Day 294 – Foreign Teacher’s Party

We had to leave here early so that we could get to the hospital so that I could have my blood drawn for a test.  Dr. Tricia was there to take care of that for us.  She likes to talk A LOT and we were almost late for Church because she kept us until the last possible moment.  We like her though, so it is easy to stay.

After Church, we had a big dinner and then we stayed to talk.  It is such a wonderful feeling of family and camaraderie that we have here it is hard to part.

 

These are the women of our Jinan group in our Branch.  From the left: Kathy Guo, me, Lulu Pilson, Nancy Pace, Pam Carter, Libby Clarke and Wendy Purnell.  Some of the best women I know!

The Clarke’s, Pace’s and we were invited to an “End of the Year” party for the foreign teachers.  We had a fun time talking with the others and exchanging plans for the future and of course teacher talk!  We all have some great experiences and stories to tell.  We tried not to eat too much because we had eaten so much at lunch, but it was hard with all the goodies available.  I had brought the Oh, Henry bars and I was able to give quite a few of them away to the single men that were here. 

 

Some of the other teachers that have worked here at Shandong University this year.  From the left:  Morgan (teaches French), Danny (teaches graduate English), Lynn (teaches English) Mark (teaches English) and Mary (from the foreign teachers office).

Lynn brought this beautiful cake that was almost too beautiful to cut!  We did anyway though.

These two women are Robbie and Pam.  Robbie has taught here for eleven years and Pam has taught here for fourteen years.  They are the ones we ask for help first when we need to deal with the apartments or the university.  They have been a great help this year for us first year people that don't know anything!

David had his last tutoring session with Alan tonight because he is going to Beijing this week to get the process started for his Visa to go to school in the US.  Alan’s mom gave me a beautiful silk scarf that is all the colors that I love and it had peonies on it.  Peonies are like a national flower to the Chinese and they have great pride in the beautiful ones they grow here in China.  I was able to give them some of the Oh Henry bars also.  (Less to have in the house for temptation!)  When it was time for Alan’s mom to pick him up, she came up and gave us some cherries that are really good.  We were able to say good bye with hugs and warm wishes and a hope to see each other in the future!

It was Branch council this evening that David missed about half of it because we were talking to Alan and his mom.