Apps and Plug-ins for my creativity

So my Mom told me about this app. It's called 'Flipgram' and I must say it is quite the program. There's nothing super fancy about it. You select any number of photos and choose some music and it makes a quick little slideshow for you. I've done two and I've only had the app for a half hour. I put them on Instagram too. [Gram, make sure you click above to watch them =)]

I was thinking about all the different things I could do with this program… The two that I made already are based on the idea of recapping 2013. The first one was a montage of selfies from Instagram and I had to do it because selfie is the word of the year. The second was all the fun pics from Kindergarten this semester; Fall 2013. Up next could be a Christmas one, or a New Years… Or even a stop action clip. I love creative outlets!!!

Speaking of which, I rediscovered a program I liked. I've used it before and forgot bout it, but it came to mind and I thought I'd give it a whirl again. It's called Wordle.net and its a site that creates 'word clouds.' For example, I could enter the text of the Constitution of the United States, the lyrics of We Didn't Start the Fire or anything else and it will generate a cloud of words. The fun part is that the words are scattered in varying directions, and the size of the word is based on how often it appears in your text. So in the case of the Constitution, the words President, United, States, and Congress are significantly larger than the other words. I think you understand… The point of my telling you about this site is because of a little feature it has that allows me to enter the address of my blog, and VOILA!! all the words I've ever typed in "Great Wall Adventure" appear in a word cloud. I am pretty excited to see how it changes over the next semester and which words become more prominent.

Here is first semester's word cloud….

I'm thinking I might make a posting of just words… I think Great Wall Adventure should appear a little more often don't you think? Haha.. might be cheating. 

Until next time. 

Merry Christmas

Shengdankuaila! Merry Christmas! Frohe Weinachten! Feliz Navidad!

The sentiment… Whether in Chinese, English, German, or Spanish, means the same thing. It means well wishes to you on the day we celebrate the birth of our Savior. That's the reason for the season. People all over the world decorate their homes, give gifts and eat way too much food. But not everyone knows that special reason for the season. We are not just celebrating a birth… I do that every August 30, October 4, November 21, January 30, and February 2…. Being born, while super special, isn't something that takes a lot of practice and training to accomplish. (No disrespect to all mothers) But the real special event is that the baby born is human and G0d. The purpose of this little intro is to set the focus. The focus of this day is the special baby born to save us all.

Which that being said, I'm going to go on a rant… bear with me.

Things I miss from Christmas in America…. in no particular order. Snow. Bacon wrapped water chestnuts. My wood burner. Mom, Dad, Twig, and Hannah. Gram and all the rest of my family. Snow. Vacation from school. A plate full of christmas cookies, chocolate covered peanuts, and pretzel dip. My Grams…and most of all my mom.

Things I like about a Chinesey Christmas….. No snow. The new friends I've made. The tacky decorations. (and there are a lot of them) The joy of sharing American Christmas traditions with Chinese friends. Food…I'd say Chinese food, but I'm in China. And I love the food here.

I would be lying if I said I didn't wish I was at home. Of course I wish I was with my family. There was a saying I found on the internet that fits the situation, and it goes something like 'everywhere you go takes a piece of your heart, so your home is in multiple places'. I'm sure the actual quote is much more poetic. But the concept applies. A piece of my heart lies in Appleton and Neenah, WI. A piece in New Ulm, MN…Wayne, MI…LaCrosse, WI… Seattle, WA… and those are just the places with people. There are many more places that I've visited that now hold a small piece of my heart too. It has something to do with experience. My Mom and Dad share many of the experiences I have from birth thru age 18; New Ulm, MN has a fair share of experiences too; and now Shaoxing, China holds a chunk too. If I was at home I'd miss this too. Location isn't the important detail - the reason for the season is the real importance. That knowledge makes Christmas wonderful.

To my family and friends in America: I miss you. I love you. In one wish I want to be with you at home, and I want you to be with me in the Orient. Have a Merry Christmas, and I'll see you for Christmas in July. Much love

Until next time.

