On Halloween morning, I woke up to snow on the ground. Temperatures hovered around the low 30s for a couple of days. Siping shot up to around the low 50s, but the temperature has again lowered. I am writing this with snow falling down quite quickly. Winter has officially arrived. Last week, my building turned on the coal radiators, and warm weather has completely disappeared. With the change of weather comes more cold weather as opposed to snow. This weekend we are scheduled to hit the mid teens. Yikes!

In other news, the team has finished Week 10 of teaching. All of our official teaching schedules will end on Christmas Eve. My thoughts have been turning to Thailand, as planning for my conference time commences. The team has secured a 4-bedroom home in Hua Hin, Thailand before our conference time. I’m not sure of the exact dates, but around 10 of us will be staying there for a week before heading to Chiang Mai. I know Wu is really looking forward to warm weather, poor lil’ small guy! I love this weather, and, like a bear, I’m soaking it all in. Siping’s wind is heavy, and it can feel like knives on the face with the freezing cold, but, at some sadistic level, I still love it.

With the past weekend being Halloween, the team took an early evening trip to the countryside where we cooked hot dogs and roasted marshmallows around a warm fire. We actually woke up that morning to snow – on October 31st for crying out loud! It was truly cold, really fast; it was around 20 degrees Fahrenheit. But we decided to brave the elements anyway with hot dogs and smores.

One of our Senior English majors, Alan, was nice enough to arrange the place and firewood for the event. We went to his uncle’s farm. We had a simple time, enjoying around 3 hours of eating and fun. By far, the most exciting event was the bonfire’s – how shall I say it? – explosion. First of all, the wood that was brought out had nails in it. I know that’s not good as those can somewhat explode as they’re metal. For the entire time, the fire made abnormally large “mini-booms” as I think nails were melting or slightly exploding. No one was hurt of course – thankfully.

Anywho, we had secured a nicely-paved area for the bonfire. About 3 hours in, there was a massive “boom”, – I didn’t see the fire as I had turned my head – but the sound caused me to jump up and run. In unison (minus the children), the team ran away from the fire. In sheer parental speed, Daren had picked up both Jude & Will in a dash; Samantha was actually away from the fire trying to play with the dogs that her parents kept saying to her, “Sam, NO!” Come to find out, the cement under the bonfire had cracked. I guess with it being so cold, then being heated up by a bonfire, this caused a massive, localized cracking of the cement. At the boom, pieces of cement broke away from the ground, throwing wood, ash, and coals in a massive spray. Mark actually got hit in the head with a piece of wood. Charcoal chunks flew over Nancy’s head, one of Alan’s younger cousins who came with us. It was hilariously dangerous, but everyone was okay. :-) You can see pics of this event from our “team photographer” Kat on flickr.com.

Recent news, firstly, involves the upcoming holiday. Starting October 1st to the 9th, there are no classes. Sadly, we do have to teach on the 10th, a Saturday, making up classes for Thursday, October 1st – but no biggie. The holiday time involves China’s National Day on October 1st and the Mid-Autumn Festival on October 3rd. It’s nice to have some time off, especially after four weeks into the term.

In team stuff, Wu was surprised with the news of being awarded a “Foreign-Expert-of-the-Year” Award in Changchun yesterday. He got a certificate and a free meal. How awesome is that? He’s said for four years now that he’d never get one because he doesn’t look “foreign enough”, but, dog gone it, he beat me to it. Jerk!

With the holiday, we also are having some visitors. Sarah, former Siping teammate from last year, will be visiting us for the next couple of days. She’s a teacher in Changchun – both with a kindergarten for bi-lingual children and as a one-room school teacher with the children of our organization’s language school for adults. Lisa, a friend and Wheaton classmate of Kat, will be spending time with us as well – traveling to see us from Shandong on a 16-hour train. Wow, now that’s commitment!

My summer has ended, and I’m now nestled in Siping again. The school year has started with a lot of changes, and I’m running to stay ahead. I arrived in Beijing on August 25th, met my new teammates (Kami & Lauren), then headed to Siping by night train. We’re two weeks into classes, and we’re cookin’ on student visits and classroom lesson-planning.

