you go to buy train tickets from the neighborhood ticket office and you can only buy them 4 days in advance and ten minutes after they open they are sold out.  Did I mention that there were 50 people all crammed into the little ticket place that is smaller than my aunt and uncle's master bathroom?  And the line for the tickets?  Non existent.  I had to fend off lots of people with my foreigness, large purse, and physically grab my chinese friend and shove her infront of me, while my other friend Helen pushed to the front as the "line" moved.  Meanwhile people are trying to push in front of me even though I was before them, and all the while people are shouting to the ticket lady what city and train time they want on what day.  Oh and there was only one person selling the tickets.  I just kind of laughed it off, but Helen was pretty upset.  Hopefully our travel agent will be able to get us train tickets to Shanghai, otherwise mei yo, and I will be resting at home for the 8 day holiday. 

Last weekend was another round of youth camp, which was SO MUCH FUN!!!  More people joined the family, so that was exciting, and generally there are great things to praise Him for.  My back is doing a bit better as well, so that is a praise, and I am so thankful.  Please keep a friend in the states in your thoughts, he has cancer and basically needs a miracle.  He has a wife and two small kids.  Another thing to lift up before the father is finances for next year, that the Father would provide what is needed.  I'm going to post some pictures from the weekend.

Recently I've had a lot of back pain (perhaps it has something to do that I no longer am able to take ballet lessons since my friend left our school) or maybe it is just the stress of work and life in general.  Whatever the cause I've been in a LOT of pain, so pretty much once a week I go and get a massage at our neighborhood massage place run by blind people.  Really it is a great opportunity for them to find a good job and they are really good at it because they have great perception in their sense of touch.  For the last few weeks after each 1 hour session (during which I am usually moaning and yowling in pain) they do this rather odd/semi scary ancient chinese medicine technique where they light a match in this glass cup thing and then suction it to my back (then the fire goes out).  Basically what happens for the next ten minutes is that all of the 'bad toxins' in my body get brought to the surface and sucked out or something.  Then I am left with these large

 round circle bruises all over my back.  That is me in the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two weeks ago our Kindergarten went on a field trip which was so fun!  We visited a nearby park where we walked around and saw the cherry blossoms that were in bloom.  There were at least three other kindergartens there so imagine 700+ 3-6 year olds all visiting at the same time among the throngs of Chinese tourists.  Apparently the park is very famous for its spring flowers so it was pretty packed for 8:30 in the morning.  I spent the morning walking around with one of my three year old classes and they were pretty lively.  We got to look at ducks, watch older people dance, fly kites, and walk their birds. 

The first weekend of Camp was AWESOME!!!  Great game, praise, and general craziness abounded!  This weekend the theme was Mythbusters!  So basically we busted some myths that people have about the Father and what it means to be His child.  Our cabin had some great two hour discussions. Great things happened, and people came into the kingdom!  PTL!  I was able to share that experience with a young teen and it was awesome to see the difference the Father made in her life. 

Easter Weekend I went out to the countryside of Beijing to a friend's house.  She is also Greek so we had greek easter and made greek food.  Pretty much I spent all day baking bread, but it was fun to do things more the way my great grandmother would have years ago. 

So I'm waiting for some pictures from some friends from the last few activities, so sorry they aren't up yet!  Please be patient!

Saturday we had an "Amazing Race" all over Beijing!  It was a good time where we got to explore a bit more and have some fun while doing it.  Whose team won bragging rights?  That would be yours truly, Helen, and Danielle's...pictures to come

Last week we had a baby shower for a friend of mine here who is due sometime this month.  Lots of fun was had by all, and I'll post a few photos so you can see what we were up to. 

Life has been so busy lately!  One activity after another!  Life has been good though... I'll try to keep updating this site more often in the future and not let time lapse so much.  So here is the first of a few stories...