Tis’ The Season

{ December 11, 2009 @ 10:41 am } · { Uncategorized }

The holiday season is approaching, as I am sure you are all surrounded by it. I went to my friend Raj’s yoga class this past week. My gym is located inside a popular mall in downtown Shanghai. Raj was asking me if I had seen the Christmas display in the front of the mall. He was shocked when I said no. “How could you not have seen it”! As I exited I payed special attention to the christmas display by the door. A nice tree surrounded by a gate with a million people taking pictures in front of it. The way Raj spoke of the entrance I was expecting Millennia mall.

I had thought Christmas would come and go and I wouldn’t even know, but the malls and foreign chains like Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and high end grocery stores are filled with decorations and Christmas music. I will be having a Christmas party next weekend at my place. It should be fun! Andrea and I will put up some lights, crack open some wine, and hang up a mistletoe here and there to spice things up!

I have to teach on Christmas. China does not give days off for any religious holidays. On Friday the 25th, I will have the last session with my adult students. At the end of class we can have a little Christmas party. I have really come to enjoy my adult class. It is a nice change of pace from the little ones. They really enjoy my class and bring me cookies and take me to lunch. It is nice for me because they treat me like family and teach me about the Chinese culture. I have been teaching them English songs. Last week we learned “You Are My Sunshine” and this week was the best! We sang and did hand motions to Backstreet Boys “I Want It That Way”. They were awesome! When I showed the music video, I had my 1 table of women dancing to the song.

Work has been crazy! I have been chosen to teach a Demo Class, which is basically me teaching a class of 40 2nd graders on a stage in front of 200 school board officials. I have been under pressure trying to prepare the lesson and practicing with the students each week. It will be video taped and maybe I can post it when it’s done.

Things in the apartment have been a little rocky. Andrea got locked out of her room a week ago. The door knob came off and wouldn’t go back on. We tried using knives, fingernail tools, even trying to break it down, but no luck. Thank goodness she wasn’t inside. This week the washer stopped working. Our landlord will come tonight, but who knows when it will actually get fixed. I have been doing laundry at my friends across the courtyard. This morning I woke up and came out the living room to get the heat going and found Andrea sleeping on the couch. I went and checked her door to make sure she wasn’t locked out again. Her remote for the heater in her room was out of battery. It was funny and reminded me of my longest roommate who used to crash quite frequently on the couch.

Oh christmas tree!

I hope and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I hope that is truly is a good one!

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