Rach, Wu, Jennifer, and I are all taking some form of Chinese classes this term. I think the girls are taking beginning oral; Wu, Jennifer, and I are taking reading together; and then Wu is taking advanced beginning oral by himself. These classes are complete with a book, homework, and  A LOT of Chinese. Our classrooms are filled with students from 19 other countries that all call our university “home” this term. We have Uzbekistanis, Tajikistanis, and Koreans in a lot of our classes. But we actually know there are some from Iran, Japan, and Nigeria, and a single dude from Britain.

I’m amazed at how much Siping (and China) is changing! Just last night, Robb and I were able to get cheese-in-the-crust pizza. Five years ago, I only knew of two places with pizza that I could order. Now I know of four, and the two new ones can deliver to my building. The train station used to be slightly dumpy and rustic, but now it has plush waiting rooms available courtesy of China mobile. My campus was “pool-less”, but thanks to the generosity of a gracious alumni, the outdoor, Olympic-sized pool is in business. Crazy stuff.

However, some things don’t change. I still hear the middle school students line up outside my window at 6:30 AM. I still hear the clanging of cymbals as the fruit vendors zig-zag through the collection of buildings where I and all my colleagues live. I still hear the sound of fireworks booming when a new place of business is open. All of these things remind me that I am back in China…and what a good feeling that is.

This year has been the hardest for me in terms of motivation. I’m not sure why, but I’m surprised I’ve felt this way. I realize that being in a foreign culture can be hard and extremely difficult in ways that a person’s not normally used to. Perhaps this is just one area…or maybe I’ve recently become extremely lazy. I’ve always handed back homework to student quickly, but I’ve struggled this year to do that. Even my blogging has not been enjoyable or punctual as usual. I’m really looking forward to this summer in having no Grad class and will simply be able to be around family. No agendas and no harsh schedules. In the meantime, I’m packing up and compiling final grades. This Friday night I board a night train for Beijing where I will be flying out Saturday noon en route to the States. Ah, home sweet home!

I’m so stoked about coming home this summer! I don’t have Wheaton classes in Illinois; therefore, no travel to and from there, no homework, and no stress. This summer is gonna rock! As of right now, I’m working on several different dates and trips. Right now, I’m scheduled to go with the Clements to Washington, DC around the end of July. That’s probably the only out-of-state trip I’ll take. Most of the time I plan to stay in or around Tulsa/Muskogee.

In team news, we’ve recently discovered that Vance will be leaving us for the States next year. Sarah is possibly going to Changchun, but nothing is secured at this point. We did receive word of two new teachers to my school – both women with one being from Maine and one from Alabama. They’re living the dream of coming to teach in China!

Former teammate, Michelle, is visiting us from Kashgar (that’s in northwest China). It’s good to see her and have her presence near us. She’s going home early for unknown reasons; she does seem tired and disillusioned. I’m glad she’s able to visit us and laugh into the late night hours.

As a teacher in Siping, I have never taught class on Friday. Our school has afforded us this luxury and it is always well-received. China celebrated a holiday on Sunday which meant no classes yesterday. So Robb, Sarah, and I traveled to Shenyang (just south of Siping) for a day of fun. We had Starbucks, New York style pizza, Haagan-Daas, and McDonald's. We also went to shop at the Metro, which is a Sam's Club-type store from Germany. I can buy  El Paso flour tortillas and refried beans, Hormel ham, Land O' Lakes cheese, and corn flakes. I'm beginning to really enjoy Shenyang, especially with the fast trains to and from there. Shenyang also has a US consulate, so if I need anything US related I could get there quickly and easy.

I'm not sure what to think of it all, but apparently there was an earthquake felt near Siping. Both Mark & Rach said they felt it. Rumors flew around Siping that the earthquake was in Gongzhuling (about 50 miles north of Siping). Classes on campus were actually canceled this afternoon due to some fears of the administration. Rumors still flew around this evening that at 10:30 PM tonight, there would be another one (like these things can be predicted like this?).

