the christmas continues!

during our christmas party today we had a dizzy santa relay race outside in the cold and drizzle but that didn't stop the students from fun-filled laughter (and falling! hehe)















another activity we did was a re-enactment of the nativity scene and christmas story, it was sweet for them to take part of that and hear the story also in their native tongue afterwards :)















oh how i love my students and so encouraged that many of them came- it made me proud and was a great opportunity to bond with them outside of class... oh crazy thing- 3 of my boy students from another class that is not pictured below walked from the new campus to the old campus (where i live) which is quite a distance.. maybe 10-15 miles? i told them in chinese "ni fung le ma?!" (are you crazy!?) haha..














last but not least what is a christmas party without singing?? so we taught them the 12 days of christmas and this is a short clip of some of my sophomore students singing.. listen especially to the "five golden rings"- it couldn't have made my day any better :)


oh. and since i'm in the mood for videos- here's another personal favorite video of my junior student wishing you a (belated) merry christmas... he's great! enjoy!!

Christmas Eve & Day... China Style :)

the past few days of the season have been quite the story... christmas eve did not feel remotely close to being a "normal" christmas eve, should have known that already because we are china and things are usually different and far from normal here. haha...

in a nutshell.. on christmas eve day the university wanted us, the foreign teachers, to perform a song that we wrote for the "workers union" (all the teachers and workers of the campus had a huge performance/entertainment show) this was a pretty big show with maybe close to 1,000 workers in the audience.. sorta intense. here's a picture from on of the cha-cha performances with super flashy and vibrant costumes... yea, our performance/attire didn't have quite the same touch unfortunately...














we ended the night by singing a few carols, playing boom shake-a-boom boom, making wishes on a flying light device, and playing with firecrackers with a few friends





























i don't think i've ever recieved so many presents for christmas before... i think that's what you get for being a teacher ;) my students have given me some awesome mitten, a chinese-fashionable scarf, a cactus, a painting, candy, an apple, cards, socks, and a million text messages wishing me the best wishes for christmas.. too sweet. here's a picture of me trying to incorporate as many gifts as i can in a picture. hehe.. and christmas breakfast with the team :)
















chilblains!..ya.. i didn't know what that was until i got it on my toes. :( i guess it's been too cold and the wool socks aren't warm enough. please think of my toes if you can- i also have an ingrown toenail.. sorry if it's too much information- just tryin to be real hehe (if you look closely the right foot/toes are red, swollen, and itchy)















of course you can't end a china christmas day without classic sticky pictures! :)
sheng dan kuai le! (merry christmas!!)

life is like the weather in nanchang...

you never know whatcha gonna get.

weather forecast from this weekend...
saturday: sunny and cool... you can get away with a nice cotton shirt and a light sweater
sunday: 50 mph winds and chilly... you should wear about 5 layers of clothes including long underwear-oh! bring an umbrella for some unexpected rain
monday: snowing, small sunshine, and freezing mittens in the classroom.

it's common thing to say that weather in nanchang is changeable, but after this weekend- i'm a believer!

this morning when i looked outside my kitchen window i saw a snow-covered track and a few faithful runners still running around and a few basketball players on the courts still playing basketball... i would like to be like them.. still persevering and "running the race" despite uncomfortable and inconvenient circumstances. i hope you also will join me in this race- he never said it was going to be easy, but he did promise that we will not be alone!

when i was thinking about the weather and all it's diversity- it reminded me of how life is always changeable as well- especially life in china... some days are the best with everything going fine and better than it should and i love it... other days are rough and there's some winds with some hardships... and still others that are just hard and cold and painful (and those i tend not to blog about often but those days indeed happen here!) ... but he is the creator and in control of the weather and the days of my life.. it's all in his hands. :)

...with all the crazy holidays coming around the corner- don't forget the true reason for the season... it's not so much about all the decorations, gifts, songs, and hype... being away from it all this year has made christmas much more simple - just Him and Him alone.

here's a pic of the track and one strong runner and the new campus looking like snow white :)














p.s. i made a photo blog site for my students... if you care to look at photos of all my students and my life with them you can check it out here :)

feliz navidad! sheng dan kuai le! merry christmas!! hehe