We work with a lady named Mrs. Tao. She is one of my favorite people I have met so far. She is immensely entertaining! One day after teaching our driver was in a meeting. The meeting ended up going SUPER long, so Mrs. Tao sat and talked to us. She told us all about her life and found out all about ours. It’s funny though because this conversation that would have normally taken half an hour in the States took nearly two hours! It’s a whole lot of repeating and charades. I’m thinking that I’m going to be a master of charades at the end of this!
This is Mrs. Tao in a wig we used for class! She’s a hoot!
Teaching was excellent though. One of my classes is pretty restless and stuff, but the rest of my classes are really good! A thousand little funny things happen every day- I wish you could all just sit in on my classes to see it! The whole language barrier thing can provide entertainment!
Moving on... On the 13th we had a birthday party for Samantha! We went out to our favorite noodle place, had an epic and never ending congo line, and sang a rousing chorus of happy birthday. Heather was able to round up the ingredients to make a cake. It was amazing! I have no idea how she was able to make a delicious home made cake with the chinese equivalents to ingredients and a microwave... Mad props!
Happy Birthday, Samantha!
The next week marked half way for us! CRAZY! I can’t even believe it! Time is going SO FAST! Casey, one of the head directors of ILP, came for a visit. He did interviews with each of us. It would remind you of a Bishop’s interview on your birthday... He just wanted to see how we were doing and if there was anything he could do to make our experience better. I really do love ILP. They take great care of us!
Our school took us out to dinner since Casey came. They took us the the “Pizza Buffet” It was wannabe western food... Some mediocre pizza, french fries, peaches, watermelon, onion rings, chicken nuggets... that’s about all the food that I knew what it was.... Now, had I gone to this restaurant a few months ago I would have thought it was absolutely deplorable! However, on this night it was a little taste of Heaven! :) Funny how situation changes perception!
We had a group meeting with Casey to discuss any problems with kids and teaching. At the end of the meeting a miraculous thing happened... Casey brought out the Reese’s! :) They were just the tiny ones, but he brought enough for us to each have 11. :) Reese’s are my favorite candy in the world, but apparently they haven’t made it to China yet... :( I was so excited I thought I was going to die! Ha! Who knew such a little thing could elicit such a reaction! :)
I LOVE REESE’S!!!!
Cierra, Samantha, Kayla, Anna, Lauren, and I decided to have a party that weekend to celebrate our half way mark! Lauren saved a cake mix and frosting for this occasion. We made a 6 layer chocolate cake and devoured it in mere minutes! It was DELICIOUS! We also listened to Bon Jovi a lot.... “OOOOOOOOHHHHH we’re halfway there!”
The epic cake of deliciousness! It may not look pretty, but that’s because we are super creative and have had to learn how to make things in a microwave. Improvisation... one of the things I’ve learned over and over again in China!
Kayla and Lauren couldn't eat it without getting it all over their faces! It was hilarious!
That night we also discovered room 504 (the one across from Cierra and me) is haunted. No one lives there, but it sounds like there’s something vicious trapped in there! The door rattles all the time and it emits the oddest noises. We asked Kelly to get the keys because we thought there must be windows open and the wind was causing it. Turns out all the windows are closed. We figure it must be ghosts then!
I know this blog post has a lot of cake references... haha! We like to find any excuse to celebrate with treats! :) I really can’t believe we’re halfway through this amazing experience! We are trying to make every day count... I think we’re doing a pretty good job! So much happens here and there’s no way I can blog it all! Between my blog, journal, and emails and letters to friends and family I hope I’m documenting it all! I’ve made so many great friends, learned amazing lessons, had once in a life time experiences, and loved every minute of it!
Half way through and still loving life! :)
Hi Jenni,
ReplyDeleteI must be the first person you don't know who is commenting on your blog.
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