To find the truth to all this, I went online and found here that indeed an earthquake had occurred in Asia around the time mentioned by Rach & Mark, but it was in Japan - around 1,000 miles east of Siping. It was listed as a 5.1 earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan, not even on the mainland. However, I did hear from Jason tonight that there was a 4.3 earthquake in Jilin province (but I can't seem to find anything referencing this). Despite the hype around this event post-Sichuan earthquake, I think I'll still sleep soundly tonight.

I honestly don't know why I haven't blogged in like A MONTH AND A HALF. Call it laziness or downright procrastination, but it's time I get back with the program. I've updated my class schedule this term, set up some more links, changed my music, and did some "web" cleaning. There'll be more to come. But for now, I'm going to bed.

Today will be a busy day. Unlike my mother (who is probably BEGINNING her Christmas shopping as I write this entry), I've completed all of my Christmas shopping save a few small gifts. I've got them wrapped and ready to be opened, sitting nicely under my small little tree. Tomorrow, the team will be having breakfast together, opening presents afterwards, having a break for lunch, then returning again for supper, followed by the Christmas story, singing and deserts. So I've got some potatoes to peel and other delicious goodies to make.

Last night, the foreign language department had their annual Christmas performance. The usual occurred: dancing numbers, modeling and a lot of singing. The team reenacted the Christmas story with the Clems as Mary & Joseph; the shepherds were Wu, Jude, and me; the wise men were Anthony & Vance; Sarah was the angel; Rach was the star; and Mark was the narrator. [Kat skipped out to pick up some friends in Beijing.] A great time was had by all!

Yesterday, I also ended my classes for the term. I calculated that I will not teaching again for 68 days! Rock on! I now have quite a lot of grading for final exams but that's cool. I haven't finished Season 3 of Prison Break, so I'll probably be watching that as I grade.

Yesterday, I turned 36. I had previously learned from a highly esteemed colleague that it was a "square" birthday. That is to say that 6 x 6 = 36. Therefore, birthdays 1 (1 x 1 =1), 4 (2 x 2 = 4), 9 (3 x 3 = 9), 16 (4 x 4 = 16), 25 (5 x 5 = 25), and so on are "square" birthdays. It's great to know that my next one is at the age of 49 (wow, just one away from the big "5" "0").

In other news, I have one more week of classes to teach. As of 10 o'clock a week from now, I'll be officially done with my teaching schedule this term. <Insert screaming and clapping here.> Granted, I'll have to grade all my Finals, but this will be on the downhill slide.

Last night, Anthony, Vance & I shared a meal of hamburgers. Ant is a good cook, especially with burgers. I should rope him in more often into cooking! I felt it was a small birthday celebration since, technically, my birthday will not be celebrated until the 18th along with Rachel's. We're having a Wii bowling party.

I did receive some interesting gifts from students: a glass bear cup, a potato chip holder, a multi-use knife, and some candy. The best gift was from the office of the Foreign Affairs officer, Steve. He gave me a sweet pen for writing Chinese characters.

The past two weeks have been quite uneventful and common. Mid-terms occurred 2 to 3 weeks ago, so I'm been trying to completely grade those. Vance and I joined a gym in Siping and I've enjoyed meeting new friends there. The cold weather brought us our first snow at the end of last week. And I'll be going to Beijing for the weekend for Christmas shopping. Other than all of this, it's been pretty calm around here. However, I feel once December hits good ol' Siping, it'll get a little crazy.

With Thanksgiving being today, the team, along with a few other foreign teachers, will have Thanksgiving supper today. In Chinese we say 感恩节快乐! At least for today, I miss my family a little only because it is a famous holiday season in America. While they eat their turkey, they can all think of me over here.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!

It is now that time of year where the northeast begins to turn frigidly cold! It's definitely winter as we're in the highs of the 40's but in the lows of the 30's (and soon the 20's). The Chinese adage of "You should wear more clothes" abounds in large amounts - as everyone tells everyone this. I honestly thinks its a form of greeting because I hear it ALL THE TIME!

The other "cold" I caught four days ago. It was two days' worth of itchy throat followed by two days of sneezing, hacking, and coughing. Today (being day five) brings a welcoming non-hacking feeling and I feel good about teaching today. So, dad, when you read this, I DO have enough NyQuil and I'm feeling much better now.

