Ropers in Xi'an China

I feel like I'm a pretty grateful person but this year I am feeling particularly grateful.  I'm not good at expressing myself, but I look around and I see where I am and am so thankful for this opportunity.  Many people asked us "why are you going to China?"  and many ask us now, "why are you in China?"  I still don't know but I'm glad Kim was prompted to come and that we both followed that feeling.  Teaching has been difficult and a lot of prep. This week I have taught my classes about Thanksgiving.  I played the song "Grateful" sung by Brian Stokes Mitchell.  The words say:  In a city of strangers I've got a family of friends No matter what rocks and brambles fill the way I know that they will stay until the end. Is that not exactly where we are right now?  Our students have accepted us and have wrapped their arms around us and loved us and taken care of us.  The other English Teachers are our best friends.  The song...

China doesn't really celebrate Halloween but there is evidence that it is creeping into the country.  In my classroom I taught them a little about how we celebrate Halloween.  We watched a few clips from family Halloween movies, a music video of "The Monster Mash" by Mannheim Steamroller, which they loved, and a clip from "Thriller."  It's interesting because I had to introduce them to who Frankenstein is and Dracula, even though they know what a vampire is.  They also know what zombies are and werewolves.  I had them write a report on Halloween and from that I learned a lot about this strange holiday.  In any case, it wasn't like the United States but we had a great Halloween.  Halloween Decorations to buy at Metro, which is a warehouse store similar to Costco.  These are my classes.  We made spider cookies with oreo cookies.  This was a totally new experience for them and I believe they LOVED IT!!  ...