Last night were gambled! LOL, seriously, we were invited, the whole teaching staff, to a wonderful evening, hosted by our CHinese friends, to celebrate the autumn and the full moon. We ate a type of cake called a moon cake, a nice combination of nuts, seeds, and sweets, had a feast at which the food just kept on coming, and drank many, many toasts with Chinese beer (which is really good!). After eating and eating and toasting and toasting, it was time to bring on the gambling! Using a large red ceramic bowl, we tossed, in turn, a number of dice, of which the magic combination was 4 fours. Andy explained how this was significant, but honestly, in all the excitement, his explanation was lost on me! What we did enjoy, though, was taking turns passing ... read more

Today, felt like a normal day! Hallelujah! LMAO! The big yellow ball, I think it's called the sun, well, we haven't seen it in so long I've forgotten, shone, and we had a staff meeting and got our assignments. I am teaching 2 English classes, a dramam and a music. Cool. AND I get 3 days in a row off--Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and I work Thursday-Sunday. I like it. Rich and Diane, 2 teachers who are here for 10 months, and hail from Cambell River, on Vancouver Isand, BC, took Joyce and I on an adventure this afternoon. After having lunch together as a large group at Dad's Kitchen, we hopped on a bus and Rich, the human GPS, as Diane likes to call him, took us to the fabric market where we saw the most ... read more

Today, at a nice downtown bookstore, I bought myself a small coffee press, some ground coffee beans and I am hoping to make myself a real cup of coffee tonight, if my stomach settles a bit. I am back at the apartment, after having gone to meet some of our new students at the school early this morning. I am thinking working conditions at home are not so bad right now! LOL The air conditioning in the whole office tower where our school is located is off today. Inside our classrooms it was 27 degrees and I am unsure what the relative humidity is, though it has to be at least 80%, so it felt much, much, hotter to me. We did manage to get the classroom cooled down to 25 degrees, but I gotta say, ... read more

The sun has made an appearance! Hallelujah! You can't see it, but trust me, I AM doing a happy dance! LOL Also, it helps that I just spent 45 minutes skyping with Aiden and Harley and have an update on with what they have been up to. I am lying on my bed, so happy to have internet here in the apartment now, and thinking about how it is so interesting that I have the temperature on my room air conditioning set to 25 degrees celsius and am feeling that this is cool. !!! Did you just fall over? Oh, sorry. LOL, Yes, this is me...what a shocker, eh? Yup, this feels cool. I actually sleep with it about 23 Celsius and stay under my quilt all night long feeling good. No, really! I can hardly ... read more

The rain is steady this morning, and at times, absolutely pouring onto the streets. When I rose, very early this morning, after having crashed heavily and slept for 9 straight hours, one of the first sounds that greeted me was that of someone's car alarm! LOL There were several that blasted into the early morning. That and the rain, and me at my computer, trying to straighten out the mess the upload made of the pictures.....lol, oh well. What else have I got to do? I gotta say, I am so hungry, and there's not a pizza joint in sight, or even a McDonalds. OMG, I would even eat there. I was a bit afraid to go wandering in the dark last night, and so tired I opted for blogging and bed. And I may go ... read more