Yesterday was a long day. It began by me observing Sarah, my new teammate, during her Freshman Oral class (8 AM) followed by a debriefing with Bridget, a fellow teacher from Changchun (10:15 AM), who has mentor training with developing new teachers. After our meeting, I began cooking lunch for these two gals (11:20 AM).

After we ate, we debriefed the class (12:40 PM). By the time this was finished, I had 15 minutes until my 2 PM class on Chinese (I'm actually learning Chinese sign language at this time). It was difficult as I was learning family relationship; I discovered there were like 6 ways to say uncle - each depending on the relationship. For example, your father's younger brother has a different name than your father's older brother. The same is true of aunts: your father's sister-in-law (married to his younger brother) has a different name than your father's sister-in-law (married to his older brother). Insane! I was toasted around 3:40 PM.

Then I have my oral, grammar, and writing Chinese class for almost 2 hours. When class was over, I taught my tutors the word "fried" as it applies to brain dead activity (mine in particular). I was mentally wasted! At 6 PM I was ready for supper and headed to KFC with Robb - I just had to get out of my house by then. We walked a little after supper, got back to my place about 7:30 PM and then I watched him play Street Fighter for the PS2 for about an hour.

After he left, I decided to go see Jude and family. I hung out on the couch and watched "The Dark Knight" for a bit. We started looking at the "I Spy" books (the Chinese versions of them of course), and Will was being annoying. I eventually said, "You need to stop or I'm going to beat you into oblivion." Jude asked, "What does oblivion mean?" To which I explained you "explode" or are reducing to nothing - no trace, no life, there's nothing.

Anyway, it wasn't but 10 minutes later, and Jude started one of his "famous" knock-knock jokes. He started with "Knock, knock"; I said "Who's there?"; and he said "Half oblivion". This wasn't funny at all, but what I heard was "Half of a Bolivian" - and I just lost it. I busted up and Jennifer, who was on her computer, looked at me and said, "You nerd!" Jude and I laughed for a good ten minutes about this as he kept repeating it. In the meantime, Jennifer kept saying, "This is the reason why Will is so mean." Daren, who was working in the office, occasionally piped in with a "Be quiet" or "Don't be so loud" - to which Jude and I were oblivious (huh, good choice). I sometimes get really nutty at night and this was one such time.

Lastly, I put a search on MSN for "half of a Bolivian" and here's some of the pics I got. Enjoy!

I'm used to living in China. And I'm used to not being told certain vital pieces of information until immediately needed. However, over the past week, the electricity and water have both been turned off - both in and out of sync. It's been quite strange. For several mornings, I woke up to no water for a shower. Since I teach only on Mondays and Tuesdays, no prob. But I feel a little bad for those who have to teach and really want a shower.

Usually, the emergency halls lights come up when we have no electricity in the building, but, this morning, no such thing happened. I have no idea what's going on. But whenever I do get in the shower, I wash quickly for fear that any moment while I'm in the shower, they'll turn off the water. And I don't even know who "they" is.

One morning Mark came over a little disgusted about all this and made a small comment about getting no water or electricity, to which I responded, "Well, the air hasn't been cut off." Yes, indeed.

I've uploaded a few new albums. The first one is from my university's 50th Anniversary. Several events were held over the weekend to commemorate this milestone. I also attended a wedding for a friend (who was a student at our university) of the team. It was held at a church in Changchun. Old teamies should remember Marguerite. (You can check out her pictures at http://marguerite286.spaces.live.com.) Last, the 2008-2009 Team Siping was out and about a couple of days ago - going to Nanhu Park and Hero Square.

>>>OK, for some unknown reason these new albums aren't showing up on Spaces. Sooooo, once this issue is resolved, you can see the pics. Lo siento mucho 阿!<<<

I returned to China on August 13th with my brother in tow. We went to the Olympics, stayed in Siping for about a week, returned to Beijing to see the Great Wall, and then he returned home on September 4th. In the meantime, I began teaching and was inundated with planning, scheduling, unpacking, and reconnecting with students and teachers. Needless to say, it's been busy. But now, I feel like things have resumed to normal...and my blogging can pick up again.

