A Delinquent Blogger's Update + Thanksgiving

So it has been quite awhile since I updated my blog and I am so glad that time has been afforded me to sit down and write to all of you about everything that has been happening over here for the last month. I have to admit that it was a very busy month and that almost all moments of relaxation we spent doing mindless tasks and/or staring off into space. Nonetheless, I am going to slowly but surely begin catching all of you back up. I am hoping that it might take a few blogs that way all of you who kept on checking and finding nothing new will actually be excited to find something new once again :) .

Thanksgiving

Well, shortly after I posted my last entry about coffee we quickly headed into the great season of Thanksgiving. Everything was hectic, but our team - especially our girls - managed to make an amazing dinner with what seemed like very little time to do everything since we were all still putting together lessons and grading mid-terms. We invited as many of our fellow Chinese colleagues over as possible and had a great time eating together. It was one of the few times that the cultural challenges actually were swapped from us to the Chinese as they tried to figure out how to use a fork and knife. They were slightly confused on where exactly to begin since we set it up buffet style and encouraged them to go first since they were our guests. However, once they started eating they moved about with greater ease, but it was still funny watching each newcomer try to figure out how to eat. In fact, our friend Stephen at mashed potatoes and gravy with chopsticks (to your left).

Our Filipino and Japanese friends came over too, which was fun since they drink coffee with Shannon and I at work. Here is a picture of them too. Takao and Tomoka always love to drink the coffee that I make in the office and it brings me joy to do so for them. Takao is an older gentlemen who often talks to me in broken Chinese and English. Ern and Christina are a married couple from the Philippians and teach both at the new and old campus. Ern has taken us out to eat a couple times and is rather hilarious, although he sometimes has some questionable humor and then I have to remind him that I am a minor.

(Left to Right: Christina, Ern, Me, Takao, Jodi, Tomoka, and Laura)

( Left to right: Billy, Mr. Lee, and Amy).
Our friends from the Foreign Affairs also came over and it is also kind of funny when they come since it is an odd bunch to be honest. Billy is kind of like our Boss and has a very interesting if not questionable sense of humor and just does things that you wouldn't necessarily expect. Mr. Lee is our driver and pretty much awesome, although he doesn't really speak any English. However, there is some great suspicion that he might know more than he is letting on to (lol). And lastly, there is Amy who is a recent graduate of Blue Sky University herself and sligtly younger than me.
They all make sure that our lives here run smoothly as possilbe, but it is funny to think that they all sit together in the office during the day working together.

I figure I would leave off this blog with a group picture that we took together with all the Chinese teachers for you.