to the money box and put the proceeds in.



This is Little Raymond putting some profit into the money box. There used to be two Raymonds in his class, so he was Little Raymond. Now he's the only one, but I still call him Little Raymond everyday.



There was also a couple of small tables for the children to colour at, or make crafts.



You didn't have to buy anything to put money in the box...most people just donated without buying anything. When you donated, there was a sheet of paper where you'd write your name and how much you dropped into the box. This woman slowly fanned out her wad of cash so everyone (especially those with cameras) could see how much she was giving.





Huang Zi Cheng! He's not in my class, but comes everyday to pick up his sister. He's the only person whose Chinese name I know. He can say "Hello Jon!" and "Bye Jon" now so that's really cute. I like him. He started coming to pick her up in his stroller, but he's learned to walk since I've been here.



This is Erika. She was one of Carol's favourite students. Erika is from Vancouver, and is in Guangzhou until September. I spoke at length with her mom, in English. Her mom is in the background, wearing yellow.

She was born in China, and met her husband here in Guangzhou. They live in Vancouver now, but she likes China better because she is lonely in Vancouver as her family is in China. Also, she has trouble speaking English in Vancouver so she mainly runs in the Chinese circles.

I told her that her English was great, but she said that was because I spoke slowly to her so she could understand. In Vancouver, she gets tired of saying "Sorry? Can you say again?" because everyone speaks so quickly.

I told her that's how I feel in China, and why I am looking forward to going back to Canada in August. I said I feel a bit lonely sometimes too and never understand anything that anyone says either.

It was really great talking to her. We talked about Vancouver...the different neighbourhoods, how long it takes to get from one place to another, and compared Vancouver's SkyTrain system to the subways in Toronto, New York, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong.

It was a good morning. In the end, more than 50 000元 was raised for the earthquake victims. That's about $7500 in Canadian dollars, and it will go straight to the Red Cross. Solid effort!