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I know what you're thinking: 3 blog posts in 3 days- what's going on??? Just trying to keep you all on your toes, that's all. Nothing new has happened in the past 4 hours since I last wrote. Sorry if I got your hopes up. But I thought that those of you who aren't on Facebook might like to see all of the pictures I have posted. You should be able to just click on the links below. Here they are, hope they work:

September in China

My Sophomore Students

After you open the page, click on one of the thumbnails to see the full size photo. You can then scroll through them that way

Next time I'll just work these in to a regular post. 'night!!

"You are not alone"

This is my friend Lindy (giving the peace sign)- she's a sophomore. I just happened to ask her out to dinner the first week of class, mainly because she was closest to where I was standing, sitting in the front row. We've had lunch together almost every week since then. She is so sweet, but has this very serious nature about her. For instance, yesterday she gently but firmly told me that I should not be drinking cold water, because it will leave me feeling cold and make me more susceptible to illness (this is common knowledge among the Chinese). Then today at lunch she took me by the hand and said something like this:

"I know that when I am here at school, I miss my parents and my family very much, and sometimes I cry because I miss them and I feel alone. I know that you are very far from your family, and that you must miss them very much, but I want you to know that you are not alone. We are good friends and if you every feel lonely you should just call me and I will come to your apartment as quick as I can!"

How absolutely precious is that?? She's also already begun making plans for me to visit her family in their home sometime soon, and is taking mental notes on what foods I like. On the list so far: cake and ice cream. Please be keeping her and our friendship in your thoughts!

It's a Girl!!

For those of you questioning if you really know me, I am not pregnant, nor did I just have a baby. But my Chinese friends Tony and Lily did!! Today, little Xi Mei (English name = Simi) came into the world, all 9 lbs lbs or so of her. For those keeping score, that is pretty big by American standards- and it is quite huge here in China. We don't know any more details, but please be lifting up this new family over the next couple of weeks. I'm excited, because she's going to be like our own little Chinese baby- and they are just the cutest!! We'll be back in Beijing soon, and I'll try to get some pictures of her then.
My life isn't quite as exciting, but there's still a lot of good stuff going on. It's been fun to get back to hanging with students after the holiday. Tuesday night, we had our first English club of the year. It was the first ever foreign run English club here on the main campus, and it was a great time! We had them all play a game called "Finger Fencing"- you basically lock hands with a partner, stick out your pointer finger, and try to touch them before they touch you. They really got into it, and at one point we had girls throwing each other into the desks, refusing to give up! We sang some fun songs- Country Roads is a Chinese favorite- had a crazy skit, and then I had the privilege of giving the "inspirational speech". I talked about hope, how it is a great thing and how it is available to all of us. It actually was hard for me to give a talk like that, since I'm so used to giving a different kind of club talk in the states-the kind with more information. But I know He blessed it and will use it for His purposes- so it's allll good!
Yesterday I had a yummy lunch with my friend Danielle and some of her roommates/classmates. They are all actually biology students, but several of them are auditing my English class, and their English is just fine, if not better than some of my English majors. Lunch was fun, but the real fun came after, when they took me to play some ping pong with them! I think most Chinese babies are born with a ping pong paddle in their hands (I'll have to ask Tony & Lily); most of them are good- really good. But they took it easy on me, and I was even able to show them the fun "around the world" game: split into two teams, then each person takes turns hitting the ball, then dropping the paddle and running to the other side. A little chaotic, but a lot of fun. Did I mention that these tables are made of stone and the nets are made of metal and they are outside? Cause they are.

Danielle having a go at ping pong

Rachel was the ping pong champ at her high school. She was also the one to throw her partner into the desks during finger fencing. Don't mess with her!!

Our ping pong crew: Ellen, Jerry, Caroline, Danielle and Rachel. 'Twas a little bright, hence the squinting on my part.

Tomorrow I'll be having lunch with my friend Lindy and some of her roommates. Then it's off to our school's western campus for a curtain call performance of English club. The students there are all freshmen, and the campus is in the middle of nowhere, so we're hoping to be a light in their small world. Sorry I don't have any pictures from Tuesday's club; I'll try to get some tomorrow. Hopefully the finger fencing will be just as fierce!!

PS- the large bags of fruit from last week are still sitting on top of my fridge! Looks like we'll be having wine instead of grape juice...

