Thanksgiving in China

I'm sure you're all dying to know what Thanksgiving was like here in China, so here you go!

Thanksgiving

First, I had to constantly remind myself that Thanksgiving was taking place on Thursday. There were no decorations and I didn't even get a day of school off! None-the-less, it turned out to be a great day! After school on Thursday, I went to my Chinese class, business as usual. After that, I made a trip to Carrie Jones's (yes, a different Carrie- there are 3) house to have Thanksgiving dinner.

I was a little hesitant at how well one could pull off a Thanksgiving dinner with the limited supplies here in China, but it was spectacular! The food was so good and Carrie invited over all the teachers so it felt like a large family atmosphere. My favorite part- Carrie bought a bunch of 'to-go' containers so I was able to enjoy Thanksgiving the following days as well (just like at home!). I also had the honor of cutting the Turkey. Not sure why, but I gladly accepted!

My Thanksgiving meal was great- but then I had to watch my family celebrating the next morning while I was at school. I was a little bummed I missed out- you all looked like you were having a great time! Thanks for letting me call and be a part and we'll have to make up for my absence next year! It was definitely a different but wonderful experience having Turkey in China! If you ever wanted to know some of the people I work with, check out the photo album!

Amazing Race!

After growing tired of waiting for help, I decided to just dive in and get my computer fixed on my own! I used the internet to make a vocabulary sheet with some of the specific words I would need (motherboard, hard drive, drop, broken... seriously, that's what it was). Then, I embarked on a journey! Cari tagged along, so it felt like the show The Amazing Race. We started at a huge Technology Market (see "A" on map below). It has four floors packed with little stores that sell laptops, video games, cell phones, computers- All things electronic! After talking to an HP booth, I was given a number for a HP service store in Xi'an.

After a couple more stops and some broken Chinese, I managed to get an address. Then, using my Xi'an Map, I found where the HP service store was (see "B" on map below). Since it wasn't that far, Cari and I walked to the address. At the store, a man looked at my computer and ran some tests. He told me that they could fix the computer, but it would be much more inexpensive for me to go to an electronic market to have it done cheaper. He gave me 2 characters that were the name of some place. Cari and I flagged down a taxi only to have it take us back to the same block we were on earlier (see "C" on map below)! This time, we found the "Computer Doctor" (电脑医生，literally!) and I left my laptop there for the evening.

(Click on picture to zoom)

18 hours later and two phone calls I barely understood, my computer was FIXED!!!! Hurray! It was quiet an adventure!

MY FIRST VISITOR (that's not a dog...)!!!

My brother TJ is currently spending the night in the Beijing Airport as I type! He will be arriving at my school tomorrow at 10 am! I am very, very, VERY excited! Be sure to check-in next week to hear how TJ's first week in China is going!

Thanks for reading!



(This is the new scarf I talked about in my last blog that my students made me!)