Got Me Smiling

Well, I'm back from my travels and so thankful for all that I was able to do and experience (and eat!) during my 5 weeks of travel.  Right now I'll just talk about Thailand and then do a separate entry for my amazing trip to Northeast India.  Thailand was exactly what I needed after a Chongqing winter and hectic end of the semester. My first two weeks in Thailand were spent at the beach with friends and time spent lingering in cafes, lounging on the beach, devouring books, and sampling a multitude of ehtnic cuisines was refreshing to the point of transforming.  When I saw my teammates at our conference in Chiang Mai they hardly recognized me as I was glowing with a kickin' tan and the joy that comes from being totally relaxed.  Now if only I could bottle that and keep a supply in Chongqing. 

 

The rest of my time in Thailand was spent at ELIC conference which was a great time of spiritual refreshing (nice that my inside was catching up with my outside).  In addition to great messages, corporate worship, reports from the work in other countries, and a renewal of the vision for being in Asia, I also got to catch up with lots of friends.  Seeing friends serving with ELIC in other parts of Asia was definitely a treat, but I was also fortunate to get to see some friends from home who were helping with other conferences as well as former teammates working in Thailand.  Spending time with people who have known me for years rather than 6 months was a major blessing.  The inside jokes, the reminiscing, the ability to share deep things- those were all benefits of seeing old friends. 

Christmas Greetings from Chongqing!  I can't believe it's already time to celebrate a new year.  ANd I can't believe how bad I am at blogging these days.  Life has gotten quite busy here in China, so there's lots going on to keep me busy.  I had a really enjoyable Christmas here in Chongqing this year.  The week before was filled with parties and fun activities with students.  There was cookie decorating, trips to buffets with the Foreign Affairs Office, a party we threw for the other English teachers, taking friends out to dinner, making ornaments with students...  Lots and lots going on.  The weekend before Christmas a good friend flew in to spend the weekend.  She's part of my "China family", so it was great to just relax and unwind a bit.  Plus, we did a little Christmas splurging- we tried out the breakfast buffet at the Marriott in town and went to the spa at another hotel for massages ($20 for 45 min plus you get to use the sauna and hot tub!). 

 

We had to work Christmas Eve day, but our team enjoyed a nice dinner together before going to the Christmas Eve service.  While the service involved more performances than I was accostumed to (5 years old doing dance routines to Jingle Bells), it was still fun and festive.  There were many people there including some of our students, and they all got to hear a message of truth, so that was great.  On Christmas Day the whole team came over to my house to exchange gifts and have a big breakfast buffet.  We spent the afternoon playing Settlers of Catan and watching a Christmas Story (classic).  I did have to grade some papers that evening in order to be ready for my 8am class the next day.  It was a great holiday, though, spent with fun people. 

 

The next few weeks are crazy busy as the semester finishes.  I need to give finals and turn in all my grades by Jan 11 (with a 3-day holiday for New Year thrown into the mix), so there will be hours upon hours of frenzied grading yet to come.  However, the light at the end of the tunnel is a trip to Thailand.  I leave Jan 14 for 5 weeks of traveling through Thailand, India, and SW China.  I'm really looking forward to it, even though all but two weeks is still conferences and "work" (in India, I'll be training English teachers there so that they can go into countries like Bhutan and Myanmar-very exciting).  It will be a lot of travel, but I'm definitely looking forward to sneaking in a few days at the beach for some R&R. 

 

Be sure to check out new photos I've added to Happy Holidays from China!