Status Update

A Cople things to do here. I haven't updated in forever which is really bugging me. I need to get on a consistant schedule of two or three updates a week. I'm thinking I'll try and do a Monday/Wednesday/Friday Schedule.

Work- We haven't gotten any new teachers lately, so I'm still doing the Greenland school. It'/s a great school, but I hate not being able to do things during the break in between classes. I've started bringing my laptop with me so that I don't have to deal with the crappy ones here. I'm about ready to start searching for more teachers myself.

I've also started teaching two classes every Friday at the evening school that Saffron and Chris work at. I used to have Friday afternoons off, but I never did much on them, and the extra 150 kuai a week will be a nice addition to my paycheck.

Learning Chinese- I wouldn't call it a breakthrough, but the other day I could tell that I had actually made a big improvement with my Chinese. I was able to ask the people at the fast food place if they had a burger that wasn't spicy! This is very different from the "Bu yao la - Don't want spicy" that I use when I order food at the lotus. I already know that it's spicy and they cant make some food for me without it. Usually my lessons are at a Roast King fast food place in Xiao Zhai. Last sunday during my lesson we took a break and I went downstairs to get some food. Most of the time when I order the food it's pretty spicy, but on one rare occasion it wasn't. I wanted to get the non spicy kind again. When it was my turn at the counter I pointed at the burger I wanted and said "Ni you mei you zhe ge bu la? - Do you have this but not spicy?" Technically what I said was slightly grammatically incorrect, but we hadn't covered that too much. I got the non spicy chicken burger, and I've been on cloud nine ever since. I've also noticed that, while I don't know what they're saying, I've gotten better at hearing Chinese, and breaking it into separate words. It's no longer just noise most of the time. It's actual sounds! I'm so happy!

The Gang- Everyone is doing so much stuff it's hard to keep track.
Dane's first contract was set to end in a month or so, but he's decided to stay for another 6 months. There were a bit of complications in gettign his contract renewed, mostly because his boss has been travelign around China since the Spring Festival.

Chris got married. I may have misheard something, but I think this is the second weddign that him and Jennifer have had.

Our South African friend Tertius got a new roommate, and English guy named Paul. He's a nice guy, but his accent is a lot stronger than Saffron's so sometimes I miss a word or two of what he says.

Our Chinese friend Nate has been accepted by two different colleges in America so far. He's still waiting for some more info to come in before he decides what he'll be doing, but he'll be moving to the US probably in mid Summer.

Xi'an- The spring came fast, and it came hard. We've had a week of great weather, and relatively bright skys. I've always been amazed at the number of trees and bushes in he city, and now that they're all blooming it's even more noticeable. In the Gaoxin area that I live in we've got a whole army of groundskeepers running around planting more bushes and putting more trees in the parks. The water trucks have also been more active lately driving around and spraying everythign down. I guess it's needed, since it barely ever rains here.