Qingdao University Teacher's Fun Run

On Thursday, December 17, 2015, Gary and I were invited to join the Qingdao University Teacher's Fun Run along the beach. Gary was unable to attend because he needed to create 7 different final tests for his classes, so I went without him. I took a university bus with some of the teachers in the Foreign Language department. We started at Shilaoren Beach and walked 7.4 km to Qingdao Polar Ocean World.

As you can see there were a lot of people there to walk and run with us. Each department of the college carries their own flag.

 

This is the flag of the Foreign Language department. I found out that we are now a college, too. 

 

Some of the teachers from our college. 

 

My friend's Kathy Wang and Gretchen Li. I love these ladies. We all teach English in the post-graduate department. I teach speaking and listening. They teach reading and writing. We may be doing a class together during the 2016-17 year called Learning American Culture Through Games. The three of us and one other teacher, Hannah Liu, who could not be there with us, go to lunch every Tuesday together. We talk about a lot of things. It is fun. Instead of taking the bus home, I rode home with them. We have become good friends.

 

This is Dean Li and I. She is the head of the Foreign Language English Department, both the undergraduate and post-graduate. She is such fun.

 

So this teacher is young and she carried our flag. She is very competitive, so she wanted us to run. I ran with her most of the way, but could not run at the end. I think I probably ran 5 km. I am so proud of myself because I don't like to run. With about 1 km to go, I let her run ahead. She ended up getting their first.

What a fun afternoon this was with this wonderful group of teachers. I felt so good afterward. It reminds me why I need to get out and walk every day. They do this every December and I hope to be able to do it every year when we are here. What a great way to support my colleagues and the University who hired me.

December Festivities

So even though most of China does not celebrate Christmas, we introduced some of our friends to a Christmas dinner. We have also had many activities so far this month that are different from other activities we have done. I thought I would share these with you. We have had a busy December and it is not going to slow down in the next two weeks. 

This week is Christmas and we already have a Christmas dinner with friends on Christmas Eve (This is with Amy, the young lady I tutored last year, who now goes to the University of Nebraska, and her family and our friends the Hwang. Pictures, of course, will come later), Christmas morning and then Christmas day at a spa, courtesy of a student of Gary's, a birthday dinner Christmas night with Jessie and her daughters, Kesha and Jane (one of our Korean family friends), our branch Christmas party on December 26th. The for New Year's week we have an all-expenses paid trip to Huangdao (a part of Qingdao just across the bay) for three nights. Huangdao is trying to encourage tourism, so they want to show foreigners the sights so we can tell others to visit that part of Qingdao.

The first new thing Gary and I did was go to a new Brazilian Barbecue place. Think Rodizio Grill. Delicious Food!

 

The two pictures below are of a wonderfully delicious cup of chocolate mousse!!

 

The pink side is to tell them to stop bringing meat and the green one, of course, is for them to keep bringing it!

Christmas Party with our Chinese Family

Because we can't be with our children at this time of year, we have some substitute Chinese children. We had a Christmas party last Saturday night to show them some of our traditions. However, we did not have a traditional Chinese dinner. We had Chinese hotpot. It was homemade and very delicious. It is a sauce, one was spicy and one was not. You heat it really hot in your pot and then add meat and vegetables and cook them in the hotpot. We played the present game and played "Go Fish". They love this card game. It helps them practice their English. During the evening I was wishing our children were with us, but we know they are celebrating Christmas at home in the states. We hope their Christmas is wonderful!!

From left to right: Li Zhixing, Leo, Caroline, Abner, Cherry and Gary. I am behind the camera.

We are so grateful for these friends of ours who help us not miss our children and grandchildren so much. I think of our children and grandchildren and family every day even if I don't talk to them for a while. We love them and want to wish them a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!