The last couple of weeks have been loaded with work, fun & fun work :)

Angela & I were extremely busy working on all the details of the Grade 12 Christmas Party that was held on Sunday, Dec. 17th. We spent a lot of lunches, evenings & weekends supervising students as they made snowflakes, constructed their snowman and decorated the teacher cafeteria. We also went shopping five weekends in a row for items they needed, like ornaments, balloons, scarves, tape, paper, paints, even toilet paper!



The party was so wonderful! The cafeteria looked amazing, but we were so impressed with the students as they arrived. They looked so gorgeous all dressed up. And the best part was they got to be kids for the night, dancing and singing, no uniforms, all smiles and no stress :>



The cleanup was quick, and the administration asked us to leave most of the decorations up for the next few weeks. But I was still in there the next morning with my handy Canadian vacuum to clean up all the fake snow :) The cafeteria staff was impressed that I showed up to do that...I guess they figured we would just trash the place and leave. I've given myself my own nickname: Lil' Miss OCD ...I love to clean around the office! But Mike will tell you...I won't even pick up my dirty socks at home! At home, I'm Lil' Miss Lazy, lol!

On Tuesday night after school, Mike & I went to a Grade 10 cooking competition. Mike was happy because after the judges tried the dishes the audience got to sample...although there was one dish that was blackened on the first try, then somewhat burnt for the final try. It was made with three different kinds of eggs (Mike said one was really, really salty and a strange shade of blue-green).

Wednesday night, we went to see some dramas in Chinese, put on by the students in the Lecture Theatre. One was "The Merchant of Venice", another was "Twelfth Night", and the third was from a movie about the last emperor of China. They were obviously hard for me to understand (my Chinese is still um, pretty basic, lol), but the students made them entertaining to watch. I'm just happy they didn't ask me to judge :)

And last night, Thursday, phew! More busy stuff! About ten of us crazy Canadian teachers went caroling around the school around suppertime. We visited the students in the library, the Korean cafeteria, the staff cafeteria, the Chinese cafeteria, the taxi drivers and guards at the gate, then across the street to all the restaurants and stores :> Our song list was popular...Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls Fa la lalalalalalalala, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas, except at the staff cafeteria...they all thought we were nuts!

Anyway, tonight everyone is going in to the Goose & Duck for some festive spirits (lol!), then a day of rest tomorrow because on Sunday four of us are going skiing! wheeeee! snow! Monday is Christmas and a day off, then back to work on Tuesday and practice for our Christmas performance on Wednesday. Hmmm, I think we've been busy, lol!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas together with your special people :) You are always not far from my thoughts and heart. I love you, miss you and I'm excited to be seeing you all in January when we're home.

love & smiles,

Kirsten xo

I promised yesterday that I would post pictures of my students' handywork, but they um...forgot to show up, grrr. I sat in the office for about four hours waiting for them to call my cell before I gave up, lol...it's actually a funny story...

I was sitting at my desk, working on little office jobs, and I just got that urge to go under my desk again (that habit I started last year of sleeping under my desk)...so I got myself a pillow, blanket, my plug-in heating pad...and took my laptop down too :) So I laid under my desk for an hour on the internet just goofing off. Then I got tired and fell alseep...for an hour and a half :)

The cleaning lady from our office who was on duty, LI Xiao Rong, thought I had gone home, so she turned off all the lights and was reading at her seat...when I woke up, I moved my chair out of the way...heard LI make a curious sound. Then I crawled out from under my desk and scared the ever-living-crud out of her. I've never seen a person jump so high! Aw, I felt so bad! She had a good laugh over it later, but I think at the time she nearly peed herself...oops!

Anyway, back to the title of this post...News from NB! When I was living there, nothing happened. Now? Stuff! :

- my mom fell and broke her leg for the 3rd time! She's in a cast until Jan.9th (maybe). She has the worst luck with that leg :S

- a friend (who will remain nameless until he gets confirmation on the info from the doctor) might be having a baby with his girlfriend! I'm so thrilled for them :>

- a fire went through our old apartment complex, Carleton Towers, and left many people with no homes and tons of damage to the building. Everyone is safe, but wow, scary :S

News from Abroad (from me in China):

- work has reached the most stressful level ever, arggghhhh! I'm down to 114 lbs.

- Mike & I went to an Indian restaurant with a bunch of other people from our school and the Canadian International School on Friday night, vegetable curry, yum! It felt so nice to be out, and, for a few hours, forget about work stuff :) ...and on the way there, our taxi drove us through the Forbidden City, lol! Yes, there is a street that cuts through it...it was so beautifully lit at night, I felt like I was in another time :)

- last night, a bunch of us decorated the Canadian Club on our campus. We set up the tree, and put silly Christmas items all over the place. When it was all finished, we sat on the super-fine-tacky orange couches and they all looked like such a sad crew. You could tell from everyone's faces that it was painful to be decorating a tree here instead of home in Canada. Jennifer continued her countdown...219 days until she goes home. She's going to drive me nuts :S

Upcoming events around Christmas & New Year's:

- Mike & I will be going downhill skiing (at a fake indoor place, but still! skiing! snow!)

- I'll be seeing "Swan Lake" performed by the Russian Ballet at the Great Hall of the People

- countless dinners & parties for the school staff & Canadian staff, and performing "Twelve Days of Christmas" & "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" (Christmas karaoke in China is an adventure!)

Cross your fingers that Blogger keeps working for me, love ya

Kirsten

Frustration! That is what I've been feeling, lol! Blogger hasn't been working for me...every time I would open the page, my browser would close. Today, I have finally gotten through :)

I have to bike to Tongzhou for some groceries, then get to the office to supervise some students...and yes, it is Saturday, I know...but I promised a group of students that I would be in the office. They're constructing an enormous snowman for the Christmas Cabaret Dance we're having for them...they're amazing & talented as always :)

I'll try to get online later with pictures of their handywork, promise. If I get bounced from Blogger, just check my Flickr photos :)

Miss you all, and I have so many stories to tell. My life is getting completely bizarre!

love Kirsten :)