Cora Paige

Most of you who read this blog already know about the latest sharp turn that life has taken. My little niece, Cora, was recently diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a kind of cancer. She is only 10 months old. In the few days that we have known about this disease, she has had surgery on her liver and has begun chemotherapy to try and battle this heartbreaking disease.

I flew home to America on Tuesday night and have been at the hospital ever since. I'm so grateful to people I don't even know who gave money to pay for my plane ticket. It's been so good to be here with Joel and Jess, but it's also SO difficult to watch them struggle with this and to watch Cora fight against her disease. She's so precious.

Needless to say, this is a very difficult and emotional time. It is very evident that he is with us and watching out for us, but it is also really painful. Please think of Cora, Joel and Jess, and the rest of my family during this time. Also, please check out their blog to get more complete and fact-filled updates on Cora. The address is themcclenahans.blogspot.com. 

At Semester's End

Although I've only been here a little over two months, the semester is quickly drawing to a close. In fact, I am already finished with my classes and have turned in my grades for the term. Can't believe that we're already to this point in the school year (perhaps that because I was only here for half of the semester--haha).

On Friday night, Zhou Bin, one of the officials here at Shi Yi, took us foreign teachers out to dinner at a wonderful Chinese restaurant. He also brought his sweet wife with him to eat with our team. We all had a great time talking and laughing together; they're both really wonderful and friendly people. Both Zhou Bin and his wife speak very good English, which made the conversation rather fun and relaxed.

This is Zhou Bin and his wife, Helen. 

Here is one of the many dishes at our meal. We always call it the exploding fish, but I'm not sure of it's real name. All I know is that it's delicious.

After dinner we went to the Lao She Tea House, where we saw a performance of many different Chinese arts, including a tea ceremony, Beijing Opera, Chinese acrobatics, and Kung Fu.

(Sadly, I could not take pictures during the performance)

Oh, and we also drank lots of tea there. Obviously.

P.S. This will probably be my last post until February. I'm leaving on January 7th for a month-long tour of Southeast Asia. I look forward to posting pictures from the trip when I return. Zai jian!!