Changsha Hiyi International Hotel

... felt a little sick when i had to watch some girls puking.. blahh

Last week one of the students from a lower classed stopped by our house and told us she wanted to take us somewhere. We asked her where and she said- wo bu ji dao (i dont know in chinese) .. she couldnt speak any english! i was a little reluctant, but we went with her and 3 other girls who spoke no english. They took us on their motor bikes for a long ride out of Xintian to some other small farm town ...

... can go skating around the square, which is very fun for them. I, however, have to large of feet and cannot fit into skates! (sad) I dressed as a scary jackolantern painting my face black and crazy, and Kori dressed as a cat. It was alot of fun, and we taught all our students the 'trick-or-treat' song. We handed out ALOT of candy too. That night when we went home two of my students who practice art/drawing asked to do our portraits. They ...

... If you can't guess what that means then forget about it. So, i have taken some very beautiful head shots of the guys that did it. Roman and Pat are missing. Roman wasn't there until later and Pat was being difficult. Thanks for rounding up the other guys, Luke!!

Besides drinking and staying up all night, there is nothing much to report. See for yourself....

... ruoka 3krt päivässä. Yksityiset koulut puolestaan maksavat hyvin ja luokkakoot ovat pienet. Olemme törmänneet useisiin länsimaalaisiin, jotka ovat täällä töissä jonkin aikaa opettajina.

Oppilaita kävi vähän sääliksi. Heräsimme joka aamu mahtipontisen (mutta innostavan?) musiikin ääneen, jonka tahdissa opiskelijat jumppasivat. Kilpailu tulevista koulutuspaikoista on kovaa, jonka vuoksi oppilailla ...

... game tomorrow. She is an English major, a senior and very talented.

I was able to watch Zhong Bin and Le Tian, today. They are both non- English major juniors and they are very bright.

Le Tian got second prize with 8 other students and Zhong Bin got third prize with 10 other students. This was out of 60 non-English major ...

I have finally returned from a well needed break. The last nine days, I have been in Changsha and Shanghai. I went to Changsha for two nights and then Shanghai for seven. It has been a good adventure.

I went to Changsha to celebrate National Day with all of my fellow teachers. It was a huge day for the PRC and Changsha was wild.

Besides partying with everyone, not much was done.

Here are the few pictures from the nights in Changsha.

This morning I woke up at 7am to try and watch my Gators play against Charleston Southern, but unfortunately for the first time my internet was down until 10am. I was only able to watch the last minute of the game. Also I had no running water until 12 b/c they are doing construction on the new gym and shut the ...

Last night was a great night, Michaela one of the world teach volunteers organized a potluck dinner and it was a huge hit. There were about 25 people that show up. I made penne pasta in vodka cream tomato sauce with pork meatballs. Everyone raved over how great my dish was but I'm not sure if ...

... the main ethnic group of this area and have a very distinct culture. The temple thing itself was very beautiful even if everything in it and around it did have a suspicious modern sheen. We gave incense to King Pan which was a bit embarrasing! Though we did get to hit a big drum in the corner. Im not sure what the significance was! There were also loads of chickens running around with bits of material attached to their legs. We didn't quite get the significance of that either ...

... This was followed by a girl who performed a traditional Chinese dance, then two women who stood up and gave lengthy testimonials about how Mary Kay dramatically changed their lives. The tears and Kleenex were in abundance. I don't know much about what was said, but the essence seemed to be that Mary Kay is some sort of sisterhood that empowers women to become financially independent-no longer do they have to marry a rich husband to get by. Not a word was spoken about the products ...