Best slide show EVER. Seriously.

a swell of emotion hits me when I see this. obvees some are sentimental, and the effort and thought put into our entire good bye party melts my heart and makes me mourn leaving this place.

but this slide show is completely wonderful on another plane: JUST WATCH. :) :) :)

More later :)

Spring Randoms!

At the top of Jiao Shan.

(this was last fall- i lied a little bit.)

May holiday in BeiDaiHe. Finally not the tallest female in sight.

Before a run.

Taking pictures around campus with my student, Sunshine. :)

Every morning, I wake up and make myself french-press coffee.

I drink it while I read, answer emails and eat breakfast.

I love you, my coffee.

Brett and I sing together at a coffee shop that belongs to our friend, Tony.

It has turned into a weekly (sometimes twice) affair.

We bring an audience, then we get free coffee and drinks. Aaaand we get to perform?

NOT a bad deal.

This is Tony. In front of his coffee shop. Tony is a huge goof-ball, and loves to entertain.

He is also a talented movie maker.

I actually didn't see him run and slide into this picture until I already took it.

haaaaaa....

This was late one night after we performed, and some of Brett's former colleague's grabbed his guitar and the microphones. After some liquid courage, they started to sing songs about robots. Songs that their students wrote specifically about robots. They were just putting it to tunes, and then making robot masks out of empty boxes and dancing to it.

Brett and I were in awe. Neither of us had ever seen anything like it...

SO GLAD I HAVE PHOTOS.

I like flowers. Especially hibiscus.

While the May Team was here, we went out with Grandpa Poppy with about 12 students that we've had an amazing time getting to know this year.

Grandpa Poppy treated us to dessert at KFC after giving all of the students gifts from America. They were in heaven!

This is me, making an emphatic point (is there any other kind? seriously).

Olympic Park late one night walking back from Sci Tech with Heidi and Amelia.

I am in love with this sculpture.

Roses are in bloom. They smell amazing- a positive alternative to the occasional sewer smell

that would greet us at this corner.

marriage is what brings us together in China

Tim and Michelle got married! Their wedding was on May 21, and was arranged to fall on the first weekend that the May Team would be in Qinhuangdao so that family and friends from home could also share in the marital celebration :)

I was commissioned to make five (5) cheesecakes for the reception dessert. We don't have beaters in China readily available, so I used blenders. Lemons are also scant, so I used lime juice from America. I ran out of vanilla, so I used almond extract. We don't have heavy cream or sour cream at reasonable prices, so I used yogurt. It turned out GREAT.

Seriously. I'm using these substitutions in America.

Reception settings, and Chinese wine. (One should have a few glasses before actually enjoying it, in my opinion.)

The gorgeous bride and the handsome groom during the reception. We had an American style wedding with heavy Chinese influence. I think that would be the best description of the event. :)

No wedding (or store opening, restaurant opening, holiday, moving into a new residence, etc.) would be complete without a roll of fire crackers. Heart shaped, naturally.

The whole team, plus spouses :)

Such a good wedding!

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Since we are all teachers of Chinese students who are dyyyyying to know what an American wedding is like, we decided to reenact the event on the volleyball courts for the entirety of the school. Really, there were so many students watching, some teachers had to physically hold/push them back.

This image doesn't even begin to capture the chaos.

Dane, sporting his eclectic formal get-up;

essentially, a perfect metaphor for the entire second wedding. :)

So, because it was an American wedding, Tim and Michelle had bridesmaids and groomsmen. Nine of each, naturally.

If you were an American, and in nice attire, you were in the wedding party.

...and there's our sound guy, just... hanging out... in the wedding party... during the ceremony. As he lit up and exhaled absentmindedly, Kevin and Justin's faces were priceless...

Every student had their cell phones out. I wonder how many images of Michelle and Tim (and all of us, for that matter) are floating around on the Chinese interwebs...

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It really did take a village effort to pull this event off, and everyone- the May Team, Tim's family, ELT Edge Teachers, ELIC Teachers, and students made this day go wonderfully and smoothly. We are all so thankful!

Where my heart has been this whole time.

I love my students.

I have not written much about any of them in this blog.

Sometimes when I think about them,

and how great they are,

and how precious they are,

and how much they are so hungry for knowledge and eager to learn,

my heart feels so big it wants to burst.

Our last week of class, I told them all to bring their favorite snacks to class.

And to prepare a song to sing.

My class monitor replied to that message with a passionate, "are you serious i am so excited you will not be dissappointed!!!!!?"

Oh, my goodness, I wasn't(!!!!!?)

He brought his electric piano. If anything, I was worried he was too exuberant for the amount of talent I assumed he had. WAS I WRONG.

He played a Chopin Waltz- one that I do not own, so I can't remember the name. (bagh...) but his passion and talent came POURING out.

