It's a New Year

I'm sorry it's been a while since my last update. The week of New Year was a little crazy. There was a really long night out with some of the Chinese teachers and some really cold temperatures and some pretty awesome ice sculptures.

On the 29th of December, I was fortunate enough to be given a ticket to the Harbin Ice and Snow world festival. If you know me, you know that I do not like the cold at all. But I went to the festival anyway. It was pretty amazing.

This is the view from the top of the ice castle.

On New Year's eve, some of the Chinese staff took me out for dinner and we had hot pot, which is really fun and I wish we had something like it back home.

This is a hot pot meal. The dish in the center boils and you add meat and veggies and all kinds of other stuff to cook. 

After We finished our meal, we went to KTV, (that's a karaoke place where you have a private room) and it was a total blast. We were there for about 6 hours or so. It was a very long night but so much fun. And not a single drop of alcohol was to be had.

And finally, the newest thing to add to my experience here in China is the fact that I am now taking Chinese language speaking classes. It's very exciting to be learning a new language in a way where I will actually be able to use it and practice in my everyday life. Right now I only have 5 classes under my belt, so I'm still not very good, but I will get better as time goes on. I'm taking the class with two of the Foreign teachers here. It's a great opportunity, not that I think I'll become fluent any time soon, but just knowing enough to make my life easier will be realy helpful.

Well, that's just about all the news I have for now. See you next time!