Le Movembre

November is over, but not without one last Movember update!! Thanks to all the supporters and pledges given as my moustache raised $270. More importantly as a team we raised over $1000!! So thanks again to all those of you who supported. Don't worry, next year I'll be doing it all over again!!

Thanks for the Birthday wishes as well!!

P.S. Can you not see the likeness??

Birthday Boy

It's Ben's birthday today. He is a lovely 28! And I am so incredibly thankful that 28 years ago plus 9+ months, he was formed and crafted, spun from the silk of life, into someone who would later become my husband. Birthday's always seem the same, they come around and leave quite quickly, sometimes we are a little awkward in accepting them, sometimes we are a little overindulgent. I think it probably means more for other people than it does really for the person who is being celebrated. A parent thinks of every breath taken, every lesson learned, every tear fallen, every challenge overcome and every joy received. A friend relates to their years gone by. A sibling reminisces about their shared moments. And a wife, especially such a new one as myself, mostly has this day to be incredibly thankful, that a little while ago, he simply came to be. So I am happy today to have Ben's birthday and once again be sitting overjoyed in the gift of his life.
The week should also finish quite amusingly as well since we have planned an ugly sweater party at our place on Friday:) All of you are invited!

Forcaste for the year

The forecast for the year shows good promise of debts washed away and green showers in the bank. Light challenges mixed with heavy adventures will continue through. 99.9% chance of extreme growth and stretching, along with bright futures beyond.
Ben and I have spent a bit of time lately looking at our bank accounts. We are pleased to see that, after years of being in debt from loans and such, we might finally see a clearing by summer this year. I don't doubt things might shift in scale again one day, but we are pleasantly surprised to see that we might be able to settle things a bit in the near future. I know that whatever we have or don't have is still only what we THINK we have or THINK we don't have, all dust, all vanishing, but still....it is nice to heave a sigh and say there is a few chapter investments that we are concluding before moving onto the next.
Along with excitement over our savings, we are a little nervous and wondering about the holidays. I have found myself itching for ornaments and shiny things and sounds and smells that we SO take for granted back in Canada. The things I will miss this year THE MOST are all those little family things that make the holiday perfect in every way. Lately, I have been thinking about how much I will miss the annual ceremony of picking out the family tree. I have been telling Ben and others that I have no idea HOW I will substitute something in its place. The day usually consists of our family heaving into the big blue whale (our fully furnished Chevy Beauville tinted window van) and trekking out to our usual tree farm in Langley. We are typically bundled in boots and hats and mittens and always bring something hot to drink. All this and an ax and whatever else we can grab in order to mark our favorite trees. We wander together through fields of character trees, knobby branches, plump bumblers, and wobbly Charlie Browns. We chirp and chatter about each one and find the treasures that tug at our heart-strings. Mittens, hats, scarves, wrappers, fluff and string, all tag random trees so that one by one we may re-visit each candidate's choice and the tagging advocate may plead their case on why it should be this year's shimmering honor. I don't think my tree ever really got picked, I have a soft heart for the scraggly ones, Bradley and I can never get enough of the weird and wonderful. Scott tends to have an eye for the genuinely large and proud trees, grand beyond belief and usually fit for a great hall of some sort. Gary always picks something loopy or wacky. Dad carries the saw. But mom is by far the very BEST tree picker. Without fail, I am pretty sure, almost every year we have carefully cut, carried and adorned, one of my mom's most lovingly chosen trees. She has an eye, and as mentioned, quite the heart, for the perfect tree, and for Christmas itself.
When I was younger I loved Christmas, I was the first one up in the morning, giddy with shallow quick breaths and quiet while gazing at the whispering lights. But, for a while, I am not quite sure why, I lost my connection to it. I lost the feeling, the magic of it, the amour for it. But 4 years ago it captured me again, not sure why, or how, or what triggered it, but I was glad to see its return. So the ache of Christmas away from family this year is growing, and might grow greater as the days get closer. Together, Ben and I are hoping to, somehow, make things special this year. Soon we will look for a tree (a fake tree of course, since real trees don't match our 20 dollar limit at the farm, I hear in TEDA they start at 1000 RMB or $150 Canadian), and I have started downloading all the favorite Christmas movies (we have a nice big white wall and possibly a projector to borrow).
Anyways, there are lots of Christmas memories that flood back when I think about it even for a moment, so I have am looking forward to making new ones and seeing what happens again soon. For now though, the forecast looks good, real good.

Day 19 Mo-gress

We're passed the halfway point and the moustache has taken on its own identity. I have yet to find any food in it, however I can get an adequate milk moustache if I don't drink properly. Christina is hoping to do a glamor shoot with all the other fellows from the school who participated in Movember! Should be fun! Enjoy your Friday evening.