I know it's been like three weeks! And a lot has happened. If you look in the album, "My Bro & I", you'll see pictures of us in our travels through the Beijing Olympics, Siping, the Great Wall, and other places. (Dad, I'll send you a copy of ALL the pics I took of Jo and me on a CD.)

I've also updated my teaching schedule, which is really strange this year. I teach only four classes but they total 15 teaching hours (1 hour less the limit of 16). I have Graduate Writing (6 hours), Sophomore Writing (4 hours), Sophomore Oral (2 hours), and Junior Speech (2 hours). One class of four different subjects. I also teach these four classes on all day Monday then one on Tuesday morning, then I'm free for the rest of the week. Mind you, I have library times, teaching curriculum planning, team events, student extra-curricular events, and so on, but this schedule allows me more time. Awesome!

I also received the final word that I graduate with my MA. What a hard road it was! This degree involved four summers and three winter "mini-mesters" of classes. My comprehensives finals were written over two weekends in August and was separated into three parts. I used a lot of brain cells, but it was worth the work. I'm thinking, "Maybe 'Dr. Essert' now has a really cool ring to it." ;-)

This year, the teachers returning are Jonny & Rachel (with Samantha), Daren & Jennifer - teaching part-time for a month - (with Jude & Will), Katherine, Mark and me. Our team of ten will expand to thirteen as we are awaiting three new teachers that are currently in training in California. Anthony, Vance & Sarah should be arriving around September 21st to China then traveling to Siping. Rachel & Jennifer are actually teaching these three teachers' classes until they arrive.

As I type this entry, I'm in beautiful Branson, MO at a Holiday Inn Express. Dad and I left from Wheaton, IL at around 1 PM yesterday and stopped here for the night around 10 PM. I DID NOT want to drive into the night after an absolutely EXHAUSTING month of Wheaton grad classes.

Yesterday was the "crown jewel" of three years' work: I completed my Master of Arts program from Wheaton College. I turned in my third comprehensive exam and left felt oh-so good. This summer's class time was actually the seventh set of classes I've had (1 summer in Beijing, 3 summers at Wheaton, and 3 winters in Thailand). And now I can think about...

...the Olympics! I'm so stoked. With all the news reports talking about China, I totally can't wait to get back. I have one week in the States until leaving, so I'll enjoy my last few days with the fam. But, since my brother is going with me, it'll be even cooler. Even with the whole year of teaching ahead, I'm even more stoked to see how China will change after having hosted the Olympics.

So for now, I'm eating biscuits and gravy, watching TV (which I wasn't able to do at Wheaton since my dorm room didn't have one), and relaxing before the last three hours of my trip to Oklahoma.

I'm getting nervous, excited, anxious, and stressed as I quickly approach my return home date of June 21st. I really am looking forward to seeing my two nephews, telling stories to my family of the past year, graduating with my Master's in August, and "chowing down" on some American food.

Last night, we had a performance to attend. Every graduating class from the Foreign Language Department performs dramas, songs, and dancing as a "final farewell". Well, my INGENIUS team decided to sing "Friends Are Friends Forever" by Michael W. Smith. I totally did my complaining for an evening (which I normally don't do), but, in the end, it was to no avail. I never liked the song because of it's true sappiness. Anyway, the song was enjoyed by the audience (though we could have bounced on our heads and ate bubble gum...all with the same reaction from the audience). Pictures will be forthcoming once I upload them. You'll see them in the album "Farewell Seniors 2008".

This week has seen temperatures rising into (I think) the low 70's. It has been pretty hot, so much that I've shed my fleece and now it's short sleeves all the way. Still many of my students cling to their double (or triple layers); however, I'm gearing up for warmer weather. The flowers and trees have begun to bud around campus as well and it's starting to look quite beautiful. I've even seen some students bustin' out the shorts.

This heat has also been brought on by the change of the sun's position. I am starting to wake up around 5:30 AM to the bright, bright sun. This is the time of year (being where I'm positioned on the globe) that the morning brightness is quite intense and I just can't seem to sleep through it. This is also the time that I start taking naps to compensate. And since the weather is warming up, this is also the time of year that the AC comes on. I almost turned it on today.