Weddings, drama, and work

Good morning, afternoon, evening (depending on when you're reading this) bloggers! My weeks in Jinan are getting longer and longer, which means that I forget to update you all on a regular basis. But fear not! My weekend was hectic and interesting so I have much to catch you up on! So let's get started...
Last week was a short week so we had a half day on Friday. I went to the gym and my dance teachers tried to practice their English with me while I practiced my Chinese with them. Then they invited me to go out with them! I was like, "Oh that's very sweet but I'm tired and have a busy weekend so I can't. Sorry." Then one of my teachers said something to a friend of mine at the gym in Chinese and my friend translated, "She said, 'I told you Chunzi wouldn't hang out with us. She's too..... fun for us." I just about died laughing! They think I'm "too fun" to hang out with them. Honestly, I just didn't have time because I had to run some errands for the weddings on Saturday and Sunday! I felt bad so I promised them I'd go out with them another time.
Saturday: Gigi's wedding! I was invited to my beautiful coworker's wedding and I said I would attend. So prior to Saturday my other coworker, Michael, told me to meet him at 8:30am so that we could catch the shuttle out to the location (which is like a 40-50 minute drive from our apartments without traffic). I agreed but then Jessie (another of my Chinese coworkers) came into my office and spoke to Michael in Chinese then turned to me and said, "Oh Chelsey! You're coming with me and Sharon to the wedding. I will tell you the time later." So I kinda just nodded dumbly and said, "Oh uhhhh OK." Michael didn't seem to mind because he still had plans to go to Gigi's wedding with Grace and Jeremiah. So Saturday morning comes along and I get ready to leave. I walk out of my door and Sarah (my boss's wife and our librarian) opens her door and says, "Can I go with you to Gigi's wedding?" I said, "Oh.... Well Sharon's picking me up in 15 minutes and I have to walk to her apartment to meet her so I'm leaving now." She turned on her heel, shoved money in an envelope, and then shoved the envelope in my hand saying, "Fine then, here. YOU give this to Gigi. You know, I don't know what I did that was so offensive to everyone but it really hurts my feelings." Then she slammed her door in my face. I'm more than a little confused and still have no idea why she was so angry with me. But to this day (Wednesday) she still has not said a word to me. So I tried to shake the negative feelings I was having and left to go meet Sharon. We then picked up Jessie and Ada and off we went to the wedding. It was a pretty traditional wedding and my coworker looked absolutely stunning. It started at 11:18 with the groom picking up a bouquet of flowers from the fountain on the stage and then shouting on the catwalk stage for his lovely bride to enter the room. She entered on his second call with her father and walked onto the stage. He knelt down and gave her the bouquet. She accepted it and they proceeded with MANY MANY MANY ceremonies. If I described them all here, we'd be here all day. All you really need to know is that it was VERY different from Western weddings. Then we had lunch and went home by 1:15.
Saturday night: I went shopping with Lucy underground beneath Wanda plaza and had a blast! We got a lot accomplished in just a few hours.
Sunday: Emma's wedding! A lot of my foreign coworkers were invited so I shared a cab with my friends to the wedding... It started at 11:08am so we had to get there by about 10am to make sure we all got seats. When we got there, Sarah of course, didn't say a word to me and said hello to everyone else. Emma's wedding was similar to Gigi's wedding except when we had lunch, we went to a different floor and the foreigners all went into a separate room from the Chinese people. Brian and Sarah didn't stay for lunch. We all ate and had a great time. Then we left at about 1:45pm.
Monday and Tuesday: Finals for my students. I didn't give my kids a final because they submitted a paper before they left for their senior trip. So I just hung out with them and answered any questions they still had about college life. I did a dance that I choreographed for them along with a slideshow of pictures from the year. Then they all wanted to dance so I put on some music and we had fun.
Graduation is coming up on Saturday and my birthday is the day after that. Then I'm going on a field trip to the Hunan Province with the 10th graders so I won't be able to update you until I get back. But a day after I get back to Jinan, it's the weekend of Dragon Boat Festival so I'm going to Beijing to celebrate my birthday and the festival with my friends from Hawaii. I'm pretty excited for everything going on and I can't wait to see everyone in Beijing again! I'll do my best to update you as time goes on but like I said, my weeks are getting longer and my days blend together. Yesterday I forgot it was Tuesday! That's just embarrassing haha! I'll be sure to update you the second I get the chance. Until then... Laters!