December Happenings...

In December I was able to take a train to Shanghai and visit some dear friends!! My friend from Texas, Sara(next to me in the photo) was visiting our friends Lizzie and Daniel to help them with the birth of their sweet new baby, Hudson! It was such a great time of fellowship and such an amazing time of baby holding!!!

This is Lizzie and Daniel's oldest, Houston:-) I love the name!!! He is quite the smart little guy!!! He speaks chinese and english and we had a great time together:-)

I secretly found the Harley Davidson Shop in Shanghai to get some gifts for my parents:-) I was sooooo excited to be able to send them shirts from China!!!

I could hold a baby all the time I think! Lizzie was sooooo gracious to let me hold Hudson so much while I was there! They were amazing hosts and I felt so refreshed after being their home.

Well, as some of you know, I am an avid sports fan:-) Baseball is my number one sport but I am also a Die hard Bearkats fan!!!! For those of you who don't know who the Bearkats are, they are the Sam Houston Football team!!! My friend Ryan, who is standing in the chair on the table, is always so nice to let me come watch games at his apartment! Well, on the night of the second to last game I went to Wuchang to watch the game only to find out Ryan's internet was out!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH I was sooooo sad! But they found a way for us to go into their office at school and watch from there! It was a funny night of sports!!! We stayed up all night! Well Mandi(holding the chair in the pic) stayed until the game started, Midnight! Ryan, Kirk and I stayed all night! After my game Kirk watched his favorite basketball team and then Ryan watched his Basketball team...Mine and Ryan's teams won..but Kirk's team lost:-( Oh well, it was so much fun!! The light made a horrible noise so the pic is of Ryan removing the light bulb:-)

This is Kelvin! He is a student at a Middle school near my school and I have become friends with his family! His parents and he took me to a Christmas Show at a huge theater in Wuhan. It was a great night! Then when we walked out of the Show the Lunar Eclipse was just beginning! It was such a great night!!!

My friend Anna and I went to the "Crazy Market" to try to get some Christmas decorations and also anything that might be cheeper to buy there. The "Crazy Markets" are very popular in China and other places in Asia. This one is during the day. They also have one that opens at night. You can normally bargin with them and get things for a good price:-) I love bargaining:-) All those years my dad took me with him to garage sales and flea markets is really paying off...and my bargaining in Chinese is getting better!!!! I bought a few things:-) But since the market is SOOOO crazy you can't get out easily. So, we decided to take mo-ped taxis:-) This is the crazy traffic we were weaving in and out of!

Anna and I had a great time taking this transportation:-) I hope to do it again when it's not so cold!!! The drivers love to take Lao wai(foreigners) on their scooters...lol it was great!