This blogging thing is hard.

***This post was supposed to go up two weeks ago, but Blogger was being stupid and wouldn't let me post. And then I was busy doing other things.***


Sorry. The blog went the way of no motivation and inability to think of things to write about. And also I would occasionally forget it existed and I should be writing about stuff. So. There's that.

So. Here's some of the things that have been going on:

• language training
• bands, all sorts
• springtime (cold hot cold hot cold but mostly windy)
• language training
• team teaching youth sunday school
• visitors
• language training
• meeting friends and influencing people (with food)
• weaving!
• did I mention language training?

First things first, I took a weaving class at the beginning of the year and I LOVED IT. If a passion is measured by your enjoyment of the drugery involved in a task then I was born to be a weaver. The only thing I disliked about the class was it was only one night a week and I couldn't go every day and work on stuff. I'm now seriously planning on getting a loom of my own and making ALL THE THINGS. Donations to my loom fund are appreciated. :)

I also joined a community band in January. It's fun, the people are nice, and we play a lot fewer marches than the last community band I was in, for which I am eternally grateful. We've played two concerts so far, one at a retirement home in Arlington (they had a woodshop in the basement and a disco ball in the big meeting room! Hippest assisted living place I've ever been) and one just yesterday at the airport for two Honor Flights. The Honor Flight Network is a nonprofit group that brings WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam vets to DC to visit the memorials and honor them for their service. We in the band got to serenade them as they got off the plane at the airport. It was pretty awesome to see all the cheering crowds and help let the veterans know that we are grateful. 

I'm also back in the DC Temple Orchestra. Our spring concert is next Sunday, and we're playing lots of cool arrangements of Restoration Hymns. And one arrangement that is probably supposed to be cool but at the moment is just giving everyone fits. Hopefully we can pull it together by Sunday.

Back in March the Sisters Haws came to visit. It was fun to see everyone, though the weather didn't quite cooperate. They went sightseeing, I got to cook fun food, and a good time was had by all. Even if my GPS decided that Mount Vernon didn't exist and tried to direct us to a gas station instead. My GPS is a little possessed.

But the thing that's really taken over our lives is language training. We get to spend 8 hours a day trying to pack our brains full of Mandarin. It's less like drinking from a fire hose and more like drinking from a fire hydrant. Don't get me wrong, I'm really really grateful that I have the chance to learn the language before we get to China, but that doesn't keep it from obliterating my brain on a regular basis. 

The training class we're in has about 30 people, divided into groups of 3 or 4 plus a teacher. Mike and I are not in the same class, as that apparently leads to marital strife. The teachers are all native Chinese speakers, which exposes us to lots of different accents and funny regional stuff. So far I've had teachers from Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and one from Shenyang (when I told her that I was going to Shenyang she said, "Oh, I just got back from there! The sky was the same color as the road.")

Tomorrow starts the eighth week of the class, which is just crazy. It's hard to believe that two months ago we were just starting to learn how to say hello (你好）and now we can (theoretically) carry on a conversation about what we did on the weekend and how we feel about our schooling. On the days when I feel like I'm forgetting everything I've ever known about Chinese and most of what I know about English, it's nice to look back and recognize the progress I've made (I know how to say "siblings" now, even though I thought getting it to stick in my head was going to kill me AND my teachers). Now I know enough to respond in Mandarin to my sisters' texts and actually say something pertinent to the conversation. Just not anything intelligible to anyone else. :)

So, here's to hoping that I can actually keep this blog thing going this time. Wish me luck.

再见！

We're not dead, I promise...

I'm just really, really behind on blogging. I'm going to try and play catch-up over the next few days. Here's the news from just after Thanksgiving:

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas were mostly a mad dash to get presents ordered and bought and sent off. Christmas as an adult is not as much fun as it is as a child, but I think it might be more satisfying. It's certainly more challenging. I think I made five different lists to try and keep track of what went where and when it needed to be sent off. But I think I got everything straightened out and all the things in the mail that need to be there. Every day I blessed the fact that the nearest post office is on the first floor of our apartment building--and the UPS store is just the next building over. Shipping things doesn't get any easier than this.

