It's been very hot this past week here in Beijing. Saturday and Sunday were probably the hottest days, with temperatures between 30-35. We had an excellent Sports Day on Saturday with the school. The only unfortunate thing was that we had to be outside most of the time! Sitting on astro turf wasn't nice either, it gets really hot! All the students and staff were divided into House teams, and we had a great time getting dressed up as Yellow Lions, or Red Bulls. I even wore yellow nail polish.
In spite of the heat, all in all, it was a great day. Tug-o-war was probably the highlight, especially when us yellow lions won! We didn't win overall, but my team did take second place and Scott's team was third :) We were supposed to have Sports Day on a Friday, but for logistical reasons it was changed to Saturday, and so we got Monday off! We were able to enjoy a nice weekend, which included a trip to the Bird's Nest (Olympic National Stadium). It's pretty cool! Each of the main venues has to have a rehearsal running an event, that's why we've been able to go. We saw the finals for a Track & Field meet, including javelin, triple jump, high jump and the relay races, which are always exciting! (We also had a teacher's relay for our Sports Day, which Scott's team won because he's an awesome sprinter!).
We are down to the last two weeks! It's really hard to teach. The kids are loopy and excited, but I try to find fun things they enjoy doing. We're still not sure what exactly we'll be doing for our holiday after school, but that's ok.
Our bunnies are big now! Pepper can even jump up on the couch unassisted! Which is bad news, because he likes to poop on there. gross. But they are still as cute as ever, just double in size.
We've had some sandy weather lately, which means we have indoor recess. Apparently factories are working overtime now since they will be shut down during the Olympics.
Well, don't forget to come visit us over here! We're craving visitors! And I'm also craving Greek pasta salad mix. That kind in an envelope. Any of those dry envelope mixes would be great! :)
Bye!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Safe & Sound
Yes things are crazy right now in China. The recent earthquake has kinda shaken things up (unintentional pun). I barely noticed the small tremor we got here in Beijing at 2:30 on Monday. We were in school...I was standing at the front of the class and felt dizzy for a moment, as if I was sick. Later on I found out the reason, and that I wasn't the only one who thought I was sick :) Our students didn't even notice, so why would we evacuate? Some parents were wondering why not, when other schools did. Maybe we should first get an Earthquake Evacuation procedure! hmmm.....
Almost two weeks ago now we went on an AWESOME, memorable camping/hiking trip on a section of the Great wall. We planned to go with some co-workers who'd been before, but they backed out....so we ended up planning this trip on our own, blindly. Thankfully we had some other adventurous friends who trusted us to the task. We got a driver and off we went, 6 of us, to a more remote section. Hardly any people! That's an amazing thing when you live in such a crowded country. Unfortunately the china traffic delayed our arrival, so it was 6 pm by the time we made it to the entrance of the park. We hiked up, and then once we figured out which direction to go on the wall, we hiked as far as we could and found a flat tower in which to pitch our tent. We made a smorgasboard for dinner: baked beans, mac 'n' cheese, soup, buns, boiled eggs. So good! Us 4 girls slept in the tent, while the two boys gladly slept outside on mats.
At 2:30 I saw some lights.....prayed it wasn't lightning....but it was. At about 4am we woke everyone up, grabbed everything that was sitting outside, including the boys, and huddled inside the tent as it started to rain. We were completely, and entirely UNprepared for rain. No rain fly for the tent, no rain coats, nothing! Thankfully it wasn't too heavy and only lasted about 40 minutes. Once it stopped there was nothing else to do except pack up and hit the road. On the road at 5am it took us about 3 hrs to make it to our destination, Simatai park. Along the way we met some other really cool people who had also camped out for the night. Even though we didn't have clear skies and thus couldn't see the wall for miles in the distance, it was so wonderful to be up there in the clouds. Beautiful.
We have 4 weeks left of school. But sometimes it feels like just 1. I forget how much we have to do still. We're planning our vacation already - to Mongolia for about 10 days as soon as school is out. Should be a blast!
That's all for now folks!
Almost two weeks ago now we went on an AWESOME, memorable camping/hiking trip on a section of the Great wall. We planned to go with some co-workers who'd been before, but they backed out....so we ended up planning this trip on our own, blindly. Thankfully we had some other adventurous friends who trusted us to the task. We got a driver and off we went, 6 of us, to a more remote section. Hardly any people! That's an amazing thing when you live in such a crowded country. Unfortunately the china traffic delayed our arrival, so it was 6 pm by the time we made it to the entrance of the park. We hiked up, and then once we figured out which direction to go on the wall, we hiked as far as we could and found a flat tower in which to pitch our tent. We made a smorgasboard for dinner: baked beans, mac 'n' cheese, soup, buns, boiled eggs. So good! Us 4 girls slept in the tent, while the two boys gladly slept outside on mats.
At 2:30 I saw some lights.....prayed it wasn't lightning....but it was. At about 4am we woke everyone up, grabbed everything that was sitting outside, including the boys, and huddled inside the tent as it started to rain. We were completely, and entirely UNprepared for rain. No rain fly for the tent, no rain coats, nothing! Thankfully it wasn't too heavy and only lasted about 40 minutes. Once it stopped there was nothing else to do except pack up and hit the road. On the road at 5am it took us about 3 hrs to make it to our destination, Simatai park. Along the way we met some other really cool people who had also camped out for the night. Even though we didn't have clear skies and thus couldn't see the wall for miles in the distance, it was so wonderful to be up there in the clouds. Beautiful.
We have 4 weeks left of school. But sometimes it feels like just 1. I forget how much we have to do still. We're planning our vacation already - to Mongolia for about 10 days as soon as school is out. Should be a blast!
That's all for now folks!
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