I'm Still Here

Don't worry, nothing has happened to me. Well, things have happened but nothing bad. I'm still here teaching away. Yesterday we didn't have school (their Independence Day) and it was lovely. I was totally lazy -- watched general conference, read & finished a great book, and watched a few movies.

I REALLY liked the book. It's Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin. I randomly found it on the Wal-Mart website. Greg tried to climb some huge mountain (I think it's called Karakoram K2) but failed. He found a small village and decided he would help them out by building a school. The devoted students met out in the elements before that!

He has now built about 14 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It's a really inspiring story. I enjoyed it. Made me want to go out and build a school :) I highly recommend the book.

I think I'll just add a bunch of pictures and comment with those. Enjoy!

One more thing, yesterday I set my alarm for 9:00. Wow! I was looking forward to sleeping in. My mind didn’t register that apparently – I woke up at 6:00. I gave up on falling back asleep and got up at 6:30.

So lame! But today I slept in until 9:20. :) Then I chatted with my parents (technology is wonderful) and now it’s almost noon. I have 28 essays to grade. I plan to banish myself to the office this afternoon. One nice thing is that students have their first midterm tests on Mon & Tues so I don’t have to teach. I just get to be extremely bored as I proctor tests.

OK, another thing. My dad sent 2 fabulous packages this week. They were full of treats from America. I was SO happy to see the Fudge Stripe cookies. (They’re gone.) And AJ had some of the Mac’n’Cheese yesterday. He was craving it (the Kraft kind, of course) and I happened to have my leftover stuff in the office fridge. What a coincidence.

From one of my outings with the Huang Family
Michelle being goofy and fighting off boredom.
Nathan giving Jessica a hug. So sweet.

Moon Festival
A box of moon cakes. The school gave one to each teacher. I'm pretty sure I tried the coffee one since I can't read the Chinese descriptions. It was gross.

Becca and Michelle at the Moon Festival dinner at the school.

Nathan attacking his corn. That boy can eat. They use food to bribe him :) A man playing a nifty, traditional flute. Sarah said I "had" to go over and see it. I said "Yes ma'am" and jumped up. It was pretty neat.

The Office

Funny things often happen in our office. This was one of them. I was smart and captured it on camera! They randomly starting playing a game of darts. Losers had to buy pizza for everyone. Yvonne told me to choose a team, I said I wasn't good, and she said to not choose her team. I was truly scared. I didn't want to get her mad. Then AJ chose to be on Scott's team. By default I was on (you probably guessed it) Yvonne's team. AH! I didn't do a very good job. Only 1 of the 5 darts hit the board. It was REALLY stressful. Steve and Yvonne were like "don't lose for us!" Luckily we won, even with my poor playing. I told them I would rather just pay for the pizza. I'm not even sure why it was so stressful for me, but it was. And that took all the fun out of it. It was really funny before that when I was just a spectator. Ah well.

Sarah & Yvonne
(half of Yvonne); Scott taking his turn; Chuck (our tech guy who doesn't speak English); Andy (barely in the picture)
Yvonne counting up the score. Chuck on the left, Andy on the right.
AJ's turn. You see Steve sitting at his desk coaching.

One good thing- the pizza we had a week later was really tasty. :D