christmas gifts
wow. busy busy busy. i'm taking this christmas eve morning and afternoon to catch up on things like email and --hold on, going out to eat. will finish later--
every time i think i've set aside time to get things done, other things come up. not things i can't say no to, but you know... i like doin stuff. and today when i went out just now to eat, i saw about a million of my students. and another student stopped by to give me a present from their class. some of the presents i've been given from my classes have been ... kinda... um... well, things i'm not sure what i'll do with. like the giant (hold on, knock at the door) (hold on, phone's ringing) eagle carved out of green soap (meant to be decorative, not to be used).
i'm not sure what to do with that. but an equally useless but much prettier gift from a class was this vase with a wire and glass purple flower in it.
the fancy chopsticks from the school are useful and pretty. the crystal apple and dangly handmade bead-and-leather good fortune thing are meaningful because not only are they cool, but from some of my favorite students. both steve's girlfriends gave me presents (one grudgingly, because she felt like she had to, the other just because she's a very doting, loving person).
i got a package from my parents yesterday--chex mix, latest copy of "writers' digest," some iowa postcards, a tv guide electronic quiz game, some hand-cleaning wipes from bath and body works, two bars of handmade soap made of goat's milk from my hometown (which i promtly gave to the two students who gave me the presents i liked), and a double cd of christmas music my mom must've gotten for free from bath and body works with her purchase.
they also threw in a little package my old friend caleb sent me, which is also a wedding thank you. it was one of those generic wooden things with your name and what it means on it. also, he included a picture of him and his new wife on their honeymoon with some random mexican guy. on the back of the picture, there's a nice note that really made me laugh, mostly because he started it off, "helen (helenora, hell-dog, cerebus, mrs. danger, queen of the damned, acid face, etc.)" haha:) then he goes on to say the wood thing with my name was just something they saw at a garage sale that made them think of me:) nice to know people think of you when you're not around.
i feel like i'm getting more presents than usual this year. it's making me feel very loved. --pause-- another student just dropped by to turn in some super late homework and try to suck up by giving me a super cool bruce lee poster.
then one of darnell's students stopped by to give her a present from his class (a photo of the group, and apple, and a really nice card that says on the inside "we ai you," ai being the chinese character for love). now darnell's going to go for a walk down the street to find something little and cheap for each of us tomorrow, so we'll all have something to open on christmas morning. my parents will also call tomorrow, which should be really fun. i haven't talked to them since august:) they'll call on christmas eve there, christmas morning here. the whole family should be there. i bet i'll even get to talk to micah, my nephew. and my brother will say things to me in chinese and i'll say, "shenma?" then he'll ask what i CAN say in chinese, and i'll say "bu zhi dao" ("shenma"=what, "bu zhi dao"=i don't know).
darnell and bill are going to church this afternoon. i was really excited at that prospect at first, although i thought their idea about showing up only half an hour early was silly. i hear church is really crowded here on christmas eve. there are only one or two christian churches (at least legal, above-ground ones) here, and chinese people apparently like to go there on the big western holiday. i have students who've told me they've tried to go at christmas time before and there were no seats. yesterday, we were advised to be there by 3pm for the 5:30 service if we wanted seats. but then nathaniel made a good point. he said he'd feel bad taking a seat away from people who don't have the religious freedom we do. we can go home and go to church all we want. so, in the true christian spirit of things, i'm not going to church this christmas:)
so now it's about five hours after i started this post and i'm going to try to finally wrap it up. i'm in daniel's room because i wanted to upload some pictures to link in here. i actually want to be writing this from my room, but daniel and steve are both out right now and they (steve) unknowingly locked me in here. if you lock the door with the key, you need the key to unlock it. which sucks, because i'm expecting a phone call this afternoon and now i'll be trapped in here and unable to receive it. frickin locks on the frickin... wait. scratch that. it's christmas. it's all good:)
every time i think i've set aside time to get things done, other things come up. not things i can't say no to, but you know... i like doin stuff. and today when i went out just now to eat, i saw about a million of my students. and another student stopped by to give me a present from their class. some of the presents i've been given from my classes have been ... kinda... um... well, things i'm not sure what i'll do with. like the giant (hold on, knock at the door) (hold on, phone's ringing) eagle carved out of green soap (meant to be decorative, not to be used).
i'm not sure what to do with that. but an equally useless but much prettier gift from a class was this vase with a wire and glass purple flower in it.
the fancy chopsticks from the school are useful and pretty. the crystal apple and dangly handmade bead-and-leather good fortune thing are meaningful because not only are they cool, but from some of my favorite students. both steve's girlfriends gave me presents (one grudgingly, because she felt like she had to, the other just because she's a very doting, loving person).
i got a package from my parents yesterday--chex mix, latest copy of "writers' digest," some iowa postcards, a tv guide electronic quiz game, some hand-cleaning wipes from bath and body works, two bars of handmade soap made of goat's milk from my hometown (which i promtly gave to the two students who gave me the presents i liked), and a double cd of christmas music my mom must've gotten for free from bath and body works with her purchase.
they also threw in a little package my old friend caleb sent me, which is also a wedding thank you. it was one of those generic wooden things with your name and what it means on it. also, he included a picture of him and his new wife on their honeymoon with some random mexican guy. on the back of the picture, there's a nice note that really made me laugh, mostly because he started it off, "helen (helenora, hell-dog, cerebus, mrs. danger, queen of the damned, acid face, etc.)" haha:) then he goes on to say the wood thing with my name was just something they saw at a garage sale that made them think of me:) nice to know people think of you when you're not around.
i feel like i'm getting more presents than usual this year. it's making me feel very loved. --pause-- another student just dropped by to turn in some super late homework and try to suck up by giving me a super cool bruce lee poster.
then one of darnell's students stopped by to give her a present from his class (a photo of the group, and apple, and a really nice card that says on the inside "we ai you," ai being the chinese character for love). now darnell's going to go for a walk down the street to find something little and cheap for each of us tomorrow, so we'll all have something to open on christmas morning. my parents will also call tomorrow, which should be really fun. i haven't talked to them since august:) they'll call on christmas eve there, christmas morning here. the whole family should be there. i bet i'll even get to talk to micah, my nephew. and my brother will say things to me in chinese and i'll say, "shenma?" then he'll ask what i CAN say in chinese, and i'll say "bu zhi dao" ("shenma"=what, "bu zhi dao"=i don't know).
darnell and bill are going to church this afternoon. i was really excited at that prospect at first, although i thought their idea about showing up only half an hour early was silly. i hear church is really crowded here on christmas eve. there are only one or two christian churches (at least legal, above-ground ones) here, and chinese people apparently like to go there on the big western holiday. i have students who've told me they've tried to go at christmas time before and there were no seats. yesterday, we were advised to be there by 3pm for the 5:30 service if we wanted seats. but then nathaniel made a good point. he said he'd feel bad taking a seat away from people who don't have the religious freedom we do. we can go home and go to church all we want. so, in the true christian spirit of things, i'm not going to church this christmas:)
so now it's about five hours after i started this post and i'm going to try to finally wrap it up. i'm in daniel's room because i wanted to upload some pictures to link in here. i actually want to be writing this from my room, but daniel and steve are both out right now and they (steve) unknowingly locked me in here. if you lock the door with the key, you need the key to unlock it. which sucks, because i'm expecting a phone call this afternoon and now i'll be trapped in here and unable to receive it. frickin locks on the frickin... wait. scratch that. it's christmas. it's all good:)