Gray November

'Tis the end of November and all through the town
The city is filling
With gray smoke all around

I guess since it's gotten colder, and the government turned our heat on on Nov. 15, the coal-burning plants are up and running, which means things are pretty dusty around here. Our back patio gets dirtier a lot faster, and the air is just not nice. I really noticed the difference today. We just got back from a 5 day trip to Hong Kong. What a difference! We've been there before, but it was in passing on the way to Manila...so this time I really noticed the differences between these two cities.

We were in Hong Kong with 9 others from our school for a conference for international christian teachers. Great conference! Great workshops, speakers, everything. We stayed at a YMCA camp which wasn't great, but much cheaper for the school. We took the subway various places to go out for dinner and shopping and you just notice how much more civilized the people are. They don't push and shove. They line up properly and follow the rules. There's no spitting, or really any garbage lying around. Yes, it's crowded, but they handle it much better. Blue skies there meant there's a deep blue whichever direction you look. Whereas here in Beijing you have to look straight up to find blue (if you're lucky), and still it's usually hazed over. Needless to say, there's a lot I liked about Hong Kong. Most people speak english, and there's lots of great shopping and food! The whole place is a lot more compact which makes it easier to find things. But the cost of living is definitely more expensive. So here we are back in our gray city, happy to sleep in our own beds and see our rabbits again :)

Speaking of rabbits, we had a traumatic experience about 2 weeks ago. It was a regular Sunday evening and I stepped out to give the rabbits some food when I heard something squealing. It wasn't very close, but I recognized the sound as a baby rabbit! I could tell it was on the other side of our fence, so Scott went out the front and around to the back to see what he could find. My heart was pounding. The only rabbit that was out was Pepper, and he seemed restless, especially when he heard the squealing. Sure enough, Scott saw a ferret (or weasel?) run out of the bushes. Then he followed the squealing noise and found our Pepper Jr. My heart dropped. Scott brought him inside but the back of his neck was chewed up. He must've been carried off. He was still breathing though and for some minutes, I had hope that we could help him. We wrapped him in an old t-shirt and tried to let him calm down. But I realized we couldn't do anything for him when he tried to get up, moving his back legs, but he could not lift his head. It must've been broken. How sad it was to watch him suffer. We made him as comfortable as we could. We knew we were in for a late night. We eventually did get to sleep around 11:30 and he was still breathing. Even in the morning he was still with us, and I was beginning to wonder if we'd have to spend money on him at the animal hospital! Both of us barely made it through teaching that Monday. We were so tired, physically and emotionally. I came home as quickly as I could and he was no longer breathing. I'm glad he wasn't suffering anymore, but it was still quite sad. He was like one of our own. He had been born in our little yard! And he was so cute. We had a little funeral for him that night. Rest in Peace Pepper Jr. Now we just have 1 baby left, plus Salt and Pepper.


Well that's all for now. These next 3 weeks are going to FLY as we get ready for Christmas concerts, parties, and then we go to the Philippines!

Thanks for reading and keeping in touch !