Christmas is here!

The last month and a half has FLOWN by, literally. I've traveled a lot for games and tournaments, but my favorite destination thus far has been Hong Kong. Our company flew all of our expats for five days of training at the ICEC conference. It was great to spend time with teachers and administrators from all over the world! Some came as far from Brazil! We had a great time and were able to spend our evenings and nights out on the town. Since I had been to Hong Kong a few times the previous year I was able to re-visit some of my favorite places, one of those being the Giant Buddah (see pictures). You literally have to take an hour bus ride to the bay, take an hour ferry across the harbor to Lantau Island, then take another 45 minute bus ride up the moutain, THEN hike all the way up the thousands of steps to the top to reach the Buddah. I also was able to catch up with a friend from The Village and have MEXICAN FOOD with him on Thanksgiving night. It.was.GREAT. So we have less than two weeks left and then its two weeks of vacation for the Christmas Holidays and we, Karen and I, will be going to THAILAND :) I'm so excited. I'm also meeting a great friend, Valerie, whom I also met through The Village, there and we will be hostelling and peeking our nose into the surrounding islands and even SKYDIVING and scuba diving (hopefully). I'm super excited about it. But what excites me even more than Thailand is how lovely I have found Qingdao to be as my home. It truly is my home away from home now and whenever I leave for a while then come back, its nice to say "I'm ready to go home" and home meaning Qingdao. My relationships with Chinese friends here are so precious to me and they truly are a huge reason why I am here. Language is coming faster than I expected and I'm hoping one day to study full time at Qingdao University (Father-willing). Anyway, just wanted to give you a quick update. If any of you want to chat, you can call the local number anytime for free, 903-689-4229, and I'd love to catch you up to date. Love you all!
-Mei Shan (my chinese given name meaning beautiful mountain)