Enjoying July and August in Ordos

As the "Lazy Days of Summer" sauntered on, we were busy working on the Domes. We opened up the last 2 domes and the event was marked with fireworks and Darryl wearing a tie to work. The Chinese weren't quite sure what to think of it. 

For an Anniversary present Darryl bought me a custom made Mongolian formal dress. It is so beautiful. 

While I was at the shop for the fitting I just had to try on one of their traditional headdresses.

This thing is so heavy!! It is usually worn by brides or for very special occasions and weighs about 10 lbs. or more!

This is our beautiful young friend Trgl. (It's a Mongolian name). She designed and made these beautiful shirts for us.

Our Fitness and Aerobics team had 2 competitions and filmed one promotional video. Each evening we would meet in this park to practice.

We are the "Grasslands 'Love your Heart' Team" and promote a healthy living lifestyle.

This is one of the older members of the competition team, I affectionately call her Grandma. She is our "Big Sister" on the team and is 72 yrs. young.

Mr. Xu our team leader and a Police Chief for the city of Ordos Kangbashi.

We competed against 10 different groups in the first competition and 8 in the second. The children did exhibition dances. This is the Swing Dance group..

The little girls ballet was beautiful!

A young Mongolian dancer.;;

..and one of the traditional Mongolian dance groups.

The Thai Chi group..

The "Aunties" traditional Mongolian group. All of these ladies were living on the farms that the government bought to build the city.

Modern Dance Group

And Grasslands fitness group.

The aerobics group...

This is their rehearsal before the show -

Some of my team members were in two groups. Notice "Grandma" in the back row of the modern dance group. Way to go Grandma!

And a fitness team so big they didn't fit on the stage.

This Mongolian troupe was amazing and they won the daytime competition!

 We took second place in both competitions! I felt very privileged that they asked me to be on their team.

Of course being the only foreigner in competition does make me stand out a little.

It was so much fun and I will miss going to the park every evening and being with these wonderful people! I have been told by many of them that I am the first foreigner they have ever met. Amazing!