In my hunt for presents I went to Eastern Market in DC. It's one of the oldest market buildings in the country, built specifically for that purpose in 1873, and has been in continuous operation for 137 years. It's got all kinds of produce and flowers and meats to choose from, and the day I went they were selling Christmas trees outside, which smelled divine. The variety of meat products there was kind of bewildering (as was the veritable army of mothers and nannies armed with strollers and small children that were milling around outside the entrance). I think I saw a dozen different kinds of fish and everything from pigs feet to tripe (eww!). I didn't end up buying anything, but I want to go back on a weekend when the arts and crafts vendors are there. I did, however, find my way down to the Eastern Market Pottery, which is in the basement of the building. They sell pieces made by the instructors and offer classes most weeknights and I think it would be super cool to take a class there. Alas, it's expensive and there's a waiting list, and if I get into the Mandarin class I want to take in the spring I won't have time. But it still looked super cool.

I also found a used bookstore across the street from the market and wandered around in there for a while. It's in this tiny old row house and books are stacked up to the ceiling and packed into every available space, including the windows. The filing system is archaic and snarky and there were all sorts of odd nooks and corners. I loved it. If my living space looked like that it would drive me crazy in minutes, but it's sure fun to visit.

I think they used books both as commodities and architectural supplies

Hahahahahaha

This was in the stairwell down to the basement. The sign on the
 right reads: "WARNING: Theft from the Troll's Hole may
 result in, among other things: crooked wall hangings,
 lost keys, bad cell phone reception, impotence,
broken underwire, passive aggressive email forwards
 from Republican family members, vegans, baby theft,
 and ill-fitting shoes."

Let the holidays commence!

Apparently it's been a busy two weeks. Funny how the day to day things add up into a life. Here's what's been going on:

Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a lovely holiday. Ours was pretty great. We slept in (hooray!) and then made traditional Haws scones for brunch via the Homely method, because I am impatient and believe in immediate scone gratification. They were very good and no one was harmed in my first attempt at deep frying, so we'll label that a success. We spent the rest of the morning playing a new game and then went to Aunt Traci's friend Shelly's house for dinner. We didn't know anyone but Traci, but that didn't matter because everyone was super friendly and nice and we had a grand time. I embarrassed myself at corn hole, we ate lots of good food, Mike won the "dollar game", and my pumpkin cheesecake was universally admired (it's my mission in life to replace pumpkin pie with pumpkin cheesecake because it is astronomically better). I'm really grateful for awesome people. They make life worth it.

The most surprising thing that happened last week was that I was asked to help fill out the instrumentation for the Washington Temple Orchestra for their Christmas concert. I don't really know how they got my contact information, but I'm glad they did, because it was super fun. The DC Temple has an annual Festival of Lights with nightly performances in the Visitor's Center auditorium (which I did not know existed), and the Temple Orchestra was performing on Saturday. So I got the music and showed up and played with them and it was awesome. Everyone was really nice and very excited that I was there--apparently they only have one horn on a regular basis--and hopefully I'll be able to continue playing with them next year. I also made friends with the other horn players and learned about some other community bands in the area, so hopefully I will be able to keep playing with another group too.

We hit a milestone yesterday when we had our very first houseguest! Somehow in over three and a half years of marriage no one has ever come to stay with Mike and me until yesterday. This is a little sad. But Rachel came to visit, so all is well, and it was super fun. We ate lots of food (because feeding people is how I show my love--seriously, I don't know another way to do it), played games, and worked on Christmas decorations during the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. Mike hung lights in the windows and I made Rachel cut out snowflakes with me to hang on the walls and we played "Spot Uncle Glen" during the choir numbers. We finished off the night with the fruit and cheese box Mike's parents sent (because I have the best in-laws ever and nothing you say will convince me otherwise) which was so so tasty. Those are the best pears I've ever had in my life. It was a delightful evening and I'm sad that Rachel had to leave so soon. Visitors are fun! Come visit, people!

Cheers,

Mrs. Hawsmo