Second Try

Well, since my application to the 2008 Olympics' ticket lottery was rejected the first time (as seen in the letter above), this last week, as a Christmas present to myself, I tried again to apply for some tickets to the international games. Now I just have to wait a few months before I find out if I get tickets or not. If so, I get to enjoy the event all of China is eagerly anticipating; if not...who knows, maybe I'll just chuck the Olympics and go on vacation!

Qing Ming Riverside

At the end of last month, I had the wonderful experience of attending an interpretive dance performance of the ancient Chinese painting 清明上河图(Qing Ming Shang He Tu) put on by the Hong Kong Dance Company. My friend Jerry and I went and had a great time watching the artistic creation of the painter Zhang Zeduan's masterpiece come to life on the stage. I hope you enjoy a few scenes from the program bill (and my friend's mobile phone camera) to spark your imagination of this dance extravaganza!Check out the link to see one of my favorite paintings from Chinese art history!
http://baike.baidu.com/pic/1/11943550251553562.jpg

Community Horizons

This semester, I had the privilege of beginning to learn Chinese sign language. It is really neat to learn about the community of the hearing impaired in China, make friends in their subculture, and broaden my community horizons! Here are some images from the last class when students from the special education school came over to help us with our sign language. It was really fun to be able to converse with students in their own heart language! Some of these students had never before met a foreigner, so it was a great honor and privilege to be able to have acquaintance with them and learn about their worlds! May God bless the hearing impaired community in China and around the globe!