I had a great lunch today with Katie McKean who just returned from four months in Chengdu. She was the most recent exchange teacher from PCDS to teach at CEFLS. Katie brought her laptop and showed me pictures of the students, classroom, teachers, apartment, and the city. I received many interesting tips on teaching and living in China. I am really looking forward to meeting the students and teachers. There is a great place to eat near the apartment in a department store that also has a grocery section. I am looking forward to trying many of the local dishes! The apartment is very modern and spacious. It has everything to make it home for three months. The more information I received from Katie the more excited I am about arriving in Chengdu.

I am still working on making lesson plans and gathering materials. I sent a message to the Mineralogical Society of Arizona asking for some help in gathering rocks for labs. Below is the email I sent to the Mineralogical Society of Arizona.

Hi everyone,
I teach Earth Science at Phoenix Country day school. I have been selected by my school to teach in Chengdu, China for thirteen weeks this fall. I will be leaving on Aug. 23rd. I will be teaching rocks and minerals to Chinese students at Chengdu Experimental Foreign Languages School. I am gathering rock and mineral samples to use in labs for mineral identification and rock classification. After raiding my house, yard, and garage I still need a few samples. Can anyone help me out with some free samples? Everything needs to be about the size of a golf ball. Here is what I need
1. Slate; seven pieces (I guess these would have to be flat golf balls)
2. Siltstone; seven pieces (these should be soft and blocky)
3. Shale; seven pieces (I guess these would have to be flat golf balls)
4. Coal; seven pieces
5. Rock salt; seven pieces
6. Gypsum; seven pieces
7. Rhyolite; seven pieces (I need these to be light grey to off white)
8. Gabbro; seven pieces (These need to be dark grey to black with crystals visible)
9. Limestone; seven pieces (these need to have obvious fossils or fossil hash visible)

I live in Ahwatukee (southeast phoenix). Email me or give me a call if you can help out.
Thanks for any assistance!

J. Bob