DaFen Oil Painting Village

Yesterday, we went to Dafen Village, which isn't separate from Shenzhen but its own little enclave towards the western side of the city. Dafen is an oil painting village. Shop after shop after shop sells oil paintings, many of which are copies of famous paintings such as the Mona Lisa, others are of andscapes, and many are paintings of famous people like Alan Greenspan, Marilyn Monroe, Penelope Cruz, Che Guevara, and Barack Obama. A few shops sold what I would call "original art" rather than copied art or copied styles. Occasional shops sold paintings done in acrylics or silk embroidery or cloissone or water colors. The further away from the main entrance, the smaller the streets and the shops got. Some turned to selling the raw materials for painting or framing or stretching canvases on wooden frames. Sofia found an ity bitty funky clothes store and bargained her way into a pair of red flowered pants (wait until you see them!) and some knee-length puffy pants.

We arranged for a driver from the University to take us to church today. It took 45 minutes to get to church and 20 minutes to get home. Thats a little more than an hour of travel rather than our usual three plus hours. Whatever it cost, it was worth every penny to enjoy a quieter more relaxed Sunday.

I'm an excellent horse and a fine climbing tree. I substituted in nursery which helped me feel right at home as that is my home ward calling. Ten kids rode my back, climbed my legs, poured water back and forth between their cups and smashed play dough for a fun two hours.