Since China really doesn't do much with holidays, it is up to us to create the Christmas Spirit. Without the hustle and bustle, the lights, the musical programs and parties, the purchasing of gifts, the festive atmosphere, the sugar cookies and fudge, the Chex mix and the Martinellis, it is a challenge to feel anything. In another way, we have found that we feel close to the Savior and his influence as we endeavor to love our students and seek guidance about our lessons. We have felt His hand in our efforts. China is a "strange" land for us and we sometimes feel very much alone. At the same time, we have an enlarged vision and understanding of these people; a gift much more precious than cookies and presents. For that we are most grateful.
This past week the BYU teachers got together 2 different times in addition to our regular Sunday meetings. On Tuesday we met to celebrate a BYU colleague's birthday and have Relief Society "Homemaking meeting". (That's what it was like. We met to see how Wendy was able to make such delicious homemade rolls with her limited resources in China), and do some home teaching. We enjoyed it very much. On Saturday we met for movie night. We had homemade pizza and tossed salad, Carmel corn(it was GREAT!), and watched a DVD called, "The Ultimate Gift." It was very nice and helped us feel the spirit of the season.
Wendy making rolls with very little counter space. Another person was using their tablet to record all the instructions!!
Wayne and Stan enjoyed sampling rolls plus all the other goodies that are always available when the BYU group gets together!
Pizza and Movie Night!!
On Friday, we were invited to an "English Corner" on our campus. This was organized by some of our students; Nancy's sophomores and Stan's freshmen. The topic was Travel. They asked us about our travel and everyone shared their own experiences. For many of them, traveling from their hometown to the university was the most they had done. All of them want to see more of their own country. Of course, traveling to Europe and America was also on their travel lists.
Two of Nancy's classes had "Teach the Teacher" presentations on Chinese calligraphy this week. Did you know that there are 5 styles of calligraphy that have evolved throughout the years? The students are taught this skill in Primary school, but it is a basic introduction and to become an "expert' takes a lot of practice. The students brought all the tools to class: brush, ink, stone, and paper so that calligraphy could be demonstrated in each of the classes. Nancy was the recipient of the final product!
The long white paper calligraphy represents best wishes, prosperity and luck. The one on the yellow paper is a poem about patriotism.
In reference to last week's comment about the smog, it got worse!! Today the index was 565. We actually saw less people wearing masks.
It is interesting how SDU operates without a long term academic calendar. The students do not yet know their final exam schedule, except that they start on Jan 6. This week we were notified that Jan. 1 was a holiday. Nothing was mentioned about Jan. 2 and 3, which had previously been scheduled off from teaching classes. We had already planned our finals and asked permission to go to Harbin for the New Year ice festival, so we are going!! Ironically SDU has invited us to return next year and would like our decision asap!! We have not yet discussed that option and since we are sponsored through BYU, our BYU directors just asked us to inform them by our Hong Kong conference Jan. 23.
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