No Excuses....

There's really no good reason I haven't written in over 10 days. I have more than enough free time on my hands, but perhaps I just tend to look over the things worth blogging about and feel that my life is pretty ho-hum here in China. As of 4:05p today, I can truthfully say that I am halfway done with my lessons at the primary school, which means that the end of my time in China is seriously approaching. Before I get ahead of myself though...

Last week was "Christmas". I know I mentioned something about having a holiday due to exams on the 23rd and 24th, but you can be sure that things changed, yet again, and I had lessons both days I expected off. It's alright though, my students were excited to see me, and it was good to stay busy. Christmas Eve we were invited to a party, so after English Corner, we met our apartment complex owner for a nice dinner, drinks, and some KTV/dancing. It wasn't exactly Christmas, but we had a good time, and there was a man with a super creepy Santa suit. Enough to put us in a good mood. After getting home, and a few drinks, Laura and I decided to have our Christmas. We exchanged gifts with each other, and had some from home to open as well. The majority of our gifts to each other were hilarious, based on some of the entertaining styles here in China. We followed one of my family traditions, in that you must put on any article of clothing that you received, and proceeded to play Christmas music in my room and dance around the apartment. It was a blast, and I think a blog entry strictly for photos and captions will be in order tomorrow. Anyways, it was an alright Christmas Eve, but we had some less than stellar things on our plate the following day.

My students had a "party" on Christmas Day, and they wanted me to perform. I convinced Laura to sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with me, and even though we weren't really up for it, we sang and made everyone happy. Then they told us that there would be 2 "parties" because not everyone could fit into the hall at one time. So, we had to go back, and do it all over again....luckily we sneaked out after the second time and didn't have to watch the same show over again. Afterward, some of the male teachers from my office and the school wanted to take us to dinner for Christmas, and we went along. They spent the majority of the dinner attempting to make us drink a ton, against our will, and trying to convince us to stay in China longer. We, however, always have been and continue to be able to out drink the people we work with, and by the end of the dinner, and on to KTV, the men were sufficiently drunk, and we were mildly buzzed, and a rather irritated. We tried to be good sports and sing some songs with them and everything, but it eventually got uncomfortable, and we bailed. I'm somewhat embarrassed for them because in a country where maintaining face is such a huge deal, they all really made fools of themselves, and guess what?? Laura and I are still going home at the end of the term.

Speaking of going home, WE BOUGHT TICKETS! So, that makes it official. I will not be a China Girl forever, not that I ever thought I would be, but whatever.

This weekend we were roped into singing in a another show with some girls from Laura's grade. They made us sing a song that we didn't know, and even had us singing alone for part of it. It was a huge hassle, and we spent like 6 hours in a freezing auditorium only to have one run through and then a performance totaling about 7 minutes of action. It was frustrating, and by the end of the night I was about ready to leave China the next day. But, alas, I had classes bright and early Sunday morning. Because the exams were moved to Monday and Tuesday of this week, and the students missed classes for the show on Friday, we all had to make up lessons at the weekend. FUN! Anyways, that does mean that I have a day off tomorrow, and we are heading to Nanjing for New Years. So this will be a short week!

As I said before, I'll try to get a bunch of pictures up from the last week or two, especially Christmas, and probably have a few more updates from things I forgot during this go 'round. I'm going to do my best to record my last weeks here, just so everyone (if anyone even reads this...) is on track with my plans and my arrival home!!! I miss everyone so much and now that I have an official end date, I'm getting more antsy than ever!!!! Soon...soon, but not soon enough :)