Teacher's Day, Weekend, Typhoons, etc!

Hi guys!! Just thought I'd update a little more of what's been going on the past week.

Thursday Sept. 10th was Teacher's Day in China. (Similar to Teacher Appreciation Day in the US.) If you're lucky, some schools only teach half a day!!...but we had a full day... The students began the day by having a ceremony for the teachers during their morning outdoor exercises. A group of students recited a poem and a few kids spoke. Then selected students gave each teacher a bouquet of flowers...a bouquet just like at home...it had lilies, baby's breath, roses, etc. It was very sweet and all day long the kids would come by the teachers' offices and give gifts, flowers, candy, cards, etc. The funniest card Jordan got was a "recycled" wedding card! On the outside of the card it mentioned "Good luck with your future together"-rough translation...and the inside cover the kid wrote over what the card said, "HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY!!!" We kept this one! Our school had a dinner for all the teachers Thursday evening. It was at the same restaurant where we met our headmaster for the first time, except this time there wasn't any "strange- I don't want to eat this" type of food. =) There were many tables in the back rooms that the school had reserved and somehow someway I ended up being at the all guys table…it was actually probably better that way because more of the guys speak English and Jordan and I met a new Chinese friend/teacher, Andy. Andy teaches in the upper grades with Jordan and speaks faster English than I do!! I really have to listen to catch up!!! After dinner Jody (the other foreign teacher guy at our school), Jordan, and I went to Andy’s house to hang out. We had a great Teacher’s Day here in China!

Friday after school, we hung out with Jody and Andy. We went to a new restaurant and ate and then went bowling!!! It was a lot of fun. I’m pretty sure that at the bowling ally is the ONLY place where I have ever seen something made in the USA…all the bowling balls have it on them-by the same company at home!! =)

This weekend was a lazy weekend for Jordan and me. We cleaned the apartment (or should I say room?) and washed clothes and of course went to the DVD store and picked up a few new movies…Chinese TV is terrible…besides the fact that I can’t understand a word, the soaps are just over the top! =)

The weather here’s been a little better…but lots of rain and a possible typhoon was in the picture for early this week (September 14-16)…

Monday night, one of the guys who lives close by had a surprise birthday dinner at our favorite restaurant. Jordan and I went and after dinner we went back to their place and had a mini-moon pie type of dessert. While we were there, the bottom fell out from the sky!!! It POURED down rain and the wind was CRAZY!!!! When it was time to go, we realized how bad the storm actually was…there wasn’t any lightening or thunder just POURING down rain and crazy wind…we had about a 15 minute walk back, which broke one of the umbrellas and we were SOAKED! During the walk home we saw that many tree branches had fallen…and then we realized that we were probably walking through part of a typhoon…oooops! =) No worries, we made it back safely!!! Yesterday, (Tuesday) I woke up, got ready, and walked down to the main building…it was very quiet and raining so I knew something wasn’t right…the school is NEVER quiet…anyways, I stopped by the cafeteria to see if people were there and then they kindly explained, “No school today because typhoon.” Ohhhhh…a phone call would have been nice…but oh well! No school! So we had our first inclement weather day due to a TYPHOON!!! It was definitely like a Georgia snow day…because the weather yesterday was absolutely fine. Occasional rain, but it was mostly just humid…but hey, we all deserve a day off every now and then right? The typhoon that was coming toward us, ended up shifting and missing Shenzhen…although we did get a little piece of it Monday evening. Our friends Emily and Murray came over for the day and we hung out which was a lot of fun!

Our Chinese classes begin this afternoon…because of where we live (a little further out from the city) transportation is provided for us, so our school driver will take us into the downtown area today. Jordan and I are both excited and ready to continue and begin our learning of Mandarin! It should also be fun seeing everyone from the program…we haven’t seen EVERYBODY since the contract signing day! Enough for now!!!

We love y’all! –Tyler & Jordan