Finally Back

Wow - seems like a long time since we were able to get on the net to post or get emails. Since the earthquake in Tiawan we haven't had any luck getting access to the internet. We have had lots of exciting happenings around here.Just to mention a few:

Our electricity was turned off one evening for work downstairs at the apartment. We didn't have light or heat until after 2:30 the next day. I was able to go to school and have some warmth, but Jim had to just try to keep warm until all was back to "normal".

Ever since we have been here we have had a problem with the main bathroom door not being able to open from the inside. We have had three people get locked in...but no problem, we just let them out. (You can see where this is going) Since we were going to Beijing over the New Year break Jim wanted me to trim up his hair (in the bathroom). I trimmed his hair and shaved his neck and said "I'll go to the other bathroom for a mirror..." Uh-oh, ...the door had swung shut when we went in and...you guessed it...we were locked in. There certainly wasn't anyone to let us out and we had the heat lamps on drying our clothes. (all 4 of them).

We had nothing to use to try to pry the door open. We spent almost an hour trying to use the metal piece from the floor drain , take the hinges off, pry the trim off the facing, and trying to loosen the heat lamps...all to no avail. Finally Jim said he would just have to try to break the door. After repeated attempts he kicked a hole in the door, but we still couldn't get out. Finally he kicked the door handle off and we still couldn't get out. I eventually was able to get hold of the little pin with my fingernails and get it out. We decided we better call the Waiban and let him know we had broken the door. His response to me was "Call someone and have them let you out"....only in China!(Who do you know that takes their cell phone with them to the bathroom?!) Oh well, all's well that ends well.

So we were off to Beijing on the overnight train. The next morning when we woke up and looked out the window there was snow everywhere. It was so pretty and reminded us of home. When we finally arrived at our destination (another teacher had made the reservations), we were staying at a Hutong which is a traditional home which housed up to four families around an outside patio. When we were taken inside, the hosts were having a hotpot lunch in the portico while it was snowing. Our room is the one you can see on the left through the gourd vines.

We found that the toilets were outside and we must put our clothes on and walk across the portico and around a trail to go to the restroom or take a shower during the night. The first night I took a cold shower in about 20-25 degree weather and then walked back to the room. We also had a little space heater which knocked off the chill in the room. We finally got some hot water the next night and it was great. Since we only had 4 days in Beijing we had to pack a lot of things in every day. It was pretty awesome standing on top of the Great Wall of China on New Year's Day. This lil guy had quite a time having a snowball fight with me. It was a gorgeous day even though the wind was very sharp and the steps were quite slippery. We had begun our day by trying to see the changing of the guard at Tianenmen Square, but couldn't get close enough so went on to the Wall at 6:30 am. We finally got back to the Hutong about 8:30 that night, very tired, but it had been a good day.

I'll quit rambling for now since it is 11:30 pm and I have to teach tomorrow. More later.