At the end of 2003: Happy New Year!

	Shengdan kuai le (merry Christmas) and Xinnian kaui le (happy New 
Year) from Harbin! In January my contract with the university and my 
"year" (322 days) in northeast Asia will be complete. These days everyone 
is looking forward to the long vacation around the traditional lunar New 
Year's Day, which I think is January 21st this year. That is the most 
important holiday of the year, but no one minds celebrating the New Year 
twice. In fact, I have just finished listening to President Hu's holiday 
greetings on central television.

	Winter set in about mid-November, and the temperature hasn't been 
above 32°F since then. Harbin is known to reach very cold temperatures 
frequently, even -40°F, but this December has been mild. Although it 
often was about 0°F, it has often been warmer, too. Since the weather is 
so consistent, Harbin is a great place for ice lanterns and ice 
sculptures. I will see these things on Friday, January 2nd, so if you 
don't see the picture above, check again after the 2nd. I just couldn't 
resist the chance to send my New Year's greetings in advance, because my 
teacher-inspired scheme to send everyone a Christmas postcard has failed 
(she claims there are beautiful postcards with winter scenes at the post 
office store, but I was unable to find them).

	My classes and exams are now finished, and I am relieved. You see, 
two of my classes actually asked me to offer an extra exam! They are 
preparing for the important exam that will allow them to study in Britain, 
and since my exams closely follow the format of the speaking portion of 
that exam, they wanted more chances to practice for the interview with me. 
Plus, I decided that it would be very sensible to have a Christmas party 
with each of my seven classes, including the movie A Charlie Brown 
Christmas. The result was mayhem! I am grateful for the help of Phil, 
Bethany, and Matt N. so that I could show the movie.

	You know it is impossible for me to concentrate exclusively on 
teaching. There was another rock concert on November 29, so I had to 
attend! The quality of all the bands had improved, and my favorite was the 
group that wore the gray coveralls, although several groups were almost as 
good. On December 19, I went to a new cafe to hear Joel (an American) play 
some songs (in English). Then on Christmas Day and the 27th, I attended 
services that were full of skits, dancing, and singing. So it is easy to 
be entertained even when you can't understand the language.

	At the Dongfu office, the culture nights have been increasing in 
popularity. We were overcrowded with nearly 90 in attendance for the 
Thanksgiving culture night. Next, we had some friends help us with a 
culture night about Scotland, so I learned to bake shortbread. For 
Christmas, we tried to avoid the crowding problem by presenting the 
culture night at a university first, and once again at the office, but we 
still had 80 people. It's so nice to see people who are enthusiastic about 
studying English, because it helps us to be more enthusiastic about 
teaching it.

	This year of teaching has been a big challenge for me. To be 
honest, as I look back on this experience as it draws to a close, I could 
have done a lot of things better. I could have studied harder, taught 
better, prayed more, been more aggressive about forming friendships and 
trying to do difficult tasks, and been less aggressive in defense of my 
American ideas about personal rights and politeness. But when we learn to 
walk, and we fall down, we must let Dad pick us up off the floor for 
another try!

	So, I'm trying again. In February I'll begin working part-time for 
Dongfu again as an English teacher, plus some office work. I will also 
attempt to take a language class at Hei Da (intensive reading, which for 
some reason really means grammar). This will be a six-month trial, after 
which we will evaluate the productiveness of that setup. There are still a 
lot of work permit, visa, housing and financial issues to be ironed out. I 
hope you are in support of my idea. Your feedback is always welcome. 
Dongfu company has many difficulties to overcome, so please remember all 
of the company members.

	Supposedly tickets have been purchased, and I will be flying home 
on January 12th! I'm excited about this vacation, and I want to have a 
chance to visit everyone before February 15th. Well, perhaps Calgary, 
Denver, and Florida are out of my reach, but hopefully I can visit the 
majority of my family and friends. Since my vacation falls at a time when 
you are NOT on vacation, I expect you to get in touch with me about a time 
when you are free to meet me. See you soon!