Get ready to sweep those tombs!

Our three day holiday has begun! I can't remember at the moment what it is called in Chinese, but April 4th is Tomb-sweeping day!! Hooray! That just means everyone remembers their ancestors and sweeps their grave sites, I suppose. Basically, it's just another traditional holiday that gives students reason to hop on the train to go home. And we don't have to teach on Monday!

Today was a pretty grand day. I went to school, taught my last lesson about Easter, and had office hours. I studied some Chinese, and then came back to old campus in the drizzle. I tried to catch the bus to Wal-mart, since I haven't been there for a long time, but I gave up. The buses weren't even stopping, because they were so full. So I just headed back to campus and walked around the track in the gray mist.

The air seemed so heavy and damp, it was like it clung to my eyelashes. It was a little dream world, and students were sparse. So I had a nice, uneventful little walk.

Since I'm almost all better, but not quite, I came back to my apartment and crashed for a 2 hour nap, which is a rarity. When I woke up, everybody was deciding to do outside activities, even though it was still cloudy and misty and chilly.

Rachael went rollerblading and Jonathan and I kicked a soccer ball around on the field for a while. We both attract a lot of attention, because we are both tall and gangly and pasty-looking. And girls don't really play with soccer balls in China. In fact, girls in China don't really exercise at all.

So we ran around on the ill-quality astroturf, as the ball went SPLAT, SPLAT, SPLAT all over the wet field. There were also about 25 very tall soldiers drilling in formation on the same field. They marched around us and we played soccer around them. It was fun.

Then we spotted three little boys climbing over the school wall from the outside neighborhoods, onto the field. But the wall was too tall, and they just dangled from the wall, waiting for rescue or something. The soldiers noticed, too. We just stood and watched as ALL the soldiers in their formation jogged over to the wall and halted, facing the boys. Then two of the guys marched up to the wall and stretched their hands out very stiffly and awkwardly to help the boys from the wall. For some reason, it was a really strange sight. It was like watching a communist propaganda poster come to life. The people's army giving a helping hand to everybody, even little wayward boys stuck on a university wall.

For dinner, Joelle cooked a bunch of flour tortillas and chicken to make tacos. It was so good and so much fun. Three other team leaders from other parts of China are visiting Joelle, so they were with us, too. So we go to hear about our friends serving in other Chinese cities. One of my friends, Jenni, who teaches in one of China's most polluted cities, Taiyuan, even sent me a wonderful letter via her team leader. I was so glad to hear from her.

Then the rest of the night, Jodi and I just challenged each other to endless games of speed Scrabble. China's the life!