Happy Chinese New Year! Now that the first semester has ended, basketball season has finally concluded, tennis season has been long past, and Christmas only lives on in our hearts (and maybe also in our apartment, #ourtreemightstillbeup, #don’tjudge), we figure it’s about time to send out another update on our lives. Chinese New Year is when we get our break from school, so we’re considering this blog to be the equivalent of our Christmas Card to you this year. Sorry it’s a little late…
Since I’ve never actually not been in school, the beginning of the school year feels like the real beginning of the year, and since we’ve only blogged twice since this one, that seems like a good place to start.
In August, our arrival back in China started off with a GREAT adventure! We hopped on the bullet train with Mark and Robert and set off to see the GREAT WALL again!!!! Ok, well that was why I went back to Beijing, but really we were there because Steve’s family hadn’t been yet. We had a great time filled with Coco’s, ancient Chinese history, and THE GREAT WALL! Steve is actually planning on writing a blog about this which will probably pop up sometime when you least expect it (just like his magical winter blog suddenly sprang up in the middle of summer this year ;). In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek:
Back in Shanghai, we dove into school and a new tennis season! This was Steve’s second year coaching with our friend Ryan, and this year I decided to lend my assistance as well (who am I kidding, it was mostly so that I could play everyday). Tennis has definitely been a highlight of our year so far. The days were long, the weather was warm, and we got to play tennis everyday until sunset, what more could you ask for? First place at the end of season tournament? Ok that sounds good. Going to a pro match to see Murray play Federer? Even better!
It turned out to be a pretty fantastic season, and right now when I think about how warm it was it seems like paradise…
It turned out to be a pretty fantastic season, and right now when I think about how warm it was it seems like paradise…
Fun story: while we were at the pro match, a guy came up to Steve and Ryan asking for their autograph! He thought they were a professional doubles team since they were still wearing their jerseys from the end of season tournament. This may have been a life highlight for these guys...
We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Limkemans (actually we were over there every chance we could get this semester trying to squeeze in as much family time as we could while we still had it!), and we participated in three or four or five other Thanksgiving dinners put on by youth group, our life group, our school, our leadership group, do ya get the idea that Thanksgiving is a little over-done over here? It’s one of those holidays that Americans don’t want to miss when living in China so instead of missing out on one meal, we get to experience five or six turkeys. :-/
The Shanghai Half Marathon was my next challenge. Wow, what a different race than the Great Wall Marathon! We jumped into a taxi at 5am in the pouring rain and two hours later we had pushed our way to the starting line through more people than I have EVER seen in one place, soaking wet and in complete denial that I was about to run 13 miles. Steve was totally awesome and held an umbrella over me until the race started. Then his own marathon began…the Life of Pi read-a-thon! While I tried to maneuver myself away from the trample zone (which lasted for the first several miles of the race), Steve was reading his eyes out trying to finish the book Life of Pi. His challenge was to complete the book by the end of the race so that we could celebrate by going to see the movie in theaters.
Well both marathons were a success! I completed my run through the disgustingly cold, wet, and surprisingly Christmas-decorated city, and Steve was able to succeed in his mission as well. We celebrated first by eating pancakes, and then by going to the movies!!! It was a fun day!
Christmas was a big highlight for us. Even though our school only gives us two days off plus the weekend, we were able to feel like we could truly celebrate the holiday with family. Robert, Scott, Suzie, and Steve’s cousin Jon were all able to visit Mark and Karen in Suzhou for the week, and it was really fun! We played lots of games, ate lots of food, saw some amazing acrobatics, and generally enjoyed life together. One of our more special memories was our “living room worship service.” The brothers led us in some songs and then we listened to Josh Steely’s (Steve's cousin) Christmas sermon.
Here is a memento of our time together, and of the rampant inside jokes that were continually present in our conversation for those few days:
Here is a memento of our time together, and of the rampant inside jokes that were continually present in our conversation for those few days:
Throughout all of this excitement, basketball was in season. This last Saturday was our end of season tournament, and it was pretty darn exciting, so if you a sports fan, click on "Read More" below and read how my JV Girls did! It was just too good to resist, so here it is! I could easily make it a blog in itself so I hid it at the end....
Sorry about the long blog, our lives have just had so much life in them for the past few months! Not everything significant was mentioned, so at this point I will just sum up and post some random pics:
- Our work with the youth group is on going and going well. It’s actually the main reason we feel that God has us in China!!
- We are both enjoying our teaching! Steve has been getting a lot of praise for developing a new Chinese curriculum, and his boss even gave us a weekend at a nice hotel as a reward! Next semester I will be observed by the principals and the Chinese PE teachers as an example of how to teach PE well! yikes!
- I tried acupuncture for the first time due to an ITB injury...it's really depressing to be injured, but I'm working on getting back in the game, and at least I got to try out some ancient Chinese healing...;)
- We are currently reading Harry Potter. It's our first time reading the series and it's amazing.
The next three weeks we will basically be out of contact. We are going on our dream vacation to New Zealand, and we will only have access to whatever internet our hostels provide, as we have not yet succumbed to the smart phone world. The Hobbit hasn’t yet come out in China, so our only fear is that it will come out while we are gone and we’ll come back and it will have left. I guess that will be a small price to pay for actually going to Middle Earth….:)
Happy Chinese New Year! We are now beginning the year of the snake.....
Remember to click on "Read More" if you are a sports fan!