...and we're back! -Nina

School has been in session for two weeks now, and our wonderfully long break already feels like it happened ages ago, since so many ridiculous things have happened in this semester already. I'll do my best to summarize everything! I apologize for the delay in posting, but it seemed wrong to give weekly updates about my break, since it wasn't exactly relevant to Yongfeng.

The Return to America

America and England are wonderful places where:

 -people are on their phones all the time

 -cheese is delicious, plentiful, and varied

 -everything is so expensive 

 -everyone is too cautious about crossing streets

 -no one quite understands what it's like to live in rural China 

 -the air is so clean

-there is so much beautiful snow

I am so lucky to have been able to see so many friends and family members in that month, and thanks to everyone who took such good care of me! Fortunately, I'm happy to be back in China for the rest of the year, but I can't wait to be back to the land of cheese in July. 

The 80 Degree Weather

Abby and I came back to Xi'an on the last night of the spring festival (which meant that we were greeted by a terrifying amount of amateur firework artists), and it turned out not to be a misnomer this year, as spring has officially come to Xi'an! We've had two beautiful weeks of weather. We even unplugged our space heaters and do not have to wear four layers of fleece pajamas to bed anymore! Our kids are still wearing their winter coats, so they were suffering a bit yesterday when it hit 80 degrees out in Yongfeng. Oh, and the peach blossoms have opened! I got a great collection from a bunch of my 4th and 6th graders this week.

Thank you Lisa, Cally, Elise, and Cadence!

The Visit

Bob, our benefactor, and his son Jeffrey, visited the school again on Monday. The kids were very excited to see their Grandpa Bob and Uncle Jeffrey again. We all scrambled to put together an assembly for them during our first week of classes. The kids did the same dances that they had last time they visited, and I had my music classes sing songs from the Sound of Music, since we watched it before break. There was a group of fourth grade girls who sang Edelweiss beautifully in English. I was so proud of them. Jeffrey, Bob's son, read The Giving Tree to a group of students in the library after lunch, which was adorable.

The Case of the Missing iPhone

Last Saturday, my iPhone was stolen. I'm generally very careful about my things, so this was a very very sneaky thief. It was on my chair, right next to me, and a lady swiped it away while pretending to walk to the bathroom, then quickly left before I noticed it was gone. The manager of the Starbucks (where it was stolen) was very nice about it, and he let me watch the security tape, and gave us two free hot chocolates, since he was pretty certain that my phone was never to be seen again, and he felt responsible. He did help me call the police, but we were all pretty sure that this would amount to nothing. They were friendly enough, but all they asked for was my Chinese name, a contact phone number (which ended up not working), and the information that my phone was a black iPhone 4S. No serial number, no ability to track it, and a fuzzy security video, which they may or may not have watched. I sadly went to buy a lame Chinese phone, slowly realizing through the day how much I rely on my iPhone, and what a bummer it was that it was gone. One of the Teach for China fellows we met over the summer said that her stuff is one of the only things that she has here in rural China, and so it really means a lot to her. I've never really felt that way until my phone was gone.

Then, on Thursday, three police officers showed up at our school, holding a black iPhone, proudly announcing that they found my phone. They couldn't find my Chinese name in their registry of foreigners (because I used my English name), but they somehow knew that I was one of those two foreign teachers who lives in Zhouzhi county. They then somehow managed to find our school. They (and our principal) escorted me to a nearby police station, where I made some official statements and stamped some things. Then, the officer who came primarily to be a photographer took our picture as another officer pretended to hand my phone over to me. They were clearly psyched to have helped this foreigner find her phone. Endless photo ops. They told me I could pick up my phone on the weekend when I'm back in Xi'an. Abby and I were incredibly skeptical about this actually being my phone. There are 8 million people in this city, with a lot of iPhones (both fake and real). And when I asked them how they found it, they went: "mumble, mumble, mumble, and then we found her, arrested her, and got your phone!" 

But then! Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, the phone I picked up today matches the serial number on my original receipt! And as soon as I put in a SIM card, my Find My iPhone app kicked in, telling me it had found my phone...in my hand! If you have any ideas as to how these police officers found my phone, please let us know. We're still flabbergasted (and very grateful!) over here. 

The Sandstorm

There was a sand/dirt storm in Xi'an today. We, unknowingly, left our windows open this morning. We came back in the afternoon to an apartment covered in black dust, and a screen that was completely ripped off due to the high winds. We spent all afternoon sweeping, mopping, and dusting, but our feet are still covered in black dust when we walk around. Our new cleaning plan is to use our feet as mops, by walking around barefoot, then washing our feet every hour or so. 

The Air Quality Index was at 1603 today. This is on a scale that ends at 500, in which anything about 300 is Hazardous.

The Cement Storm

We got new doors at Yongfeng this week. The guys who were changing the doors made absolutely no effort to protect our rooms from the dust and grime that goes along with chipping away at cement door frames with motor saws. We spent all Thursday night sweeping, mopping, and dusting, and our floors are still a mess. It's been a messy week.

The floor, after I had been working on it for a while

The arm of my chair (foreground: clean, background: covered in cement powder)

The Skincare Products

Yesterday was International Women's Day, which is actually celebrated in China, unlike in America (get with the program, guys). I heard that some schools actually got the day off to celebrate. Our principal apparently forgot to give presents to the female teachers last year (which is socially unacceptable), but he went all out this year. He got all of us a pomegranate flavored skincare routine kit. When I say all of us, I actually mean all of us, including the male teachers. How to celebrate women's day? Make everyone use women's skincare products! Oh, and they have some great Chinglish on them. 

Each box came with its own great description. I think this one was my favorite. 

Don't worry, Abby and I will be trying these out soon.