Flashback to 1996
27.01.2010
11 °C
I just returned from a wonderful dinner with my boss (Mr. Dong) and his family! Every week at our staff meeting we have been bugging him about wanting to meet his wife and kids and see his new apartment. His wife is a history teacher at our school and his son is a junior 3 (Freshman) at the school as well. His new apartment is not quite finished yet but they have moved some furniture in and it looks very nice! I especially like their lighting choices
The new apartment is much closer to the school so that is why they are moving. He hopes to move in permanently by May and his wife said she would cook for us there when that day comes! His wife does not speak English but both Mr. Dong and his daughter Daisy speak English very well so they were our translators. We practiced our Chinese a bit for them too. Half way through dinner his son arrived because he had class until 7 PM so he had to come late. He did not have an English name yet so we chose three (Henry, Jack, and Jake) that sounded similar to his Chinese name and he made the final decision...Henry! He was very shy but pleasant to speak with. Over all it was a fun evening and I ate way too much food. It was neat to finally meet his family that he talks about. He is just as goofy around them as he is around us so that was fun as well.
Last weekend, Laura, Sam, and I went on our first (and probably only) ski trip in China! The mother of the girl who Laura tutors for invited us to attend their equivalent of a rewards trip for the company she works for. It was very entertaining. We traveled with about 25 other Chinese people. We were the youngest and the only foreigners. There was clan of older women who looked out for us and wanted to make sure we had adjusted to the food and were being careful etc. We left early Saturday morning and drove about an hour out of town to the Tao Huang mountains. We were expecting snow covered mountains but that is not what we found as you can see in the picture below! There were no chairlifts in operation. Only those pulley types that you put between your legs and they pull you up! It was very beautiful and we had a blast but it was like a little ski oasis in the middle of mountains that looked like the Grand Canyon! The ski gear was straight from the 90s (hence my title) and it brought me back to childhood skiing. I spent the day teaching Laura how to ski and enjoying the entertainment of watching the other skiers. The favorite thing to do was speed down the hill as fast as you could and when the need to spot came just take a massive wipe out! One Chinese man just decided to use me as his emergency brakes instead. Luckily I did not get hurt though.

The Ski hill
After skiing we decided to tryout the snow tubing which was a hoot! They keep that run nice and slick and we flew down that hill! Then it was off to the hot springs which is was another hour drive. This was by far the best part of the weekend. It was named Bai Lu Wen Quan (White Deer Hot Springs) and it was beautiful! We ate a huge dinner first with delicious red wine and then headed to the springs. There were multiple pools outdoors and you could walk through the paths from one to the next in amongst a lot of large rocks. There was also a large pool indoors as well as a pool with 100s of little fish in it that would come up and give you lots of little kisses as soon as you got in! We decided not to try it since it cost money...plus upon reflection the concept was slightly gross. After turning ourselves into prunes we headed up to the relaxing room with our matching pajama looking clothes provided in the locker room. We sat in the most comfortable chairs and had a few snacks and some hot drinks. Then it was off to bed in the most comfortable beds I have slept in here yet! It was a high class extravaganza in a five star hotel and we were back home by 11 AM Sunday morning! We were very fortunate to have this experience and thanked Julie profusely.

Snow tubing
I only have two more days of classes left and then it is off to Southeast Asia for our four weeks of vacation for Spring Festival! We are beyond excited for this and cannot wait to be in warm weather and pollution free skies. Our plan is to be in Thailand for two weeks and then go to Laos and Cambodia for a week each. It should be a very relaxing and intriguing experience!
I will be sure to tell you all about it when we get back. The best way to keep in contact while I am traveling is through email. So feel free to send a hello to ehenak@gmail.com!
Xin nian kuai le! (Happy New Year!). February 14th is the Chinese New Year and it is the year of the tiger. So if you were born in the year of the tiger you should wear red this year because it is your year and it will bring you good luck!
Posted by ehenak 5:53 AM Archived in China Comments (2)





















