Beards, Birthdays, and Consolations at 5:20 AM

So, about 2 or 3 weeks ago, I wrote some sad sappy email about how I'm basically devoid of human contact and happiness for the month of January. This has turned out to be totally false. And I'll tell you why.

1. I grew a Beard and it was awesome.
I have never grown out a beard. Before my mission, I didn't have enough facial hair power points. I tried to grow one, but failed dismally. During my mission, I had to be clean cut and clean shaven, so even if I could have grown a beard, It wouldn't have mattered. It was the same at BYU. Then I came to China. Where not only was it ok, but the other teachers encouraged me to have a beard. So I tried it out. I basically didn't shave for the month of December and I loved it. I really don't know if it looked presentable, but it was really fun. It was mostly blond and red and it was surprisingly comfortable.

Don't worry Mom/girls in general. I doubt I'll ever let my beard just grow like this ever again. Since I took these pictures I've trimmed it up quite a bit, and I'll shave all of it off completely when I go to the temple in Hong Kong in a few weeks, but it made me really happy to try it out for a short time. Plus Luke Liu says it makes me look more manly and my students said I looked very "fashion". I love China.

2. I had a Birthday.
I've never needed big birthdays. All I need is to see a few friends and have some time to think and I'm happy. Which is what I had. The random picture of the guy with the card is Matt Carter. I spent the day before my birthday with him, his wife, and the Rygg family in Dong'an (a local city) and it was really fun. We didn't even do a whole lot, but they're good friends and it was a great day to spend a birthday.

3. I got some love in the mail.
My family sent me hot chocolate (and other things), which a couple weeks ago was exactly what I needed. During December and January, it was really cold in my Lingling (my city). Not just cold, I mean really cold.
Here are some ways you can know I'm not being a sissy-
   A. I got used to not being able to feel my feet.
   B. I couldn't sleep in my bed, cause the heater in my bedroom didn't work to well. (slept on the couch in the front room, I don't trust the floor in China)
   C. China doesn't have insulation. So if it's cold outside, it's cold inside. So instead of going from a warm apartment to a warm car, to a warm classroom like I did in college. Here I go from a cold apartment, to a cold class room. I honestly don't know how my students handle it.

This sounds like a horrible winter, and it was. But for me it was fine, because I had hot chocolate. =) Thanks mom.

4. I learned a lot of Chinese
I got a lot of studying done the last few weeks. Not nearly as much as I'd like to, but I'm still improving so I'm happy.

Now, I'm 26. I finished my last month of classes before the winter holidays, and it was great. Onward with Vacation. Hoorah.