XIN NIAN KUAILE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

To celebrate the New Year, the single girls (yes, there are a lot of us!) remaining in Qingdao had a Thanksgiving feast- complete with a turkey! Amy and I made sushi rolls (more of an appetizer) As you can see by the pictures there was a lot of food! It was a great way to kick off the celebrations and spend time with the girls.

I have not been quite as productive this vacation as I would like to report, but I have had many fun times with my friends here. Last week, Angela, Amy, Jane (in the pic), Kris, and I went out for Sushi!!! My group of sushi eating friends is growing.

And now for one of the most exciting part of my vacation... I learned how to cook 2 Korean dishes from Heather's mom! Word travels fast in this community... Heather's mom was accompanied by Harry's mom and Lisa's mom! It was an ESLA reunion! I have truly grown to love these moms! Lisa and Amy also came with me to learn- we learned bulgogi (marinated beef) and a soup made with seaweed. I brought along an american classic- apple crisp!- which was a huge success... there were no apple crisp leftovers to take home :( After eating, the kids went outside and we were able to enjoy each other's company and just talk. It was a great opportunity to get to know them better.

Lisa and her mom, Mrs. Moon, Jennifer (Heather's mom), Amy, me, Lisa, Heather, Grant, Harry, and John

On Saturday night, Jin Hai Guang Chang (my apt. complex) was given quite the fireworks display! I felt like I was surrounded by fireworks! It was great! and loud... and colorful... and exciting! Fireworks began going off as soon as it was dark, but the big show began a few minutes before midnight! Sadly, my camera was not able to truly capture the show- but I did manage to get one that was shot outside next to my apt...(that's my apt building in the picture! I had a great view from the balcony!

Christmas...
So this update is incredibly overdue, but due to an earthquake in Taiwan over Christmas break, internet has been hard to come by!

I was able to go home for Christmas again this year!!! I am going to write about my trip in a couple of blogs, as loading pictures and blogs takes awhile...

One of the highlights of my trip, was meeting up with 3 of my best friends from IWU at the Detroit airport! (the 3 is in bold, b/c I wasn't expecting Tracie!!!) The girls love me enough to drive several hours to pick me up at the airport so that I didn't have to spend my 8 hour layover by myself! It was the first time in over 2 years that the 4 of us had been together! A lot has changed in these last couple of years- Tracie and I are both working overseas, Amber has bought a house, and Tammi is now married! Highlights of our time included pizza (w/out corn), walk around a nearby mall,REAL ice cream (It's been awhile since I have had good ice cream!), Tracie hugs and laughs, and much more! It seemed strange to have such a short time with my girls, but I am thankful that we were able to have the time to catch up with one another.

4th Grade Chapel

Every semester teachers are in charge of one chapel. This year my 4th graders helped me. They did a great job remembering their lines and sharing about the symbols of Christmas and the true reason for celebrating. Afterwards, they were invited by the kindergarten teacher to do a second performance!

A Recipe for Life!

Beautiful 4th Graders!

Last Friday was our elementary's Christmas program. The program was entitled 'A Recipe for Life' and took place in Candy Cane Lane....
To the right you can see a picture of 2 of the main characters- Melody and Abby

Diana, Margaret, and I were part of the team that was in charge of the backstage pre-perfomers! It was a crazy, crowded, hot room of students, but we survived!

- Students waiting patiently to go onstage....

Our students did a great job sharing the real reason for Christmas! I was quite proud of them and couldn't resist taking several pictures!

Gou soup....?

This Sunday I went to a Korean Restaurant with some of my friends. One of my friends was looking forward to gou soup- (gou=dog)... I decided to go along for the cultural experience... The soup was served in a hot pot fashion. Thankfully there were other dishes... lots of noodles and side dishes! I think we had over 30 dishes on our table at the end of our meal.. I did try a very, very, VERY small sip of soup... but I couldn't bring myself to eat any of the meat. Donald, on the other hand, loved every bit of it. This could be because he grew up eating this in his home country. Stephanie and I were the only 2 to not take part in eating the meat...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

My fourth grade class has been quite busy preparing our room for Christmas! We have been learning about different countries around the world and how they celebrate Christmas. We have also been learning about different Christmas symbols and how they point to the real reason of Christmas.

Holiday baking

In honor of the Christmas Coffee back home, Christy and I did our own baking extravanganza! We made all kinds of holiday treats- sugar cookies, blondie cupcakes w/craisins and chocolate chips, pumpkin cake, chocolate chip cookies and... GINGERBREAD MEN!!! We baked, and baked, and baked... and then frosted over 50 gingerbread men! :) Our house was filled with the aroma of Christmas cooking! After frosting over 30 gingerbread cookies, with more waiting, Christy and I felt ready to quit, but we persevered and took many of our treats over to Lisa and Angela's apt for our weekly Sunday night movie- This week- Miracle on 34th Street. It didn't take long for the cookies to disappear!

4th Grade Thanksgiving Feast....

Kelly, the other 4th grade teacher here, asked me if I would be willing to have a Thanksgiving feast with her class... our rooms are a little small, but we managed to fit 26 children and several adults into my classroom for a Thanksgiving feast that consisted of Korean fried chicken, KFC, oranges, etc. Not quite like the first

Thanksgiving, but it was a celebration of thanks just the same...

