Well, the showers haven’t ceased even though it is May. However, the fruits of all this rain- the flowers, vegetables, and other greenery- can be seen all around us.

As we might have mentioned in an earlier post, we have been befriended by the local police chief. He has recruited us as cultural liaisons for his daughter to help her learn English, and thus takes us with on many of his adventures. He is a lively man with a great sense of humor. His family owns a large plot of farmland just outside of town, and in the past month we have visited both his family home and other fertile spaces in order to see what they cultivate here in Jian’ou. Thus far this Spring, we’ve gone boating; dug bamboo; harvested wood mushrooms; picked raspberries; visited a pottery factory and an arboretum; and even took home 2 of our very own Evergreen trees. It is rumored that in the next week we will go loquat picking.

As per the police chief’s request, K took a short video of us picking raspberries. I also compiled some other pictures of the vast greenery and our spoils.

As usual, the video is available in higher quality on Vimeo. You can find it here:

Enjoy the May flowers,

<3, V&K