Cookies

I have a confession to make. I think about blogging way more than I actually blog these days. I apologize for that. I realized today that I have this list on my phone of things I want to share with you, and I just haven't sat down to type it out for ya. "Come on Meg, get on top of these things"

Well, today's tidbit is a few days old at this point, but still worth a tell. On Thursday this week, we invited a few friends over to make cutout sugar cookies for our Christmas party. Our friends had never cut out cookies before. (Gasp!!) I know--shocking--but, hey that's China. We made the dough ahead of time, and then used a de-labeled beer bottle to roll it out. (it was the size of a wine bottle, so it worked well) Then, as soon as I got it thin enough for cookies, I would say "Alright, cut away" and these four Chinese girls went to town! They cut out trees and stars, bells and ornaments, hearts and gingerbread men. And of course, to make the scene perfect Laura jumped in to make sure each of us has a dash, or a smear of flour on our faces.

We weren't sure how they would turn out because the dough was a little crumbly-ier than I thought it should be, and it's China. And we'd never made dough from scratch before. But they turned out fine. A little more like biscuits… they were sorta flaky, or rather layered. But that might have been from rolling it out…. it didn't like to roll. Super elastic. I would roll it out and it would shrink right back up. Took some real elbow grease to make it cooperate. (Ha, sorta like me as a kid… hahaha)

Well, jump forward a day to the party. Before our friends arrived I made the frosting… and the sprinkles. We found powdered sugar, so I mixed powdered sugar and water until we had frosting! Super simple, I threw in a splash of vanilla extract to improve the taste, but it didn't do much. Then I separated out a little to make green, yellow and red frosting too. As for the sprinkles. We looked around town and couldn't find any. So, Laura had the idea to use regular sugar and food coloring. I figured some sort of shaking device would work best… So I poured the sugar into a cup with a couple drops of food coloring. Placed a slightly smaller cup inside the bigger one, and shook it like a martini. Worked like a charm!!! After about 20 minutes and a lot of shaking, I had sprinkles in blue, red, yellow, green, orange, and purple!

The party was a great success. I wasn't around the cookies, but they were all gone so they must have been good. I was upstairs with the snowflake cutters. Teaching our Chinese friends to fold paper, and cut out shapes was a blast! They were all so afraid of making a mistake or didn't know what to cut. But, I told them it didn't matter, and showed a few examples and they were off and cutting. We taped our finished snowflakes up on the curtain and we had it full in no time. (Cutting snowflakes is my favorite thing to do.)

The meiguarens (may-gwa-rens = americans) had some street food after all our friends went home as per tradition and to congratulate ourselves on a successful party.

Until next time.

p.s. There was a fair amount of frosting, and a bunch of sprinkles/sugar left over… so we're having cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. And they're gonna be rainbow because of the colored sprinkles. =)

Pencil and Paper

So, I am sorta computer savvy. But, I've been using one for 16 years or so. I chalk it up to experience. ;)  Anyway, when I tie my computer-ness with my creativity I tend to get rather happy.

When I was in college, if I had a spare moment I would create subway art on my computer. Some of you may know of my work. Well, I love to make them. (My mother is a fan too) Sadly, all my work is on my old laptop so I can't share any of it with you here. And even more sadly, I haven't found a computer program equivalent to Microsoft Publisher for my Mac to make subway art again. I've looked, I've googled, and I've come up empty. Ah, well… I'm not one to give up easily. To satisfy my creative outlets I decided to hand make some subway art. Now, these examples are not exactly what subway art is.. but it's close. =)

This first one is shown in it's original form, and then its colored/edited form. I use my computer to enhance the drawings once I'm done. Either to draw out colors, or make them brighter.

This one is edited and finished.

I'd also like to make a little shout out at this time. To those of you in possession of these (Gram, Grama, and Mom)

Enjoy. I made them for you…

I did not intend them to be emotional, but I know that you're missing me just as I'm missing you during this holiday season. But I'm never far away at heart.

  

Now, this one was fun to make. I had planned to do a regular 'O' for Joy… but then as I attempted to make a perfect circle it turned into more of an oval… Which prompted me to make it into an ornament. This is the edited version. I decided making it black and white gave it a more old world feel. And 'joy to the world' is a old classic.

The 'Hark' one took me a little longer. Obviously it has more words… but the trick was deciding how to arrange them. The top of this page is filled with practice arrangements, swirls, and practice cursive. haha. I wanted something with more meaning, and so I wanted to include both of these lines. I could have ended it after King… but then you miss a good chunk.

I also went with purple, blue and black for the coloring.  Purple and blue being regal colors seemed fitting for the King.

The black and white version is great. I really like how the light stems from the center and gets darker around the edges.

I didn't want the black to be so dark on the second to last line, but my marker was convinced dark was best. So, I went with it.

In the colored version the purple and blue get lost in the blacks and remaining pencil marks. The black and white evens them all out.






