Easter!, among other things...

Here is the highlights from the last two weeks, enjoy!

hmmm...let's see...

Well, at XIS we had our first PTA meeting. It was almost just like it would be in the states, but much smaller. It was kinda weird because it felt really familiar, being at school at night, and waiting for parents to ask questions that you were not sure you would be able to answer...yep it made me a little nervous...We have a lot of new things happening at school, and this was the best way to inform them. In the summer we will be moving the school to a new building. This is an exciting change, but we still have a long way to go. Carrie B and Zach will be having their baby at the end of June, so they will be leaving for Beijing about two weeks before school is out. This means that someone will have to fill in as principal for those two weeks...yep you guessed it...I will be filling in for Zach and Carrie as far as administrative stuff is concerned. They decided that since I do have some experience from the states that I could probably take care of talking to parents, and making sure things go smoothly...I am not sure that I have that much confidence in myself, but I will do my best.
Other news about school...I have been helping the high schoolers with many activities lately...I edit/oversee the newspaper, we are currently working on a Yearbook (the first ever at XIS), and also this thing called Spirit Week...Spirit Week will be like a Homecoming week in the states. There will be themes for each day, and lots of fun activities! These are not things I would have ever been in charge of in the states, but I am excited to be a part of what the students want to do for XIS.

English Corner- The english corner that i help with has been one of my favorite things about being in china. I get to talk to college students, and they ask me questions. It is really awesome most of the time, and I wish I could go more than every other week. This time the boys and girls got to go at the same time, that was super awesome because the more people we have speaking english, the fewer people in each group. Fewer people makes the interaction much easier. I also officially accepted a chinese name. I had been considering this one for a couple of weeks, but I finally decided to just go with it. I might add to it eventually but for now it will stay as it is. So my chinese name is...Gao Rui (Gao-sounds like how, and Rui-sounds like ray). When a chinese person says it, it sounds similar to my name-Cari. Translated it means Gao-tall, Rui-sharp, and though I would love to be tall and sharp, when you put them together it means Highly Intelligent. I love that that is what it means, but it would have been nice if beautiful were in there somewhere. I know I am beautiful, I don't need to be told that, though it is nice for that to happen occasionally, and don't get me wrong I know that I am smart, and I am glad that I am talented in that way, but it would have been super awesome if someone had thought beautiful before smart...I know, now I have depressed you in a time that should have been exciting, so....Hooray! I have an awesome chinese name. I really do like it, I promise! This is what it looks like in Chinese! I think it looks cute...

高锐

Cherry Blossoms! Last weekend we went to Jiao Tong University. Apparently it is one of the Best in all of China...The campus there is really nice, and there are lots of trees in bloom there at this time of year. The Cherry Blossoms were amazingly beautiful.There was also this thing called a Cosplay...I had never heard of this before, but it does happen in america. Here and in all of Asia, anime stories and art are really popular. So at many college campuses, a group of students get together and reinact a story. They take this very seriously. Their costumes, make-up, and hair are exactly like the character they are portraying. It was intense to say the least and very interesting! It is definitly a big part of asian culture for the college age crowd....This is something I know very little about probably because doesn't have a huge following in Alabama, and most would consider things like this kind of wierd. I don't know...I think it is a little weird but kind of cool at the same time. I think being passionate enough to dressup on the weekend and act out a story after you have made a really ellaborate costume, and been studying all week takes a certain drive, and for that I give them kudos!

She's got a ticket to ride- Recently Christina, a fellow teacher at XIS, borrowed a game from a friend. The name of the game- TICKET TO RIDE...It is similar to other games that I have played, but I definitely like it better than the others. The game board is a map of Europe with train routes between large cities. You collect cards so that you can put trains on the board to create paths from city to city...At the beginning of the game you are given a really long route that you must complete, and some smaller ones that you can choose from. It is super fun...I will definitly purchase it! There is an American version too, but I have heard that it is a bit harder to play, or something...anyway I really like it.

Fun Downtown! We tend to go downtown on a regular basis because it is just an awesome place to be. Yesterday we went with our chinese friends just to hang out for a while. We went to an arcade, and played lots of fun games, but I definitely had a different experience than usual. We were playing a game that Brad and I had played before... I was standing next to Ty, and this girl walked up and took his drumsticks from him...she was intoxicated to put it mildly. I continued to play while Ty was trying to figure out what was going on...it was super weird. She was trying to talk to him, or tell him something...I don't know what, and then she became focused on what I was doing...like I said I was watching this using my peripheral vision, but I was still playing. So she decided she wanted to play on my drum, so she did that for a minute, and then the game was at a stopping point so I turned my head to look at her to see if I could help the situation. Shortly after I turned my head I saw a finger coming at my nose...now at the time I had no idea what she was doing...she wanted to touch my nose ring...that was a little scary and a lot weird, but I knew that it was the alcohol doing all of this so no big deal...I don't have a problem with touching as long as it is not inappropriate. and this wasn't it was just weird. Any way so then things got a little more serious...She proceeded to put her arm around my neck and tried to kiss me. I am going to hope that she was aiming for my cheek, but I am not sure that that was her goal...Even though this was a little funny, it broke my heart. She probably won't even remember what she did. Those hours of her life will be lost forever. She is why I am here.

Easter!-Holidays are weird in China mostly because it just doesn't feel like it. It didn't feel like Thanksgiving, Christmas did kinda feel like Christmas, but Easter didn't feel like Easter...The norm for my Typical Easter is as follows: 1. A new easter dress/outfit. 2. Easter Basket from the Easter Bunny. 3. Learning new music for Easter at church. 4. Going to church with the fam on Easter. 5. Going to gmom's and gdaddy's for lunch on Easter with the whole family. This year none of those happened for me. It wasn't super sad until just now...I do miss being with my family for things like this, because that is the way it has always been. But things change. I did have a great Easter day though, it was just different. In case you were wondering, Jesus is alive, all over the world!

Pictures!

much love from china!