hmm...November already??

Well, apparently I'm less faithful at writing my blog this year. Sorry! I guess things are just more comfortable here this year, and we're just used to life in Beijing. So maybe it doesn't seem as 'new' anymore. Well the highlight of this past month was definitely my parents' visit! What a fun time to have them come and experience our life here! It was so great just to show them the local places we shop, and get to know some of our friends and community. They probably weren't used to the amount that we eat out! It's quite convenient and most importantly CHEAP to eat out rather than cook for ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I do cook dinner at least 4 nights a week :) But my mom insisted on cooking dinner for us sometimes, which was a nice treat. Especially since she ventured to the meat section of our market (which I had yet to step foot in!) and buy some good cuts of meat and seafood! If you wonder what my mom thinks of us biking around the city, she said that she will keep praying for me everyday! :)

Other excitement would be that while my parents were here Pepper was taken away to get nutured! We were fairly certain Salt was pregnant. And then while Pepper was gone for his surgery we think she had babies! No sign of them until just a week ago. So they are 4 weeks old now. We've seen 3 of them. 2 gray, 1 black (with a white nose like Pepper). They are quite small and very cute! Of course, they are quite timid as well, because they were born in a burrow! We did manage to get a picture of one the other day.

We enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner with other Canadians! Our dinner included all the regulars: turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, and pumpkin pie!

School continues to be busy, as usual. It's always fun to figure out how to do things with new staff and students. And of course, my students are a little wild this year. But I still enjoy my job! We've just finished reading Little House in the Big Woods! We even made butter!

I hope you're all enjoying the Fall weather. The leaves are just starting to turn here. BYE!

A few pics of the past month...

Camping Gang


International Family Day

We went to a wedding of a friend and fellow Canadian

We went to a themed birthday party: Dress up as your favorite musical character. Here are Todo and a Tree from the Wizard of Oz

October already!!!

Oops! Again, time has slipped by me. I'm sorry for not updating earlier. My parents are visiting though, so that's one less reason to blog :)

So, September is already over! What did we do besides work? We had one day off for Moon Festival (?) and were invited camping with friends. We went to a gorgeous spot in a deep valley, camped right beside the river with basically no people around - which is a rare treat here in China. Because of the Olympics we weren't allowed to have an open flame fire (even though we were about 2hours outside of Beijing). So we used hot coals to cook our food, and spent our evening eating and playing 2 Truths and 1 Lie. Great way to get to know people!

The highlight of the trip was Simon trying out the electric fly swatter on his face! AND swimming in the river, which was interrupted when a black and red striped snake swam right in front of Scott!!! The fun in the water was over with that! Definitely a memorable camping trip.

We also had International Family Day this past month, which is always a highlight for us. Us Canadians worked really hard this year and were able to make it 2nd place in ticket sales after the koreans! WOO-HOO!!! The Timmy's coffee, our crepes and waffles with maple syrup, and NHL Hockey on Playstation were major draws to our room! We definitely had the most people hanging out in our room, which was lots of fun.

My parents arrived that same evening, and we've been busy hosting them since then. Besides working for a couple of days last week, we've been to the Temple of Heaven, Olympic Green, and Summer Palace. They've also ventured out on their own to see Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and the older Hutong area of town. Tomorrow they actually take off for a few days to Xi'an, where they'll see the Terracotta Warriors, and various other attractions there. I'll be by myself for a few days because Scott is away for Enrichment Week. He's in Qingdao with the Grade 8 class.

Life goes on here...
-my students are still quite a struggle for me this year.
-My mom has been taken me to the back corners of our market next door to where the seafood is! She's been enjoying the cheap prices of all the food.
-Pepper, our male rabbit, was nutered
-Salt, the female, had babies on the same day (we're fairly certain, but can't see them because they're deep in the burrow)
-and thanks to technology it doesn't feel like you are all so far away!

Enjoy the Fall weather!!