Its always New Year's Eve in China

Without fail, everyday that I am here, I am caught off guard by the loud bang and pop of fireworks bellowing in the sky. No wonder China, when performing at Symphony of Fire, always surpasses every other country in their efforts to make a magically wondrous spectacle. And here, it doesn't really matter if it is late, or early, or noon or midnight, the fireworks continue. Along with fireworks, being the sign of a happy celebration, people also believe they scare away bad spirits, so since our area is TEDA, the developing area, there are many buildings being established, and apparently many spirits to scare away so buildings must come to good fortune and good safety, or something of the sort I suppose, and fireworks are apparently the remedy. From our high above the rooftops perch, on the 29th floor of our TEDA apartment, we often have the perfect placing for gazing upon the light shows. No looking upwards, or even a little angled up, we are right in line with, if not looking down upon the little spurts and prances of light. Quite lovely though, last night, we were riding our bikes to dinner downtown, and fireworks were bursting a little ways in the distance, the crisp air stung my nose, and for a moment I had the nostalgic feeling of being back in Canada, with family, in holiday season, sitting back to enjoy a light show, holding some hot cocoa with a splash of eggnog and cuddling in for a silent moment of awe. I know that we will miss moments at Christmas and New Year's this year, and it will be desperately hard to not have them as old comforts, but I am glad to keep them in my heart and greatly look forward to new nostalgia as we move into some new adventures and memories.

Day 9

Looking for work.... Anyone know of a Miami Vice remake going on?? Have short shorts, just need a ferrari and a few more weeks growth!!

Establishing the Mo......

After 7 days growth, making his first viral appearance, the mini Mo!!



Here's to hoping that next week the mini Mo will have be Mo-re mature and full and Tom Selleck-like. Until then, happy grooming. Also check out the Fu Manchu's on the Movember website.

Andy it up!

Some examples of what we are doing with pictures of Visual Arts Media class with Photoshop Elements.

COMPUTERS!!!!

They are so simple in Canada and so complicated everywhere else! My lack of posting lately has been due to computer challenges, frustrating, yes, but inevitable. Otherwise, my time has been spent in front of my other computer, full of report cards, comments, grades and bell curves. Yowee! I think I am going cross-eyed with all the craziness. Grades and packages of report cards are due next week, and I am also trying to keep on top of my marketing students who are in the midst of organizing and promoting an Art Exhibition at the school, as well as get ready for a BRAND NEW NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE course.....HOME ECONOMICS!!!! (Food and Nutrition) Yes, I have been pitching it to our principal for the last month and now, oh lovely, now, I have to actually carry it out. So I am revamping and preparing an old science room into a cooking lab. I am designing course material for an 10 week course, and I am hoping and praying that the fridge and hot plates and toaster ovens show up someday.....that is the hope. I am happy to have this opportunity because it means I can get formal teaching experience doing something I love, but this is quite RAW experience if you ask me. Not to mention the severe lack of English teaching resources and materials in China. But the internet is fantastic, when it is working.

In other news, we are LOVING our apartment and most recently, our new, less loud, curtains. I light cream color that subtly fits into the room. The little bits and pieces that we are doing to improve on our home are coming along, making us feel settled. Bit by bit we are making our mark and making it ours.

Movember

For those of you that don't know, Movember is the new name for November due in large part to the fact that men all around the world grow a moustache in support of Prostate Cancer research. I will be undertaking this task as well, started yesterday with a clean shaven face. At the school we will have a staff team. If you check out movember.com and search for The Fu Manchu's, you'll see our team site, pictures of our progressing moustaches and even donate to the cause if you would like!! I will try and update this blog with a few pictures as the month progresses.

Things have been quite busy recently. Report Cards will come out in a week or two, Midterms are being written this week, and students are realizing that perhaps their personal effort in the first two months wasn't adequate and thus they need some make-up assignments to boost their grades. Yesterday Christina had a line-up of about 10 students all looking to improve on some of their grades in Drama.... They are quite the actors when they need to get out of something, like a test or homework, but when it comes to acting in class for marks, they seem to lose their enthusiasm. After this week, the 1 Term classes will end, meaning that Christina will no longer be teaching two Drama Blocks and a Visual Arts Media, but rather Three Home Economics Classes. She's quite excited about the opportunity to share her love of cooking with the Chinese kids, and we're excited to see how the course material provides a hands on way of acquiring more language skills. Lets just hope that the toaster oven and microwave arrive on time!!

Life on the 29th floor continues to be wonderful. The sky has been quite clear of late, and the sights from up there are really quite something. This morning the sun was rising, shining into our bedroom, and this evening, if we get home in time, we should be able to see it set, over top of the park and the green space our living room looks out onto.

Food is an essential part of daily living and we have found a new favorite restaurant and it is a gem. Having lived in Sichuan for two years, back in the early part of 2000, I have been spoiled when it comes to Chinese food. Sichuan is THE PLACE to eat in China. The flavors, the spices, the variety, it is all second to none. Upon arriving in TEDA, I was a bit disappointed with the fare, especially after a 5 day visit to Chengdu (in Sichuan) reminded me and showed Christina for the first time, just how delicious Sichuan Food is. However, this new restaurant is a Sichuan restaurant and is quite authentic or 地道 as they would say in Chinese. We've ordered a variety of dishes and have thus far found nothing that would stop us from coming. Best of all is that they've had everything we've ordered thus far. We've sampled the spicy tofu, the kung pao chicken, the twice fried beef, the fish-flavored meat, the sizzling rice dish, the green beans.... Unfortunately the English names don't really do these dishes justice, but take our word for it, the Food is EXCELLENT!!