Month of January

January is coming to end. I wanted to keep an update on how my goals have been going. I have finished 3 books in the month of January just liked I had planned. February is going to go by so fast. We have a long break for the spring festival and then the last weekend of February and the first week of March we will be heading to the Philippines. I am very excited. The months after February will drag a little slower but it will be good.

As for my working out goal, I have been going to the gym every day and have started a lift program. Every other day I do a fast mile. I started with running an 8 minute mile and my goal was to get it down to a 7 minute mile by June. Well, I need to change my goal because just this week I ran a 7;02 minute mile. I am very proud of myself because I use to hate running and look at me running that fast. Plus, it felt good so I know there is still more room for improvement.

I have been slacking on my jewel art but since we have no plans for the Spring Festival, I plan to work on it very hard. As for practicing my Chinese, I have been doing better. I learned a few new phrases and I have started to keep a notebook of new words and phrases I learn.

January went by very fast and I am glad. Only 4 more months to go about!!

The distance is in Kilometers. 1.6km is one mile. I probably was under 7 minutes because the treadmill starts before gets to the speed you want it but I will just go with the number it says and shoot for lower next time. Maybe I will change my goal to 6:45 by June (or even lower)!

Longqing Gorge Ice and Snow Festival

We have been wanting to go to the ice and snow festival ever since we saw the poster when we went bungee jumping but it was months away. We never forgot about it though. We tried to make plans with friends so we could all go but those plans kept falling apart. Finally, one of Ally's students family wanted to go and we all took a drive together, stayed over night, and had a great time. The first day we took awhile to get to the place because of traffic. Once we arrived we had lunch played some cards then went to the ice show. It was really cold. Colder than we thought it was going be. We went through the show and took pictures. Afterwards, we went to dinner and had a whole rabbit and a lamb leg. Summer, our friend, wanted to get the whole lamb to be funny but that would have been way too much food. The next day they wanted to go skiing and take Jenna. We just went skiing a few weekends before so we were just going to stay on the easy slopes and hang out. It was Michelle's first time in many years so we coached her some. It was another freezing day and the wind was very cold on our face. We called it a day early after Jenna had two coaching sessions.

 Ally and Summer

 Michelle and Summer

 Jenna!

 Tony, Summer, Amber, Ally, Michelle, FangFang, Steven, and Jenna

 We stayed in a Tibet styled bed where everyone sleeps together. The heater was right next to the bed and it go very hot and could burn your skin if you touched it. The bed apparently had caught on fire before because under where Ally slept was a rug to hide the burn hole. We were  cracking up!

 The heater next to the wall that kept our room warm.

 Some translations just don't make sense.

 Jenna was doing a photo shoot with her mom's phone.

 Ally and Jennnnnna. Whenever you ask Jenna her name she always drags it out very long.

 Ally driving in China!

 Skiing in jeans we know is a big no no haha but we didn't know we were going skiing and weren't prepared.

 Tibet style bed

 On the left is the rabbit and on the right is the lamb leg.

 This is how China gets snow off the roads.

 Jenna's first PB&J sandwich. We wanted her to get ready for American food. She ate it all!