October and such

Still not back into the habit of being a blogger...as evidenced by my lack of blogs in the last month! I often think of things I want to write about, but rarely do I think of it when I'm sitting at my computer with nothing else to do!

The last month has been a busy one. As a staff, we went to Beijing for a teacher's conference. It was great--I got to spend some time with friends from other cities, and got a ton of new ideas for my classroom. Plus, we got to sight-see a bit, and I visited a few places I hadn't been before.

Here's the group of LDi Cedarville Grads

 The Bird's Nest, Beijing

 The Cube, Beijing

 The Forbidden City,  Beijing

After we got back from Beijing, we had a CDIS staff retreat. We went to various religious sites around the city, most of which I had never seen. We also spent much time eating!! We went to both the Shangri La Hotel and the Wyndham Hotel for their buffets. mmmm....so good!

This is a Buddhist temple

 A 3-Self Church

 A Catholic church

 A Taoist shrine

One of my favorite parts of October happened last week. In Chengdu, we rarely get sunny fall days. There are days that you could consider "bright", but the sun is not visible. When I went to Shenyang a few years ago, I remember freaking out at the sunset--it was a gorgeous orange and it was breath-taking. Then last week, I drove home in this:

It was amazing. One of my favorite weather days in Chengdu, EVER. Praise the Lord for small blessings like an actual sunset!