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 Close behind Conson, Tropical Storm Chanthu is already bringing wind and rain to Haikou. Might want to bring a sturdy umbrella if you need to go anywhere tomorrow!

You can track its progress on the  Tropical Storm Risk website. Stay safe!

 Did you know we were having a beach carnival here in Haikou? Neither did I! Apparently it started on July 18th and will last until September.Hmmm, this might be more fun if we had better beaches. Or at least cleaner ones...

 Well, Typhoon Conson missed us up here in Haikou, but hit our friends in Sanya much worse. The first 36 seconds of this video were shot in Sanya during the storm.



Two people were reportedly killed by a falling billboard, a security guard and a migrant worker. If you live in Sanya, how is the cleanup going?

 First tropical storm of the season looks like it's heading our way: Tropical Storm Conson will likely begin affecting Haikou and the surrounding areas Friday morning, July 16th. Bring in your laundry and don't forget to shut your windows!

This storm has already done some damage in the Philippines, and we hope everyone hurt there will recover quickly.

To track Conson and other storms as they develop in our area and around the world, you can check Tropical Storm Risk. It's a great resource.

 It all started with a call from the Haikou government. We've learned to love it when they call us because it always results in some sort of fun adventure. They wanted us to participate in the International Hainan Wedding Festival, including a group wedding ceremony with 60 couples and a free hot air balloon ride. See, in order for it to be international they needed some international type people! Apparently we were first on the list of cute young foreign couples who lived in Haikou. Hooray! 

We almost had to say no, because the main activity was on a Saturday. Saturdays are usually our super busy days, with 6 hours teaching each. Due to the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival though, the kids in our Saturday classes had to do make up school at their regular schools that day, and that meant all our Saturday classes were cancelled! Hooray!

I went in for a dress fitting on Friday afternoon. I was ushered into a small room lined with tables, all draped with every style of wedding dress. The room had about 15 Chinese women inside, some trying on dresses, others assisting. I was already resigned to the fact that I would probably end up with a really hideous wedding dress, so I decided to just accept the first one that fit reasonably well and had straps. I ended up with one that had more dangling jewels than I would have liked, and was way too long, but otherwise wasn't too bad. It could have been a WHOLE LOT WORSE!

So, they handed me the dress to try on, and I realized I was going to have to get naked in front of 15 women I'd just met two minutes ago. Oh well, I thought, and started unbuttoning my blouse. Two of the assistants helpfully reached over and started unbuttoning things for me and trying to pull off my clothes! Hands off the merchandise, I thought, and told them thank you, but I can do it by myself! Luckily I'd worn some of my more presentable underwear, with the thought that this kind of thing was likely to happen!

We found out that most of the other couples were staying in the hotel, and asked if we could stay there too. No problem! We went over to the Baohua hotel that night after our evening classes and checked in. Decent room, about 4 star quality, and free! We ended up staying two nights, and could have stayed another few days as well, but we had to get back home and take care of a few things. We enjoyed the Star Movie channel in the hotel room and ended up watching Encino Man (ow, my pancreas!) and Bedtime Stories (for FREEEEEEEE!!!)

Early Saturday morning we were down in the lobby for a buffet breakfast (so-so) and then we climbed in to a bus to go to Evergreen Park. Which is funny because the hotel is literally across the street from the park. We had seen the hot air balloons from the hotel windows, and we were pretty excited. One by one the 60 couples got a chance to climb in and fly up in the sky! Not too far up, as the balloons were tethered to the ground, but it was still lots of fun. The media discovered that there were FOREIGNERS (us!) and swarmed around for photos and interviews. They interviewed us in Chinese most of the time, and English a few times. They swarmed us every chance they got through the rest of the two days we were there. You can see a video of us here.

After flying in the balloon,  we had a dry run for the ceremony that evening and then headed back to the hotel for lunch. I was told to come down to the dressing room at 1:30 to get into my dress, and have my hair and makeup done. Getting changed was a little less traumatic this time, as there were only 4 or 5 other women in the room with me, and they let me take care of things a little bit more on my own. Then over to hair and makeup, where there were about 15 beauty stations set up! I sat and waited with the other brides for about half an hour for my turn. That was ok though, since I brought a book. They put more makeup on me than I wore at my own actual wedding, and when I saw my eye makeup in the mirror I immediately thought of Jade Rhoden! Hi Jade! I saw they were teasing the heck out of some of the girls' hair, and that made me nervous. I have very long hair and one of the ways it stays that way is I don't do horrible things to it, like teasing! So Erik helped me explain to the girl that I really didn't want her to do that, and she was very agreeable and found a style that required minimal hairspraying, too. Hooray! I took before and after shots of the beautification process.