His fingers moved so fast; his interpretation of how it should be played was immaculate, and where his little keyboard fell short in range, he made up for in creative adaptations that you wouldn't catch if you didn't know the song.

And this was all from memory. A 13 minute piece from memory. How this child had the time to memorize this, as well as take the college entrance exam, as well as being student in China is beyond me.

This is one of my dearest student friends; he is filming the piano player. This student is like a father to the class. The most emotionally intelligent student I have met yet; he is affirming, kind, generous, and hilaaaaarious.

He has a twin brother who he says is his exact opposite. I need to meet him!

As one of the other students was taking their turn singing their favorite song, she began to forget the words. To encourage her, the students in the back began to wave their arms back and forth- beautiful.

Class picture of my second class of freshman. A bit quieter, but VERY attentive and loving. They have already created a strong community within their class.

This is my third freshman class. I love them so much. I love all of my students, so me typing this feels REALLY redundant, but seriously. I do.

As I was saying my last few words to them, three girls were crying in the back.

I really do. I love them so much.

A Few Things

I'm sure many of you feel the same, whether you're in the U.S. or in a land farther away (if that's possible) : THIS SPRING WENT BY SO UNBELIEVABLY FAST. March 1 hit, and it has been full throttle ever since. IT STILL IS. So the first short, however very sincere, thing is that I apologize. I apologize for not writing as much as I should have, and for not giving you the appropriate amount of updates that I, at one point, promised I would.

Second thing: i've been in China for approximately nine months total by this point, yet sights still do not cease to amaze me. Among some horrible things that I won't put in a blog post, I have also seen things that tickle me- most often they occur right outside my apartment, on the street with all the food vendors. Most recently, the cabbage truck is my favorite. This tall, tipsy truck decides to pick an arbitrary spot on a lawn who's owner is ambiguous enough that it feels comfortable enough to park, and it parks. WIth it's back end facing the street, the door unlatches to reveal a 10 foot high WALL of cabbage, perfectly lined up and stacked, like a tessalation or pattern of those blocks you get in elementary school that lets you make those really sweet designs. People just come by, and participate in a shady looking interaction, and then proceed on their way- if there was a cabbage black market, this would certainly belong.

Buuuut I don't have a picture, because everytime I have seen said truck, I am on a run, and I don't take my camera with me. Sorry.

Third thing: Pig not in a blanket. in a VAN. Stay with me on this street, but just turn around and head east for about 10 yards. You will see a meat vendor at a stand with slabs of butchered animal hanging behind him. Not a rare sight, (actually it's ALL rare!! I didn't try to do that, it just happened) so I don't even blink as I pass. But two nights ago, Heidi and I went for a walk, and they must have been recieving a delivery or something, because there it was. A pig in a van. Not a live one, but if you took the two halves you saw, that were cut nose to navel, just laying on the floor of the van and super-glued them perfectly back together, you could have mistaken the pig as perhaps sleeping??

It was such a fascinating sight that I just stopped, back tracked, and inspected as the vendors commented on and laughed about the american looking at a dead pig. At least it didn't smell of formaldehyde... Don't worry, I've never bought meet from them before, nor do I plan to. :)

Fourth thing: At our school, Northeast University at Qinhuangdao, the foreign teachers have a cooperating teacher that answers our culture questions, takes care of our apartments, organizes and works on our provincial and city visas, accompanies us to our doctor's appointments (if needed), and is the liaison during the hiring process. This person's English name is Henry. Henry is one of the most mellow, relaxed, soft spoken people I have ever met in my life. So chill, in fact, that when he smiles it seems as though it takes a LOT of effort, and that when one's cheeks would normally pull up, his pull out and stretch to the side, making it look a bit strained. Whatever, each to his own... (I guess) but due to this odd stoicism juxtaposed next to our team's happy-go-lucky m.o., we decided to make it our goal to make him laugh.

I succeeded.

It was so simple: I was excited to play with the foreign language department in the annual volleyball tournament at our school. Henry asked me how I was at volleyball, and if I was planning on joining them for the games. Without considering cultural norms/boundaries, or his general demeanor, I exclaimed loudly, in rapid-fire style, in an echo-y hallway, "YES I can't WAIT. I love playing volleyball- are we good? are you playing, Henry? Yeah, BRING IT ON!" ...as I bounce on my toes and playfully punch the air like a boxer warming up.

His eyes widened, he opened his mouth, and LAUGHED. A bonified LAUGH.

cool. I'll take it.

But then the conclusion to that interaction ended as awkwardly as any other conversation between a native Mandarin speaker and a native English speaker could. He stopped laughing as quickly as he started, turned abruptly into the room he was unlocking, and I, sensing the conversation had stopped, walked away. Later than comfortable, I hear him quietly say, "see you then. Yes, have a good night."

You too, Henry. You too. (oiy)