I hope you enjoyed this little look into what I do in my spare time. I really enjoy making them.

Until next time.

Year in Review

There's this trend on Facebook right now where you can look at your 'Year in Review'. It shows you the 20 most popular posts or events you had on Facebook in 2013. Now, looking at my own year in review on Facebook I was wondering how they picked the most important things in my life... First because not all of my life is on Facebook. I know... Shocker! But second, because I believe the year is not about the things that happened, but who they happened with and where they led you. 

So, in the spirit of doing my life a little justice, I'm here to present my own version of my Year in Review. I've made it a bulleted list to save you from my myself. I seem to be a story teller... hmmm. 

- Janurary: return to finish 2nd semester of school knowing I'll be done shortly. (small victory dance) We played Ultimate Frisbee in the snow sometime during the winter... it could have been January. That was fun. 

- Mid January: still unsure about teaching, I talk to a professor about options abroad... Wanderlust leading my curiosity and landing on China. China? Yeah. Let's do it. Without consulting (or even informing) my mother... which I know she hates, I applied to go to China. I don't make big decisions lightly. It may seem like I rushed this one, but it felt right. The fact that I stick to my decisions helped me feel confident too. 

- Fast forward thru the next few months and you'll breeze thru portfolio presentation (nerve-wracking for me), classes, Easter, and a ton of time spent with friends. We all knew our time together was growing short, and as much as we promised to stay in touch... In our hearts we knew it would never be the same. 

- After all that we land at Graduation. I don't know if it's the same for other people, but being a college graduate snuck up on me. (or perhaps being an adult is what did the sneaking). My favorite part of graduation was the last minute things. Hanging out with my rooms (Sarah), Candace and of course my best Samantha. Getting ready the morning of, and everyone wandering in and out of their rooms realizing that the gigantic shared closet we all used over the semester was all packed away. (we wore each others clothes often). 

- Summer: It flew by as I took online summer courses, worked, ventured to New Ulm for a class, spent some great time camping, and then off to Minneapolis/St Paul for China training. (Still not knowing anything about my China paperwork.) I wouldn't trade anything for a weekend spent with the 7 best friends camping group, or the two weeks I spent at my college during the summer. It was strange - but I enjoyed the emptiness of it. And in July I had a three for one party to celebrate my graduation, birthday and going away. I loved being able to see all those people that I usually have to wait for a big event to see. I have to make a point of seeing them more often.

- August 30: still anxious waiting for paperwork that I'll admit I never thought would come, and was okay with it. (I know better now, I should have been more excited.) Oh, and this day is my birthday. I was blessed to spend it at home. 

- September 14: Jump two weeks after my birthday and I'm in China. Luggage-less, utterly exhausted, and rather bewildered. But I had my best Laura to help me. And after a little while, some new Chinese friends too.

- December 12: another jump 3 months later... (Tomorrow, the 13th is my 3 month anniversary here… it's my longest relationship. Haha) I know, it seems like such a long time. But only 3 months, and I'm still exhausted sometimes, but much less bewildered. I can actually say "I'm living in China." I can now navigate fairly well, I bike in crazy China traffic (always trying to keep up with Laura), I have Emma, Marie, Amy, Lucy, Rella, and others to call friends. I have been traveling within China and after the new year will venture into SE Asia too. 

The year will be over soon, and everyone can say they change in a year. It's the natural progression of time... we change. But looking at myself from Jan 1 and now at Dec. 10 there is a long list of things that are different. Just to name a few... On January 1st I was a 21 year old college student, living at home in America with my family and friends close at hand. Now, on December 12, I'm a 22 year old certified adult (college graduate), living abroad in China. If you had asked the average 21 year old college student what they'd be doing in a year... I don't think they would have predicted that kind of change. But then, that is what is so great about life. I get my own story, my own adventures... and Facebook doesn't know the half of it. ;)

Until next time. 

Re: Iron Chef - The pictures

 

As promised… Here are the pics from Iron Chef.

<< The winning team

Iron Chef

Tonight our community of foreign teachers held an Iron Chef competition. I had planned on attending to watch the showdown. But this morning, Christi asked if I would take her place as she wasn't feeling well. Sure, I said, I'll step in to do some chopping or whatever.

I showed up, and was briefed. Shortly after, we got started, and boy… did things get going. It was girls vs. boys. We had a host, four judges, a small crowd, and two teams of four chefs. The competition was 60 minutes and it was intense from the get go. The secret ingredient was sweet potatoes.

