On The Downhill!

We have hit and passed the half way point of this exciting China adventure. 


Are we happy, sad, or anxious about it? 


Umm... all of the above. 


We love the opportunity that this has been to just be together -- ALL the time. We won't ever get a chance like this again. Except maybe one day when we are serving as senior missionaries but lets face it, that's a long ways away! Our ability to pack up on the weekends and go explore different parts of the country has been amazing, with everything we need right on our backs!  To see this chunk of time end with the start of law school in the fall will be depressing. I'm positive we will spend many moments longing for our days in China. 


I am anxious simply because I feel like "home" (being the U.S.) can't come fast enough. Don't get me wrong, I am happy here and LOVE that we came (though I don't always admit that to Joey, particularly when eating a gross, oily bout of school food), but I am so excited to see our families again. We miss them all very much!!!!! 


I've been feeling super grateful throughout this grand adventure for many reasons but this past weekend my gratitude was overflowing. Joey and I packed up and headed for Suzhou to see our "China Family". I had spent that week being extremely homesick knowing all of the awesome things going on back home (brother home from his mission AND a new niece being born!!), so a getaway to our "China Family" was a must! We spent an excellent weekend with them, baking, relaxing, shopping, eating, church, and more! We loved every minute of it!! I am so thankful we've been able to visit and connect with them!


On Saturday we headed to the tailor to get Joey fitted for a custom suit! He ordered a full suit (jacket and pants), an extra pair of pants, and a custom shirt for 1000RMB (about $165 U.S.). Gotta stock up on all of his "lawyer-ish" clothes while we can! We are super excited to return in a couple weeks and pick up the final product! 

Getting fit for a fancy new suit!

Look familiar? Tastes just like in the U.S, a rare find!

That night, we enjoyed mexican food for our first time since arriving here!! Bekki made refried beans, cafe rio dressing, AND homemade salsa (divine!). It tasted amazing and was the perfect meal to celebrate our half way point!! Joe and I picnic'd out on the back porch with a beautiful view! 


That evening she spoiled us even more with homemade hot fudge for our ice cream. How could we not love her?! 

Enjoying our Mexican feast on the patio in beautiful weather! Wish I could relive it!

Tons of "boat floats" for a water parade in Suzhou

All lit up!

Church on Sunday was perfect, as always. I am so, so, so grateful for the church here and all of the members we get to associate with! 

Back to the grind on Monday to our regular teaching schedule, which I promise I will post about soon, including our living arrangements -- all of which is long overdue! But here are some cute pics of our kids to tie you over until that future post.

Susan and Sammy

Jane

Steven

My last 2nd grade class of the day, Nina, Sherry, Stella, and Anda

Charli & Cindy

Mosquitos were swarming in my classroom so I decided to have my 4th grade class outside. The kids love the snails! They kept saying, "Don't tell the Chinese teacher!" They wanted to take them back to their own beds as pets!

Jenny and her pet snail 

My brother, JT, was giving his "homecoming" talk in church on Sunday and we just couldn't miss it so what did we do? The alarm went off at 3:30 am Monday so Joey's sister could skype us while at JT's talk at 12:30pm on Sunday! Technology these days is simply amazing! JT gave an excellent talk, and I am so very happy we didn't miss it! :) 

Thank goodness for skype & ipads!

Monday night the school took us out for massages. Let's just say people in China drive like a bunch of crazies, and on our way to the massages our bus driver definitely hit someone riding on a bike. It was frustrating to sit and watch the bus drivers response and surrounding Chinese people as this girl laid in the street. They man-handled her to the sidewalk as she clenched her side and wailed. A whole 20 minutes later, the ambulance showed up. All the while, there are people walking up to our bus taking pictures of us since we were a slew of Americans in the middle of an accident scene. They took the girl to the hospital but I hear she is okay, thank goodness. As for our bus, well it has the scratch to prove the collision. We thought maybe they'd skip the massages since it was all a bit traumatic, but nope. Even with the drama that had occurred, we all thoroughly enjoyed our feet, leg, and shoulder massages we received while eating noodles and watching chinese television :) It was heavenly!! 


Last night we were surprised (and rejoicing!) to hear we wouldn't have to teach today! Instead we were told we were going to be judging something in the morning. They don't really deal with "specifics" here so we had no idea what to expect. We walk out this morning to the "playground" (which is actually just a running track!) to see the kids participating in a track and field day!! Remember doing those in elementary school? I lived for that one day of the year that included track for half the day and water activities the other half! I was so stinkin excited to see these kids running around having fun! They ran every race from the 60m dash to the 800m. It was a long but super fun day!!! Some of those kids can RUN which I was super impressed by. Not to mention, their form is phenomenal! It was a perfectly sunny, clear day and it felt superb to be soaking up some rays! Unfortunately we both got fried. Ouch!

Speedy Gonzalez -- too bad I can't remember her name!

Nate ready to run the 400m in his long-john bottoms!

Jenny on the left and Claire on the right -- 2nd grade.

Harry, the adorable!

Focused Eric. Compare the boy on the right (Mars) with the picture below.

Same face and "in the air" pose on both pictures! He was awesome.

This is Susan, she's in 2nd grade

The bluest sky we've seen in nearly 3 months!

Check out that sprinter form!

Mike, the cutest first grader ever. I wish I had a video of him doing a chinese rap and dancing last week, oh my... love!

The "traditional chinese picture-taking squat" :)

Tomorrow, we are headed out on another adventure. This time to Hangzhou! We had been planning on going to Xi'an over this weekend ever since we arrived in China but turns out so was everyone else in the country. All of the train tickets were SOLD OUT! We were shocked. So Hangzhou it is! 


Have a fun weekend!!! Eat some mexican food for us and maybe we'll eat some stinky tofu for you! :) Not quite a fair trade though.