Wing it.

My Dove Chocolate wrapper says it all, "wing it". This week has been a week of fake-it-till-you-make-it or as a colleague says "yes, lets".

The week of 'wing it' actually started on Saturday when we were invited to go to a party with a few of my colleagues. A very kind family from Georgia, Brandon and Devidyal, who have been here for a year, have really made us feel welcome and helped us beyond measure! They invited us to a party that their friend, Jackie, was hosting. Jackie is Chinese but speaks English very well, having spent a lot of time in the US. We met up with Brandon and Devidyal as well as several other teachers who live in our complex. We made our way to Jackie's apartment in two taxis and the adventure began.

When we first arrived at Jackie's building, this was the inside of the elevator. All of us were feeling a bit nervous in this post-apocalyptic scene, but luckily Jackie assured us that the building was new and they just hadn't removed the protective wood from the inside of the elevator.

Next we were introduced to the other party guests and welcomed with snacks and drinks.Jackie has recently returned to Xi'an to open a Kung Foo training gym so this party was more of a spectator event than a social gathering.

As the evening began, we observed several examples of the type of martial arts he teaches as well as a few other forms of martial arts that his friends know. Each example was very impressive.

Here Jackie (on the right) is showing one of his trainees some moves and they sparred back and forth for a few minutes.

He even invited us to learn a move or two. Marietta (on the left) is learning how to block a punch or a kick.

When all is said and done we posed for a group photo and felt like great kung foo masters...not!. We did have an excellent time. Jackie even gave us foreigners some money from Mongolia. He had just spent part of the summer there. He was excited to share his travel stories with us along with his King Foo. 

The rest of the weekend was much more calm and Rachel and I were excited to start school.