My Trips to the Hospitals

No, I don't mean that I was hurt or sick and was in the hospital. This last week, one of the assistants in my class had her appendix removed and one of the children in my class had a bad case of the flu (no, not H1N1).

Last Friday, I walked in to school to not find Traci. I was told she was sick and at the hospital. Later, through a game of charades, I found out she was actually having her appendix removed. All of the teachers, a mom and dad from class, Vi and me all went to visit her Saturday night. Everything had gone well and she ended up being released from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon. The hospital was just a 10 minute walk from the school so I visited her during lunch on Monday and Wednesday, as well. Oh yes, after Saturday's visit, Thomas' (a student) mom and dad took us to dinner, great.

I didn't know but a student, Happy, had been hospitalized that Sunday for the flu. I didn't find out until later in the week. The other teachers in the class and myself went to visit him on Thursday night. He was doing much better so we visited for a while. Happy said he missed me a lot. The boys are much closer to me than the female teachers, it's nice. After that, Happy's dad took us all out to dinner. Oh, I forgot, that was my Thanksgiving dinner.

The only thing new with me or Vi is that I bought a new camera. One of Ross's children's parents works for Samsung and got a really nice discount so I went and bought one. In Asia and Europe it's ST550 but the model number is different in America. Anyway, yesterday and last night was spent walking around Shenzhen taking pictures. I will post them soon, the night ones are really cool.

Last Sunday, I went to a golf tournament here in Shenzhen. It's the World Cup of Golf held at Mission Hills Golf Club (the largest golf club in the world). The club has twelve 18-hole golf courses, all designed by famous golfers. One of Ross's children's parents is a member and has a house out there so they gave the teachers some tickets and sent their driver to the school to take us.

The tournament was fun but enjoying the time at the house was even better. We pulled up to a mini-mansion with a Massarati parked out front. We've all heard that in China, performance cars are taxed a minimum of 100%, sometimes as much as 200%. That means this car cost them over $300,000 while the house was priced over $3 million.

The father is one of the largest bbq grill manufacturers in the world. He builds the grills, then sells them to larger companies to put their names on. He has his American headquarters in Atlanta, off 285. His grills are sold in Home Depot and Lowe's, meaning he's doing OK. They're also sold in the top 3 hardware stores in Australia.

We had a great lunch, an assortment of grilled meats and excellent red wine. It was great to sit, eat and relax outside by a pool with a view of a pond and golf course. Not able to hear car horns or construction for a whole day was a new experience.

We'll definitely be going back up there for another dinner.

Also, I've posted pictures from Halloween and more of the kids in my class.