I couldn't tell you exactly what the guys made. There was a smoothie they served in hollowed out sweet potato cups. A coleslaw of sorts, fried chicken with something and sweet potato chips I think…. Oh, and their team name was "food dudez"

Our team name was "KAL" …. which stands for kick-ass ladies, of course!! We made a sweet potato soup with a croquette and fetta cheese garnish, grilled pork with sweet potato and white potato au gratan with a vinaigrette sauce, and for dessert we had a plate swirled with carmel and a sweet potato tartlet with honey whip cream on top. We didn't get to eat much of it while we were running around crazy, but we tasted everything during clean up and …. YUM!!!! (don't worry folks I have the recipes… I'll make dinner sometime) My role was to peel a bunch of potatoes.. obviously. Then, I put the crust into the tartlet tins, dices carrots, and cut green onions. I made the whip cream from scratch… aka I beat whipping cream. I dished up the soup, and I dolloped the whip cream on the tartlets at the end. (Twig: tartlets…. tartlets…. tartlets….. word has lost all meaning)

The judges totaled up the points after we served them our dishes. It was close. Out of a possible 60 points, the boys had a total of 44.7 points…. And unfortunately, us girls has a total of 49.8.


Yes, that's right, WE WON!!!  We didn't win anything other than pride and bragging rights, but that's all we needed. I just had so much fun cooking with people I had met, but hadn't really interacted with much. Uh… It was a great night.

Plus, we made such a mess!! While cooking, and scurrying about I didn't notice, but afterwards, when we started to clean all four of gals just marveled at how messy we made our station of 5 tables. I was pretty proud of that mess.

The best part just occurred. We had left over tartlet ingredients and my neighbor across the hall was going to make a pie and save me a piece. Well, turns out her family doesn't eat wheat flour, so she made the pie, and just brought it over for me. (I got the extra honey whip cream too) I can't wait to eat it!!

Ahhhhhh… the Meghs is happy.

Until next time.

P.S. We did have a photographer… I'll have picture update when I can.

Chinese Trim

That's right folks. I got a haircut!!! Don't faint mom… it's fine.

I took along my very good Chinese (but practically American) friend, Emma. She is great. We went to this place that was empty and away from a lot of the traffic.. but Emma has her hair done there, so I was feeling good. After explaining what I want done, I head to the back to get washed. I have to describe these two guys to you. One was the owner, and the other was an assistant clearly. He washed my hair. He was wearing ocean blue pants, leather slippers with the fur cuffs, and a leather jacket that matched his shoes/slippers rather well. He has what I can only describe as a bieber-esque hair cut with bangs that he had to smooth every 2 minutes or so. To top it off, he was singing while he washed my hair…. coulda been the biebs… haha. Well, I moved to the chair, and the owner took over trimming my split ends. I have to describe this guy for you too. He would have fit in 'Twilight' I swear. He was an awfully white chinese with square glasses. Both of his wrists could have fit inside one handcuff. (I have no idea where that metaphor came from, but let's roll with it) I asked for about half an inch taken off, and he did a good job. At the very least, he appeared to know what he was doing. I didn't think to put my contacts in, so as I sat with glasses in hand he could have gotten away with a lot… however, Emma was watching for me. Then, when I was getting styled, the beibs assistant came to blow dry my hair, but it was taking a long time. I have very thick hair, I wasn't surprised. The funny part was they grabbed another dryer, and both of them dried my hair for about 10 minutes. Quite the service.

 

Two hair dryers…. Oh, yea!!! (that's the biebs guy)

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention, I got a little streak of color put in…. 

Here it is, the finished ponytail look I was going for. Bam!

Keep life colorful, people. 

Until next time.

Hiya!!

So, there's just a few random thoughts that I've been meaning to tell y'all.

Today, I've mid westernized the far east just a bit. I did the hokey-pokey with my kids in class. Now, we have been learning hand, foot, arm, leg, fingers, and toes…. so theoretically it should have been a hit. Actually, it was mediocre. Ah… c'est la vie. In other school related news, I found out today that the parents of my students will be visiting next week. One of my teachers told me and wanted to make sure that I used easy words and had the kids sing. So, it's put on a play for the parents day. I'll keep you abreast of the happenings.

