Holiday Time

My Thanksgiving lesson was a lot of fun and went over really well. The whole week my students surprised me and made me smile. 

I asked some students to share out loud what they were thankful for. One boy told me he is thankful for Bruce Lee because he is a good fighter.

But my favorite response:

Boy: I am thankful for government because......I have no reason. I just have to.

This one is: I'm thankful for my handsome face and clever brain.
They make me get good grades and beautiful girlfriend!
(So humble.)

After Thanksgiving I decided this month is going to be all about Christmas. Every lesson is Christmas themed.

We are making snowflakes in class this week, yay!

My Christmas tree this year :)

One teacher goes "why do you have Christmas decorations? It's not Christmas!" I tried to explain that we celebrate all month but she was not having it. 

"It's not Christmas. It's not Christmas. Christmas is December 25." she kept telling me.

I'm pretty sure this was going through her head about me haaaa

And Nancy said people come into our office and see my desk and don't get it, they don't think I'm doing Christmas right. 

Okay China, sure. Whatever you say.
I'm the one who is celebrating wrong...haaa

 I told her that I think I know how to celebrate Christmas. I am the foreign expert. I'm an expert at all things foreign. Christmas belongs in that category! And a true expert shares their knowledge!

my balcony is pimped out for Christmas

I'm like Buddy the Elf over here, spreading Christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear!

And then the rest of the teachers and my students are like:

Last week I had each class make a paper chain with vocab words on each link and we talked about all the fun things that happen in the winter. Like sledding, and snowmen! They really like the idea of sledding.

Good thing it freezing and snows here!!

Except for a few chilling days in the 40s, it's been in the 60s but everyone still dresses like its in the 20s. Sometimes I'm just wearing a sweater and I see everyone bundled up in parkas, I'm all:

Although truthfully, this thought comes to my mind almost every day here, haaaa

Now on to other things that have nothing to do with anything else:

Last weekend the mall down the road had a big event for it's first year anniversary of existence. And there was this guy just chilling in a cage:

And this week the classes had a basketball tournament which I had the best view of from my apartment:

And a few nights ago us Americans went out and met new friends, which we always do :) What is funny is that we actually don't like to hang out at the expat places, they are weird places. So we like to go to local small restaurants and bars, and we always end up having more fun with Chinese people!

This is a "You take a picture of me well I'm going to
take a picture of you then" picture.

I have a lot of fun in China, but I also see weird things. Like this for example. I've seen weirder combinations on a scooter actually:

Buckets of chicken feet at the supermarket:

 How I kinda sorta reacted the first week:

But now:

I'm still getting used to some things, but my Chinese has gotten better. I understand more than I can say, which is fine with me.

 Because I'm living by this motto now: