Dawn's Blog

'Twas three days before Christmas and here in my room
I was learning to write the Chinese word for "food"

When out on our door we heard a faint knock
And voices so many it must be a flock.

English we heard so we had no fear
We opened the door to the holiday cheer.

And what, to our wondering ears should we hear
but a choir of carolers, but sadly, no reindeer.

A jolly good bunch, they were all very cute
Of various ages and languages too!

We dressed in a hurry, I put on my hat
to go with the group to another friend's flat.


We sang there and then we went on to another
and stopped where fudge had been made by a mother.

This poem has no reason, except to tell
that Christmas is great no matter where you dwell.

My rhyming is slowing; oh, look! there's an isthmus!
I hope you all have an incredible Christmas!

First, I would like to send a Happy Birthday to my sister Julie. She's an awesome sister and she deserves a good birthday. 

Besides being Julie's birthday, December 18th marks another important event: Christmas is exactly one week away. And things are beginning to look a lot like Christmas, even in China. I went to our village grocery store yesterday and was shocked/immensely pleased to see all of the employees wearing red and white Santa hats. Judging by their facial expressions, I would say that I was much more excited about it than they were. I even got the courage to try out my Chinese and told one of the girls that I liked her hat.

Our Christmas Tree! (with fake presents)

In other Christmas events, the school had a Christmas program this past week, where I participated in my first real choir. And it was a lot of fun. The choir was made up of teachers, students, some people who work with the foster home, and pretty much anyone who was willing to join (which is why they accepted me). We sang Jingle Bells, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. And despite having me in the choir, I think we sounded pretty good.

I think the students are enjoying the Christmas festivities. Most of the classes have decorated their classrooms, and the teachers have been showing Christmas movies (in English, of course) and talking about Christmas traditions and what they mean. I have been incorporating Christmas song lyrics into my phonics classes ("Let's find all the short vowels in Jingle Bells!") and I plan to watch Charlie Brown's Christmas with them as a treat after they take their final tests next week.

I think that is enough for today's edition of Dawn's Blog. More Christmas news to come in the future. I hope you are all having a lovely Advent season!