not so big a deal..

so many things that seem like a big deal in America... are not so much a big deal in China...

for example- new years eve. apparently regular new years for us is not a big deal to the chinese people- only chinese new years which is later this month... they don't even stay up to have a countdown or watch the new york ball drop! amazing. haha... just like every holiday spent in china so far has been sooo different than normal holidays back home.. things aren't that big of a deal here. no huge sales, no christmas lights everywhere, parties, media... it makes all the holidays much more- simple. sometimes things don't need to be such a big deal for it to be great or memorable and that's what i'm learning to appreciate about holidays in china :)

the last week of 2008 could not have been any more random, exciting, and unique- after all- i am in china! (here's a random list of things i hope to accomplish for fun during my million hours of break hehe)



















we ate a whole sheep/lamb with the other foreign teachers.. in my mind i thought the size of a sheep would be somewhere close to the equivalent of a cow.. but to my dismay it was rather smaller and bony- but tasty nonetheless!... afterward there was the biggest mess ever- a job well done.

































i also discovered a roller skating rink on campus in the gym and went 2 days in a row with several students! it was a blast.. just picture a large empty warehouse with chinese techno music and random decorations hanging from the ceiling. it was perfect.. only 5 kuai too (about 75 cents in the US)- not bad at all! there were some pretty talented skaters out there too!










































visited my student frances' apartment and her roommates cooked for us! here's what some real homemade chinese food looks like- delicious!




























new years eve some of us weren't planning on staying up.. until my roommate got an electrical burn on her hand- i thought she was going to die, but thankfully she didn't and it is only a burn that is healing quickly! what a way to end the year i tell ya- he's faithful. :)