Before: 


































After:



































Then I got to relax a bit before dinner. I started completely pouring about 5 pm, so I was a little concerned since our ceremony was in Evergreen Park, and hoped they had an alternate venue in case of inclement weather! Luckily it stopped while we were eating dinner. Had to walk through a very muddy field in spiky shoes and a trailing dress though! Spent most of the time trying to hold my flowers, hold my dress out of the mud, and walk without falling down as my high heels kept sinking in. I practically never wear high heels anyway, so I was already at a disadvantage!

There was lots of standing around in the field (being interviewed!) waiting for our number to be called, as there were 60 couples and we were number 56. Finally it was our turn though, and we went up to sign our names inside a heart on a banner. Then more waiting before we walked under a flowery arch and they announced us. They said we came from Germany though, so we had to correct them! After walking blinded up the aisle as they took more photos than I think I've had taken in my entire life to date, we got to sit for a while and watch a show which featured the female dancers slapping the male dancers who were courting them. Entertaining! Then all the couples got up and recited vows, bowed to each other, and had a ten-second kiss. We all stood up on risers on the stage for a massive group photo and then it was back to the hotel to try to wash all the goo off my face, and pick off the artificial eyelashes! 

In the morning we had buffet breakfast again and then everybody was bussed out to the Haikou Volcano. We were all wearing our matching red flowered shirts, and there was a real "tour group" feeling, with everybody climbing for five minutes, then stopping for one thing or another. We were given white lilies to carry, and heart shaped locks to lock onto the chain railing. (The locks symbolized our hearts forever locked together) There is a little altar halfway up and they had a group bowing and incense lighting time. We did not participate in that one. Then up to the top and back down for a really nice lunch at the base of the mountain. We ended up sitting with several couples from various parts of China so we got to play the "local" role and tell everybody about the Hainan specialty dishes we were eating. 

There were apparently another 3-4 days of activities we could have participated in, but we needed to get back to our real lives (and our doggies!) so we checked out of the hotel and bid our tourguide goodbye. She tried really hard to persuade us to stick around, but finally gave us both hugs, said goodbye, and invited us to come back and do it all again next year!


Kisses to you all and thanks for reading this very long story!

 In response to a post over at Six Things, here are six jobs I held before becoming an ESL teacher. If you're an ESL teacher too, I'd love to hear about some of the things you did before...

1. My first real job, I was a swimming teacher and lifeguard for the YMCA the summer before college. I love swimming and it was a hot summer so this was perfect! I ended up with a really dark tan and apparently gave a few people (ahem Sharon Allard) the wrong impression when I arrived at TIU in the fall. Beach bimbo? Mmmm nope.

2. Summer camp counselor at Camp Cherith. I grew up at camp every summer and loved it. I still sing silly camp songs a bit too much, but hey that's useful in ESL too! Unfortunately I don't get to camp out at all these days.

3. Tutor in the college tutoring center. Most of the time there was actually nobody to be tutored, so I'd just read a book or chat with the other tutors, but I did really enjoy helping people when they came in. In English though, not Math! This was actually really good prep for ESL too as we had a lot of Asian seminary students who'd come over for editing help on their theses.

4. House/Office cleaner. Occasionally I'd clean for some of the college professors. I cleaned Dr. Karlesky's apartment, which was a surreal experience because it was full of my grandmother's old furniture. I also had the privilege of dusting Cliff's office, for which he paid me more than I deserved. I think he just suspected I really needed the cash. Thanks you guys!

5. Babysitting/nannying. Didn't everybody do that at some point? Luckily our college was in a highly wealthy suburb of Chicago, so we were well paid! My favorite memory was the little girl who told me that EVERYBODY should keep kosher! Her house had two whole separate kitchens just for that purpose. She also asked me where babies come from.  I told her she should ask her Mom. "Mommy doesn't know either!" she exclaimed. Looking down at her infant brother drinking his bottle, I told her I was pretty sure she did...

