Hello Everyone!

It’s definitely summer here now – a daytime max under 30 feels quite cool, and nighttimes are usually in the high teens. It hasn’t been overly humid yet which is a boon for my arms. Apart from a couple of weeks when the weather started warming up they haven’t bothered me much at all which is nice! I think I’m learning to use them less BEFORE they start to hurt, when the damage has already been done.

There’ve been a few fun events since my last update. The school year is winding up here in the Northern Hemisphere, which means everyone is busybusybusy, including me!

I’ve been to several graduations and related events, and said goodbye to too many people who are leaving Beijing. I know it’s an annual thing, the farewells, but it’s still never easy to say goodbye. On the other hand, I’ve also said hello to a few people who left for university but have come back to visit (Emily, Charissa, Logan…) which is SO lovely!

Qinhuangdao

I went on a trip with some youth leaders and some grade 11-12 kids to a place called Qinhuangdao – where the Great Wall meets the sea. It was an AMAZING time! I think it’s going to become an annual thing, taking the older kids away for a weekend at the end of the year.

I took a souvenir piece of the Great Wall back. A piece made of PAINTED STYROFOAM!! Seriously, there was a whole section of styrofoam shaped and painted to resemble the grey bricks that make up the rest of the section of wall.

Qinhuangdao

ReGen Formal

The other big youth event was the youth group formal, followed by an all-night lock in – we stayed at the church (and stayed up) til 6am. That was lots of fun! Dressing up, dancing, open mic, junk food, games (of all sorts) and lord of the rings playing for 9 hours… what more could you ask for? Other than sleep, obviously.

Regen Formal

Birthday Girl

I also celebrated my 27th birthday recently! I spent the first few hours of June 1st at an open mic night in town where some friends are regulars – did some singing and some listening and some chatting and generally had an awesome time (as evidenced by the fact we didn’t leave til 4:30 in the morning!) Even had happy birthday sung to me by a barful of people – a first for me!

New Hair

As always (this year, anyway) I have a new haircut! The shortest my hair has EVER been and everyone loves it – although more than three weeks after the fact I still get surprised by it constantly :) Before more of you ask, no, I didn’t get it highlighted – that’s just bleached bits left in where it wasn’t long enough to cut it completely out. Unplanned, but worked out well!

That’s all for now!  Love lots,

Tanya

PS – You may remember that at the end of my last update I lost my camera so most of these pics have been pilfered from my friends’ facebook pages. So lots of thankyous/apologies for that! (Anna, Candy, Elizabeth, Emily, Josh, Zach, and probably others…)