I feel much better health-wise, China-wise, and even Christmas-wise. Which is just awesome. This week was nice, quite slow due to not much teaching. Classes were canceled on Friday and on Tuesday, no one was teaching Senior 3.
On Tuesday, the foreign AP teachers were invited to lunch with the Chinese principal: the head of the whole 6,000+ student school. Lunch was extravagant: lamb, best cuts of pig, whole shrimp, frozen fish bits served with a giant rose-colored piece of ice, turtle (with shell), frog soup, small potatoes, strange fruits, and more. Needless to say, many of us finished lunch still a bit hungry. I did try the turtle and yes, it was good--but not something I'd ever order myself. Though I would order frog; it's good and frogs aren't turtles. The frozen fish slices were thin and covered in "Chinese-wasabi" of many different colors and it was too spicy and strange for me to eat. The highlight of the lunch was the pandas. The principal gave each of us a plush panda and cub. Needless to say, I have slept much better this week :)
On Wednesday, I finally gave out my make-up midterm, which means I now have 25 midterms to grade. But I feel better getting many students caught up. Though we're very behind. We've covered 5 chapters out of 14 and only 200 out of 700 pages in the text. Part of this is the two weeks (one due to me sick the other the students gone) I didn’t teach and part of it is I started Oct 8, not in August. But the exam is in May and we have three weeks off for Chinese New Year, so it's gonna be tight. I'll have to learn how and where to make curriculum cuts.
Yesterday, after teaching a class full of videos (Ames Room, Phi Phenomenon with Christmas lights synced to music, and more), I returned home and quickly ate my favorite noodles, bought some party food/drink, and then friends arrived: my lunar bday! It was a wonderful evening. Lynette, Androgeny, Elliot, and Maggie (Chinese university students) surprised me with a cake, Cynthia surprised me with a NZ themed gift, and I invited my computer guy (and his wife) and the August staff. Even more to my surprise, Neil (the computer guy), and his wife, Brandy, showed up bearing traditional rice wine (strong strong stuff). Neil has helped me with my Internet twice and speaks a bit of English. He has mentioned he wants to practice his English and hang out, but I was still surprised he came. His wife teaches Japanese at Chengwai, my school, and was a lot of fun. Then another knock at the door produced the August crew: Jerry, Laurrr, and Cindy sans Hans. They brought me a fruit basket! I repeatedly (and perhaps drunkenly) said throughout the night, "This is the happiest I have been in China". After Neil and Brandy heard that I sing, Jerry and I made-up a song about Lunar birthdays and friends; maybe not our best impromptu, but it a lot of fun.
Then, I learned that it was Hans's lunar birthday (a far bigger deal than mine) and we took the whole party to August, bringing cake for him! He was surprised and delighted! We hung out there for the rest of the night--the idea of going downtown not very appealing. The whole night I was happy.
Some of my thoughts in China are about the big China adventure and how to be more adventurous. My ideas of this always revolve around going somewhere else and climbing mountains. Taking beautiful pictures is one of my favorite things to do--especially when it requires being in beautiful places. I told a friend this summer that without photography I'm not sure I'd ever want to leave a summit--it's hard to leave natural beauty. And I still have many many places that I want to see in China and in the world and marvel at all the beauty. And when I have free time and chose to just stay in Chengdu and relax, sometimes I beat myself up a little for not pushing the envelope and getting out there and adventuring. BUT, for the first time, I'm starting to see life a little differently. Part of the adventure has always been meeting new people, but maybe I get so caught up in looking for beauty that, well, I miss what's here. So there's a shift in the adventure: from finding beautiful landscapes and scenery to finding beautiful experiences. Of course the real goal would be to stop needing to actively search and, instead, see what beauty there already is.
Last night was beautiful: I was surrounded by people who I care about. I felt so fortunate that I am here in China and more fortunate that these people I've met are here in China. Friendships are just as beautiful as the most breath-taking summits.
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