Currently reading: My students' journals :) (Good news: I finally finished Passport and Colossians Remixed. My initial goal was to finish them both over break, but that didn't happen. Two weeks later isn't so bad.)
Well, we are in the thick of winter. In my Colorado childhood, winter meant snow and lots of it. In China, winter in our northern city just means bitter cold and gray skies. We are counting down (14 days!) until Spring Festival (AKA Chinese New Year) when we leave for a week to go to green and slightly warmer Hong Kong.
I got two pieces of good news this week and they both have a common theme: travel with middle school students.
1. I was assigned to the 7th grade Spring Trip. At our school, all middle and high school students take a class trip in May. The older the class, the longer and farther away the travel. The 7th grade trip goes to Shandong province (south of here on the coast--Qingdao is the famous city in that region.) I had been hoping to be assigned to this trip because I wanted to spend time with a class before they moved into high school. The other leaders are great which makes me even more excited!
2. 18 middle school students applied for our summer trip Inner Mongolia. Our school also organizes 3 trips in the summer that are Purpose and service-driven. This June we will be sending students to Vietnam, Outer Mongolia (the country of Mongolia), and Inner Mongolia (an autonomous Chinese province--the capital is Hohhot). I am the middle school coordinator on the trip and I will be interviewing/chatting with all the middle school applicants next week.
So that's the short and sweet update of things from this side of the world. Below are the less serious (read: fun and funny) pictures from my winter vacation trip to Guilin.
This was actually found in my city a few days before I left. What a difference a preposition makes!
Molly and Nicole pretending to be the Village People at the hardware store.
The tourism bureau designates locations throughout the country and gives a star-rating, similar to how hotels are 4 or 5-stars. Guilin is so beautiful that it is an example spot!
At the beautiful park that we went to there were random decorations throughout. The teletubbies have invaded China!
While these principles all make sense, I'm curious--how one can improve their consciousness?
This sign was over a rock cliff that led into the Seven Star cave. It would have been quite the feat to stride over this without dying.
What happens when an 'r' and a 'n' get put too close together? 'No Burning' becomes 'No Buming.'
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Two bears that are supposed to resemble Pooh accompanied Piglet, Eeyore, and Tiger.
I ran across this gem in a shop: I know who Oprah and Gwen Stefani are, but who is Edward? Prince Edward maybe? I'm not sure.
I'm not sure what a scalp nurse is, but under that English, it has the characters for France. So maybe scalp nurses are French.
This was found at an outdoor vendor.
Trashcans and construction sites are the best for finding Chinglish.
Please Think about:
- Our Inner Mongolia team interviews next week. Many great students applied, but also a few applied because their parents made them. We need wisdom to know who we should accept and who we might defer for another year.
- All summer trip leaders have a weekend of training next Friday night and all day Saturday. Pr@y for the beginning bonds of trust and friendship to grow in all the trip teams as we prepare for an exciting summer.
- For an extra measure of grace while I balance many things. In April, I will lead our middle school delegation to participate in a Model United Nations conference in Beijing. While I'm very excited, there is a lot of hard work ahead in this semester.
May He be our companion in all we do,
rpm
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