7 day work weeks, fires in your belly and other news

Let me (Grace) go on a short rampage about 7 day work weeks.  We're working the weekend in order to get a 3 day holiday, Mon-Wed (Qing Tomb holiday, when people decorate tombs of ancestors).  The result = exhausted teachers, cranky kids, and the 7th day ends up being movie day, which is a basically a lost day but as a teacher I have no energy left to think of one more creative way to teach adjective phrases.  --Btw, if anybody out there knows of any great teacher websites, please let me know!! --  All in all, we're working for such a short reward that in the end, it cancels itself out.  Why do they do this in China?  Because the government told them to, and no one asks questions.

People have learned to just accept things the way they are and though there is some complaining, it is the foreigners that ask "why?"  But, whether or not they ask questions, we've been learning the Chinese like to give opinions.  I've been hearing this line a lot this week: "wear more in the spring and less in the fall."  It's a Chinese saying, meaning that because there are so many germs going around in the spring, you should wear more clothes to keep from being sick (not sure what the fall part means).  I followed my TA's advice, but I'm still sick :(  Which means I've been hearing this line a lot as well: "drink hot water."  Apparently, the Chinese believe that cold water is bad for you, and you should only drink hot water to keep from extinguishing the "fire in your belly."  There is also a drink here that Petra swears is to cool the fire in your belly.  I haven't quite figured out what the fire signifies, other than it can be bad for you if it's too strong.  There is also the belief that you can get wind in your joints, which is like joint pain/rheumatism, from my understanding.  But whether you have fire or wind, the Chinese like giving advice, and everybody says the same thing!  It's quite interesting.

And yes, I'm sick.  I think it's to be assumed that any time we post, one of us is sick.  It's getting to be a bit trying, but Chris hasn't been sick in 3 weeks, which is a record, and I went a good 2 months without getting anything major.  We talked with some other expats, and they told us the first year was the hardest health wise, after that, it's fine.  Good to know there's an end in sight.

In other news, we decided we're staying another year!  Though Beijing is not the greatest city in the world to live in - there is currently a thin layer of dust covering EVERYthing due to spring winds - we feel like this is where we want to stay and have a sense of purpose here.  It's nice to have the stability, job wise, and we can keep getting to know people through church, etc.   We will be coming back to the States this summer, though the dates are still up in the air.  Probably early July to mid/end August.  We'll mainly be in WA and OR, and OH for a few days.  Please do let us know if you will be around this summer, we are excited to see all of you!

Hope all is well in your homes, thanks for reading :)