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!