Somewhere in the middle of New Years....

Well, right when some students in Canada were going back to school my holiday started - January 8th, 2008 was my first official day of holidays (although I must admit that the week preceding that was also quite slack as I only showed Home Alone 1 to the students in the evenings). I never thought I would still laugh out loud while watching the movie for the 6th time in 5 days...but I did. There's nothing like watching the movie along with 200+ students who are trying to catch their breath and wiping tears from their eyes because they are laughing so hard (you would be too if it meant it was instead of a super boring 3 hour evening class!). It was good!

The 2007-2008 transition in China (as in where I am located in China) was quite uneventful though it was nice to spend it with other foreigners in the city. We played some karaoke and board games - and there was an insane amount of delicious food - which made the evening all the better!

Just last week my friend, Karen, got back from university and I am over-joyed to have her around again. Already I have had some great times with her again - along with her family. She mentioned that she was looking for a job during this Spring Festival holiday and I figured she'd be a wonderful Chinese teacher so I am her employer and she is my teacher now. Every day we get together for many, many hours - 2 of which are spend learning Chinese. We only started 3 days ago and I feel like I have learned SO much already. Yesterday we went shopping together and climbed the local hill/mountain and today I taught her how to make banana bread - we ate the whole thing as soon as it came out of the oven - it was great (owh the things you can do when mom and dad aren't there to keep you in line...)! I am really thankful for her!

In the evenings I have also had several students come to my home to study for the upcoming final exams. Some of them will quietly work in the living room while I am in the kitchen or office - other students like to join me in the office and ask me questions whenever they don't understand some of their English homework. A few evenings ago a student knocked on my door. She couldn't really speak English very well but she asked for a pen and paper and wrote her life story to me in English and asked me many questions. It was a neat time. Later that evening she asked me to help her practice her English vocabulary homework - it was almost midnight by the time she left (classes end at 9pm so the students are very used to going to bed late).

In only 6 days I will be leaving for Thailand. I'll be visiting a bunch of cities along the way and will be sure to take lots of pictures. It should be a really fun (and warm!) time!

When I come back here at the beginning of February all of my friends from university will be home so I am sure the last month of my holidays will fly by (yes, it is almost a 2 month long holiday to celebrate Chinese new year - the year of the rat). I am looking forward to spending Chinese New Year with Karen and her family. I have been told that it is a HUGE event - and extremely family-oriented. I feel happy to be part of all the events in the Yang home at that time! I will write more about that later!

Perhaps, if I get a chance, I will update this blog again from Thailand...otherwise you may have to wait a bit longer!

Oh, and yes...on December 30th I decided to sit on a real, live tiger. I know - very dangerous (and especially freaky after the stories I had recently read in the newspapers!), but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so I HAD to do it. I'm alive and well today and I am very happy I can now add this to my 'been-there-done-that' list.

I have no idea who still reads this blog, but I miss you and love you and hope to see you again in a few months!