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Hope you all are doing well! I'm sure that you all are enjoying the American life...including yummy American food--so don't be jealous when I tell you that this month I tried snails and frog! Not bad actually! You literally have to suck the snails out of the shell...hope none of you are eating as you read this ;) This month has been filled with lots of adventure and challenges. I have met some amazing people here--from all over the world! It's interesting to get to know people from different countries and cultures and what exactly has driven them to China.

Work is going fairly well--I love my kids; however, I've had some dealings with my boss this month that have proven to show that working in a different culture is not always easy. Please lift me up as I continue to work there. My kids are now adjusted to me and the routine of the class. They are so funny and so much fun to play with! I have one little girl in my class who is half German/half Chinese...she is beautiful and so sweet. Her name is Kylie. Kylie's mom called me yesterday to let me know that Kylie was at home imitating me saying, "I'm Miss Courtney" and that she appreciated that Kylie is loved while she's at school. Those are the moments when I know HE has called me here for a reason. Work is starting to become very busy though. From now until December, we have a Halloween Party planned for the kids, a field trip to the Science & Technology Museum, Parent-Teacher Conferences, and our Christmas Concert. It should be busy, but lots of fun!

Another experience to share with you of why I feel blessed to be here right now...my language partner invited me to dinner with his family and friends last Sunday. He sent me 2 text messages the day before...the first one stating, "Courtney, my mom is having a serious cook on Sunday, would you like to come?" And I thought, how can I pass up a "SERIOUS cook?" Before I could even respond, he sent a second message stating, "You will come, won't you?" So I couldn't pass it up, I had to go! So I went to fellowship Sunday and then met up with the family and friends for dinner. It was an amazing time! His mom had cooked soooooo much food...traditional Chinese food, and it was actually very good! We had an assortment of dishes...spicy duck, fish, pork, eggplant, mushrooms, tofu, broccoli, spinach, beans, and some type of beef soup for "dessert." The mother did not speak any English; however, my language partner was gracious enough to translate the entire dinner. We talked a lot about various things, but she talked mostly about her family. She is a widow with 3 children (which is very uncommon in China). She stated she loves children so much and wanted to have a big family, so she decided to have more children and just pay the extra fines to the government. I'm not sure how her husband passed away or when he did, but I admired that she was so passionate and caring towards her family. At the end of dinner, she thanked me for having dinner with her, as she stated I was the first foreigner she had ever cooked for! I told her not to thank me, but I should thank her for providing an amazing meal and good stories to share. She was so kind, caring, and humble. She wanted a picture of us that night, so I attached one for you all to see :) And that is what makes me truly feel blessed to be living out this experience.

On another note, I got to go and see the World Expo! That was really neat! The park is so HUGE that we couldn't even walk the entire thing. We mostly walked around and just looked at the buildings, as it was too crowded to actually go inside any of the pavilions--except the USA one, which we got to skip line because we had our passports :) Last Saturday they had a record breaking crowd there-- over 1,000,000 people! Glad I wasn't there on that day! I also have attached some pics of some of the buildings/pavilions there.