For most of our friends on Gail's mailing list this will be a rerun except with photos! For those who are new or just stopping by I want to balance things out with some words from my better half. We have been living and working in China since August 2007 and about every 6 weeks Gail puts out a great email update. Here is the last one...(let's hope the new one comes out soon)
Happy New Year from Gail and Rocco!! January 7, 2009
Wow—is it possible that 2009 is here?I hope this finds all of you happy and healthy and prepared to take on a new year….I can assure you that we are!
ROCCO’S BIG AWARD!!
The most exciting news to tell is that right after I sent the last letter, Rocco was awarded a huge honor and chosen as “Most Qualified Teacher”.Not a big surprise to us as we are all aware that he is a spectacular teacher, but to be recognized and chosen among so many other teachers…well we felt this was a great honor.Our families were completely thrilled and we all feel this is just more of what is to come!!Go Rocco!!
Around the end of October, Rocco and I traveled with our good friend and colleague, David, to Shanghai .Shanghai is about a 2 hour plane ride north of us.I am not sure if it is the largest city in China or the second largest, but that is precisely it—big and very modern.As much as I adore China , I wasn’t that impressed with Shanghai .It reminded me of a Chicago or a New York because it was so modern—and fast paced.I think I discovered that I am more of a small-town girl.It was on our list of places we wanted to see, and I am glad we went.I will have to admit the architecture was amazing, but I don’t know if it is a place I would go to again.We did meet up with a friend of ours, a guy we met while traveling in Hainan, and we had a wonderful meal with him. He showed us a little bit more of the city and we ended the evening with a relaxing foot massage.
MORE HONG KONG
The following weekend we were in Hong Kong again.We have found ourselves traveling there quite a bit.It is just a 2 hour train ride and like another world from mainland China .We traveled this time with our good friend Lynette, one of our students, and her mom.We took Lynette with us to Hong Kong one other time, but her mom had never been. It was fun to take her places and watch her eyes light up in amazement.When you have lived in mainland China all your life, and take a weekend trip to Hong Kong , (which Rocco likes to call “China Lite”) it really is a wonder.Lynette’s English is perfect, but her mom only speaks Cantonese, so Lynette was busy translating for us the whole time.We walked all over, rode the public transportation, ate, shopped and enjoyed ourselves immensely!!
OUR FIRST CHINESE WEDDING
Our next trip was to a town about 4 hours north of us, Shaoguan.This was special for 2 reasons, one, a new place for us to visit, and two, we were invited to our first Chinese wedding.Those of you that know me know what a lover I am of weddings, and I had wanted to go to a Chinese wedding since the day I arrived in China.The groom, Frankie, is a good friend of ours, and the assistant at the University that takes care of all of us foreign teachers.Needless to say, we would be in a world of hurt without him, so we have grown very close to him and appreciate how his efforts keep us safe and happy and as adjusted as best we can be. There were about 10 of us that went both foreign teachers and some of the Chinese teachers and staff.The wedding was on Saturday evening, and the school arranged for us to take a trip to view the countryside during the daytime.We went to a place called Mount Danxia that is famous for it’s mountains and rock formations—some of you may have seen pictures of this on the net, but perhaps not realized exactly WHERE it was, and let me assure you—it is hard to visit this place and not believe that Mother Nature has a sense of humor!!The most famous place is called something like “male sex organ rock”.If you want, you can take a look at my pictures on face book—it’s quite amazing and very funny too! Apparently somewhere else there is a formation that resembles the female version as well, but we didn’t have time to see that.After our walk, we decided to take a boat ride and view some more of this amazing scenery.It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time just loving and enjoying more of China.
The wedding was a little different from how we celebrate….the bride and groom actually had already gotten married, and this was the formal banquet where EVERYONE—all the friends and family are invited.We had a many course delicious meal, while lots of toasting and hugs were shared between the guests and the families.When we arrived, Frankie’s wife was in a beautiful traditional western wedding dress—(now remember when I say western I mean what WE would traditionally wear in the states….not western like the wild wild west.)About half way through the dinner, she went and changed to the traditional Chinese dress, the Qipao. (chee-pow)Needless to say, she looked fabulous in both dresses.It was so much fun, and as I have told you how much us westerns stand out—we were just as popular at the festivities as the bride and groom…well, almost!After the dinner was over, that was the end of the celebration and we walked back to our hotel.
The next day we traveled to a beautiful old temple called NanHuaTemple.It is a famous Buddhist site and it is closet to 1500 old.I loved Shaoguan.They call it a “middle city” and this means a town smaller then our city, Guangzhou, but not a tiny town.It was very scenic and the people were lovely as well.I hope we can go back again.
School finished for me on December 23, and Rocco is almost finished—just a few more days.Rocco encouraged and arranged for me to travel to the states to celebrate the holidays.I got a ticket and left on Christmas Day in China, and because of the time change, I arrived Christmas morning around 7 am.The weather in Portland had been snowy and stormy all week, and several flights from Tokyo had been canceled, but there was a small window of decent weather and I came all the way with no troubles.It was amazing to land in Portland and see all the snow—we might get snow in Portland, but it never lasts—but there was still a LOT of snow on the ground and amazingly enough, it snowed almost all day!!I can’t tell you the last time we had a white Christmas or that it snowed on Christmas Day!!Something I will always remember.My sister Amy and her husband and the kids had spent the night at mom and dad’s so the kids were up and ready to begin Christmas as soon as I walked through the door.We opened presents and then dad made his famous homemade waffles. Mmmmmmmmm…..I sure do miss home-cooked food!!
I will be in the states for a couple more weeks…my sister Wendy will visit and we will have an early celebration of her 40th birthday.We are looking forward to that.
Rocco is holding down the fort and staying busy with his other projects.He is doing a lot of teaching on the side—we like to say he has many irons in the fire.He has a 10 day English Winter Camp coming up and this year he is in charge of the hiring and training of all the teachers.He has kind of broadened his teaching horizons to include something of a new thing in China —teacher training, aptly called, Professional Development.Rocco says the opportunity of teaching is really kicked up a notch when the influence goes from teaching the student, to teaching the TEACHERS that teach the students.Rocco is very good at it and everyone responds so well to him.Lately, it just seems that everything that Rocco does just turns to gold.He has really made a place for himself and is very well respected.I just am so happy for him and admire his accomplishments.It is so nice to hear everyone say such wonderful things about my husband!
CHINESE NEW YEAR
Chinese New Year is January 26th this year and we are heading into the year of the Ox.The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. Good sign I think—hopefully of things to come for all of us and especially for the USA !!
School will begin for us again around the end of February.
Wishing all of you the very best for 2009!!
We LOVE hearing from you and feel free to send us letters (and packages! Ha-Ha) to the address below:(don’t worry about adding the Chinese characters, but this is easy to cut and paste if need be….)
What a lovely letter! Congrats on the award Rocco!
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