BlissLauraM

some more recent photos of my PK1 class, HOW ARE THEY THIS CUTE?!?!?!... read more

Here are some pictures from my lastest class!... read more

Here are some Brenna pictures!... read more

on this uncharacteristically sunny winter day I have seen children's smiling faces enjoying a bike ride or a ride in the back of the truck, turning their faces towards the light; usually their faces are frowning, bundled up and cold, it's amazing how fast children forget pain, cold, and hurt. While writing an email today I finally figured out what it is that is so bitterly frustrating and unsettling about not being able to communicate or understand the language of the place you live, it's the helplessness of knowing when you wake up every morning that finding the places you want to go, ordering food, every little thing you do every day in your native language at home is a struggle here and it's hard to cope. I can now empathize with ESL learners completely, and ... read more

Having a break from work has been really nice, we have visited temples and spent time with Tom's family who are visiting. We went to a Taoist temple and that religion is very bureaucratic, there is a heavenly 'department' of deities for everything and the is even a 'department' for signing the documents that approve things like rain and plagues! Today, we spent all day with Tom's family, we stayed up past midnight watching the new years TV special, eating and making jiaozi (dumplings). Fireworks are illegal in Beijing so apparently we have less fireworks than other cities, Tom said in Shenyang you can't see the sky because it's covered in fireworks! As Tom's older brother drank more and more he started speaking more and more broken English, it was too funny :) Since this year ... read more

Tom, his younger brother, his older brother, his sister in law, niece and I went to the great wall; we drove and ate snacks in the car and then we forge through the wind and cold, here are some pictures.... read more