Christmas in September?!?

Sigh, I thought I would get better at updating this blog more frequently but I look at the last post date and I didn't do a very good job :( 

Well, I am in my 7th week of classes here in Wuxi!  I cannot believe how fast time is flying.  We haven't had a 3-day weekend or any breaks since school has started but next week we have the entire week off for the Chinese October holiday!  I know I speak for all of the teachers here when I say we are ready for it!  It's hard to believe that when we come back from break we will start working on Christmas music in all of my classes which means I've been picking out music these past few weeks.  I love Christmas music but I usually at least try to wait until Thanksgiving to start listening to it!  Unfortunately we can't wait that long to start rehearsing for our concert so we have to start now.  I have chosen a very difficult piece of music by Straight No Chaser for my high schoolers.  It was a request of one of the students but I'm not sure with our numbers if we'll be able to pull it off.  I decided this week would be our "trial-run" to see how we progress.  Needless to say we spent a majority of our class period today singing the arrangement of "What Child is This?" and yes, it is September!

Our Father is continually showing His love to me and those around.  I feel so much closer than I ever have to Him and the hope, joy and peace He brings.  I wish I could go into details but I'll save that for when I come home next summer!  Btw....I know I told some of you that I would be gone for two years without coming home but my family has used frequent flyer miles to buy me a ticket home!  I'll be home for 3 weeks in June (unfortunately that's all the time off I get for the summer...the rest of the time I have Chinese language lessons). 

I've started my Chinese lessons as of last week!  Apparantly my pronunciation is unusually precise which I'm really happy about, but there is definitely a lot of work to be done to learn even the basics of this language!  I just want to be able to communicate with those around me and understand what they say when they speak to me. 

Anyways I need to head to sleep soon...tomorrow is a school day!  I miss you all and I hope you are doing well!

-Rachel
PS-Happy (day early) 17th Birthday to my baby brother, Caleb!!!  (I cannot believe you're that
OLD!)
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