So I am really bummed.  There are a number of cute shops right outside of our school and a cute little alleylike street around the corner that have been/are being torn down in the last week and weeks to come.  Supposedly everything will be gone by the end of the month so that the road can be widened.  Now I am all for progress and less traffic jams, but not at the expense of my favorite restaurant, convience store, copy shop, and photo development place.  The sad thing is that some of the familes that have lived there for so long will move far away.  One of these is the sweet family that runs the convience store.  My sister calls the Mother there the doughnut lady.  With that family will go probably the oldest person I have met in China, who is for sure the only person in China I have ever met that still has bound feet.  I will miss this lovely little grandmother with one tooth who smiles with joy and speaks to me and I have no idea what she says.  I will really miss her.  I will miss the family that lives in the back room of their restaurant and that they say hello whenenever I walk by.  In many ways it feels like they are tearing down the part of our neighborhood that we call "real China".  The part that isn't pristine, organized, or modern.  This is the China I really enjoy seeing, and I am sad that they are removing the remnants of it from our neighborhood.  Progress is sometimes a bummer.

So life here has been crazy the last two weeks!!!  I'll try to be better at updating my site more often.  I moved into my apartment two weeks ago today, and it feels like home, and for the most part looks like home as well.  My teamates have been awesome, and so welcoming.  We get together three times a week to hang out, talk, eat, do an activity, or study the word.  I have three teamates, Debbie and Tamah who have been in china for over ten years and are in their late forties early fifties, and Helen, who is a year younger than me and did CTF last year.  We've been having a lot of fun.  On Monday I started teaching, but the Friday before we had opening ceremonies where all the students had to stand in formation for an hour in the intense heat, while they listened to welcoming speeches.  Close to the end students started passing out and they had to bring them to the nurse.  Thankfully, my kids did not have to stand.  I am teaching Kindergarten ages three and four, so please, please continue to lift me up in this area.  Actually, teaching three year olds was so much fun, they are so excited about learning, and really enjoy english class.  The hard part is they have a very short attention span.  I also get to teach a high school theatre class for students who wish to study overseas someday.  I will teach this class two times a week and I am really excited about doing theatre again and using my degree. 

 

Last week Friday we celebrated teacher's day which was rather interesting.  All of the teachers got together after school and played some games on the track grounds and then after completing the races, we recieved a case of milk and a giant box of crackers as a gift.  Personally, I don't drink milk, so I was curious what I would do with a whole case of it, but I was able to give it to a chinese family that helps take care of our building.  They have two little boys, so I think they'll use it. 

 

Saturday I hung out with a friend of mine who is an english teacher at a university here and we went clothes shopping, because neither of us could fit too many clothes into our suitcases when we came over.  I brought one sweater with me, so since the weather has suddenly turned colder within the last week. It is nice, and crisp, and even the sky has been blue for the last few days, which is really a blessing.  We are close to the mountains where we live, but usually we can't see them because of the pollution, so the last week has been nice because we can see them from our office. 

 

Yesterday, Sunday, was probably the busiest day I have had so far.  I went from fellowship in the morning to helping out with the youth group in the afternoon, to attending the chinese three self fellowship with a friend in the evening.  I think that is the first time in my life I have attended fellowship all day long.  I may have to take my sabbath rest on another afternoon because all of those things I find very valuable endeavors. 

Gotta run to a meeting, I'll write again this afternoon.