Surprise Surprise

I knew my dad was coming to visit me in China over Christmas break, but it was a complete surprise when he came in days earlier on Christmas Eve. Dad showed up as I was practicing violin before church. I have never been so shocked! So, over the next week, we hit up the major sites. Here is the Great Wall at Mutianyu.

Thanksgiving & Tom the Turkey :)

 The WHOLE gang! Such an awesome group of people :) I'll be so sad to be leaving them.

This lovely thing was used in an epic war of hide and seek. Ick. But the ladies won the battle in the end!

About a week ago I got a package from my AWESOME family. There's nothing that lifts spirits in a foreign country, like getting something from back home. My sister included this cool scratch off world map. 

 You get to scratch off a country after you visit it. How fun! I see I have a long way to go...

 So far I have China, Thailand, Vietnam...

 Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Austria, Czech Republic...

Canada, Jamaica, and good old U.S.A.

I'm blessed to have already visited this many places (especially since now I have more to scratch off my map), but now I must travel more!

 Today in art class, we studied Jackson Pollock. They boys loved him way more once they realized that THEY would get to do some crazy action painting of their own. Once they had finished the paintings, they had even more fun building a fortress around them so that no one would touch their beautiful art! There were ropes, tape, bricks, brooms, mops, and signs involved.

 This one is my favorite.

Ming Tombs with Ming

Gretl, Emily, and I went to the Ming Tombs with a new friend we made, MING! He thought it was a hoot that he shared a name with our destination. The jokes went on all day.

Here he is pretending to be dead in "his" tomb. :) He is such a friendly and talkative guy with a very kind heart.

 More pics ahead...

Halloween Party

Apparently, in China there is no rule about putting pictures of children on the internet. I was told its cool to use some. So, here is a little bit of our school's Halloween fun. 

Frida Kahlo (me) with the adorable kitty, Grace.
More Pictures ahead!!!!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Yes, our little preschool/homeschool had a good old fashioned joint pumpkin patch and apple orchard field trip a couple weeks ago. It was a fabulous day to be outside. The sun was out and shining so much. I look back on this day fondly, since now our days are brisker and cloudier. The winter is coming. I can feel it! Anyway, here are some of the delightful things that a Chinese indoor pumpkin "patch", actually a greenhouse, offers...

Oh, did I forget to say this was an Entertainment Farm!
Don't stop looking now. More good stuff is coming up.

798 Art District

Modern art, cafes, sculptures, galleries, unique shops, bars, warehouses are all part of the 798 experience. It is one of the most unexpected things that I've found and thoroughly enjoy in Beijing.

 Cozy coffee shop we warmed up in.

 Old train for artistic purposes only.

 Graffiti

 Folding chair arch

 Can you find the "person" hanging from the roof?

 There is all sorts of wacky art here!

I found this old thing down an alleyway.

More fun pictures ahead...

The SAGA of Zhongguanyun Apartment 212

 The apartment I live in is very old and ...hmmm....rustic, to put it nicely. Sometimes I have some other choice words for it, but most of the time it is just fine. I don't mind not having the nicest place on the block, but i do mind when things don't work. I mean that every day it is a gamble whether the water will come out of the faucet or not. Most of the time it works, but at least once a day it stops for an hour or two and it is never the same time each day...

(more pics and drama)

The Cave

 For the tail end of our National Holiday, a group of us went to explore the outskirts of Beijing. Long story short, we couldn't get to the village we wanted to, but we DID end up in the best cave I've ever been in!

 We were literally the only visitors in this cave, there was a river ride included in the cave tour, and finally and most importantly.....no bats for me!!!! It was great.

Risky Business

 Heather and Brock wanted an outside park wedding in China. Having any gathering larger than 15 people is illegal in China. Having an outdoor worship service also seemed risky. On top of that, we could have gotten a ticket from the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan), for not "renting" the park for an event. However, everyone pulled off the wedding and it was wonderful. All the obstacles were cleared and it was well worth it. God's Blessings to the happy couple!

This is the pagoda where the service took place. A lot of American friends, Chinese friends, and random onlookers watched.

Heather was a gorgeous bride and also the most relaxed bride I've ever seen.

Me, Megan, Becca, and Hillary at the reception.

Old Dragon Head (Laolongtou)

 This (for me) is the coolest part of the Great Wall. Here is where it meets the sea. I love standing on the wall looking out over the water. So sweet.

Becca, me, Megan

False Advertising...

 This often happens in China. You can never fully know what to expect in a hotel. I had made a reservation ahead of time. The deal was for a hotel that seemed pretty nice. The Jin Hai Hotel listed a lot of nice amenities and seemed like a great catch, since the room was also such a steal. Once we arrived, we realized it was a steal, because of its crappy condition. The rooms like these were not attached to the nice hotel. When we got to the reception desk the first day, they called someone else to bring us around back to the 2nd "motel" version of the Jin Hai hotel. So, it wasn't quite the luxurious pad we were hoping for. We survived though and still had fun!

 Nothing seemed clean. That was the huge joke. Cob webs and sticky dirt and stains covered the place.

 This doesn't look to bad, right? This part photographs pretty well, but then you look closer...

Just a train ride away...

 National Day for the People's Republic of China means a nice 10 vacation. Becca, Emily, Megan, and I just had 4 days to go somewhere, since we had to be back in Beijing soon for the Brock/Heather wedding extravaganza. The only place close by with train tickets still available on such short notice was Beidaihe. Its a coastal tourist town in Northern China. Its famous for government dignitaries and China's Russian neighbors visiting its beaches and enjoying fresh seafood! So, we hopped on a one of China's finest fast trains and off we were. In two hours we arrived...

 There is no where else I'd rather be than the beach. Even despite the chilly fall weather, the beach provided the perfect quickie getaway.

Sometimes, it was even warm enough to shed a few layers (only for us Americans though, the Chinese were bundled up from head to toe).

Water + The Word

 Last night, I got the opportunity to "wash" someone for the first time in my life. One of my Chinese friends who had been studying the B*ble for a while wanted to be "washed" and we did it right in the apartment where we have weekly B*ble studies.

 What sticks so vividly in my memory, is how moved to tears she was the second that the water hit her head and I began to say, "in the name of the F*ther, and of the S*n, and of the H*ly Sp*rit".

 G*d is awesome.

This got me thinking of my own "washing", done when I was a baby.

Beijing Bachelorette Party

 This is my friend Heather. She is a soon-to-be-bride. She works for Friends of China and I actually went to the same college as her, but now I get the privilege to get to know her better while in China. And....we all threw her a bachelorette part!

 The festivities included gifts like these sexy things. These undies ARE in fact meant for and worn by tiny old Chinese ladies and YES they are HUGE! But don't worry, she got better gifts too. We'll keep those a secret though ;)

 Brock's Bride. Just to be clear.

This was the gang at the end of the night for our last activity of scavenger hunting through the local club/bar scene in Wudaokou. Items to obtain included: a lock of a man's chest hair, a song sung for the bride, a man who speaks a language other than English or Chinese, a temporary tattoo for the bride, and oh so many more.