Sports Day

Today was Sports Day for most of my students, which meant they had no classes and got to spend the entire day outside running races and playing other sports. It was a ton of fun. I took lots of pictures and tried to pick out some of the better ones. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day, more of people than of events. The best part of the whole experience was being able to hang out with all the kids all day long. I think they enjoyed the break from school work.

This is Darren, and his awesome camera.
I told him it was way cooler than mine, because it is.

Along with relay races, here are some other essentials of a good sports day:

three-legged races...

...tug of war...

...and arm wrestling.
This is ABC, a funny and athletic student who makes me laugh in every class, despite his limited English ability. Many of my stories involve this kid. He's hilarious, and pretty good at arm wrestling too.

This is David and Henry. They're funny too.

Nowitzki and Arthur.

David and Jack, rockin' the three-legged race.

Miss Korkosz and Sapphire.

Tony and Andy.
Also note my new favorite T-shirt from Wal-Mart. It says "two hand touch basketball."

Some more of my favorites.

Qingdao

The students took their midterm exams this week, which meant that there were no Oral English classes for us to teach for most of the week. Three of us were off from Monday through Thursday, so we decided to take a little trip to some other cities in China. My favorite stop was Qingdao, a city on the Yellow Sea.

Qingdao at sunset. The city, which used to be controlled by Germany, has a very different feel to it than other cities in China.

A sight I'm not used to seeing.

Did I mention that it's a seaside city?

It was a great couple of days.

a gift from above

I'm an uncle again!

This actually happened while I was sleeping, but I needed to put it on here anyway :).

On Tuesday, April 21, Olivia and Bill (my sister and brother-in-law), welcomed their second daughter into this world. Her name is Esther Marie, and she is precious.

The proud parents.

The proud big sister. :-)

I can't wait for the end of June.

Easter

The past few weeks at Shi Yi we have done a lot to celebrate Easter. In many of our classes we shared about the holiday, and this past Tuesday we had a school-wide Easter Egg hunt where around 600 eggs were hidden around campus for the students to find. We sneaked out at around 11:00 PM on Monday to hide all the eggs, and the next day it was great fun to watch the kids get so excited about finding them. We even hid a golden egg that was redeemable for 100 yuan (Chinese currency).

When the students found the eggs they could bring them into the office to redeem them for prizes and candy. It was great to meet and get to know many more students through this event.

We also had two English clubs this week which had an Easter theme as well. Here are some pictures from the senior club today:

I think I hid more Easter Eggs this week than I have in my entire life. :-)

the mad dash for the Easter Eggs.

getting prizes.

just hanging out.

Yuyuantan Park

Bear with me as I post more pictures of flowers. Springtime here has really been beautiful, and on Saturday I went and enjoyed one of the larger parks in Beijing, which also boasts some beautiful spring blossoms. Many other Chinese were also there enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery, so I was able to get many pictures of people as well. Most of those pictures will have to wait until another time I guess, but for now, you can check these out:

Tulips.

Cherry blossoms.

And if there weren't enough flowers, they were selling fake ones for you to wear on your head. :-)

water break.

more flowers.

生日快乐

Monday, April 6, was my 24th birthday, and also my first birthday in China.

A while back, I was at my student's home and we were talking about birthdays. His family found out that mine was on April 6, and the next time I went to their home, they told me that they remembered that and wanted to have me over on my birthday.

The 6th was also a Chinese holiday called Qing Ming, or Tomb Sweeping Day. We didn't celebrate that, BUT, we did all get the day off. :-) So, I got to go for lunch to celebrate my birthday with my student and his parents. They're such great people. They fixed a big meal, and even bought a birthday cake for me.

My birthday cake! 2 candles for 20, and 4 for 4. They even sang to me in Chinese.

This is me looking ridiculous in my birthday crown.
(they made me wear it.)
I can't even believe I'm putting this on the worldwide web.

In the afternoon we went to the Botanical Gardens of Beijing. The weather here has been superb, and so it was a great day to be outside and enjoy the weather and the coming of spring.

I've never had allergies in my life, but I've been sneezing ever since this day...

It was a good birthday indeed. The only thing that would have made it better would be to have been able to celebrate with my sister Olivia, who shares the same special day. One of these years we're going to have another party together, just like the old times.

Spring Has Sprung

Spring is HERE, and I'm so glad.

Trees budding...

...and blossoming...

I'm so glad the seasons change...because it helps me to know that He doesn't.