My Thanksgiving Turkey (courtesy of a surprise package from my friend Christa)
Group shot! I'm not sure how Chris and Hei got so lucky - all these women. :)
Cindy and Katherine
My team - Ellen, Cindy, Katherine & Victoria
Victoria & Ellen - comfy on the orange couches
Erica, Rolf & Chris - Rolf of the "violence solves everything!" comment.
Joseph - Cheers!
Todd - don't look so surprised. I know we have a lot of food.
me and Joseph
I think the camera should work like... You mean you're taking the picture now?
ok - I get it - smile!
looking down my main room - full of people...
Karen put her hand up on purpose as soon as she saw me with the camera. It's a great action shot. Of course, you can't actually see her face, but...
Eric was telling my coworkers funny stories - Eric, Ma Jian, Cindy, Katherine
My team - Ma Jian, me, Cindy, Katherine, Ellen & Victoria
My team - take two...
Eric and Ma Jian deep in conversation
Kaien friends
Maria came! She has been so great - I don't see her enough now.
Amber and Karen (with matching sweaters, do you think they planned this?)
Nick and Ade in the background (I didn't get a good picture of Ade), me with Claire and Iain.
Eric & my team
Ellen & Chris
Ellen, Chris & Victoria (I love that Ellen is giving Chris bunny ears)
Maria, Jasmine (my Chinese teacher) , Aileen & Sally
Huang, Joy (they're the first wedding I went to), Sally, Aileen and Claire - note the nametages - I made everyone wear them because I wanted easy communication
Amber & Eric (and the remains of the cheese plate)
Nick, me, Rolf & Erica
Huang, Joy & Sally - Joy & Sally were both friends with a woman named Elaine whom Chris tutored in the states, but they didn't know each other until we came and introduced them to each other
They wanted a picture with me too. Smile!
Sally - you're so tall! (She kept pushing me down until I was almost kneeling)
Geoff helping Karen.
So, what are you thinking about Karen/Geoff?
Oh my goodness!
me and Geoff (Geoff is my John Denver friend and the one who introduced me to all you can eat meat in Shanghai)
Sorry, what?
Todd - Why do you have that taped to your shirt? Why? Why? Why?
Jasmine and Sally deep in conversation. Sally's going to be going to study in Italy next year - maybe they were talking about that.
Beautiful flowers that Ellen gave me.
Second view of the flowers - I couldn't decide where to put them.
Exotic flowers that Claire gave me.
Gifts! I didn't expect them. Joy gave me a toaster oven. Now I just need to figure out how it works. :)
My space after everyone left. Quiet... (what you can't see is that the floor was a mess where I was standing). My housekeeper came an hour early on Tuesday and made everything perfect again!
Me - after the party. I survived - it was a blast. I can't wait to do it again.... hold on, yes I can wait to do it again. It was a lot of work - but I will do it again. A full house is a happy house!
