From Basketball games, to getting a flu bug to bike riding through farms...

This has been an eventful week and weekend for me. The start I was asked to play in an inter mural basketball game for foreign teachers verses the Chinese teachers. I am shocked that actually had a good time playing. It was so funny. The first team we played actually handed me the ball when we had both grabbed it, in the middle of the game! It was funny to watch during the breaks. Girls playing basketball, where nearly none of them have ever played on a real team before with Chinese women who thrash and hug their opponent is truly entertaining. I hear there are pictures on the students web pages, but as soon as I track some down I will post them. :) So we won the first two games and we have three more to go. I guess we are getting better as we go, but for now, its a really fun way to just laugh at myself and let go.

(we ended up undefeated and I got the "what do I do again?" award. I thought that was appropriate!) 12/29/08 updated

This weekend I got a flu bug. As I was eating my eggs Friday morning at breakfast I began to feel really queezy. I went to class and still didn't feel well so I slept all day. I heard of a good remedy for an upset stomach... baking soda and hot water. I had already drank about 4 glasses of just hot water from the water cooler and then the soda really helped. I slept for about 2 hours on Friday. I was able to eat more than rice and fruit. However, I missed the trip to Kaifeng because I still didn't feel up to walking around all day with people. Kaifeng is a beautiful city, from what I hear and it is know for it's snack food. After hearing that I decided that I had better take it easy and skip it this time. It is only a little over an hour away and I am thinking of going over the Thanksgiving weekend. So for Thanksgiving, the school gives us the option to have classes with out rescheduling them, so what did I do? Of course I canceled them! I am having my holiday! I only have one class, so at first I was debating if I should just keep it but I decided not to. That way I can Skype home that mornign and hear all the pre-thanksgiving hustle and bustle.

(note to my family, please get on Skype Wed or Thursday so I can talk to you! I want to see EVERYBODY!)

So onto the bike ride... We had a very relaxing time today. We went to the country side and once we left the limits of the school it was dead silent1 I was amazed because it is a rarity in China to have dead silence. There is always something going on. It was just the break i needed. It reminded me of the farms back home with all the corn feilds and trucks rolling through. There was even the lovely smell of manure that took me back to good ole' South Bend. So I'd like to share some of the pictures with you from our bike ride this afternoon. Their were 6 of us from the school so enjoy!