Busy Week

Sorry it's been so long. It's been so crazy around here.

This last week I did most of my finals. Instead of doing them during class, I had students sign up for a time and come to the office. It worked out well, but I spent about 5-8 hours in the office a day with students. I was so completely exhausted by Friday night. Thursday night I went to sleep at 8. One night I was asleep by 6:30. I didn't know talking to students was that exhausting..

They had to answer one question for me and tell me how they are using it in their lives. The question was a pretty intense question, but it was wonderful to hear some of their answers. I learned so much about them and it was nice to see how seriously some of them took the final. Some did not even answer the question really, but just took the opportunity to pour their heart out to me. The question was "What is the most important lesson you have ever learned?" Students told me about losing a parent, or struggling with depression, about arguments with roomates, or helping friends. I had a vast array of answers and these are things that will make this World a better place if they remember these lessons and use them. It was a wonderful preparation for them for this next term with me. We get a lot more intense in the English language and in life lessons.

Anyways.. it's almost over. I have a few finals Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Then Christmas Day. Then I leave for ChongQing to visit my best Chinese friend, Angus. He is home for holiday from studying in England. Then I get back on the 29th and go to Hangzhou on the 30th for New Years. Then back here for 9 days, and then off to Southeast Asia and North China. It's going to be a long 2 months.. at least I hope it doesn't fly by too quickly. This week of finals is a little shorter and less exhausting. I mostly have about 3 a day. I have to finish my Christmas shopping. I bought myself a pair of socks and wrapped them up. I also found some Cheeze Its at an import store when I was in Wuhan for Thanksgiving. I wrapped those and put them under the tree. It's going to be a good Christmas morning. It does take the mystery out of Christmas when you buy and wrap your own gifts... haha. I do have my normal Mrs. Clause gift (thanks Mom). I am excited about opening that one.

This weekend was pretty exciting. We had Christmas movie night on Friday and watched Elf after eating some Mexican food.. Awesome! Then Saturday we went to this family's apartment, where the Mom cooked us a fabulous lunch with lots of exotic sea foods and taught us how to make our favorite soup. This family is very very kind and have a beautiful 2 story apartment and a PIANO! I got to play a little.. They have a 15 year old boy who is going to America next year for boarding school. Bekah is his English tutor. They are the nicest family. It was nice just to be with a family again and visit. The mom can say a few words of English, but she is so sweet and the dad was so cute.
Then Saturday night we did some Christmas shopping and ate some Indian food. Indian is my very favorite food I think. I love the flavor of the curries and the spiciness. It's just so delicious. I do have a good spread of cultural foods here that I don't really have access to in East Texas. It's nice to be able to pick a country and go eat some of their food. Then Sunday we went and had meeting.

We've been meeting in the mornings, and that's been nice. The only thing is it's so early. We have to leave at 8:15, and on a Sunday.. that's early. We do get to catch the end of the NBA game when we get to Tricia's though. That's always fun. Magic beat The Lakers yesterday.. so that was nice. Then we have meeting and it's so encouraging. Yesterday was great because 3 of the downtown folks we only see once a week went to lunch with us and then shopping all day with us for some Christmas gifts and others we had to get. It was good because we got to spend time with them, but they also distracted Bekah while I bought hers and Jessica's presents. They showed us this new shopping area which was fun. Lots of Chinese shopping. I can't wait to go back. Then we went to hot pot for dinner.

Hot pot is my favorite meal in China. You have a pot of broth basically and you pick your meats and veggies and tofus and dumplings. You put them in and cook them and eat as you go. It's really fun and quite delicious. This place was a little different than most I've been to though. This was buffett style. You had your own personal pot of broth instead of a big one for the table. Then you went up and got a tray and piled it with whatever you wanted.. instead of ordering and getting a plate of that item. It was really awesome! I like this buffett style.

Last night I passed out early. I was so exhausted. Today I'm finishing my Christmas shopping and getting ready for baking for Christmas. I'm making an apple pie, green bean cassarole, and the stuffing. I am excited about Christmas dinner. I am more excited about ChongQing though. It's been so long since I've seen Angus face to face. Plus.. ChongQing is where hotpot started.. so basically I get to eat hotpot for a whole weekend. It should be fun. Let the travels begin.