I'm back finally

It's been over a month since I've blogged.  Been going through alot, but I'm back and will catch you all up.

Well here I am in China for a real Chinese New Year.  Fireworks have been going off this past week at night.  Red lanterns are everywhere.  The trees are full of the red lanterns and look so pretty.  It is the year of the Ox.  Everyone is in a party mood around the city.  The Chinese staff invited all the foreign staff for a big shindig at a Korean restaurant.  It's so funny celebrating Chinese New Year at a Korean restaurant in China.  I'm traveling to my assistant's home province.  She invited me to spend Chinese New Year with her family.  I only get one week off for the holiday, but she is taking two off for her wedding.  Her family is excited to have me and I'm excited to learn some of their customs.

I have officially moved into a nicer and safer apartment.  Yes I know it was hard to say goodbye to my disco apartment, but I needed to get away from a freaky landlord.  I'm in the same complex, Jiang nan ya zhu, which I found out means south of the river.  I now have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large kitchen and more furniture.  It is a big apartment for little old me.  But hopefully next year I'll get a roommate if the school hires another single female teacher.  My new landlord is so nice.  His wife gave me a jade necklace asa welcome present.  Plus he lives in Shenzen so I know he won't be dropping by everyday unexpectedly.

And yes my sister had the baby on January 13-Johnathan Thomas Names.  He looks so cute in the pictures.  I wish I could be there to hold him and give him a kiss.  I'm so proud of you Rachel.

Snow and Home

Here are some pictures of the snow here in Seattle.  It's been very peaceful to be snowed in.  No pressure to go anywhere, but relax at home with the family.

One thing I love about being home is the music.  My dad playing guitar and my mom singing and playing the piano.  It's so good to have a piano in the house to play.  So healing to the soul.

My Family

I'm home for Christmas break.  It's so nice to see my family.  It has been snowing and snowing.  My sister is super pregnant and so happy.  I hope she has the baby while I'm home.  Just been baking my great grandma's  gingerbread, playing games of monopoly and going for winter walks.  Oh and decorated the tree.  My lil sister's boyfriend said the tree looks like one from a movie.  I thought that was sweet.

Beijing

On my way home for Christmas break I spent a weekend in Beijing.  It was my third time in the city.  Every time I'm in Beijing I see a different Beijing.  My first time was in 2000 as a student at Northern Jiatong University.  I was studying history.  There were so many bikers at that time.  My second time was in 2007 as a debriefing time from teaching English at a university in Qinghuangdoa.  The city had changed so much in seven years.  More skyscrapers, cars and fewer bikers.  

This time I stayed by myself in a youth hostel in old Beijing, which is what Beijing used to look like before all the skyscrapers.  It is close to the Drum Tower and Bell Tower.  A very cool place to be.  I would highly suggest staying in hostels.  They are so clean and safe.  I stayed in a 6 bed public room for girls for about 55 yuan, which is $8 a night.  The first night I was with a teacher friend who was continuing onto Russia.  I saw her off at the Beijing Train Station.  

When I was wandering around old Beijing I walked into a music store where this man was tuning Chinese cymbols.  It sounded so interesting.

Sunday I spent with a student from Qinghuangdoa, who I barely knew, but she opened her heart and home to me.  It was her birthday so she had me over to her apartment and cooked me traditional style Beijing noodles.  The tradition is to eat noodles on your birthday for a long life.  They were so yummy.  Later we walked around Beihei Park and Hohei Lake.  We had some great talks.

Monday I got to meet another student from Qinghuangdoa for lunch and she helped me make it to the airport subway transfer.  The subways are fantastic in Beijing.  They have 13 lines.  You can get anywhere you need to in the city.

Didn't see any of the Olympic sights this time, but maybe next time around.

The Performance

It has been one week since the Nutcracker performance.  It was a magical night.  The students did such a great job, their best run through of the program.  They looked so cute in their costumes that I designed.  The backdrop and set was amazing.  The art teacher did a fantastic job.  The parents' one complaint was that it was too short.  I'd rather it be short and sweet and leave them wanting them more than thinking it was too long.  One teacher who has been teaching for 30 years told me it was the best Christmas school musical she has seen.  That was a very nice compliment coming from a very critical teacher.  

The dress rehearsal that day was crazy.  We had to bus 100 students to the hotel, because we had to rent a stage to perform it.  When I arrived with the pre-schoolers nothing was set up, including the stage.  So it was alot of demanding what we needed and having it translated into Chinese.  It was crazy.  So we were late to start the rehearsal.  It was the first time combining the middle school and secondary choirs.  I thought the middle school boys were going to kill me.  They kept yelling into the microphone and trying to be all cool.  It was a hectic dress rehearsal, but the performance went amazing.  Enjoy the pics.

Nutcracker Rehearsal

We are in full swing for Nutcracker rehearsals.  It is crazy trying to practice in such a small space. It is a little intimidating trying to direct things as a first year teacher in front of all these seasoned teachers, but I'm learning alot.  The children are doing well and are having fun.  That is the most important thing.

My eight year olds are so sweet.  I feel like I've finally settled into my teaching schedule and learning how to teach Intensive English students.  My students are already talking about how they don't want to go onto the nine year old class next year.  They say they want to stay with me.  I told them we still have the whole year together.  Today something funny happened while I was gone teaching a music class.  Another teacher comes in while my 8's have study time.  This teacher apparently sat in chair and broke it.  I came back to class with a missing chair and the students told me the teacher sat down, it broke and she fell out.  I thought that was pretty funny.  Hopefully I'll have a fixed chair by tomorrow.

Playing for a Meal

The other night one of the teacher couples at my school invited me over for dinner.  They heard me play at Thanksgiving and wanted a private concert.  They are retired teachers from Colorado. I gave them a little concert after a home cooked meal and some Tequila Sunrises.  It's nice to know I can still play for a free meal. :)