Up, Up and Away

Wow, if there ever were a blog-worthy day, it would have to be today. I just got back from the most unique, bizarre, and exciting experience I've had here so far: the 2008 China-Langfang International Hot Air Balloon and Fruit-Picking Festival! We were invited to participate by the local city and county officials, so we knew it was a big deal, but we had no idea just how big. The first clue came when we got on the bus and received our "Distinguished Guest" press passes. We arrived at the "fairgrounds" and as we went to watch the opening ceremony (they use that term a lot these days), we realized that we were part of it! They welcomed all of the foreign experts, and then had us stand there in a line while a literal swarm of paparazzi snapped photos and videos. It was probably as close to a red carpet experience as I'll ever get.

This isn't even half of them, but you get the idea...

It was an extremely foggy morning-we didn't even see these behind us at first

Then came the real fun: hot air balloon games! The first was called "Treasure Hunting" (catching foxtails thrown from the ground in a fishing net) and the second was "Target Practice" (dropping said foxtails onto a giant bullseye on the ground). They would be keeping score as we were competing against the locals. So up and away we went. I've never been in a hot air balloon before, so I was pretty excited, even though we were tethered to the ground (actually, we were tied to trucks on the ground!). Shannon and I went up together for the Treasure Hunting game, and I gotta tell you, my head was awful close to the inferno blast above us- I seriously thought my hair was melting. But we had a fun time as we tried to catch the foxtails thrown by Peter. Everyone got a turn up in the air, and when it was all over and the scores added up, the foreign experts triumphed over the locals. At least that's what they told us! Then they presented us with this amazing glass trophy in the shape of a fist giving a thumbs up, and gave each of us these nifty embroidered pictures. Did I mention the paparazzi? They were following us everywhere, and they grabbed me for an interview at one point. My first (and last?) translated interview- a very interesting experience. Tune into CCTV tonight at 8 pm, and you'll see what I mean.

Treasure Hunting!

Team Langfang!

After the balloon festivities, we got back on the bus for the fruit-picking. We were given a police escort to this village, where we then rode on a horse-drawn cart out to the fields. Then we were handed bags and clippers and instructed to go and pick all the grapes and pear-apples we could in 30 minutes. I've never picked grapes before, it was fun to grab them, peel them, and eat them fresh off the vine. We found out later on that the farmers had harvested most of the grapes a couple weeks ago, but left 4 rows just for us. So sweet! And remember the paparazzi? Yep, still with us, following our every move, to the point that they were hiding on the other sides of the vines and trees, waiting to get the perfect picture of us plucking our fruit! I can only imagine what they're going to do with 20 pictures of me with my hands on some grapes...

Shannon with her harvest

I am the vine, you are the branches...

We finished the day off with a giant lunch consisting of no less than 15 different dishes and multiple toasts with the officials. Generosity and abundance are the way they do things around here, and it was truly an honor to be a part of their special day. And now I have 2 giant bags of fresh fruit. I'm thinking applesauce and some freshly squashed grape juice. We'll see how that goes...

Pancakes for Two

I apologize for having so many posts about food, but when you're in a strange country, it's one of those things that affects you everyday. There are adventures in eating new things, and amazing comforts in eating familiar things. Thanks to a gift basket full of goodies from my teammates that included baking powder, I now have all the ingredients needed to make pancakes. And so that's exactly what I did this morning- and they were glorious! I am not lying when I say that these were the most perfect pancakes I have ever made- in America or in China. Golden brown, fluffy, and delicious! The only thing missing was the syrup, but I have a recipe for that too-just didn't have the time today. But pancakes were fun for another reason- I had an audience. A new cat has been coming around the past couple of days, and this one is different- still meowing, but at least he's a little more social. He likes to jump in my windowsill and rub on the screens. It was all I could do not to give him some of my flapjacks. I don't want to create a monster.

So instead, I just named him Pancake.

Can you blame him? Look at that thing!

My little pancakes- all 4 of them!

In other news, my freshmen classes started this week. Teaching them is a little different, because they aren't really sure how to act, their English is not so good, and most of them have never had a foreign teacher before. The one class definitely clapped for me the other day, simply because I walked into the room. Also, most of them are now calling me Shamblee, since that is how I was introduced to them at their English club meeting. It's pretty cute.
Next week we all have off for the National Holiday. Upcoming events: Sports Day (I'm doing shotput-HA!) and the Langfang Hot Air Balloon & Fruit Picking Festival. Always an adventure! OHH, China!

