November note

	Hi! Can you believe it is already mid-November? I can't! As of 
November 16th I have been in northeast Asia for 265 days. Soon it will be 
Thanksgiving. Have a great time, and eat a lot for me. I will be thinking 
of you. I am thankful for so much this fall, especially you!

	October 1 was National Day, and this year was the 54th birthday of 
the PRC. To celebrate, and to make up for a SARS-shortened May holiday, I 
got an extra long National Day holiday. At that time, I traveled north by 
bus with some friends. First, we stayed overnight in Yichun, where I 
traveled in June, to meet Ruth. Next, we went north by bus again, taking 
Ruth along with us. Our destination was a small town called Jiayin, right 
on the Black Dragon River (Heilong Jiang). If you have looked at a map, 
you know this means we were on the border with Russia. However, in this 
part of Siberia, there is only a tiny army outpost. Looking across the 
river gave us a view of empty land, but it was a nice view, because we 
went north when the leaves had all turned color. In Jiayin, we reserved a 
"loaf of bread" car and driver to take us all around. We just hollered 
"stop" whenever we wanted, so I have some nice photos, including rice and 
soybean harvest pictures. One of our scheduled stops was at a park in 
which we hiked back to a waterfall. We also stopped at the Jiayin Dinosaur 
National Park, but it seemed to be a scam - all kinds of terrific English 
signs but although we followed them carefully, we did not find the fossil 
site!

	After I returned to Harbin, I was invited to go to the Siberia 
Tiger Park with Carsten and Joel. This park is in Harbin, but in the 
outskirts with a lot of land where some of the tigers can roam freely. The 
tour included a bus ride through an open area, and then we walked through 
a more zoo-like area. In this place, Joel bought a chicken to feed the 
tigers, but he threw it so high that it was able to fly into a tree. Since 
the tigers wanted that chicken, they started climbing the tree - right by 
the fence! All the workers got very nervous, thinking that the tigers 
might climb out, so they ran over shouting and tried to shoo them away 
from the fence by poking at them with the flag-pole. Joel was disappointed 
by the performance of his chicken, so he bought another. That one got 
eaten. Both of the guys posed with a tiger cub for photos.

	Recently, I also had a chance to travel to the capital. A student 
named Bob has joined us through TEAM Serve, so Phil and Ann took us there 
for a weekend. This is possible because there is an overnight train. We 
stayed in a nice hotel with a swimming pool and a great breakfast buffet. 
The buffet included Western breakfast food. I like breakfast! There are 
too many things to see in the capital, but I did manage to see the wall, 
the Forbidden City, a cloisonne shop, the gate to the Forbidden City (Tian 
an men), the temple of heaven, and an acrobatics show. We also ate the 
roast duck dinner on Saturday night and I thought my heart might clog up.

	I am pleased to report that Phil and Ann have found an incredible 
new apartment (praise the L)! Things are going very well with the Dongfu 
office; new opportunities and projects are progressing. I work in the 
office all day on Fridays, and every other Tuesday night for the Culture 
Nights. We will focus on Thanksgiving on Tuesday, Nov. 25. I think there 
will be a big gathering with many foreigners on Thanksgiving day, but will 
it be better than eating "meat on a stick" after our Sunday meeting?

	My relationships with students are really coming along right now. 
I'm so excited! A friend from another college is studying the book with me 
once a week, and some of my students are interested in attending the club. 
My two classes of mixed ages, who are preparing for the IELTS exam, are 
very active and friendly. Many of them come to my office hours and a new 
English Salon here at Hei Da. Last week both classes held parties at a 
restaurant with "KTV", and invited me. I made it out with minimal singing, 
fortunately. I must say, never before have I attended a party involving 
beer at 9am on Saturday morning!