I know it has been a while, sorry. Classes are busy and I have started my finals.
I survived Christmas in China! It was really hard, much harder than Thanksgiving. Luckily, I have some amazing people here who helped. Plus, I got to talk to all of my family. It made me miss them much less.
On Friday of Christmas (Christmas Eve Eve), there was a Christmas party for all of the Foreign Experts in Nanjing. The party was thrown by the government and was really nice. It was at a hotel downtown. We had entertainment- little kids of some of the teachers & students from the Arts College. There was a ton of food! The food was an interesting mix. They tried to have both Chinese & foreign food. It was pretty delicious. So I enjoyed it. It was a good night, we hung out with the other teachers from Jinling and two Korean professors from Nanjing University. After the party was over, we both got pandas as a door prize.
My Christmas Eve kind of stunk. My electricity ran out (again, after only 5 days!) I had stayed in Pukou Friday night, so I woke up freezing. I had to go downtown to meet up with Danielle for the weekend. After I showered and was getting ready, I found out there was a student for me to tutor at 2:30. I was running late because of the electricity thing and left the dorm around 12:45. I waited for almost 45 minutes (in the cold) for the bus! It was really busy, tons of students were going home to celebrate. (I don't really understand that. They don't celebrate Christmas, but all of my students talked about being with their family for it. It was confusing.) After I got on the bus, there was really bad traffic. It took another hour to get across the bridge. By then it was 2:30. I finally made it to school & met the student around 3. He is a little older than but hasn't practiced his English much. So I spent the time just figuring out what his level was. By the end of that, I was exhausted & hungry. Thankfully, Sherry took care of me and fed me! DK had more classes, but I was finally done for Christmas.
Since Christmas was a Sunday this year, we didn't have to work. We me Sherry in the morning for a movie. We saw The Flowers of War. It is a new movie about the Nanjing Massacre. It was really good, but violent and bloody and sad. Maybe not the most Christmas-y movie. It was neat to see it in Nanjing, it added to it. One of the actresses (she played Mosquito) is a student at Jinling. After the movie we collected ourselves and went to Sherry's house to celebrate Christmas. Her whole family was there and they are so wonderful. They ordered Pizza Hut so we would feel like we were at home. As always, there was a ton of food. We had pizza, cheesy bread, wings, waffle fries, bacon wrapped tomatoes, meat on a stick, and soup. Plus, Sherry's mom made some Chinese dishes. We had melon & pork, potatoes, radishes, and duck. Plus we had tea & Tsingtao. It was all very delicious. They spoiled us so much!
After our amazing dinner, it was present time. Sherry bought us stockings full of chocolate & candies. We gave Sherry her gifts from home & she loved them. Finally, it was time for Sissi to open presents! Sissi is absolutely adorable, so we were very excited to spoil her! We had her presents sent from home & she loved them. We bought her a coat, a dress, pajamas, markers, silly putty, Old Maid, and candy. She loved the clothes, they were pink- her favorite color! She put on the coat & it fit her great. It is adorable! She was totally intrigued by the silly putty. She loved playing with it!
After presents, DK helped Sissi & Sissi's boyfriend, Ton Ton, make cookie-dough balls. She had done this with her younger students and they loved it. The balls were really easy & they didn't have any eggs, so they were totally safe. It was a big hit!
Once I got home on Christmas, I set up our presents and trees for DK & I to celebrate. We both talked to our parents on Skype & opened our presents. It was nice to still be able to share the holiday with them! We both were quite spoiled & got tons of awesome gifts!
I got to talk to the Lyon family during Lyon Christmas night. I love being able to see my cousins & Grandma! Technology is so impressive. Today I talked to the Buckley side. Again, I love being able to see everyone. It makes the distance so much less!! I am sad to have missed my family celebrations, but it makes for great memories. I can't wait until I can tell my children or grandchildren about when I spent Christmas in China!
There are new pictures up on our photo page! Go check them out!!