Hey friend! 新年快樂！Come on in and get settled in. I have some rooibos tea ready and some banana bread in the oven. It is good to see you again!

It is that time of year. As you may remember from last year, 新年快樂 (xīn nián kuài lè) means, “Happy New Year”.  New Year’s eve was last night with the first day of the holiday being today. People have been going to the temples, lighting incense, praying, singing, and banging gongs. There have been delicious smells wafting through the air and sounds of children’s delighted screams of laughter. Most of the shops and restaurants are closed – the celebration is in full swing!

This month started off with a fun class period of playing with the Scrabble Cheez-Its that my mother bought for the Cubby class. Now that they are well versed in the alphabet, we were able to play fun games while reinforcing the phonetical sounds of the letters. The Cubbies fully enjoyed the activity and were thrilled to try a snack from America. I had forgotten to warn them that the crackers were cheese flavored and there were many shocked (and confused) looks when they first popped the squares into their mouths. How I wish I had already had my camera out by then! However, the general consensus by the end of the period was that Cheez-Its are yummy. Thank you, mom!

The following weekend I attended the wedding of my friend (who happens to be my wonderful Cubby co-teacher!) It was a fun celebration of two people making vows before their friends and families to love and to cherish one another, to point each other back to God, and to use their marriage to better glorify God. Two of my co-workers got up and sang a song for them. ^_^

As the Chinese schools have been on Winter Break this month, most of our students came to J5 for a full day. The Cubbies came in the morning, watched a movie, played games, made a craft, had lunch, napped, and then had class. Every Wednesday we went on a field trip. One day was an all day field trip on which we went to Miaoli (north of Taichung). While there we took a hike and saw tunnels from WWII that had indentations from where fighter jets had fired down, made salty eggs, a DIY project, learned about pollution and how to care for the earth. Our city kids also got a chance to meet some animals including but not limited to chickens, goats, donkeys, and llamas. Several were terrified and preferred to hide behind Teacher and watch from a safe distance.

Last week we went to the local bookstore. While there we looked at different English books to find one we wanted to take home. The Cubbies’ love for books makes my heart so happy!

Unfortunately all these field trips and busy days have left a massive pile of corrections on my table.

Last weekend was my birthday. Some friends and I went to a local Indian restaurant and had a lovely dinner. I made some yellow cupcakes with a peanut butter “butter”cream frosting. One of my students gave me a gift – on the inside of her homemade envelope was an iron-on duck. She told me, “Teacher, you can just put on clothes.” 🙂 A Badger student went to Japan with her family for a week long vacation. Upon her return, she gifted me a key chain of the Tokyo Sky Tree and a folder with a scene from my favorite film, Howl’s Moving Castle. ^_^ A happy teacher.

These two Cubbies are thick as thieves and love to incite shenanigans outside of the classroom.

This past Saturday I went to the girl on the left’s home to have a dinner with her and her older sister who is in Badger class. The girl on the right came for dinner, too, as did her older sister (who is another J5 student). We had a good time playing card games, playing dolls, and watching t.v. The dinner was pretty great, too!

It has been a busy month! I am looking forward to this next week off from work. Could you please keep praying for J5, the Cubbies, the Badgers, and myself? God is doing great things in our school and we want to continually seek God’s guidance in all things. Please also keep my mother in your prayers; her heart is having issues again.
How may I be praying for you, friends?

May God bless you and keep you,
Tr. Ruth