Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everybody,

As the title says, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! :D Even though I am half a world away, I still got to celebrate the holiday with some friends here, and we even had an American Thanksgiving dinner, although some of the foods were a little different. We had spaghetti, grilled cheese, stuffing (which was made by me, and was my first attempt at cooking :P ), mashed potatoes, brownies, and s'mores.  It was wonderful, and I ate more than I think I have at any other point here.  I was very thankful for all of the food and good company on that day. :)

In other news, this week was the last week of regular classes.  Next week, we are handing in our final papers, and taking our final exam in Language class.  The semester is quickly drawing to a close, and its really a bittersweet moment.  Even with the struggles to begin with, this has been quite the adventure.  I've met a lot of new people, made new friends, and had many experiences I don't know that I'll get to experience again.  Leaving it all behind is going to be sad.  However, I am very excited to be returning to everyone and everything I have waiting for me in the states.  My family, girlfriend, friends, professors, and everyone else that will play a role in my life are all waiting, and I can't wait to see them all again. And, two weeks from this posting, I'll get to. :)

The final thing that I want to talk about in this post was a trip we took this Saturday to a Buddhist temple and a garden here in Shi Jiazhuang.  The Buddhist temple was very interesting, and had many statues that were intricately carved and very cool to look at.  We also ate lunch at the temple before heading to the garden.  This garden had many different sections that represented different parts of China, such as the Great Wall.  It also had a fountain show that we were lucky enough to catch while we were there.  Overall, it was a very good Saturday, and I'm glad I got to go on the trip.

Well. that about wraps up my post for this time.  I'm thinking there will probably only be one more post from here in China, and then the final post will be once I get back to the states. :) Thank you to anyone that has stuck with me through this whole blog.  I hope I've been able to give you at least a little sense of what this trip was like. Until next time. :)

Adam