Happy Friday!

Except not really because I still have two more days of work before the National Holiday.  Yes I am working Saturday and Sunday AGAIN!  But actually it's not that bad.  I loved working a 12-hour day yesterday (literally. No sarcasm in that).

Thursday: In the morning (8:15am) I had a grade 12 staff meeting, which got a lot of questions answered. Then there was a Dubbing competition, which was actually HYSTERICAL. And then in the afternoon we had "pizza" for lunch before our IC (international center) staff meeting.  I put pizza in quotes because there were some interesting toppings that didn't quite make it pizza.  Like chocolate and strawberries, chili papers and onion, and pineapple and apple.  It was an adventure to say the least.  After our surprisingly entertaining staff meeting I had a few hours to kill before my "club" time.  Because we didn't have club activities this week, I walked around and observed all the club recruiters... I saw Harry Potter club, Law club, Cartoon club, Origami club, and Free Style club, just to name a few.  There are over 50 clubs on this campus. They were all REALLY entertaining! Then I went to dinner and had tutoring after that.  I got to hang out with my favorite AP girls and chat a little with them about life in the US. Then the bus left at 7:35pm and I got home around 8:30. It was a shockingly fun day for being so long :)

This upcoming weekend: The national holiday is coming up which is a break from 30 Sept to 6 Oct.  Because we have a 7 day work week this week, a bunch of us are celebrating on Sunday by going to the food street down town to be adventurous in new foods. We're still trying to convince a bilingual teacher to come with us to translate.  Then on the 30th I'm heading to Sophie's home town for a quick visit.  I'm not sure where she lives but I know that it's 4 hours by bus and another 40 minutes by car from Jinan while still being in the Shandong Province... Any ideas where I'm heading? Yea me neither haha! I'll be staying in her sister's apartment with her sister who doesn't speak any English while Sophie stays with her mom who also doesn't speak any English. This should be fun :) I'm only staying there for a few nights though.  Then I'm headed back to Jinan to explore the north end of town... Yellow river, hundred flowers park, Daming lake, Baotu Spring, etc etc. I mean I have a week off! It's time for an adventure EVERY DAY!

Speaking of adventures... Food adventures happen frequently in the counseling office.  Almost every day someone comes in with a new snack to share with me.  I've had walnut cakes (more like cookies), moon cakes (both regular and rose), wan wan cakes (more like crackers), Prince noodles, Chicken noodles, hua guniang (tastes like a sweet cherry tomato), and something else that no one would tell me what it was. I fear it was some kind of bug or reptile... I don't really wanna know at this point because it did NOT taste good. Did I mention that I've also eaten CHICKEN FEET?! Yea that was also pretty interesting. It was fattier than I expected. I didn't like it to say the least.  Food in China is very fun with a few bumps in the road. I can't wait for Sophie's mom's home cooked Chinese food! Alright it's time to get back to work.  I'll keep you updated about the National Holiday when I get back! Until then... Laters.