The stress is getting to me. I think I need to have a breakdown and relieve some of this stress............or maybe I just need another $3 massage and hair wash. This past weekend I pampered myself a little. Jodee and I went for pedicures, then for a hairwash/massage. So wonderful! Scott was away at youth camp ;) Anyways, this week is SAT testing and we're still finalizing details for next week's Enrichment Week, which is a week of field trips! yikes! Someone decided to inform us today of some unwritten rule that would've changed our plans. But someone else in the office staff doesn't think it matters! They leave us on our own to plan a week of trips, including an overnight trip, with no clue what we're doing, and then a few days before you're off "Oh, by the way, have you done this???" "NO, because no one told us to!!! How are we supposed to know that?!" We just want to enjoy next week. Hopefully things run smoothly.
The weather here continues to improve. It's been in the mid twenties all week so I've been enjoying wearing skirts (yes, I bike to work in a skirt) and some of the new clothes from my mom and sister-in-law. Thanks! So many beautiful blooms that mask some of the bad china smells.
Oh and on top of everything else we're having some grade 8 boys from an out-of-town international school stay with us for 3 nights. our school is hosting a soccer tournament and we offered homestays to some of the teams. Mostly we just have to feed them dinner 2 nights and make sure they get to bed on time :)
I'm really looking forward to the end of the school year. I need a long break!
Remember that our place is always open for guests!!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Spring Fever!!!
The weather is really warming up now! I think today was about 20 degrees! There are so many blossoming trees, that in spite of the pollution and dust in the air, the city is looking pretty :) This past weekend we had the chance to spend some good quality time with friends. Friday was a holiday, and besides hosting a fellow Holland Landing resident for lunch, the weather was sunny and hot! We spent the evening playing Cities & Knights with friends (thanks for sending it mom!) and then the next morning we took off for a hiking adventure.
There are many English books and websites about hiking around Beijing. Steven and Jodee have one of those, so he picked one he went on over a year ago, got a driver, and off we went. It took about 1.5hrs to get there by car (Buick minivan!). The hike was on and beside part of the Great Wall that hasn't been restored. The day was cloudy, but the weather was perfect temperature for hiking. The mountains were literally covered with flowering trees. And there were very few people. We were by ourselves, the 4 of us, most of the time. The higher we got, the steeper the climb was. The safest route was on a path that ran alongside the Wall. But sometimes we had to climb up rock. Thankfully there were guardrails to keep us from falling over the steep cliffs down into the river valley. With breaks and lunch at the top, it took us a total of 3. 5hours. We were exhausted when we got back. Thankfully Jodee and Steven have free passes to the Club at their place, so we all went to the hot tub, and then enjoyed the steam room. Only today have my calf muscles finally begun to feel normal again.
Sunday was another nice warm day. After lunch at our favorite pita place, Scott and I went to the Expat show, where our school had a booth set-up. We were too tired to stay for long, and went home after an hour. It's still hard for me to keep up with everything happening at school. We finish one thing, and another starts. Was it just last week we had our accreditation? Have I mentioned that yet? Anyways, it went very well. We don't really know the results for a month or more. This week I had parent teacher conferences on Monday. And this week is fairly regular as we preapre for SAT testing next week, and then Enrichment week after that! And then May holiday! phew! Time is passing far too quickly!
Thanks for all your support, love, and friendship. We still think of home, and miss it occasionally. But we know we have obeyed our lord , and so he continues to teach us and mold us.
much love,
SA
There are many English books and websites about hiking around Beijing. Steven and Jodee have one of those, so he picked one he went on over a year ago, got a driver, and off we went. It took about 1.5hrs to get there by car (Buick minivan!). The hike was on and beside part of the Great Wall that hasn't been restored. The day was cloudy, but the weather was perfect temperature for hiking. The mountains were literally covered with flowering trees. And there were very few people. We were by ourselves, the 4 of us, most of the time. The higher we got, the steeper the climb was. The safest route was on a path that ran alongside the Wall. But sometimes we had to climb up rock. Thankfully there were guardrails to keep us from falling over the steep cliffs down into the river valley. With breaks and lunch at the top, it took us a total of 3. 5hours. We were exhausted when we got back. Thankfully Jodee and Steven have free passes to the Club at their place, so we all went to the hot tub, and then enjoyed the steam room. Only today have my calf muscles finally begun to feel normal again.
