Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you all enjoyed yourself during this special time of the year! This Christmas was definitely like none other for Josh and I, but we still managed to enjoy ourselves a lot!
The Christmas celebrations all started with inviting our students to "Christmas Corner," a special version of the "English Corner" (which we hold once a week for the students to give them a chance to discuss American Culture, Job Interviewing techniques, and simply to practice their English communication skills). The Christmas corner turned out to be a great success. We showed them pictures of American Christmas traditions, taught them Christmas songs, and even got to read with them the Christmas Story! We all had a great time!
When it came time to Christmas Eve, none of us had any plans of how we were going to celebrate, other than hold another Christmas Corner for those students who weren't able to come to it the night before. However, disappointingly, when we arrived at the classrooms that evening all of lights were shut off and no students were to be found anywhere. So, Josh called one of his students to ask where everyone was, and she informed us that the administration had given all of the students the night off, so, of course, they were all out shopping or on dates, since they never get nights off! So it seemed like our plans were ruined, but then, once we got home, the student that Josh had called, called back to tell us that she and her friends were coming back and wanted to come to our apartment...Josh had told them not to come back from shopping, but it seemed like Christmas was something they were truly interested in. So on Christmas Eve the four of us (Josh, Dan, Amanda and I) sat around our apartment with four of Josh's students and discussed the meaning of the Christmas holiday, then Josh busted out the Wii and we introduced them to
Wii tennis and bowling, they had so much fun!!On Christmas day, Josh, Dan, Amanda and I went to a wonderful Spanish Style restaurant named Tapas for Christmas lunch. It was definitely not a traditional Christmas meal, but it was really good! We had sauteed chicken and vegetables with rice, potatoes with yummy garlic paste and a Spanish omelate. So delicious!
For Christmas dinner we invited some of our students out to dinner and then to our place for a movie and hot chocolate. None of them had ever had hot chocolate before..they were so excited to try it!! When we met them at the front gate at the university we were surprised to find about nine of our students waiting for us. When we met them they all showered us with Christmas presents: wrapped fruit, candy, and one of my students even knitted me a beautiful scarf! They are so sweet!
We went to a Sichuan food Restaurant near to the university. Sichuan food is a spicy type of Chinese food from the Sichuan province of China-- it seems pretty popular and we really enjoy the taste of it too! At the restaurant we got our own room and already the table was full of people..then to our amazement three more of my students walk in apologizing for their lateness and yelling Merry Christmas! It was a wonderful dinner! It was so comforting to realize how many of our students wished to join us for Christmas dinner and celebration! We felt very loved!
After the restaurant, we all came to our apartment and played the card game "Slap."
Josh and I taught some of the students this card game during our trip to Beijing and they haven't stopped talking about it since! Then we watched a movie, and to our surprise they chose the movie "the Sixth Sense," which was really surprising because our Chinese students seem to be extra sensitive to anything having to do with ghosts or creepy faces. Needless to say they were very afraid, but they all seemed to enjoy it in the end!
We had a great Christmas! Probably the best it could have been given our circumstance! I think the best part was enjoying this wonderful holiday with our students and seeing the enjoyment on all of their faces and hearing it in their voices when they shouted "Merry Christmas!!" One of my students even sent me a message after our celebration that said, " It's the best night since I arrived at this college. Thank you!"
Moments like this make all of the frustration, homesickness, and other trials that we have experienced on this trip all worth it! We are so blessed to have been able to have this opportunity! And we are so blessed to have all of you in our lives! Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers! We hope you have a happy New Year! We love you all!
Love, Ashley and Josh
P.S. The picture at the top of the page are our make-shift stockings. (Dan's, Amanda's, Josh's, and mine) :)
