Last week was quite interesting in this city. Beijing rarely gets snow-so the fact that it snowed 2 days was quite the talk of the town. Both Wed and Thurs of last week we woke up and checked the school's website to see if the mild dusting of snow was enough to cause a school delay or cancellation. Although we were all put on warning that there was a good chance it would happen-the good-old director from Minnesota could not justify an inch on the ground being reason enough to delay school. Although many of the busses were late arriving to school, once the kids arrived, the kids were in rare form. Nearly all of them had been out to play in the snow or throw snowballs by the time they had seen me at 8:15 in the morning. There were even some miniature snowmen being built-although the dry snow wasn't easily sticking together. Riley and I just smiled at the site of the workers at school using their brooms made of sticks and twigs to sweep the snow from the sidewalks. I forgot my camera both days o i wasn't able to get pictures, but it sounds like there is a chance of snow tomorrow night? i won't miss that opportunity again.
It was beautiful to see the fresh snow cover all the brown grass and bare trees-reminded us of an early snowfall back home!
Last Tuesday night we had good-old Chef Wong reserved again, so i invited 8 people who i work closely with at the middle school over for appetizers, a meal, dessert, and drinks. If you can believe it, we had 3 different a ppetizers, the main course was honeymustard chicken, beef in a red wine sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed asparagus, stir-fried peppers and for dessert we had cheesecake. All of this food fed all 10 of us well and we had a few leftovers-and the cost was 750 RMB which is about $115! We have this chef reserved once a month until summertime which will be super nice! GReat food and great company-you can't beat that!
The rest of the week was pretty typical-Riley started taking guitar lessons with two buddies on wednesday nights and he is thoroughly enjoying that. he has wanted to do that for so long and now it is finally happening. Can't imagine how he would ever have found the time to do that back in the states with all we had going on?!?!
Saturday night Riley and i went out for dinner at an Italian place downtown with a couple that we have gotten to know very well. This was Riley's first experience driving into the city-with Rob navigating-we felt pretty confident all would go well. While on our way to the restaurant, we took the airport expressway (which is like an interstate) so we were going maybe 55-60mph and were travelling in the middle of 3 or 4 lanes. All the sudden we come up on this taxi that is COMPLETELY STOPPED in the middle lane. It was boxed in and we were boxed in as well---we had a car speeding up behind us so riley couldn't veer left-and there was a huge bus to our right-so Riley did the best he could to not lock up the brakes and veer as much as he could around the taxi. I swear we were inches from hitting the taxi! It was very frightening.....that is what the drivers do here----oh there is my exit-i think i will just stop until i can get over to it or else maybe i will back up ON AN INTERSTATE HIGHWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very frustrating! that is why i only drive around here-i at least feel safe. you really have to see this driving to believe it!
Sunday was nice and relaxing. Riley and Kieran went to church while kellan and i took a morning nap after being up at 4:30 in the morning. We went to a moving sale in a nearby neighborhood where i got the last couple items i wanted to get for the baby-an infant carseat and a pack-n-play with a bassinet attachment. We also picked up a couple items of luggage since kellan will be a paid ticket going back and forth travelling so we will get 2 more suitcases. All of these items we got at unbelievable prices! We have been very lucky to have found so much gently used stuff-all the big bulk items that you need for a baby-but i think we are pretty much set now! Bring on the baby:)
We are looking forward to our college friend, Kathy Erickson, coming out to visit us in march as well as Delano's teachers and students coming to visit their sister school here in China and stopping at our school to see us and where we work. I believe 4 of the 6 students coming i have either taught or coached and the teachers I know fairly well also-so it will be great to see some familiar faces! We can't wait!
I think that is all for now-going to head off to bed. May try to call my dad and wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY before laying down....
We hope all is well for everyone!
Love
The DuBois Family
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