Oh, and this is great… the other day Laura and I were going to ride the bus back into town with Emma and Marie, who live on our campus. While waiting, we were considering staying another night out at Zion. The bus came and we hadn't made decision - so Emma and Marie hopped on the bus. Well, we decided to go home and waited between 10 and 15 minutes for the next bus. The ride into town is about 50 minutes. As we got within 10 minutes of our stop, we noticed another 188 bus (thats the bus number we ride). The thought crossed my mind, and Laura's, Could Emma and Marie be on that bus? Did we really catch them? Then, here's the kicker, at the stoplight our bus passed the other 188 bus. So, when we arrived at the stop and stepped off, we turn and there is Emma and Marie just getting off their bus. Oh… How funny is that!! We had a good laugh about it.

In very minimal news, my manicure from two weeks ago is still going strong, and hasn't even been chipped yet. I'm loving it! (plus, its red. I love red nails)

Until next time.

In the kitchen...

This will be posted later but I thought I'd give you live updating of our Chinese adventure that is Thanksgiving lunch. 

Friday
10:30
I'm waiting on the bus to head out to Zion to start making a huge Thanksgiving lunch. 

2:07 
We have everything cut. The chicken is in the rice cooker as well as the free bean casserole. Complete with fried onion crunches. We'll start those later with the rice and the veggies. You see, we're jimmy rigging crockpots by using rice cookers like they were crockpots. We're out getting a late lunch now and when we get back I'll stirfry the cauliflower and hopefully Tony will have arrived with the butter and potatoes so we can start peeling and get the stuffing made. I'll check back in later. 

3:43
The chicken and green bean casserole has been started! Will check on it again later. 

4:38
Chicken check!! It looks and smells pretty darn good. Casserole looks odd and smells a little off but I'm holding out hope! 

6:21
Time to turn things off until tomorrow. Study soon, and I'm sure we'll get street food afterwards. 

11:34
Street food in abundance! And since the electricity went out at Zion we haven't had a tv because it got fried. (No such thing as surge protectors here). By never fear we have a projector! And a lot of white wall. 

Saturday 
7:25
I'm up........ No really. I'm up. We have to make the mashed potatoes. Fry up the cauliflower. Shred the chicken. And make sure everything is warm for lunch. 

9:28
I shredded the chicken and seasoned it well with lowrys salt. Then I fried the cauliflower and got the table ready for all the rice cookers. Now up stairs for the service. 

11:54
Everyone is eating and they love it. I'm eating and I love it too. Yum. 

Thanksgiving done. 

Until next time. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

It has come to the first holiday I'll not be home for, and what a dandy to miss! My Thursday is over half finished, and my family at home hasn't even woken to their Thursday yet. I know they'll be heading to Grams house for a very large turkey, mashed 'tatoes and gravy, stuffing, veggies, and cheeses… Then, once they're full to the brim they'll dish up the pie. MmmmMmm. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Luckily, we're having a version of that menu here in the Far East. (or West depending on which direction you choose) In a couple hours I'll be heading over to Joe's house. He ordered a turkey online, and all of us are bringing a dish for the table. It has the makings of being quite delicious.

There are many strange happenings with this holiday - mostly because I'm in China, not at home, and not going shopping into the wee hours of morning. But one stand out strangeness is that today I went to school to teach. For the first time in 22 years, I went to school on Thanksgiving. I know, its odd.

I will admit that being away from home has been hard, and missing this holiday isn't easy. But there are three things that are helping me. First, the weather in China is weird. It has just gotten cold, so it doesn't feel like holiday season already. I imagine Christmas will sneak up on me too with the lack of snow. Second, I've come to realize in the last few weeks that I chose to be here. I wasn't forced into this. And because of that fact, I really have no reason to complain. Now, I will say I miss home, because I do have a heart. It just doesn't bring me down as much. Being here has been amazing so far, and I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything. Even my favorite meal of the year. (Plus, Gram said she'd make me turkey in July) And third, because of the wonders of technology and a little help from coffee to help me stay awake, I'll be able to talk to my family. It's not the same as being there in person, but it's pretty fabulous. To wrap up this post, I just want to say to my people back in the Fox Cities of WI that I miss you guys. I thought about saying I wish I was there… but the truth is, I wish you were here. I can't even think of one specific thing I want you to see or experience, I just want you to see this place. Nevertheless, sending all my love and have a piece of pumpkin pie for me!!

Until next time.

The god of thunder and other updates

Well, it's happened… This meager little blog has had over 2000 page views. Wa-hoo!!