Sunday was another nice warm day. After lunch at our favorite pita place, Scott and I went to the Expat show, where our school had a booth set-up. We were too tired to stay for long, and went home after an hour. It's still hard for me to keep up with everything happening at school. We finish one thing, and another starts. Was it just last week we had our accreditation? Have I mentioned that yet? Anyways, it went very well. We don't really know the results for a month or more. This week I had parent teacher conferences on Monday. And this week is fairly regular as we preapre for SAT testing next week, and then Enrichment week after that! And then May holiday! phew! Time is passing far too quickly!
Thanks for all your support, love, and friendship. We still think of home, and miss it occasionally. But we know we have obeyed our lord , and so he continues to teach us and mold us.
much love,
SA
Monday, March 31, 2008
spring madness....or is it "March Madness"
Regardless.....I feel like I can barely keep up with everything these days. It seems like the longer we're here, the more things we become involved with, and obviously, the more people we get to know. So our weeks seem full. Not to mention our accreditation this week!!! yikes! I didn't realize how long it's been since I wrote last. Almost 4 weeks! Sorry parents :) I'm not sure where the time has gone. We had a lovely Easter break, just realxing and enjoying some nice weather. I had a great birthday, celebrated with many co-workers as well who have birthdays the same day and two days later. Scott took me out to our favorite indian food restaurant. Such delicious food! And he picked out a fantastic new purse for me! Very bold of him to pick out a purse, and I am still really impressed with his choice! It's perfect for me! Wonderful husband I have :)
This past weekend was spent preparing for our accreditation. I spent far too long at the school on Saturday. We even had to go to work on Sunday afternoon (just for 1 hour) to meet the visiting team members. Just an informal Meet & Greet. Today they were walking around the halls and popping into our classrooms while we were teaching, or just to chat about our curriculum, etc. They have also been meeting with students and hanging out with them in the lunchroom :) My committee meets with them tomorrow. I look forward to the end of this week. We even have Friday off! Then we have to seriously plan for Enrichment Week.
There are lots of interesting things happening here in the city as we get closer to the olympics. Please remember to "lift up" those who are experiencing some difficulties because of pressure from the gov't. They are literally cleaning up the city of people they don't want causing trouble.
We're planning a trip for ourselves for the end of April to Sichuan province. Specifically to go see the Panda bears in Chengdu! Should be fun!
Well I hope the snow is gone now from southern ontario. Trees are in bloom here! We're excited for a hike we have planned outside of the city this weekend.
love to all,
SA
This past weekend was spent preparing for our accreditation. I spent far too long at the school on Saturday. We even had to go to work on Sunday afternoon (just for 1 hour) to meet the visiting team members. Just an informal Meet & Greet. Today they were walking around the halls and popping into our classrooms while we were teaching, or just to chat about our curriculum, etc. They have also been meeting with students and hanging out with them in the lunchroom :) My committee meets with them tomorrow. I look forward to the end of this week. We even have Friday off! Then we have to seriously plan for Enrichment Week.
There are lots of interesting things happening here in the city as we get closer to the olympics. Please remember to "lift up" those who are experiencing some difficulties because of pressure from the gov't. They are literally cleaning up the city of people they don't want causing trouble.
We're planning a trip for ourselves for the end of April to Sichuan province. Specifically to go see the Panda bears in Chengdu! Should be fun!
