Christmas Time is Here!

I purchased this awesome tinsel tree from a friend of mine who is sadly leaving the country soon. I am so happy she was willing to part with it.

The cloves and oranges make the house smell amazing!

Our tree!

I did not make this. Sadly, I am not this talented. One of my students folded this and the star in the next picture. 

Another student creation.

My cyclamen is thriving.

New addition to the tree. This was purchased Christmas Day 2012 at Hong Kong Disneyland. 

Domestic Day: Thanksgiving Edition

Once a month my friend, Michelle, and I host Domestic Day at her house. We invite all of the seniors over and cook/bake/hang out. This past Friday we held the Thanksgiving edition of Domestic Day focusing our food making energies on Thanksgiving favorites: apple pie, pumpkin pie, Oreo cheesecake (this may be a China expat thing), mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes (we also had curry, but that really doesn’t fit into the Thanksgiving favorites category). The students genuinely enjoy making dinner/dessert for each other and hanging out with us, their teachers! Crazy kids. Earlier this year I introduced them to the game Pit and this has been regularly played at each of our get-togethers ever since. I think it has something to do with the necessary shrieking/yelling that is involved. Every time I play I have a hard time talking the next day!

Domestic Day students getting ready to dig into pies and cheesecake!

Gan Eng Jie Kaui Le! Happy Thanksgiving!

This is how we started our Thanksgiving Day- with the first annual Kunming Thanksgiving Day 5K.

We rushed home from the race to get our pie making on! This is apple.

Apple and pumpkin!

Dinner with the Rodgers family. Zoe, Macy, Sam, Sophie, Eric, Eric, and I. Missing were Eliza and Amy, who were in the other room, and Emmy, our photographer.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

The cold has come to Kunming. So maybe it’s only 45 degrees Fahrenheit, but for a place without central heating it seems downright frigid! Thanksgiving morning dawned grey and cold out and it hasn’t warmed up since. While last year we used our space heater one time, for three hours, on December 31st, this year we have already used it in an effort to ward off the chill. Wo hen leung! (I am cold!)