I went to see Thor 2 in the theaters here in Shaoxing last night. We had a group of about 8 going, and it was a good time. We got a deal on tickets because we had a group so big, and I got popcorn and a soda because, why not? The popcorn was sweet. Sorta like kettle corn… The movie was in 3D, so we got some pretty awesome glasses… that we had to give back. Shooot. The movie was in English, obviously, and had chinese subtitles. The thing about going to a movie where most of the audience has to read the words is that you can make a fair amount of noise and no one cares. Now, chinese people tend to make a lot of noise to begin with, spend time on their phones, and take pics/videos in the theater anyway, but it was still an oddity for me. As for the movie, it was awesome!! I definitely would suggest it.

In other news, we are planning our Thanksgiving menu. We're doing dinner Thursday at a Chinese house with some other foreigners. Then, doing our own meal for lunch on Saturday with our own Chinese friends. The food planned includes chicken, rice, steamed corn/carrots, green bean casserole, stuffing, fried cauliflower, and mashed potatoes. This seems pretty standard… and it is, until you realize that canned vegetables don't exist in China. Nor does stuffing in a box. So, we'll be making it from scratch. Which doesn't seem to be too large an undertaking at this point…. but we could very well be overestimating our skills and underestimating the task at hand. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Today, at school, there was an English competition. About 60 4-6 year olds got up in front of six foreign teachers, three from my kindergarten and three from the big campus, to perform either a song or a story in English. Some of them looked nearly terrified, some were cute, some were rather good, some not so much… But I couldn't get over how they make the kids do this, and it starts in Kindergarten. It only gets worse from there… I don't think I'll ever understand the China child raising / school standard mindset.

I think that about covers my life for the last few days. Nothing else new really going on here. Still biking everywhere, going to school everyday, living the China life.

Until next time.

OY!!...ster.

Well I promised a story about the pearl market. Here is it. WOW. 

I found out after returning to Shaoxing that Zhuji produces 73% of the worlds freshwater pearls. That's amazing. And the market proved it. The building that housed the market was gianourmous. More square footage than any state fair exhibition hall or sports stadium I've ever seen. Each 'store' in the place was only the size if a decent mall kiosk. Like rows of storage units, but with pearls. The stores were different retailers of the pearls but each one only had a few finished products. Necklaces, bracelets, pendants, etc. Most of their pearls were in strings and in bunches or ten strings or so and bagged on shelves. Each store had to have thousands of pearls just siting there. And there were dishes of single pearls sorted by color, size, and quality. I was concerned about imitation pearls. In a place this size there had to be some. What really amazed me though is that the ones you would think were fake because of their size, clarity, and perfect round shape were actually real and worth thousands of kuai. (6 kuai= 1 dollar).  There were pearls of all colors imaginable. The real, not dyed,  pearls were all shades of white, cream, and pinkish hues. They were mostly round, with some very interesting odd shaped ones too. 

The fun part of shopping here was the bartering. Very few places had price tags. You looked things over, decided if you liked something and asked how much. Then, you barter 'em down. It worked real well for our group because we had four foreigners and four Chinese. So we paired off to do our shopping. It works better that way. Emma, my friend, helped me save a lot of money. She even told one lady that Americans don't like the number 13....which allowed my necklace to go from 130 to 100 kuai. She's pretty great. 

Over all I spent about 1100 kuai on five pendants, three necklaces and a ring. Which are all gorgeous, and destined for the beautiful women in my life when I return home. I had to ask what pearls were worth in America. I didn't know how good of a deal I was getting. I discovered that most pearl necklaces in America sell for roughly $150-$200 depending on size and color. Well, I got all my treasures for just under $200. I think I got a good deal. 

Until next time. 

It was bound to happen

Well folks, it's happened. I've gotten sick. I'm pretty sure its a cold. But it's set up camp in my sinuses and I do not appreciate it's extended stay. I can tell you, being sick is pretty much the same no matter what country you're in. I have to carry tissues because my nose never stops running, and I sound like a cartoon character…

I have some American medicine with me, so that's been good. I'm on day 4 and I'm hoping to shake it soon.

Some of us Americans, and a few Chinese friends are all going to Marie's house this weekend. We'll leave Saturday around noon, and return Sunday afternoon. She lives about an hour from here (she's a student on my campus) and there is a huge pearl market where she lives. =) Now, I know what you're thinking… I look great in pearls! haha! I'm also keeping some gifty things in mind for the peeps back home. (*cough, Mom might have mentioned she liked pearls)

In other news, I received my first letter in China! My very awesome friend Samantha sent me one. It's not anything to brag about to anyone else, but to me… it was so wonderful.

