Christmas Party 2010

Each year my school puts on a pretty big shindig when all the teachers get dressed up. I've put up photos each year (see 2009 and 2008).

This year I got photos with some of my Grade 1 team (Dianne, me, Linda's husband Chris, teammate who moved to Grade 2 Sue, and Ceci):
with my friend, Manatsu:
with my friend, Emily:
with my friend, Sara:
and also photos with the other girls who came to Beijing at the same time as me who are also leaving this year (Emily, me, Manatsu, and Aixa):
--Sarah--

Winter Party 2009

My school held its annual winter party at a hotel near the Olympic area at the beginning of December.

One third grade teacher always makes lots of jello shots and brings them to the party. This year, the school sponsored him so we had plenty of jello shots in addition to the beer, wine, and champagne.

Yes, the teachers and staff at my school know how to have a good time. There was plenty of dancing and even some limbo!

Here I am with a friend, Annie. She's new this year and gave me lots of tips on places to see in India since that is where she worked before coming to Beijing.

--Sarah--

Let's get caught up

On December 5th, I met Jane Goodall. I went to a dinner fund raiser where she spoke and she signed a couple books for me. She was great! I only have a blurry picture of us.



The following weekend was our staff Winter Party. I had a dress made for the evening which was much less of a hassle than shopping for one here. I got a card from another teacher to show to the driver of the car we hired. He didn't know where the place was so he called and got directions. We arrived at an apartment building and went up to the third floor. Inside were about 8 or 10 sewing machines being used by that many workers. We showed the people the pictures of the dresses we wanted (I printed mine off from Nordstroms' website) and they checked them out to see if they could replicate them. Next, they measured us up and we chose our fabric. We came back a week later and the dresses were nearly finished. We tried them on again and got the fit perfect. They ended up having to completely redo the skirt part of my dress because I didn't like it. We came back two days later and the dresses were finished and beautiful! All that for less than $60! Here I am with friends.



I think that gets us caught up with China happenings. Christmas posts to come!

--Sarah