Fall Break?

Time seems to flying by off of a sudden. The crazy thing is that after we got back from Halloween, we found of that mid-terms would be coming up and we would each be getting a day or two off. The catch is that our school is so big, they test different grades on different days. So, technically, Laura and I would have different holidays. She was supposed to have Monday-Wednesday of this week off, and I would have Wednesday-Friday off. Kind of makes it difficult to plan a trip when you only share one day of vacation in the middle of the week. Or so we thought. What really happened is that the teachers of Laura's grade decided that they didn't want her to teach after the exams because all the classes would be discussing the tests and going over scores and whatnot. And my teachers decided they didn't want me to teach the 2 days before the tests because the students would need more time to prepare. So, we have the week off. We'll be leaving for Shanghai early Wednesday morning, and should arrive sometime mid-afternoon. After 4 nights of exploring, eating Western food, and most likely spending way too much money, we'll head back to Siyang.

We've tossed around the idea of having a party at our apartment for some of our colleagues, but we're not sure how beer pong and flip cup would go over with them...we'll see. The idea of just a party with drinking, not a dinner/drinking party is somewhat beyond most of the people in our town. There really is a rift between the social practices of the people in the modern, large, somewhat Westernized cities and those of the people in true small town China. We'll ask around and see what people think. If anything, I'm sure most people will want to come and see what our apartment looks like, and how the Americans do things. It could be quite the evening. We figure our apartment is great because it is so sparsely decorated that there is plenty of room for all sorts of people and activities.

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving in just over 2 weeks away. I will spend the next two weeks of English Corner talking to my students about the holiday and what sort of traditions people have. I also think we might make "hand turkeys" and do the whole "What are you Thankful for?" game. That will get all the students to talk and think of something on their own to share with everyone. It might get a little tough for me though. It's so hard to be away from family over holidays, especially when you're in a place where no one really knows anything about what the day is. Also, regardless of Thanksgiving, Chinese families are really close, and I'm sure most students will bring that up when they talk about what they are thankful for, so it will just be an additional reminder of what I miss. I'm sure it will be okay though, and I can pretty much promise I'll end up video chatting or skyping my family from here anyways. Besides, after Thanksgiving is Christmas!

I've never been away from my family on Christmas...I've been away from home, but I've always had my parents around whether it be in Spain, Wisconsin, Italy, etc. Laura and I have already decided to exchange gifts, and we even set a price limit because we want to budget our money so we can travel after the term. My sister has mentioned my "list" as has my mom...and I really can't think of much. I don't want things shipped here by chance they don't make it, and to minimize what I need to bring home. It's so pathetic but money is really what's on the list. I want to be able to travel and I hate worrying about money. It's not a big deal though, I think I just want to wait until I'm back and make a "Christmas list" then, because I'll have a better idea of what I actually need/want!

Anyways, I feel like such a blabbermouth on here. Welcome to the inside of my head, if you can manage to keep up at all, I congratulate you. I should probably think about packing for Shanghai, and planning all that we want to see; the Bund, the pearl TV tower, the museums, etc. It should be a great trip and I can promise I'll have lots of pictures and stories upon my return...