Thursday, October 23, 2008

二百十三元五

Today for lunch I had Zack, Elizabeth, and a new friend Lisa over. I made homemade maple syrup, and it was delicious! Who knew you could get so creative in this country? French toast has never tasted better!

I mailed in my absentee ballot yesterday, and it cost er bai shi san kuai wu (about $30) to mail that and a few postcards. For that much my vote better be the deciding vote! I expect a personal letter of gratitude when he becomes the next president. I'm only halfway kidding.

I always complain about how my students whisper the answers when I ask them a question, and I can never hear them. It can be really frustrating when I know they know the answer but no one will speak up. I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall instead of human beings. Well I will never complain about that again. Last week a student of mine decided to shout everything he said at the top of his lungs. I asked them to read some sentences out loud, and I could not control my laughter as he yelled out his answers the whole class period. I'm still not sure what came over him, but it was definitely my favorite class period.

Rumor has it I have no classes tomorrow because of a school-wide sporting event. That would be delightful considering I have 4 classes on Fridays, provided they don't make me make them up later...which is what will probably happen. I'm not counting my chickens until it's official though. Just because a student tells me we won't have class does not necessarily mean the administration agrees. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

"You've got mail"
Not just a great movie, but also three of the most joy-filled words I've ever heard. Last week I called Zack to see what they were doing for dinner, and he told me that my absentee ballot had arrived, along with a box. Since my mom has already sent me a box, I certainly wasn't expecting another one and I couldn't figure out who had sent it. When I got to his apartment I couldn't wait to tear into it, and found candles, popcorn, germ-x, granola bars, Reeses Pieces, Fair Trade Coffee!! ...and so many wonderful things, but maybe my favorite part...BOOKS! Not just any books but classics, like the Fellowship of the Ring, Kidnapped, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and several others. What a wonderful world we live in. I'm so grateful.

As I type someone is setting off fireworks, literally right under my window. I'm not talking about Black Cats, I'm talking about the giant, spidery ones that just set off about fifty car alarms. I feel like my apartment is going to fall down. I am wondering what the occasion is tonight. Perhaps it's in celebration of the dozen stars that dared to show their light tonight. It was the first time I've seen stars in China, and although they are few and far between, it warms me to see their light. Maybe someone else felt just as happy about it and decided to add more lights to the sky.

"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history."
-Gandhi

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fun stuff! If you have the day off, I hope it's a good one. Glad also to know that you have better friends than I who has yet to get a package together to send you. Sorry bout that. I hope you're feeling great today!

sevens said...

I haven't talked to you in ages. if you truly had the day off... i'm quite upset that you didn't get on skype for 3 seconds.