Last weekend, we learned a good lesson about trying to have parties for students who live off campus--our five year students who still live at home. We baked lots of cookies, prepared everything and no one came. It was sad, but we learned that we had to plan the parties earlier for them because they cannot get a bus back home late at night. We did have a couple of students come on Sunday and they ended up watching our wedding film and looking at our pictures, which was really fun to share with them.

The weather here has been a little mix of very cold and reasonable days, depending solely on whether or not the sun comes out. We did buy winter coats yesterday, something I thought I would hold out to buy, but mine was very cheap, only 39 RMB or about $5. When I got it home, I found that it was a 7XL, boy does that make we feel like I am huge. Patty also found one, so she is excited to be much warmer. We did a little shopping yesterday and actually found some Christmas decorations at the supermarket, so we got some to decorate a bit.

Classes and the preparation for finals has been keeping us quite busy. Students are very nervous for their final exams. They also have their CET-4 and 6 tests coming up next weekend, so they are studying for those as well. They show their English level and help them get a job teaching, but connections also help as well.

Some of interesting happenings from the week, include lots of activity of course. Even though it is colder, I have tried to stay active to keep myself warm. Patty chooses instead to curl up next to the heaters with a book and blankets. This weekend, they had a ping pong tournament and I was asked to play which was very fun. That day I went down early to play some basketball and I ended up coming home early, because I slipped and slid across the concrete giving myself a large gash in my right hand. It is healing quite well, but it made ping pong playing more interesting.

We have also been preparing for our trip to Beijing in January. We have been trying to find places to visit and things to do. It will be fun to see where the Olympics are going to be help as well as the Great Wall and other famous sites. This is possibly the only time we will have this opportunity, so it is a good time to go, even though it will be a bit cold.

We have been learning a lot during our individual studies each day. I have been really enjoying studying Luke in-depth. It has taken many weeks and I am still inching through it, but there are so many great pieces of knowledge that the Boss is showing to us. Patty is continuring to look at the Beatitudes and what that can teach about right living. She is loving it!!

This weekend, we had two more parties for our 4 year students. This time our house was full of students. I think we had about 23 students in total. Because they were watching the Nativity for class, we ended up watching our wedding video again (both times). It is fun to see so many faces of friends and family and to celebrate the event again. The students also had lots of questions or comparisons to Chinese weddings. Some of the interesting differences were that Chinese weddings use red for almost everything that we use white for, they have red dresses for the bride because it is a sign of good luck, red candles to celebrate the ancestors (they use white candles at funerals), a red carpet for the bride to walk down, and everyone must give the bride and groom money based upon how well they are related (a way of proving how good a friend you are). Things are changing though as most wedding shops also have white wedding gowns, so sometimes they may change into two or three wedding gowns in one night. It was most interesting!! For the most part, they liked the cookies we made. We tried to make them with less sugar. Our tree is slowly becoming more decorated with students ornaments and a couple we bought from the store.

One other interesting tid-bit is that one of my former co-workers from Albert Lea, sent an article from the newspaper there about our penpal exchange between China and ALHS. That was exciting to see. We are hoping to be able to send some gifts this next time to share about Chinese culture and maybe even some Chinese candy. We hope this finds you doing well, staying healthy from the cold winter weather and that you are having a blessed Christmas season. We send our love!!