Why Can’t I be Home?

Okay, don’t get me wrong, I am not homesick.  I just wish that I had the opportunity to be with everyone this thanksgiving.  I mean, Jason got married, Thanksgiving was at a stake center, what more could I have missed.  It is almost like people wait until I leave the country to do stuff like this… j/k.

 

Overall things in China are pretty stable.  Monday had class canceled in the morning, which let me tell you was a little bit of heaven.  8AM class is just wrong, regardless of where you live in the world.  I am going to have to make sure and never get a job that requires me to start traveling by 8 either.

On Tuesday the writing teacher read my paper on freedom out loud to the class.  I pretty much just used gospel principles, but I was so happy to see that I could clearly describe what I wanted to say in Chinese.  My writing is still probably on the level of a 14 year old, but that is much better then the 8 year old level it was on when I started this semester :)

 

English class was really fun.  I actually did some basic rapping with the kids.  If you want to see the videos you will have to look at my Facebook wall.  I can’t believe I posted them, but they are there for you to see.

The kids also did a lot better at hangman.  When they would make ridiculous guesses I would ask them questions about how the word was spelled, and have them compare it to the board, and then they would realize that it couldn’t be that word.  I also gave homework for the first time, hopefully it will help them get the numbers six, seven, and eight correct.

After English I got really bloated.  I was a little sick this week, nothing really bad, but just little things like that.  It really hurt a lot, but luckily I was able to go home at lunch.  The beauty of no more afternoon class on Wednesday, another day that is mostly free.  I had tutoring for four hours to make up for the lack of class, but oh well.

 

Thursday night was the second of the three thanksgivings I had. ( The first was the thanksgiving the ward did last Saturday.)  It was a get together of the flagship program.  No turkey this time, but still really good chicken and gravy.  I really enjoyed all of the food.  Even better was seeing everyone and enjoying the conversation.

The best part of the night was that I got to play Chinese chess again.  I didn’t remember the rules or real strategy, so I was worried that I was going to be crushed.  My opponent, who was Chinese, made several mistakes, and I was able to take advantage and beat her.  It made me feel really good.  I avoided a second game, so as to avoid having my ego smashed =p

 

Friday was the last of the thanksgiving dinners.  For it I wanted to go and do ice cream sundaes for dessert.  To get the stuff I needed to go to the “Metro”, a store much like a super Wal-Mart.  It has more western food items, so it was the best place to get the necessary stuff.  I was happy to find a really convenient bus route that takes me right there.  With how easy it is, I might just do it more often in the future.

Well anyways, when I got there I was surprised to see a beautiful pagoda on a nearby mountainside.  Before I entered Metro I walked around in the mall surrounding it, and was amazed to see they were restoring a old section of Nanjing.  It was really amazing.  Next time I go there I will be sure to bring my Camera and take some nicer pictures.

The mall itself was also really cool.  It is still new, so not everything is open, and there are not that many people.  But even then it was really cool.  Everything was really new looking, and the stores looked very fashionable.  Crystal would love it for sure :)

Well I bought everything and went to the dinner.  The dinner itself was really good.  It was 7 of us, 2 flagship couples, a flagship student with his girlfriend visiting form America, and me.  Smaller but really fun.  One of the people, Laura Miller, did an amazing dish with quite a few dishes.  Really, we have to thank her for how well the meal went.  It was amazing.

After dinner I stayed at the Miller/Shurilla residence and just hung out with everyone.  Good times.

 

With all the fun that was Friday, I used Saturday mostly to rest up.  It was a good day to sit back and unwind.  I was craving cheese and such so I had pizza for dinner.  I also went shopping at the near by Suguo, and I must say it is so nice now that I have found this nearer location.

 

Well, that was my weekend.  This will be a shorter entry, because like I said things were pretty normal.  I hope that everyone back home is having a wonderful time.  I hope that your thanksgiving was also wonderful.