I hope everyone is ready for 2012 to come to an end. All those back in the states, you have a little more time than Ryan have in 2012. I guess we will make it up in 2013.
Ryan and I have always been pretty flexible but since moving to China we have become about as flexible as two can be. We have been told for weeks that there would be a New Years Eve party where all the teachers in the branch would perform in a show like a talent show and go to some hot springs. Ryan and I have been working on learning a Chinese song for just over a month. For the last week, pretty much every waking moment I have been practicing to make sure I had all my lines memorized. Memorizing a Chinese song is one of the hardest things I have ever done. So anyway, we were told on Friday that we would be going on an overnight trip and to make sure we brought our bathing suits.
So Saturday morning comes and Ryan and I pack for our trip. One night away so I pack my small backpack and a small suitcase (the size you can take on an airplane without having to check it). I tried really hard to pack light. The only thing extra I took that I wouldn't have included on a trip in the states was extra tissues. You just never know if there will be toilet paper. We have stayed in nice hotels that didn't have toilet paper. I'm not complaining though, as long as there is a western toilet I'm happy. We were called by one of the teachers that it was time to meet so we walked down to the teachers office to meet the teachers. They were astonished by the amount of luggage we had. Like I said, I thought I packed light. Ryan packed about twice as much as any of the other teachers. And I think I packed about 10 times as much as the average teacher. I think when they told us to bring our bathing, they meant, just our bathing suit.
Next we were off. We traveled about an hour by bus to have lunch. Here are some pictures of a typical meal out at the restaurant:
After lunch, time for the talent show. The talent show lasted about 2 hours. Ryan and I preformed a play with the English teachers. They taught us some Chinese words and everyone had some instruments. I'm not sure what it was about but something went wrong and we got messed up. Not sure if it was me or what happened but the first half was pretty funny because the audience was laughing. After a couple more performances Ryan and I were up. Hopefully they will give us a copy of the video to post. I think it went pretty well. I don't think I'll be on American Idol when I get back though. They also gave away prizes. It was like the price is right. People got so excited. Everyone got a number and they called numbers for the winners. I won but I was a bit delayed because 161 sounds a bit different in Chinese. I can count to ten so 161 is a bit advanced for me. I got a very nice tea set. Not sure if it will make it back to the states, it's big and breakable.
After all the performance, we off to the hot springs. Ryan and I changed into our swim suits, then one of the teachers came to get us and she was dressed in her winter clothes. Oops we needed to walk outside to get to the hot springs. I think the high was somewhere between 0 and 5 degrees yesterday so we had to put on more clothes. We got to the hot springs place, had some confusion about a shoe check-in (I checked my shoes in like you do when you go bowling) because they wouldn't let me where the flipflops I brought. The hot springs were pretty amazing. There was a giant room with about a dozen hot tubs. It was decorated like the tropics. There was also a hot tub outside. It was so hot, Ryan and I had to stand up with our upper body out of the water in the freezing temps so we wouldn't get too hot.
The other English teachers told me I could shower in the locker room so Ryan and I left a bit before everyone else so I didn't have to try to explain that I am modest and preferred to shower at the hotel. There was a bit of a mix up at the shoe check in. They got my shoes mixed up with one of the other teachers. I got to go back in the shoe room. It's a bit difficult to explain what my shoes looked like. After getting my boots back, we walked back to the hotel. It was just across the parking lot and I was burning up from the hot tub, I walked back in my flip flops. I knew I brought them for a reason.
Then off to dinner. After dinner, we were invited to sit with the administrators. This is a picture of Ryan with our principal.
We made it back to our apartment by mid-morning. Ryan went to go get a hair cut and I got to try out our hot plate now that we learned how to use it. We had to ask the English teachers and found out it only heats up when you have a pot on it. Safety first! We had tried and tried and all we needed to do was put the pot on the burner. We usually go out to eat on the weekends but it has gotten so cold that it's not really worth a walk. After making dumplings for lunch we had peanut butter sandwiches for dinner.
Tomorrow is New Years Eve and we are off to the city for a party tomorrow night.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year.
Julie
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