Well I hope the snow is gone now from southern ontario. Trees are in bloom here! We're excited for a hike we have planned outside of the city this weekend.
love to all,
SA
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
weekend fun in Beijing
This past weekend was great! Busier than usual, but we had some good times here in Beijing! The first highlight of the weekend was going to our neighbour's parents' house. Scott was visiting our neighbour, and his parents stopped by. They invited us over to their place for dumplings. It was a great experience. We actually hadn't been into the home of a chinese family until this weekend. They live in an older building, about 30 years old, and they have lived there for about 20years. It's a tiny apartment, full of their daily necessities. His mom is retired and it seems like she just spends her days cooking and making things. We made dumplings together. They made the dough, his dad rolled out the little circles, then we filled them with the filling she'd made ahead of time. They were so delicious! They don't eat much else with their dumplings except a cold dish or two. I ate a piece of pickled garlic as a side item!
His parents didn't speak a word of English, but Alex translated that we are welcome to go to their house anytime, even after their son moves away to New Zealand. a generous offer, but that would be very difficult since we don't speak enough Mandarin. They were so warm, kind, and generous to us. Even gave us leftover filling so we could make more ourselves (you can buy the wrappers already made in the market). We made them on Sunday with friends, but it of course did not taste the same. We live in a relatively affluent side of town. The more wealthy chinese, and other foreigners live in this area, so it was great to experience what the majority of the population lives like. We know we are greatly blessed.
Saturday night we were invited to ballroom dancing! A friend from church goes every Saturday. it's free! We didn't really go to dance, but to watch and support our friend. We were so captivated by the great dancers. There were 6 of us newbies, and there must have been more new people, because they decided to do a short rumba lesson. Good times trying to dance "properly" with Scott. He can't help but just goof around :) But he's really intersted in learning. We might find some of the local places where they do free lessons and go there with friends.
Sunday was a great day at church, and hanging out with friends. We've got great friends! It's fun to just relax with them, watch LOST, and play games :) Ever played Nacho Loco??
The time is really just flying by. I can't believe it's March already. This week has been busy with various events at school. They've hired an elementary principal for us for next year and she's been visiting this week from California. We also have our Spelling Bee on Friday! And for all these things I am very grateful! What a blessing to be a part of this school, and to work with such great people.
I hope you're enjoying your week!
His parents didn't speak a word of English, but Alex translated that we are welcome to go to their house anytime, even after their son moves away to New Zealand. a generous offer, but that would be very difficult since we don't speak enough Mandarin. They were so warm, kind, and generous to us. Even gave us leftover filling so we could make more ourselves (you can buy the wrappers already made in the market). We made them on Sunday with friends, but it of course did not taste the same. We live in a relatively affluent side of town. The more wealthy chinese, and other foreigners live in this area, so it was great to experience what the majority of the population lives like. We know we are greatly blessed.
Saturday night we were invited to ballroom dancing! A friend from church goes every Saturday. it's free! We didn't really go to dance, but to watch and support our friend. We were so captivated by the great dancers. There were 6 of us newbies, and there must have been more new people, because they decided to do a short rumba lesson. Good times trying to dance "properly" with Scott. He can't help but just goof around :) But he's really intersted in learning. We might find some of the local places where they do free lessons and go there with friends.
Sunday was a great day at church, and hanging out with friends. We've got great friends! It's fun to just relax with them, watch LOST, and play games :) Ever played Nacho Loco??
The time is really just flying by. I can't believe it's March already. This week has been busy with various events at school. They've hired an elementary principal for us for next year and she's been visiting this week from California. We also have our Spelling Bee on Friday! And for all these things I am very grateful! What a blessing to be a part of this school, and to work with such great people.
