Christmas 2010

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Merry Christmas - these are a few pictures of our Christmas season. When I look at them, it is no wonder that we feel like we never have any relax time! But so much fun. We have loved keeping in touch with so many friends and family over the holiday season. Hearing news and seeing pictures of babies, birthdays, and homecooked Christmas dinners makes us feel like we are not so far away.

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Photos

Golden Imperial
Our friend, Fairy, invited us to the opening of a 'western' restaurant in the executive suite of the Golden Imperial hotel. They had also hired a western chef and to advertise the restuarant, the local television station was doing a special. They needed westerners for the night, so because Fairy knows the people, she invited us to a great 4 course steak dinner. We are here with Peter and Dianne, our colleagues, apartment neighbors and kind of relatives. They are the reason that we are here, so we are grateful to them for many reasons.

Sino - Ocean party
The following night, we were at an ex-pat event at a beautiful upscale condo development. It was a family Christmas event, so along with a nativity pagent, there was carol singing, Santa brought presents for all the kids. Free food and drink was an added bonus. This is our friend, Fairy again. She sponsors a lot of charity events which benefited from the money raised by an auction that night.

Red Shoes
We were supposed to dress in something christmas-y. So I had to show my Christmas colours with my red shoes!

Maple Leaf Staff party
The following weekend was the school staff party at the same Golden Imperial Hotel. A good turnout, with a turkey dinner cooked by our chef friend, Eddie. This is Rick with Peter and Thomas, who worked here last year. He and his wife moved to a school near Beijing, so we moved into their apartment - a step up from last year!

Christmas Elf
Jim and Carrie have become good friends this year. We play cards with them and share some good times. Julia on the left is the librarian at the girls campus. She is the one that I sang with last year in the New Year's Gala. Rick is keeping up the tradition this year, but singing solo.

ESL staff
These are a few of the women we work with in the ESL department, Lynn, Julie (front) and Caroline (with her son) work on the boys, while Jaclyn works with Rick on the girls.

My office mates
Lucy, me, Lindy and Stacey - we share an office. They are so sweet and because they are fluent in English, help me with my poor Mandarin.

The Men
These are some of the men that work in the ESL dept. Kevin, Cedar and Dennis. So friendly and helpful.

New Years Gala
Well, actually the auditions for the New Year's Gala. Despite mikes not working and having to sing acapella (sp??) he got voted on to the big finale this week. There will be 18 performances by groups from ours and other schools in the system. At the finale dress rehearsal the mikes worked, but the curtain didn't. Hopefullly everything comes together in the end!

Kempinsksi Hotel
This is the beautiful hotel where we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. There were 12 of us from school who checked in here, so it was a lot of fun. The only not-so-fun thing was that upon check-in, we realized that we didn't have our passports, an essential for hotels stays anywhere here. So poor Rick had to spend 3 hours by train and taxi to go back home to get them. Gail had the tough job of waiting in the executive lounge with free drinks and food, waiting for his return.

He's Back!
We were so happy that Rick made it back with our passports so we could enjoy the lounge with us/

Christmas Eve mass
We took taxis to church that night - the Catholic church was holding masses in both Chinese and Korean. It was so crowded that people were standing outside, but in typical Chinese fashion, the foreigners were led inside through the crowd, so although we were standing, we saw the service. So many people attending and the fact that there were so many men was also a surprise. The choir was wonderful and we really enjoyed the recessional - Jingle Bells!

Christmas morning
Note Rick's nice hockey cardigan (no, not a present but a symbol of being a true Dragon!). They are heading for another hockey tournament over the New Year's weekend. A bit closer than the last one (42 hours to get there and back by train and bus, with 18 hours there- that's a dedicated crew!) - this one is only 4 hours away. It is now cold enough for pond hockey so they can even practice now!

Christmas Dinner
We had booked this restaurant ahead because we know the fellow that owns it (Eddy), and he specializes in feeding ex-pats. The turkey really hit the spot. After dinner, Rick and I headed back to Jinshitan while the rest stayed one more night. Rick had to get back for the Gala dress rehearsal. It was a real treat for me to spend boxing day in my p.j.'s and not go out of the apartment all day. Although it was only a weekend, it felt like Christmas.

Comments

[Donna and Pat Brennan]

Greetings from Canada
Hi Rick and Gail, We both enjoyed your entries of Dec. 28 and 29. What adventures you're having!! The guy in the Maple Leaf Staff Party pic looks just like Santa and from the other pictures, it looks like you were able to enjoy Christmas in style! Gail - I love your red heels! Your blog allows us to follow your adventures and get a big helping of history with a personal "Berry" touch. Gail, this fall the book club read "Sarah's Key", "Pope Joan", and "The Thirteenth Tale" - high ratings for all 3 and good discussions too. January brings us "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" which I"m already half finished. I plan on reading the complete trilogy by Stieg Larson. Your name always comes up at our meetings - we really should arrange a skype visit of some kind?? We spent Christmas in Mexico - all 19 of my family from my mom and dad to my youngest niece - it was a great time and we made many wonderful memories. Please keep us updated via your blog - I always look forward to seeing your entry appear in my hotmail. Take care. Happy New Year! Pat and Donna Brennan

[Karen Zaitsoff]

Happy New Year!!
Happy New Year Rick & Gail. Hope you are having a great yr. Thanks so sharing so much news and some great pictures. Sounds like you two are keeping very busy. I think you might be on your Christmas break now, right!! We had a good 2 wk. break with the kids being home and away from work. Things are going pretty good---staying busy like everyone. We are off to Mexico next month for 20 days. We are getting very excited for that. The break away will be very good. The weather is suppose to get very cold this wk. so I hope it doesn't stay too long. I hate the cold but like the snow. Anyway, you take care and nice to hear from you and hope you are doing well. Hugs, The Zaitsoffs