Firewall finally caught up with me

Stupid Internet

Actually.  Stupid great firewall of China. That is the reason that I haven't been active in the blogging community recently. I would love to have posted pictures of our amazing Halloween decor. I would also love to have taken you on a tour to the pagoda in Xiaolan. In fact, there are many details that you may never hear thanks to the fact that I cannot access blogger at the moment. So here I sit, typing in this word document which I will later paste into an e-mail and beg my Mother to post on my blog. 

So yes. I guess I have a bit to catch up on. 

Let's start with Halloween. I know it was a bit ago, but Halloween here was kind of a big deal.

I spent a LONG time pinning up various decorations. And making the place cute. As in, we spent a few days prior to the party just decorating for it. And then for the actual day of I dressed up as a princess, and I had my boys in knight costumes, and my girls dressed up as fairies. Did I make all these costumes you ask? Why yes, I did. And they turned out pretty cute if I do say so, especially since they were made mainly from fabric samples. 

During the actual party I got to perform a dance with the other teachers. In front of the whole school. And parents who decided to show up for the party. Kind of awkward, but kinda fun at the same time. Then later I got to run the face painting booth. Adding whiskers to cute little Chinese cheeks and painting stars and hearts and flowers and moustaches and goatees and whatever else you can think of. Talk about fun. Yes. You should be jealous. Needless to say, Halloween was a fun time. Prolly more work than it was worth, but that's ok.

Now let's move on to mid semester visits, and my new found love: pumpkin and taro soup. Oh my heck. I wish we had taro in America. In fact, I wish we had soup from Guangdong in America, because soup here in China is mucho better than soup in the states. But anyways. Mid semester visits --- that's when a director shows up and checks on us, the school, and makes sure that everything is going pretty well. I can't believe that they're now over. But at the same time, I am realizing that I've been in China for a while. Lots of things that used to shock me, no longer do. The traffic system with no rules --- I don't even bat an eye when I spot someone going down the street the wrong way in a car. I've pretty much forgotten what real chocolate tastes like, and I'm a bit worried that candy in general will be much too sweet when I come back. My box spring with blankets on top --- yes I find it extremely comfortable. Will I be able to sleep on a soft bed when I get back? Your guess is as good as mine.   Also. The idea of drinking out of the tap now freaks me out; whereas a couple months ago the idea of not drinking out of the tap was odd. 

Point being: I've been here for almost 3 months, I'm very much used to things, and that thought is kinda crazy.

Tonight I head off for Yangshuo. (I'm fairly certain that's how it's spelled; at least I hope so.) You should Google it, because it's going to be awesome..... I'll have to tell you more about it when I get back.