Arsty Craftsy Mothers' Day and Internet Woes

Yes, I am still alive! It was my computer that died. And then my Internet. And then my Internet again (after approximately one hour). And then the school's server was shut down for the weekend....It is a very good exercise for my impatience. But yes, I am still here, still smiling, and still sweating...It is sooo hot today. Imagine a nice July day in Houston. Now subtract the A/C. Grandma Joyce, you would hate it here. :)
Last Thursday afternoon, all the students went outside (it wasn't quite as hot then) and did a Mothers' Day (Mu Qing Jie) art project. They had huge rolls of butcher paper taped to the side of the office building and laid flat on the floor. The older classes drew pictures of their mothers, with curly eyelashes and fancy-schmancy earrings, but the younger classes decorated pictures with crayons, newspaper scraps for hair and streamers for clothes. Of course no one minded that their mothers do not really have blue skin or multi-colored teeth. As Grandpa John reminded me in an email, the Chinese character for "good" says it all: a woman next to a child.
The picture above shows Emily and Lemon from the Duo Duo class, and the picture below is Sunny, also a Duo Duo.

This is Tom (below). He would be one of my little beaux if it weren't highly inappropriate for me to say that as a hired professional. (Me, professional? haha).

The two pictures below are not from the Mothers' Day art project, but from weekly art class. Still, art is art and I am impressed with how artistic these kids are. They are so young but they are learning all to draw, sing, dance, do taekwondo, recite poetry, speak two languages...I am reminded of the scene in Pride and Prejudice where Miss Bingley describes an "accomplished" young woman.

Last Sunday a group of 16 engineering students from BYU came to Nanjing and our branch is huge now! It is great! I was sick on Saturday but I was so glad to be well enough for church on Sunday. I know it's not the best reason to love going to church, but I have to admit that I loved talking with native English speakers, especially after I was cooped up in my apartment without the Internet the day before.

I have been busy trying to help the teachers pick songs for the graduation program. Originally, only one teacher had asked me to help her class, and I had quite a time finding a song that she liked and was easy enough for the kids, but then on Friday another teacher asked me to help her by Monday, today, and then today, another teacher asked me to help her today. I was kind of stressed because they wanted mp3 tracks for the songs and my Internet still isn't working and the school Internet didn't come back on until about 3 pm today...but with the non-religious Primary songs and a couple of free downloads from a Google search, I think we finally got it covered. Yea!

Since I was sick on Saturday, I slept practically all day, and then couldn't sleep when it was night. I finally got to bed at about 1 am, and then woke up early to go get train tickets for church (since I was sick I hadn't bought them on Saturday). When I got home from church I was exhausted, and I slept for about four hours, and then, of course, I couldn't sleep Sunday night. As I lay in bed thinking, despite all my stress and Internet issues (isn't it sad how dependent I am?) and sickness and not being able to call home, I was filled with a great sense of hope for China.

I love China.