Happy 3-Month Anniversary!

I feel that I have been doing a pretty good job of keeping everyone in the states updated on my life here in Xi'an with colorful pictures and exciting stories. Unfortunately, this blog will not contain such luxuries because our school's quarter just ended and I have a serious pile of papers to grade (and because this week was rather dull). Plus, I figure I'll reward myself by using this much easier to produce layout. What follows are the highlights of my week in bullet form; efficient and neat.

*English Corner: This is the second week I've attended English Corner. On Tuesdays, our staff takes an approximately 15 minute car ride to a nearby university to speak English with some of the students there. Because there are some many students and so few English speakers, there is normally a crowd of 15-30 students around each teacher. It is so much fun and the students are very excited to practice with us. I love the atmosphere and hope to return often.

*Sick, again: It has been 3 months since I arrived in Beijing for the Olympics and I've only been sick twice; I consider that a victory. None-the-less, I was incredibly disappointed and irritated to be sick this weekend and I spent most of it sleeping or visiting the toilet. Lovely, I know.

*Cell Phone Down: In my attempt to be productive while stuck in my apartment this weekend, I did some laundry. Unfortunately, in my ill state of mind, I threw my cell phone in the washing machine. Pretty lame. I have been having a bad run with these electronics.

Here is a great quote from one of my students about the recent elections I forgot to include last week while I was watching the coverage on my computer. We've been learning about cells in class and in response to one clip about Barak Obama my student stated: "Why do they care about black and white? They are just dead cells." Well put Tommy, well put.

Thanks for reading

(O.K., so I had to put one picture in! Cari snapped this when I fell asleep at a nearby cafe after drinking some of the best Hot Chocolate I've ever had. Let's just say if the Hot Chocolate got me sick, I'll just have to learn to live being sick.)