Welp, this update was meant to happen this weekend, but time flew by… lots of things going on.  Here’s some of the fun things that happened this past week.  Settle in, this may be long…
Last Thursday and Friday we had two members of WASC – the Western Association of Schools and Colleges – vist our school for what is called an “initial visit” – it’s a first glance at the organization and makeup of our school to see how we are doing and what needs to be done to get accredited.  We don’t hear back anything for a couple of weeks, but were told unofficially that it went well.

Thursday evening Sarah and I were invited to some Chinese friends’ home/business place for dinner.  Dinner was interesting Chinese food that included whole fish and some spicy foods, but got especially interesting when they brought over what looked like a 2-gallon pickle jar full of dark red liquid.  One smell told me it was alcohol; I politely refused, having brought Sprite instead, but they would not be dissuadded.  When pouring into a paper cup, we noticed there was something in the bottom of the jar; upon asking, were told it was a “she.”  The trusty dictionary we brought along told us that the item in the jar was, in fact, a snake.  Apparently it’s a big deal to have wine (or something stronger) than this in your drink…

Friday was also our Science Olympiad.  All the students from our school, and a couple from the Tianjin ISC school came for a day of science related activities.  I was in charge of the “Scrambler,” an activity where students were to build a vehicle that could move down an 8 meter track based on the energy produced by a falling weight, stopping before the wall which would break the egg on the front of the vehicle (hence the name “scrambler”).  The problem with the students’ contraptions were two-fold:  1, they built their vehicles out of legos; and 2, rather than a falling weight, they were more throwing their weight at the back of their contraptions.  Put that together and you have a lot of broken vehicles and a worried teacher, as weights were being thrown at eggs.

Friday evening was the first CDIS talent show and the first major activity organized by our student government – while it left me, the tech guy, waiting until hours before for set lists, videos, music, and “could you do this during my act,” it all turned out alright.  Sarah graced the audience with a performance of “Taylor, the latte boy.”

The students decided to provide satirical views of teachers being the judges for the show, including myself, so we decided to enter an act where we would be some of the students.

Saturday was a work day for the upcoming play; Sunday I preached at fellowship.  This week is a mad rush to the finish of the quarter and the play, as fireworks, explosions, grades, late homework assignments, programs, and lots of other things need to be finished up.  We have three performances this weekend – should be interesting!