(xaris and shalom)

[Setting: I am walking down Snack Street in the evening when I spot my student Skye Dvorak (not to be confused with the many other students I've had named Skye).  She's loud and a little crazy and loves raising a ruckus in class and also loves talking to me.] me:  "SKYE!" Skye:  "HANNAH!"  *beaming*  "HI!" me:  "Are you ready for your exam tomorrow?" Skye:  *still smiling*  "Where are you ---" *beat* *processes what I said*  "WHY YOU DO THIS TO ME?" me:  *laughing*  "Because I love you." Skye:  *looking hurt*  "I don't love you." me:  *laughing more*  "See you tomorrow!" Skye:  *happy again*  "See you tomorrow!" [Eximus]

It's the most wonderful time of the year.  Or something like that.  It's definitely one of the craziest times of the year as we've moved into finals week for the fall semester.  (And let's be honest, "craziest" and "most wonderful" do often significantly overlap in my life.)  We're also getting ready for Christmas (yay!) and then spinning other plates, such as regular meetings and office hours and homework.  I want to record a few stories so that I don't forget about them in all the busyness.  There are, I feel, too many unrecorded that I'd love to share too, of conversations with students and everyday life at Chuan Wai or the weekend trip that Miriam and I took with Phila and Joy to Chongqing, a neighboring province... but maybe another time. There are the *facepalm* type of stories, such as the student who texts me at 9:30 the night before her 8 am class to check if the final exam is this week.  Yes, indeed it is.  And indeed we