ALASTAIR + LALEINIA

By far, last night was one of the greatest nights we’ve had in China. The school treated us to a going away/Christmas dinner. We went to Golden Hans, a Brazilian style buffet.   Chinese women were dressed in German attire serving German beers (not for us) while the men walked by every table offering different meats on Brazilian style skewers. Culturally confusing but nonetheless delicious.   After we stuffed ourselves with delicious barbecue, we headed to 88 Bar (pronounced Ba Ba Ba) to do some karaoke. Alastair and I have wanted to do karaoke for quite some time, and tonight our moment had finally arrived. Karaoke bars can run from 100 Yuan per hour or up to 2,000 Yuan per hour. The place the school chose was definitely on the high end. Our group had our own private karaoke room filled with fruit and colas and our own waitress who would clap after every performance. The room was decorated with every shiny thing they could get their hands on. There were tambourin...

This week, one of the teachers that we work with (Annie) asked us if we would be willing to help some of her friends make a promotional video on Saturday. We agreed that we would do it because we already missed out on an opportunity similar to this a while back. On Saturday, we met up with Annie and took a taxi to the main part of the city. We ended up at a dance studio. When we arrived, there were girls warming up to dance. Alastair and I shared a glance that pretty much said "Oh no, are we going to be in a music video?" Apparently, the owners of the dance studio also are a multimedia company. They explained that they were going to shoot a video at a nursing home to promote a non-profit organization that asks the youth of China to volunteer at nursing homes.  It was a good cause that I absolutely agree with (I took care of my grandparents) and so we were more that happy to help out. All we had to do was ask people questions about their experience in the nursing home and m...

Our time in Luoyang is coming to an end very soon, and we have been doing our best to make the most of what time is left. We have been exploring the city more, and are loving what we have found. Here are some of our recent favorite places to go... TimeBar We have been frequenting a Western bar recently with our friend Larry, to enjoy the western music, live music from Laura (Chinese lady with English name), play Slapjack, Farkel, and enjoy a refreshing soda. Since neither we or Larry drink, it has been fun to talk to people like Laura, people watch, and just be outside of the apartment. Luoyang Museum We recently went to the Luoyang museum, a really huge building with loads of old artifacts. Not sure if we have mentioned this before, but Luoyang has been the capital city of China on numerous occasions, and so there was a lot of cool stuff to see, including pottery and somehow an elephant skeleton! Guan Lin Market Guan Lin market is a huge, part indoor part out...

We order drinks from a local shopkeeper about every two weeks. This delivery, we ordered water, Pepsi, Sprite, and Fanta (orange soda). He arrived with our boxes of beverages, but our order of Fanta was not there. In its place, there was a box of an assortment of Santas. So instead of getting 6 bottles of Fantas, we got 6 Santas. After gaining our composure from our fit of laughter, we decided to buy a Santa. Just a minor miscommunication to start off the Christmas season!

We teach. Alastair and I teach at a school called Luoyang #2 Foreign Language School. We teach at the middle school Monday- Thursday. On Thursday and Friday I (Lain) teach at the primary school and Alastair teaches only on Fridays.  This week, I decided to take the camera with us at the primary school so we could snap pictures of the students. Enjoy! Recess "I like: lollipops and ice cream." Pretty much what every kid drew. My students Alastair told them to smile instead of raising their hand. This is what he got, the "open real wide smile." Boy in the center, my favorite!

Mango smoothie, 8 pizzas, mashed potatoes, clam chowder, and cheesecake! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love feasting and being in the company of my family. This year, of course, was exceptionally different. We did have a feast. Instead of the traditional turkey, we had pizza. Instead of my family, we enjoyed the company of our colleagues. Alastair and I are both thankful for a wonderful school who treated us to dinner. Li and Kim, our liaisons This Thanksgiving was one of the best Thanksgivings because it helped me to celebrate the true meaning of this holiday. Of course, I'm thankful for my Alastair, family, my Heavenly Father, my Savior, and everything in between. But, I'm especially thankful to have had this experience of living and teaching in China. Today, it hit me like a brick wall that we are leaving in 5 weeks. I well up with tears thinking of leaving so soon. The best thing I can do is enjoy these last few weeks and to leave with no regrets...

Sneaking out of your classroom to sneak into the other foreign teachers' classes just to scare the living daylights out of the students... BEST HALLOWEEN EVER! You should have seen the look on their faces.

Longmen Grottoes is one of the most spectacular places I have ever been. Alastair and I don't know much about Buddhism, but we can sure appreciate it. The most important thing to understand is that Luoyang is old and filled with history. There's much to see pertaining to historical events, but Luoyang has one gem; Longmen Grottoes. There's a cliff face along a river that has been carved out with Buddha's of all shapes and sizes. Small, medium, and large Buddhas. They are everywhere! Buddhas are along the sides of the walls and standing prominently in caves. They were once painted, but now are weathered from the elements. The most unfortunate thing about this place is that a while ago, people carved the Buddhas out to make a little cash. This is now a world heritage site, so they are doing all they can to preserve. The faces and missing Buddhas will never be returned, but we can admire what has remained.  They have added features to make this place more spec...

Did you know there was an Aquarium in the middle of China? From sharks, sea turtles, mermaids and mermen, the best part of Ocean Park, Luoyang, China, was the sea lion show. For 10 Yuan, you can get a picture with this slippery thespian, but watch out... he will getcha. And if you play your cards right, he will give you a smooch, right in your hair, in between fishy snacks. It's sad, we didn't even get its name.

Tradition holds Luoyang as the origin of Chinese Buddhism. We spent the day visiting White Horse Temple, with the many different buildings that were really interesting. Since we do not speak Chinese, and no one was there to translate for us, we basically just wandered around, admiring the beautiful scenery. We conversed about the few facts that we had learned beforehand, and tried to soak it all in. At one point, we saw three white pigeons, which looked so peaceful and happy. As we were trying to be one with nature (mostly because we didn't understand anything else), Alastair tried to summon the birds, albeit with little to no success. NO IDEA why Alastair's shirt is tucked in Along with the ancient White Horse Temple, there are new temples being built that represent Buddhist temples from other countries. We were able to go inside a Thai temple, and also an Indian temple, which were both very interesting. They both were ornate with their own cultural trimmings, s...

- Ring Ring. Would you like to go to a wedding?  - Yeah, OK, we'd love to.  - OK, someone will meet you at the gate at 8:30 on Monday. - Alright, see you there. So at the gate we met, and piled 9 people into a 7 passenger van. After driving for about an hour, we arrived at the countryside, which we met in full swing of the corn harvest. Streets were filled with ears, shucks, kernels, and everything else corn related. Small tractors played a balancing act while overflowing with corn stalks. After swinging by a Wheat mill, owned by the brother of someone in the car, we arrived at the wedding venue. The wedding was to be held right outside of the bride and groom's newly build and beautifully furnished house. By the way, a tradition here is that the parents of the groom are supposed to provide a house for the couple, and the parents of the bride are supposed to provide furniture or a car or something, and loads of money from all angles! So the wedding was s...