Leaving on a jet plane...

Actually, that is a lie. Today I am leaving on a train ride. I am going to Xi'An (which is where the terracotta soldiers are) and to HuaShan (which is a mountain). To save money we tried to get train tickets b/c they are like 25-40 bucks each way instead of $150 each way (huge savings). To get train tickets it is absolutely nutty. The day they go on sale, which is ten days before departure, you have to go to where they sell them and hope to get tickets. Well, a friend went at 8:30 am the day tickets went on sale and they were already sold out. Anyways, some other friends needed to get tickets so I went down with them to try to get them for another day. After waiting in line for an hour and a half one of my friends learned there were no tickets to Beijing left and for Xi'An they only had one train and one type of seat, but I took it (sort of out of stubbornness and pride since I had been waiting in line so freaking long). Well, I found out that the train I am on is the slow train, meaning it takes about 20 hours to get to where we are going AND our seats are the "hard seats". Apparently it basically is a bench you can sit on and those without tickets sit all over the floor b/c there are standing room only tickets. Needless to say it will be an adventure for sure. I don't think I will get to sleep much, but hopefully I will. Part of me is excited b/c I know I will see some interesting things over the next 24 hours, but part of me is thinking, "What the heck did I get myself into?" It shall be an experience to say the least.

God bless the squattie

Squatties are probably one of the main things I will NOT miss in China. For some reason they think it is better to basically but in hole in the ground for a toilet instead of having a "western" toilet. Usually they are pretty dirty, but when it's all ya got you don't really have a choice. Here is a clean one and Janai and I demonstrate the right and wrong way to use one.

Teacher Trip

This past weekend the Kindergarten teachers (Chinese and English) went on a weekend trip. In two days we went to 4 different places. While we were on a bus for a long time it was fun. It was cool to be able to hang out with the Chinese teachers and also good to get out of Shanghai. One day we went to some mountain and hiked up it. It was jammed pack full of people (like everywhere in China) but it was good to get out of the city and actually see the color green. The second day we went to Hangzhou. I had been there before, but it is good fun and really beautiful, except that it rained, ok it poured the whole time we were there. We bought these crappy umbrellas that didn't cover much and got soaked. However, after awhile I stopped caring about getting wet and jumped in puddles and played a little in the rain. All in all it was a fun weekend with fun people.

Behind the scenes...

For Eater the Kindergarten teachers put on an Easter play for the kids. I was surprised at how well the play went and the kids seemed to enjoy it. It was a combo of the story of the resurrection with mainstream parts like the Easter Bunny, chicks, and eggs. We filmed the play (I don't have that yet) and Chris filmed some behind the scenes footage of before the play. Check it out! Oh, I play the part of SPring Chicken #1.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kxcr2ukgDlE

Playtime

Today was one of those unusual days where it was actually warm and sunny. I have learned to fully appreciate these days in Shanghai because unlike San Diego, they are not too common. Well, supposedly as Spring approaches the weather will get nicer, but needless to say today was gorgeous. I decided that I would go out for a run this morning and put my running stuff on and headed out. As I walked by the playground about to start my run I saw two of my kids and said hello. What was meant to be a quick "hello" ended up with me playing soccer with them. It was so much fun kicking and running and just playing. Soon another one of my boys cam and I played with the three of them. Since the Living Quarters is for employees many of my students live here. As I was playing more and more kids came out. Some were my students and some were not but they just knew me from around school. I wasn't quite sure what the parents of my kids thought about me chasing and running and throwing their kids since i am their teacher, but no one seemed to mine. I ended up just playing for over two hours.

I forgot about how much fun it is to be a kid. To have no worries and to be able to run and fall and get up again. To be able to laugh and smile and just enjoy life. I am not sure who had more fun, the kids or myself? I never did get to my run because by the time I left the kids it was time for lunch and I was hungry. But playing was so great. I wish I could play like that with my kids everyday, but at school I do have to teach them, so everyday can't be a play day, but I do love the time I can play with them, at school and out of school.