Xi'an Update Letter


For all of you who do not recieve my update letter here it is...and for those who have there are some new pics!
This year’s Thanksgiving was a long one full of fun and new experiences, umbrellas and wet feet (it rained in Xi’an everyday that we were there), yang rou pao mo (lamb soup), and sightseeing.


We left Thanksgiving afternoon for our Destination Thanksgiving. Xi’an is about a 2 hour flight from Qingdao. I stayed in my first hostel- the Shuyuan Youth Hostel. It had a great little restaurant where we enjoyed several cups of hot chocolate and games!



Our first day we went to see the “8th wonder of the world”- the terracotta warriors!!! They were incredible! I took lots of pictures!



Thankfully, the rain let up at night so we spent the evenings wandering around the Muslim Quarters shopping and eating Yang Rou Pao Mo. Yang Rou Pao Mo is lamb’s soup. It contains lamb’s meat, pieces of bread, noodles and a broth. It was both delicious and cheap! (6-10rmb/bowl- 75cents-$1.25) The bowls of soup were so big that Christy and I shared. I was also able to do a little Christmas shopping, appropriate as it was the day after Thanksgiving! I had to carry on with some traditions! Inside the Muslim Quarters there are tons of vendors selling a variety of things- shoes, purses, art, Christmas ornaments, jewelry, etc…

Our second day was spent trying to see pandas at the zoo. I finally saw pandas in China, but I think I still need to go to Chengdu… At first, we were only able to look through a window and see pandas in their cages…they didn’t want to go out in the rain! On our way out, the workers were able to coax the baby panda (XingXing) out of her cage!!! Isn’t she cute?!?!

After our panda tour, we went to the city wall and rented bicycles!!! We biked on top of the Xi’an wall! All 8.5 miles of it!!!

Our last day in Xi’an we went to Big Goose Pagoda. This pagoda dates back to 648AD, but it has been added on to and renovated several times since then. It was built in memory of the emperor’s mother. There were lots of fun statues in the entrance that we of course had to reenact. Afterwards, we made our way to the bell tower where we actually got to see a short performance….AND I got to ring the bell!!! (I had to pay to ring the bell, but I rang the bell) Then it was back to the Muslim Quarters to see the mosque. Since we are not Muslim, we were only allowed in the courtyard- only Muslims may enter the prayer hall. The mosque was a beautiful mix of Chinese and Muslim architecture.

We ended our weekend with another cup of ho-cho (hot cocoa) at our hostel’s restaurant. It was great to see another part of China, especially one so full of history and culture!

Kristen wrote a great blog about our trip that I enjoyed reading and thought I would share it with all of you, w/ permission from Kristen!

Last Thursday (Thanksgiving Day), six weary teachers in need of a break from the chaos of the classroom got on a plane in search of an adventure that would distract them from the reality of being far away from their families during the holiday season. Their destination was Xi'an a centuries old city that was founded before Rome and was the capital city of at least three major Chinese dynasties during its glory days. Their ultimate prize was a glimpse at the eighth Wonder of the World ?the infamous Teracotta Warriors, which were recently unearthed in a huge archeological find in 1974.

Many things sought to discourage the travelers ?cold, rainy and even snowy weather, tension among team members that erupted in a vicious game of SUGAR?leaving one teammate wounded, broken bike chains, and the disappointment that occured when a seemingly enchanting Panda Tour turned out to be little more than a trip to the zoo.

However, nothing would stop these wide-eyed travelers from seeing and experiencing the ancient city of Xi'an to the fullest. The travelers?ingenuity (drying their feet with hairdryers) and wise use of resources (the Hostel amazing hot chocolate and dried kiwi from the Muslim quarter) helped them through the hard times.

As a result of their perseverance and determination, the travelers not only saw the Teracotta Warriors. They also saw pandas (as well as red pandas, the golden takin, and the blue peafowl), toured the Big Goose Pagoda and the Great Mosque, and experienced a taste of ancient Chinese culture (which apparently includes Auld Lang Syne) by watching a dazzling performance at the bell tower.

One day, the Father even smiled on the travelers and stopped the rain for a few hours. They took advantage of this blessing by going on a 13.5 km (8ish miles) bike ride on top of the only remaining city wall in China.

Were the travelers any less weary at the end of their adventure than they were before they left on this adventure? of course not!! In fact, they were probably more weary since they did not return home until 10:15 pm (only 8 ?hours before they had to leave again to catch the bus to school) on Sun. night. But rest was not objective of the trip now was it?

PANDAS!!!!!!

Yes, I finally got to see a panda in China! Although, I do think that I still need to go to Chengdu and see the pandas there, this will satify me for awhile... While in Xi'an we saw a poster for a Panda tour. Looking at the pictures, it appeared that you got to get close to the pandas.... actually the place they took us to was an animal refuge place. It was a lot like a zoo- but since it was raining and cold, the pandas did not want to come out of their cages. So most of the time we were peering through windows trying to catch a glimpse of the pandas. We stopped one last time before leaving the zoo, and Xingxi decided to come out and play on her playground! Isn't she so cute?!?