July/August note

	Hi! Can you believe it is already August? It's amazing! August 1 
was my 154th day in this country. Are you looking forward to the fall? I 
am, because I think all the construction work will be done by then. It 
might be harder to tolerate it when the weather is cold, because often 
there is no hot water and sometimes there is no water or electricity. 
Right now, it doesn't really bother me. The weather is still hot and 
humid, with frequent rain.

	School is over for the summer. On July 10th, I signed a new 
contract, so everything is all set until January. On July 18th I gave my 
last two exams to first year students at HeiDa. It was pretty nice to 
teach those seven classes for only five weeks, because the planning was 
easy. July 11th was the last day that Naomi and I taught Ann's class at 
the public health college. They were so cooperative! I'll miss that class. 
I'm also having a short break from meeting with my tutor, Teacher Liu, 
because she is busy, but on Wednesday, July 24, we had lunch and played 
frisbee and badminton with her and her daughter. Teacher Liu is a good 
friend!

	Lately, I have had many opportunities to have meals with national 
friends. Naomi and I have been invited by our friend Xinxin to go to her 
"club" every wednesday, although I don't go every week because I can't 
understand the speaking and the singing. After we went there for the first 
time, we went out to eat "hot pot" with Xinxin, her boyfriend, her mother, 
and two of her friends. Although I couldn't communicate very well, it was 
a nice time because they are similar to me. Less than a week later, I ate 
"hot pot" again with the English teacher Dan, Naomi, and two foreign 
students. They are a couple, but since one is Japanese and the other is 
Korean, they speak to each other in the language they are studying here! I 
have also gone to dinner with my student friends Catherine, Marie and 
again with Naomi, Dan and his student Edith. I eat lunch with my friends 
at the Dongfu office every Thursday, too.

	Every Sunday I meet with other Americans. We usually sing and have 
a lesson, and then chat with our father. Afterwards, we go out for lunch 
and sometimes play games. One week I had to give the lesson. I'm glad 
that's over! On July 6th, we decided to spend the day at the forest park. 
It is the most beautiful place I've seen in Harbin! After lunch, a few of 
us decided to try crossing a pond on some bridges made of chains. The 
first one was like a series of swings. It looked so easy until I tried it! 
The last one I tried just had a chain to walk on and a higher one to hold. 
But there was another foot chain on the other side, so people were pulling 
the hand chain back and forth. Some boys decided to shake me off (and 
succeeded), so I ended up sore and bruised. There was also a really nice 
fountain with jets that came up on a random pattern. Many people wanted to 
have their picture taken when they were standing inside the fountain, but 
it was hard to do without getting wet!

	If you are wondering what I plan to do during my holiday, I'm 
afraid that I am still wondering the same thing. So you'll have to wait 
and hear about it after the fact. I wish I could tell you that I will be 
visiting Michigan, but unfortunately I won't be coming home this summer.