Wow.

 I just had the best weekend, meeting this precious little girl and hanging out with her amazing parents. 

It's something I'll never ever forget.

You can read all about her story here. Something truly beautiful.

Views from 香山.

Sometimes I forget that I live in a big city.

On Monday, a few of us got up really early to go hike at 香山, a mountain outside of Beijing that is famous for its fall foliage. We were a little early in the season to see a lot of fall color, but the scenery from the mountain was amazing. Rain and wind the day before had cleared the air, leaving an amazing view of the sprawling city below.

 Those buildings in the background are at least 15 miles away.

a shot from earlier in the morning. I love to watch a city wake up.

 the earlybird hikers.

pictures from the last few weeks.

The creative title says it all. ;)

Assorted pictures. Take a look.

 At a basketball game with my students Chamberlain and Ted.

 Listening to the national anthems of each country. 

Had to take my hand off my heart to take the picture on the right. ;) 

The Beijing Ducks (our CBA team) played a traveling team from the States. 

The crowd was pretty pumped that Allen Iverson was one of the visiting players. 

Sports day 2012.

1000 meter race.

4x100 meter relay

 Me and my student Kevin. 

Why, yes he is a Star Trek fan. How did you know? 

 Some days I'm tempted to quit my job and teach at the primary school next door. (just kidding)

 Did you know that Bosses' Day is a real day?

 My team surprised me with all these awesome gifts last Tuesday. Coffee, cookies, muffins, a mug, and a box filled with notes, verses, and funny stuff. Needless to say I feel blessed to work with such thoughtful people.

 We had about 30 students at our October English Club on Saturday. Such a good day.

 After lunch and games, we painted some pumpkins.

 "Make your best pumpkin face!"

 Alex, an international student from Kazakhstan. 

 Robbie, Billy, Martin, and Robin...hard at work. We ran out of paintbrushes, so some of the guys improvised a little. 

 Hope you all have a good rest of the weekend. Mine's over. :(

A day with the horses.

Last week, a seventh-grade student came into our office and offered us three free tickets to an equestrian showjumping competition. The competition was scheduled for a weekday, but since we were going to be off work for the National Day holiday week, several of us decided to try to go see it.

I don't know much about horses, or showjumping, or the FEI World Cup, but I'm really glad we went. It was pretty cool.

 This rider is the bronze medalist from the London Olympics.

Sometimes things did not go as planned. I guess that's one reason it's so difficult.

One of the highlights/surprises of the day was to see a student from our school in the competition! It was amazing to see her compete against world-class riders. 

When her turn came she was doing great, better than many in the competition, but her horse missed the second-to-last jump and unfortunately she fell off. It was such a bummer. We were so sad for her...and I'm sure she was really disappointed. She's obviously a very dedicated rider and had worked extremely hard to get there.

 We are proud of you, Jessica!!

 It was a great day. What an interesting sport.

October is here.

I haven't been putting up pictures on here very regularly. Shoot, I haven't even been taking pictures very regularly either.

But, here's what I have been doing: 

enjoying clear skies,

and green grass,

 dancing in the park,

eating kiwi (I got a free box of them!),

celebrating the 60th anniversary of our school,

making (and eating) pizza,

 rollerblading at the Olympic Park,

watching the moon come up each night, 

 and thanking Him that October is here.

More pictures should start making their way onto the blog. Stay tuned!

Back in Town.

Back in Beijing. A new year, and a new team. 

It's good to be here again.

I arrived here again almost 3 weeks ago, but it's been a bit of a blur since then. The beginning of a new school year here always seems to be that way, but it's okay. Things are settling into a routine of sorts, and for that I am thankful. 

Here's the new crew.