6. I've left the Library for last, because, well, it is actually quite a few jobs! I worked there part time all the way through college and was lucky enough to be offered a full time position upon graduation. This is the job I left to come to China, and I still miss it some days. Mostly I miss the great people, although sadly most of them aren't there anymore either. I got to work in many different positions, including Circulation Desk, Serials, Opening/Closing, Cataloging, and Acquisitions. I even had a stint or two on the Reference Desk. In fact, I think the only departments I didn't work for were ILL and Bindery.... Best memory? So many, but coming in on Saturday, picking up the library mail, receiving one book, checking it in, cataloging it, processing it, and checking it out to myself, then clocking out and going home to read the New Harry Potter was probably my favorite.

Y'all?

 A very special thank you to Jocelyn of http://www.speakingofchina.com for having a contest on her blog to win a Chinese character drawn by her father-in-law, the character 贤[xián] which means “virtuous” or “a virtuous person.” I won! Here is the character which arrived in the mail the other day:

Very cool! I will be hanging it up next to my computer. Thanks again!

 Monday the 17th was our 7th anniversary, and although we couldn't do much together that day, (morning, afternoon, and evening classes for me) we went out on Tuesday night to celebrate.

We decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants in Haikou, the elegant (and expensive!) Pretty Thai 非常泰.

国贸北路]非常泰休闲会所
订座电话：66775757 66785757
地　　址：海口市国贸大道美源商业广场7号楼




We've been there a few times, and loved it. The owner Jimmy is really friendly, and the food is good. The decor is beautiful too. Here are a few photos I found online:

































































































We've enjoyed the food before, especially the beef with mango. It was always our favorite dish and we got it again this time:















































We wanted to try something new, though, too. We decided on the Roast Duck. I couldn't find a photo of it online, and we didn't remember to take a picture until ours was nearly all DEVOURED, but let me tell you. It was beautiful. And so, so, so good. It is our new favorite! The best in Haikou. I'm telling you, go try it! The tender slices of boneless roasted duck breast are served over a bed of mashed potatoes, and covered with a rainbow of tiny pieced of diced fruit, as well as an amazing orange sauce. To die for.


























We were very, very happy.

 Friends and family: don't worry. We were nowhere near this, and only found out from this news article from Yahoo News:

Report says 13 hurt in latest China knife attack


BEIJING – At least five men armed with knives burst into the dormitory of a vocational college Wednesday and slashed nine students, one of them seriously, sparking new fears in a country on edge over a series of shocking rampages, many of them at schools.
Four students had been wounded in an earlier confrontation between the two groups, bringing the total injured to 13.
The pre-dawn attack took place in Haikou, the capital of the southern island province of Hainan, when five or six men burst into a dormitory at the Hainan Institute of Science and Technology and slashed the students, the China News Service reported.
It said eight were wounded slightly, while one's hand was cut off.
Two students remained hospitalized with wounds that were not life-threatening, the reports said.
Because it was a vocational college, the students would have been much older than the children targeted in a string of attacks at schools across China in the last two months.The reports said the violence began with a confrontation late Tuesday between some of the college's students eating at a food stall outside the school and men from the surrounding villages. Such schools usually attract students in their late teens and early twenties.
Four of the students were attacked with knives and police were called, but left after questioning the students, the reports said. The villagers then called for reinforcements and attacked the school at about 2:30 a.m. (1830 GMT), the reports said.
A spokesman for the Hainan provincial government confirmed the report but said he had no additional information. The official Xinhua News Agency put the number of attackers at more than 10 and said they first assaulted a guard and disabled security cameras before rushing into two dormitories where lights remained on and hacking away apparently at random.
The attack follows five separate assaults by lone assailants against schoolchildren as young as three in the last two months that have left 17 dead and more than 50 wounded, including some adults.The violence has resulted in a boost of security at schools across China, with nervous parents accompanying students to school and police and security guards posted at entrances.
While revenge was the apparent motive in the latest attack, previous rampages have involved apparently deranged people seeking to vent their rage on innocent victims with whom they had little or no connection.
Sociologists say those attacks reflect a failure to diagnose and treat mental illness, along with anger and frustration among people who feel victimized by China's high-stress, fast-changing society. Experts say the frequency of the attacks and choice of schoolchildren as the main victims suggest a copycat element.
In a similar incident, a cleaver-wielding man killed one woman and wounded five at a market in the southern province of Guangdong on Sunday before jumping to his death.
While the man appeared to have deliberately targeted women, it was not immediately clear what triggered the attack.