The first semester completed on January 8th. All our paperwork was handed in and approved. Now we are getting ready to do some traveling. We are going to Taiwan for 6 days, then on to Sydney for 5 days, and then to New Zealand for 7 days. The weather should be a lot better than here in Baoding, and the air quality will also be better. We're traveling to Taiwan with one of our colleagues, Amber. She is from Utah and this is her third year in China. There are a couple of national parks we'd like to visit in Taiwan. Taroko Gorge is supposed to be very beautiful. In New Zealand we will meet up with David McBriar. Looking forward to being with him for the week.
The students are on their way back home for the break. The campus is very quiet. The street vendors have gone and a lot of the shops have closed up. Good thing we're going away for a few weeks.
Here's a couple of photos of our classes. They are really good kids. The first photo is of one of Marianne's classes. It was a small class, but she really got to do a lot with this group. They were treating her to dinner after their last class.
The next photos are two of my classes. The are all bundled up because its cold and drafty in the classroom buildings.
Time for a break. They need to go home to their moms and dads, and load up on some home cookin'. We just need some warm weather and blue skies. We'll all come back in February ready to go at it again.
Hang in there, Paul and Marianne. I hope that the fresh air and warmth of Australia and New Zealand suited you well and that you had a great time with Fr. David!
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