Mooncakes and Magnum Bars!

This weekend was a busy one, but it was a fun one, full of celebration. Sunday was the Mid-Autumn Festival here in China, but the celebrating started on Friday after work and continues through tonight. It's a lunar holiday, so it changes dates each year, but it's always the day of the full harvest moon. There's a traditional tale about a woman who lives on the moon and looks down lovingly on her husband who is still on earth. Or something like that. Either way, the Chinese celebrate by getting together with loved ones and exchanging mooncakes. Lots and lots of mooncakes. These are no moon pies, mind you. They're more like a really dense and giant Fig Newton. They taste "sweet" and come in all kinds of delightful flavors- sesame seed, bean paste, egg, fruit, and even chocolate/peanut butter. They are not my favorite, which is unfortunate because I have received 12 of them. The good thing is that they are easy to re-gift. So don't be surprised if you get a mooncake from me for Christmas :)

This is the sugar/seed/nut/fruit version of the mooncake. Click on it for a closer look.

Sunday also happened to be fellow teacher Shannon's birthday. We celebrated with a great dinner, gifts, games and Magnum bars instead of cake. They do have western style birthday cakes in the supermarkets here, but Peter decided to stick a candle in a Magnum bar instead. What is a Magnum bar, you ask? If mooncakes are a poor imitation of Fig Newtons, then Magnum bars are an improvement on the Klondike bar (especially here, where tasty sweets are hard to come by sometimes). Yum!

Saturday was our day trip into Beijing. We discovered that Mid-Autumn day is not the day to take a train, as everyone is going somewhere. But in spite of the crowds we had a great time getting out of Langfang and hanging with our students Cassie, Melinda, Forrest and Vivian. The trip to Ikea did not happen, but it's not going anywhere anytime soon. Forrest, Vivian, Brad, the Jess's, Melinda, and Cassie.

Our dear friends Helen and Lily. Lily is due in 3 weeks!!

My Giant Shower

It cannot be said enough; EVERYthing in China is different. People look different, buildings look different, the food tastes different, schedules are different, priorities are different, methods are different, and heaven knows that they sure do drive differently here. What I'm slowly learning and coming to realize is that different isn't always better, but different isn't necessarily worse. It's just different. Besides the language, none of the differences really pose any problems. And even the language barrier can be overcome with universal gestures and facial expressions. Everyone understands head nodding and finger pointing. A smile can often say much more, and say it better (especially since my Chinese is so limited).
And so my perspective has changed on how I see the differences between my life as it is now and as it used to be. I'm actually starting to see many of the changes in a positive light. Mostly on things that are "lacking" in my life here. I'm not missing a car; I have gained an active lifestyle. I'm not lacking an extensive wardrobe; I've found freedom in not worrying about what I wear. I'm not missing my over scheduled hectic running around; I'm savoring a slower pace. I don't have the world's smallest bathroom; it's actually a giant shower with lots of extras. And I love my giant shower!

So those are my thoughts for the day (thanks for asking!) Nothing too exciting has happened in the past week. Our final 2 teammates, Shannon & Peter, arrived on Saturday so we are now ready to kick this semester into high gear. Tuesdays are the night we've set to hang out with students, so tonight we'll be taking a group of them to the "fish restaurant" (there's a picture of a fish on the sign). I've asked my new friend Victory to join me. She's in my sophomore English class and is very sweet and friendly. I happened to mention wanting a map of Langfang, and 2 hours later she was putting one into my hands. So thoughtful! I took pictures of all of my students with their English nametag to help me learn and remember their names, and here's Victory:

And I'm already looking forward to this weekend- Brad, Jess and I are heading into Beijing on Saturday to help our Chinese friends Tony and Lily run an English club for 30-50 of their friends who want to learn and practice English. We'll have games, skits, and a discussion- a lot like what I'm used to back home. We'll take the train in and make a day out of it. Jess and I have already decided that a side trip to the Beijing Ikea is in order. I guess the Chinese also appreciate Swedish bargain furniture :)
Love and Blessings to you all!!