All of my friends here definitely helped to fill the void and make Christmas a wonderful time for everyone. Christmas Eve many of my friends here gave their final exams (not me, though ~ mine aren't until Jan 7!) so we had a grading party complete with Christmas music, waffles, and piles and piles of papers. But, with all of us pitching in we were able to get all of the papers graded by around 11:30PM so we all went to bed exhausted, but content! Christmas morning I had two of my dear 
Chinese friends come over for breakfast. I don't see them that often so it was nice to spend some extra time with them. They've both been an incredible blessing to me over the past two and a half years. Later in the afternoon, all of the teachers from my school went bowling. It was a fun time and we all laughed a lot! After a great Christmas dinner of pizza we headed over to another friend's home for a party with some local co-workers and some of their friends. I had to bow out of that party early because I had to teach on the 26, but it was fun while I was there.
On the 26, fourteen of us teachers all piled into a bus and headed about three hours North to spend two days visiting the world famous ice and snow sculptures. We had an amazing time together! I especially enjoyed being with teachers from the other side of town who I only see on Sundays. Friday night we went to the ice sculptures.
They were incredible! I can't even imagine all of the work that goes into these massive structures. We spent about two hours wandering around and taking lots and lots of pictures (that is, until our camera's froze from the cold!). It was freezing cold, but we still enjoyed ourselves. On Saturday we spent some time wandering around the city (actually, two others girls and I spent the whole time keeping warm in a coffee shop). After lunch we headed over to the snow sculptures.
These were equally amazing! I couldn't believe the detail they put into these structures that only last for about six weeks. The theme was Greek Mythology ~ guess I should have paid more attention in Literature class! After again nearly freezing to death, we piled back in the bus to head back. We all 
enjoyed the time together and were so thankful for the time together.
This past week I finished my textbook with my classes. This coming Sunday and Monday I will be reviewing for their final exam and then grading it on Wednesday. We have three days off for New Year's Day. Yesterday I went ice skating, and spent some time with great Chinese friends. Today I'm meeting with some former students, and tomorrow I'm going to help a dear Chinese sister with 26 day-old twins that she is caring for until they can be adopted. Needless to say, this next week is going to be packed full. Hopefully that means I'll sleep the whole way home!
~Lisa