Holidays of Weeks Past

Although I don't have many new enticing tales about my life abroad, a few fun events have happened in the past weeks.  Midterms just passed and I spent a week of my life invigilating exams and marking stacks of papers to get my grades organized in time for report cards.  It was enough to give me a disgusting Chinese flu, leaving me in bed for about three days.  However, I did have some good times - that are worthy of an update before the nasty illness befell me!

Halloween is a big deal here at Maple Leaf.   I think this is simply because it is cheap and easy to get costumes made from scratch.  There is no need to scrounge together a last minute costume from the remains of your closet, and what has gone on sale at Value Village.  You can simply take a photo to the seamstress, and she will whip a beautiful new costume up in about a week's time.

Snap! Crackle! Pop! (aka Me, Sara, Morgan)

We also force the kids to celebrate our holiday with us, and so we held  a giant Halloween dance event.  It was hilarious to chaperone, because it is one of the few opportunities the boys and girls have to mingle with one another.  They had elaborate costumes, and danced the night away together (after some initial awkwardness).  We even had fireworks and shooting flames up on the stage!

An interesting take on Snow White

Our staff party was not quite the affair, but it was a great chance to see a ton of great costumes.  Everyone was very creative, and it was fun to see what everyone had come up with.

So China!  Bruce Li about to be attacked by a Panda

I also have a few shots from my small birthday dinner last week, however most of them were not quality shots.  It was a delicious meal and a great break from constant marking!  I was spoiled by my friends here.  I had four cakes the week of my birthday!  Four!  It is no wonder why I was so sick this weekend.

Demolished dinner

Cake time!

To wrap up birthday week, Meg and I headed into town for a bit of shopping and a pedicure.  We bought sparkly tights lined with fleece that I am oh so excited to bust out soon.  Why live in a place like China if you can't indulge in their fashion?  I wanted to buy a giant sweater that had a dog wearing sparkly glasses and a lace covered sweater...but even the salespeople laughed at me for that one.