-
Subscribe
VIP status
So last night we definitely felt like VIPs… We, along with the two vice-principals, represented Chengdu International School at a National Day reception put on by the Foreign Relations office. There were close to 300 people there, mostly "lawai" (foreigners) involved with businesses, schools, or "M" businesses. At the head table were the consulate general from the US, Germany, and Korea, along with many other Chinese local government officials. I sat next to the vice principal of a large Chinese upper school. The food was great, but the highlight of the evening was re-meeting a couple I had run into at the home decorating store. They are here from England with "Friends of China." Very friendly couple, like-minded, and (hopefully) excited to keep in touch with us. They’ve been in and out of China for over 20 years, but just arrived in Chengdu a couple of weeks after we did. This coming week is a holiday! Tomorrow is China’s National Day - a celebration of the founding of the People’s Republic. School is off for the week, so Dan will be home!! We’re looking forward to taking it easy, making some day trips and exploring the city a bit more.
Joyce’s, Pics, Starbucks…
It’s Monday! The Middle School kids got back late from their weekend trip, and didn’t come to school until 10. This left me with one class to teach today… a good time to plan! Tonight, Sarah and I went to Joyce’s for dinner (tasty!), and afterwards rode up to the center of the city (where a big statue of Mao is) to find the supposed grand opening of Starbucks. We found out that the store that we saw two weeks ago will be opening on Thursday, and there was another one down the road half a mile that opened today! Go figure - no Starbucks, and then 2 open in one week. So we went there… it’s Starbucks. Good stuff. I’ve been toying around with the server, trying to revamp some pictures on the site… the pictures in Album 1 are different, and there are some new ones there as well. Check it out!
today…
I am amazed at technology. I just called my brother’s cell phone, half-way around the world, to wish him a happy birthday. Just like that. And it was practically free. Of course, if you’re reading this, you realize what amazing technology we have today - just some random thoughts from a person in Chengdu going straight to your computer! Let me quote Napoleon Dynamite: I love technology But not as much as you you see But I still love technology Always and forever. That pretty much sums it up. Oh, yeah - what happened today. Sarah and I bought a scroll to hang on our wall. It makes our apartment look more homey, in a Chinese sort of way. I’ll put pictures up tomorrow hopefully.
The weekend has arrived!
It’s Friday night! It was a good day. Dr. Henry Schaeffer was a guest speaker at our school today. He is the director for the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry as well as a professor at University of Georgia, and is currently one of the nominees for a Nobel Prize. He gave an interesting lecture on the coherency of Christianity and Science. Very interesting. There was only one assembly today for the High School, being that the middle school is on their trip on horses somewhere. I had the opportunity to do music with Nate and to speak. It was an enjoyable time as well! In other news, I lost in poker tonight again. I went ‘all-in’ while holding a full house, but got beat by a four of a kind. Too bad. Very fun, though. Good night!
A long weekend…
… in a manner of speaking, anyway. The Middle School students have left for their fall retreat, so while they are horseback riding near Tibet, I am left with only one class over two days. It gets even better when this class (conveniently) has a celebration (my word for a test) that day! I have a wonderful chance to get lots of important stuff done, like lesson and unit plans, preparing for speaking opportunities, running to Peter’s for cinnamon rolls… you know, important stuff! Check out some pictures left by Sarah at her xanga site - more pics will be soon coming here as well! Back to more planning…
Mexican!
After our morning meeting today, Sarah and I undertook trying to make a Mexican meal in our apartment for the first time. I think that it went well… the disappointing thing for me was that I used a taco seasoning packet rather than doing the spices by myself. We’re going to work on finding the right spices for the job and hope to try again. It was really tasty though, and we got to spend time with another family here as well. That was great! Back to school tomorrow morning… gotta go get some rest. We’re going to try and see the moon before we go to sleep. This is the time for the Mid-Autumn festival, a time for people to look at the moon and remember those who they are missing. You are on our minds…
The weekend!
I got to do the husbandly thing this weekend and fix something in our apartment. There was a leak in the tube between the faucet and the showerhead, so I replaced it. I feel like I’m a man now. 
While I was out buying the necessary parts for the job, I also bought a pineapple, a shotgun, and a Mr. Incredible action figure. (not a real shot gun, mind you - an air gun with soft pellets. It’s a favorite pastime of the students) Weekends are great - I watched Star Wars: Episode 4 yesterday and enjoyed it very much. Now, time to get ready for the upcoming week!
A Busy Week…
Hello! It has been quite a week… having been gone all last weekend, it felt like we were going for two straight weeks. This weekend is much needed, for sure! There were some interesting points to note this week: first, I took my first big risk here in China and got my hair cut. Boy, could that have been a disaster… but fortunately, it looks pretty nice (or so Sarah says, anyway)! The people were laughing at me the entire time for not being able to lay down the whole way to get my hair shampooed, or when the guy who cut my hair had to make a "whoo"ing noise to imitate a hair dryer. It got the point across. Lots of opportunities for playing music and speaking the Word over the past week - very exciting for me. Sarah has been busy with piano lessons this week, as well as working on the library. We are implementing a new computer program which allows greater search capabilities, and all of the books have had to be put in to the system. Hopefully it will be done by the end of this week. Rice is a big part of our diet here, and it can get a little tiring… so tonight Sarah made some tortillas for our food. They were oh so tasty. It was a welcome change to our diet… OK, this is getting long… new pics have finally been posted of our apartment - check them out from the pics page.