The cable car ascending the Western Hills (in the countryside near Kunming)

Maisie is with our guide Tina along the steep path in the western hills

Kai, Mike and Jesse in one of the temples along the hillside of the Western Hills.

Many luxurious new homes have been built on the lakeshore below the Western Hills. A few years ago none were there.


One of the temple niches with diety statues.

The dragon vessel is beautifully carved.

Students enjoying the vendors on the walk down the road from the temples.

Food vendors are plentiful at popular visiting spots like the Western Hills.

Our sophisticated world traveled students ready for the banquet.

Ms. Greene exchanging gifts with the University vice president.

Ms. Sopper writes:
The success of the home stays and school visits and the continued vitality of the program was celebrated at a banquet with the chief administrators from Yunnan Normal University and the Principals of the schools we visited. The students were beautiful in their formal dress, and managed everything from chopstick management to the most exquisite manners without a hitch.

Jesse writes:

Hello again everyone!! Today was a very busy and exciting day. We all started our day at our host-family's house. I started out with a nice breakfast; my host mother is a very good cook. And my host father gave me a small gift. Overall I got the gist that everyone's family was very generous in the hospitality area.

Around 8:00 everyone met at the hotel and gathered to take pictures with our host kids. There was a lot of exchanging numbers and e-mails; everyone seemed happy. Finally everyone said farewell, hugs, high-fives, etc. While we were waiting to get our hotel rooms assigned we shared our experiences and compared what we got for gifts from our host families. Everyone really loved it. My home-stay was very interesting. Aside from the language barrier, my home-stay was awesome. My student, Andy (Wang Liang), was very nice and made me feel welcome. Hopefully we will stay in touch.

Anyhoo, once we rested and changed out of our more formal clothes, we got ready to leave. We met our new tour guide, Tina. She is very nice and excited to be with us. We found out she is a student in college. She took us to the Western Hills. It was a beautiful giant mountain with Buddhist shrines carved out and steps up to them. It was very interesting. On our way back to the bus everyone checked out the street vendors. I noticed some teachers bought hand painted glass beads. Then more bus and back to the hotel!!

There we chilled for a while, talking, watching Kai's neat movies on Mike's computer. Then we got dressed for the banquet. Everyone looked spiffy and a lot of pictures were taken. Daniel and I even got married (fake, no worries, see the photos to get the joke). The very scrumptious dinner lasted for about two hours during which gifts were exchanged between the American and Chinese teachers. The Vice President gave us T-shirts and very nice pins of their school.

We just went for a nice stroll to get some candy and coffee before lights out.

Mike, Daniel and Maisie stand near a beautiful temple doorway.

Kai and Jesse in one of the caves carved in the hills

Temple eaves Western Hills

Students try their luck dropping a coin in the dragon's mouth; Daniel succeeded!

Another temple image in a niche in the mountain.

An artist demonstrating reverse painting inside tiny glass jars.

Our favorite treat: ice cream!

Students also received gifts at the farewell banquet.

AACE staff with principals from several schools in Kunming, and our interpreter Dr. Wu, far right.