SUNDAY SNAPSHOTSSS (many photos!)

I taught my last class on December 23rd and had two days off for Christmas, but since then it's been busy, getting exams ready and giving exams. I just gave my last final this past Friday (January 2nd). Here's a bit of what I've been up to as the term winds down ...


All the students at our university have to learn to ice skate. It seems like a Harbin tradition. Now that it's the end of the semester, many students are selling their ice skates back to the school store. I bought a used pair and I've gone twice at the ice rink on campus (a large flat field that they flood). I hope to skate on the Song Hua River sometime this winter.


Lindsay and I ice skating. Yes, it's as cold as it looks. Ice on my eyelashes and I think you can see our breath in this picture. But is good fun and good exercise.


第十届哈尔滨冰雪大世界。The 10th Harbin Ice and Snow World. The other foreign teachers at my school and I braved the cold to see this last Sunday evening. We lasted 2 hours. I think I wore the 4 pairs of pants! Good thing, because they had ice slides there!


Me at the 10th Harbin Ice and Snow World. A note about the fake fur on my hood. I had this jacket in the states, but never zipped on the fur. But here, it's worth it. It helps block the wind. And it's totally the style here!


We also treated some of our close mutual friends to a holiday dinner last week.

But it's hasn't been all fun this past week. End of the term means it's also time to grade exams ...

I'm done with my stack of 32 English second-majors. But now I need to tackle my 83 freshman English majors Oral English exams (pictured here: as thick as my Lonely Planet travel guide). Before I could grade the exams, I had to have a lesson from our Chinese teachers. This year, the foreign teachers have been asked to follow the same format as the Chinese teachers. It's meant that we've spent a lot of time in the English department office, but it also means that we've got to know the Chinese English teachers a whole lot better! Now ... I wonder how long it'll take me to grade these exams ...