Recent updates -- Abby

Things have been going well recently at Yongfeng!  After some tense drama with our contractor about the new doors (he decided we should get doors that had a space for a window and didn't want to install glass in them, leaving us with bedroom doors that were completely open to the outside) and the Week of Dust that followed, construction at the school is finally over and we can stop worrying about what dangerous tool the sixth grade boys will get their hands on next. 

Yay construction!

Nina enjoys a leisurely lunch

Our principal starts off every teacher's meeting by saying, "Safety first!"  And then things like this happen.

Back in Xi'an, our elevator got some nice new stickers, though it continues to be terrifying.  But no mishaps yet!

I'll admit it, I am guilty of occasionally pushing buttons randomly.  But I never play or jump because I am certain that our elevator cannot handle that.

 Nina and I have gotten much more efficient at getting our school work and errands done and we actually do fun things on the weekend sometimes!  Last semester was great, but it was also very stressful and there were so many things to figure out from scratch.  This semester we continue to be incredibly busy, but I've also been feeling much more relaxed and on top of things.  The weather has been beautiful (if you ignore the pollution and sand storms),  and we have been exploring new neighborhoods in Xi'an on the weekends.

blue sky!  so rare here!

We went to a park with our driver and his family last week.  His eight year old son insisted on taking this picture of Nina.

 And best of all, spring has come to Yongfeng!  The mountain behind school is green and the flowers are blooming.  During the winter we spent a lot of time shut in on campus, but now that it's warmer we've been going for more hikes and walks through the village.

Flowers from the fourth and fifth graders

 This past week, our village had its temple fair.  This is a yearly thing, and meant that our village filled with vendors selling agricultural tools, seeds, clothes, fake flowers, toys, and street food.  They also set up tents in the square next to our school with arcade games and a huge stage where there were opera performances. 

The opera stage

Thursday night was the first night of performances, and some of our students who live in the village took us to the fair.  We climbed up to the temple up the mountain from our school, browsed through the vendors, and eventually watched the opera together.  It was a little weird to see so many people out in our village, but it was fun interacting with our students in such a low key setting.  They gave us a very silly tour and kept sneaking behind stage (also under the stage, and in the case of one particularly mischievous first grader, onto the stage in the middle of a performance) to watch the performers putting on their stage makeup.  A group of sixth grade girls bought Nina and I matching tiaras and rings to wear.  Needless to say, we felt very glamorous.

How beautiful!

By Friday morning, the temple fair was in full swing.  The temple was broadcasting music, the opera singers were performing again, and the streets were full of people and motorbikes.  My fifth graders somehow managed to learn the sentence structure, "I like summer, because it is hot and I can swim in the sea" despite the temple music, cymbals, and extremely high pitched singing being broadcast all around us.  They're troopers! 

It's hard to believe we've been back for over a month.  This semester is flying by!