I hope you're enjoying your week!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
back at it....
well the holiday season is over for awhile. we've been quite spoiled with Christmas and then chinese New Year holidays. for now we have to work 4 more weeks until Easter break. And then the school year is basically over! :) in April there are so many things going on.....the chinese Tomb Sweeping holiday (one day), parent teacher conferences, SAT testing, enrichment week, and then our May holiday beginning April 30. according to other teachers we should finish our teaching by end of March because it's hard to get stuff done after that! yikes! we've got a lot to do!
travelling to Vietnam was fantastic! our travelling buddies Becky and Daniel were easy-going and we had no disagreements. the Vietnamese people are very friendly and helpful and it's just a beautiful country. There's more color and old architecture....somehow they've preserved the 'ancient' look of the places we went. it is less-developed than China. it's communist, but we saw a bit more of the poverty there. I felt like I saw a lot more smiles though. Maybe the people just know how to welcome tourists better than the chinese. people always said hello with a sincere smile and "Happy New Year!"
we stayed in Hanoi for 2 nights first of all. we walked all over the "Old Quarter", visiting museums, old churches, Ho Chi Minh's masoleum, and other sites. it wasn't too warm. spring weather that required a jacket. because of the French influence there are great bakeries around and good strong coffee! and milk with coffee actually means coffee with sweetened condensed milk! yumm! we often bought baguettes on the street to munch on for lunch. they eat delicious rice noodles a lot.
we then took a sleeper bus to Hue, 12 hours south. needless to say, it was a long, interesting night. the roads are bumpy, the driver honked his horn a lot and the "beds" were not comfortable. I think Becky and I got the most sleep....maybe 5 hours? but the boys didn't sleep much at all because they're so tall. we were glad to get off that bus! But then we had to take another 3 hr bus ride to get to Hoi An, the small beach town we were heading to. we arrived at the travel agency/bus stop and bought tickets.....the bus was kinda full so they offered to put two plastic chairs in the aisle so all 4 of us could go! it was quite a hit with all the foreigners on the bus :) some australians arrived at the travel agency after us. they had bought tickets but there was no more room....or for some reason they wouldn't accept their 'receipt.' he put up quite a fight, even storming onto the bus, swearing his head off that he was going to get on the bus! soon there was pushing and shoving, and even a plastic chair raised over his head when he had stolen the keys! haha, it was quite immature. the mean angry guy definitely and his wife didn't make it on the bus, but everyone else did!
Hoi An was a nice quaint town with lots of charm. we were able to rent bikes for about 70 cents for the entire day. we rode all around and down to the beach. it was kinda windy and cold, but we did run in and then out of the South China Sea :) we really enjoyed a quiet bike ride by a river through farm fields. after some good food, haircuts, bleached hair and a couple of nights including games of Settlers, we FLEW back to Hanoi where the next morning we took a tour to Halong Bay. beautiful place! there were about 9 of us on our boat, and we spent the night on the boat. 2 days and 1 night, including meals and kayaking it was $46. definitely worth it! kinda cold, but it was still breathtakingly beautiful. I'll include a few pictures. but you should definitely check out my (or Scott's) pictures on facebook.
after one last evening in Hanoi we flew back the next morning. on a side note....our flight was early in the morning and the exchange place wasn't open yet so we couldn't change our extra money back to renminbi. so we tried in the Beijing airport and they said no, but you can do it at the bank. I hate going to the bank, so I finally made the trip on Thursday only to be told that they don't take it! no where in China can I exchange it, she told me! this just adds to the list of reasons why I hate banking in China. I don't even have to go far! it's right in the hotel where our school is located! but it always takes so long and everything is vague! I never know what I can or can't do there, or when. and then it takes 10 minutes to pay a water bill because she has to fill out all these forms by hand, and stamp about 10 different things. it drives me crazy.
but in a way it was nice to come home and sleep in our own bed. we bought some new fish this week and we knew right away that the female was pregnant - with her giant belly and all. she seemed stressed though in the tank with all the other fish so I thought we should put her in the "nursery" tank so she can have the babies. sure enough, the next day she had the babies! they are platy's so they have livebirth. we have about 12 little fishies in the nursery now :)
I'm going to go take advantage of my Saturday now and have a nap. I had too much marking so I went to the school for 1.5hrs this morning already. Happy New Year of the Rat!
