Oct 30

Written by: author
10/30/2011

October Holiday

My school is on break for a little over a week in celebration of China’s National Day (October 1). I am looking forward to some extra rest, but have also made plans to meet with students and other Chinese friends during the break.  I will also have the opportunity to travel and sightsee. It’s nice not to have to prepare for class, but it’s still a very busy time. I was able to spend some time with J, and I also invited a couple of my writing students over to watch a movie because they were staying in town too. A did not travel for the holiday, so we spent the National Holiday day together. I met her at her school, and we took the bus to the beautiful NanHu Park together. While we were waiting for some of her friends from school, we had a good talk. She is very interested in poetry, so we read several poems together. When her friends arrived, we played Frisbee for a while. They left to go to a restaurant, and A and I enjoyed a picnic that we had packed and brought with us. At the end of the vacation, I had M, one of my camp students, and a few of her roommates and friends over so they could cook some Chinese dishes. They made cabbage, egg and tomato, eggplant, and chicken dishes. Each girl prepared one dish, and an hour-and-a-half later, we were enjoying their hard work. J During the holiday, I traveled to the Red Leaf Valley to enjoy some fall scenery. We took a bus and stopped at a nice scenic spot with a gorgeous lake surrounded by hills, trees, and corn fields.

Fall Festival Activities

I have many opportunities to make new friends and teach students new skills during the change of season. This month, I taught a group how to make apple crisp. It was fun to share a traditional American fall dessert with these students.  I had been looking forward to the fall festival activity since I had such a great time at the activity last year. Thankfully, it was much warmer this year. The teachers and students enjoyed pumpkin carving, apple bobbing, and hot-dog cooking. My bus buddy on the trip was a girl named K that I met a few weeks earlier. We had a nice time talking, and it was great to be able to continue building a relationship with her.

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