Keeping Warm

Three years ago, I don't think I would have enjoyed drinking this.

I was never much of a tea person before, but I am now. 

Green, black, or this stuff, which is pretty much flowers--it's all called tea.

Cool, huh?

Straight coffee is still my drink of choice, but this stuff's pretty good too.

With all the grading I have to do and the cold weather outside, I've been consuming a lot of hot drinks. It's nice to change things up once in a while.

Have a Happy New Year's Eve!

Christmas

 Christmas in Beijing comes and goes pretty fast it seems, but it never does without lots of celebration. 

Here's a look at Christmas 2011.

 Christmas brunch. 

 opening gifts.

Post-gift picture. 

It has become a tradition to take a group picture with as many of our presents as possible. :)

 On Christmas night, we went out to look at lights. Aren't they awesome?

 Running into a good friend in a city of millions is always a nice surprise. It was an unexpected Christmas present to see my student/good friend while we were out.

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And this morning...I had the day off. Another blessing. 

I stayed at home, made cinnamon rolls, called my family, and pretended that Christmas wasn't over.

It's been a good celebration. 

Merry Christmas, again. :)

Christmas Catch-up

During this whirlwind that we call December, I have failed to take very many pictures. 

In terms of traffic, the Christmas rush seems to happen a lot around here. :)

 ...and in terms of people.

 I took these all the other day when I was doing a little Christmas shopping. 

a shopping respite.

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Last weekend we had a Christmas lunch party for some of our students. We ate, played games, talked about Christmas, gave gifts, and everyone decorated cookies to take home. Overall a success. (Judging from the fact that the first kids showed up at 11:20 AM and the last left at 5:45 PM, I think they had a good time!) 

Here are a few pictures:

 white elephant gifts.

iPhone party.

Merry Christmas!

That's all for now. Gotta go to class. Peace.

初雪

Our first snow of the season wasn't much, but it was still snow. :)

Between my classes yesterday I went out and took a few pictures. Most people wouldn't go out and take pictures after an inch of snow fell, but I was pretty excited.

 Clean-up duty.

 These guys were putting up lights for the new year. I pretended they were actually decorating for Christmas.

This is my feet. And my reflection in the already melting snow. :)

a little basketball

Last Saturday I had the chance to volunteer to photograph at a basketball tournament.

The event was put on by an organization that works to help underprivileged kids, and this particular tournament was for elementary-aged girls who go to migrant schools. 

In case you're wondering, a migrant school is for children of migrant workers. Usually these schools are very poor, and the students rarely have opportunities like this to play sports, etc. It was awesome to watch these kids have so much fun, and to see others helping to make a difference in their lives.

The event lasted about 3 or 4 hours, but in that time I think I took more than 600 pictures. :)

I don't think they could have been more proud of their trophy.