travelling to Vietnam was fantastic! our travelling buddies Becky and Daniel were easy-going and we had no disagreements. the Vietnamese people are very friendly and helpful and it's just a beautiful country. There's more color and old architecture....somehow they've preserved the 'ancient' look of the places we went. it is less-developed than China. it's communist, but we saw a bit more of the poverty there. I felt like I saw a lot more smiles though. Maybe the people just know how to welcome tourists better than the chinese. people always said hello with a sincere smile and "Happy New Year!"
we stayed in Hanoi for 2 nights first of all. we walked all over the "Old Quarter", visiting museums, old churches, Ho Chi Minh's masoleum, and other sites. it wasn't too warm. spring weather that required a jacket. because of the French influence there are great bakeries around and good strong coffee! and milk with coffee actually means coffee with sweetened condensed milk! yumm! we often bought baguettes on the street to munch on for lunch. they eat delicious rice noodles a lot.
we then took a sleeper bus to Hue, 12 hours south. needless to say, it was a long, interesting night. the roads are bumpy, the driver honked his horn a lot and the "beds" were not comfortable. I think Becky and I got the most sleep....maybe 5 hours? but the boys didn't sleep much at all because they're so tall. we were glad to get off that bus! But then we had to take another 3 hr bus ride to get to Hoi An, the small beach town we were heading to. we arrived at the travel agency/bus stop and bought tickets.....the bus was kinda full so they offered to put two plastic chairs in the aisle so all 4 of us could go! it was quite a hit with all the foreigners on the bus :) some australians arrived at the travel agency after us. they had bought tickets but there was no more room....or for some reason they wouldn't accept their 'receipt.' he put up quite a fight, even storming onto the bus, swearing his head off that he was going to get on the bus! soon there was pushing and shoving, and even a plastic chair raised over his head when he had stolen the keys! haha, it was quite immature. the mean angry guy definitely and his wife didn't make it on the bus, but everyone else did!
Hoi An was a nice quaint town with lots of charm. we were able to rent bikes for about 70 cents for the entire day. we rode all around and down to the beach. it was kinda windy and cold, but we did run in and then out of the South China Sea :) we really enjoyed a quiet bike ride by a river through farm fields. after some good food, haircuts, bleached hair and a couple of nights including games of Settlers, we FLEW back to Hanoi where the next morning we took a tour to Halong Bay. beautiful place! there were about 9 of us on our boat, and we spent the night on the boat. 2 days and 1 night, including meals and kayaking it was $46. definitely worth it! kinda cold, but it was still breathtakingly beautiful. I'll include a few pictures. but you should definitely check out my (or Scott's) pictures on facebook.
after one last evening in Hanoi we flew back the next morning. on a side note....our flight was early in the morning and the exchange place wasn't open yet so we couldn't change our extra money back to renminbi. so we tried in the Beijing airport and they said no, but you can do it at the bank. I hate going to the bank, so I finally made the trip on Thursday only to be told that they don't take it! no where in China can I exchange it, she told me! this just adds to the list of reasons why I hate banking in China. I don't even have to go far! it's right in the hotel where our school is located! but it always takes so long and everything is vague! I never know what I can or can't do there, or when. and then it takes 10 minutes to pay a water bill because she has to fill out all these forms by hand, and stamp about 10 different things. it drives me crazy.
but in a way it was nice to come home and sleep in our own bed. we bought some new fish this week and we knew right away that the female was pregnant - with her giant belly and all. she seemed stressed though in the tank with all the other fish so I thought we should put her in the "nursery" tank so she can have the babies. sure enough, the next day she had the babies! they are platy's so they have livebirth. we have about 12 little fishies in the nursery now :)
I'm going to go take advantage of my Saturday now and have a nap. I had too much marking so I went to the school for 1.5hrs this morning already. Happy New Year of the Rat!
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