Until next time.

P.S. Did you like the music blog? It went over well because the page was viewed 124 times. WOW! You guys are so great. I'll be away from the internet for the weekend, but I'll have a nice update on the pearl market come next week.

The little things...

It's the little things that count.
Make the best of things.
Starbucks cures all.

So, I might have made that last one up…. but I think it'll catch on.

For those of you that know me, seeing a large Starbucks cup in my hand is nothing but ordinary. I would plan my morning route to include a foray thru the Starbucks drive thru. Well, in my two months since leaving home, I've not had Starbucks. You're thinking… Duh! You're in China. Weh-he-hell… They have Starbucks in China. And today was my first indulgence.

Starbucks in America is a bit pricey, but not bad. In China, its a lot pricey and not something I can get as frequently as in America. However, the quality is still top notch.

So, I'm sitting here in the biggest Starbucks I've ever been in (I'm on the second floor, and it's the size of 4 of my regular Starbucks at home), listening to some classy, smooth, Christmas music, sipping a delightful gingerbread latte and it hits me…. I'm in China. I know that doesn't come as a surprise to you. But for a bit, sitting here engrossed in my day, I forgot. It was nice.

So, for those of you with the means, please enjoy a holiday themed coffee for me…. Either from your local Starbucks or any other coffee place you choose.

Until next time.

Hum dee dum...

This is my second post today. I should probably wait until tomorrow so that you can have something to read then… but, nah… 

I talk a lot about music. Certain music moves me, certain music needs to accompany bike rides, and certain music lulls me to sleep. 

I realize that not all of you have the same taste in music, and unless you are motivated to look up songs, or lyrics that I post then you are probably a little lost. Well, I'm going to try to remedy that. I've compiled a small collection of my favorites for you to listen to. Yep. I'm looking out for ya. 

Now, there are a few things I'd like you to keep in mind as you're enjoying these tasty musical tidbits. First, music is about a multitude of things… so don't go reading too much into it. Some songs I chose because they have a great beat. Some because they have a soothing quality. Some because of the lyrics, and still some because they have a quality I can't quite place. 

I've made a youtube playlist of these songs, and I'm hoping to add to it as time goes on a new songs peak my fancy, and become linked to moments in my life. 

Click away, and enjoy. 

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCCjLhs8Q7obzzN2pxwuWiYmFVBIWSl9L

(If you listen to each one all the way thru, its about 40 minutes… But soooo worth it.)

Until next time. 

This….. is Kindergarten Idol

I hope you read that title in the voice of Seacrest from American Idol…. haha.

Today, at school when I walked into the first class I was informed that there was a singing competition and I could go along. Okay… Let's go. I won't argue with not having to teach. (internal victory dance).

We go down stairs to this large room. There are chairs for all the kids and teachers and in front of them is a stage. The teachers settle the kids as best as they can. Keep in mind that this room is filled with about 100 four year olds (all my kids) and an additional 20 or so three year olds. Quiet isn't really an option here. I take a few pics of the group because this is the first chance I've had to take pics of all my kids. Then I sit down to watch the proceedings. The concept is that each child goes on stage and sings a song. Not in groups or pairs, but individually. Some of the kids did just fine. Others were silent and could not be prompted to sing, and some just shouted into the mic what ever they wanted. The microphone is not a hand held device, its' the kind that is meant to go around your head, sit on your ears and the mic extends along your cheek. The kind that pop singers in the 90s used because they danced and sang. And the mic is connected to a small speaker, like what a tour guide would hang on their belt. You needed to know this so the next comment makes sense. The mic would squeal, you know that high pitched sound that happens when the mic gets too close to the speaker. Yes, that sound. (feel free to shiver) Well, the mic was making this sound and the teachers kept trying to move the speaker farther away from the mic…. needless of it being attached. (eye roll) Also, when ever the mic would squeal it was because the kid was either holding their hand around the mic, or eating it. Imagine for a moment what the ABC's sounds like when the mic is inside the kids mouth. Mhmm… cute went out the window about 20 minutes ago. Remember there are about 120 kids each singing individually. So, not all of them ate it. Only like 15.

As the morning progressed, kids began to lose interest. Not that they had much to begin with. To make this easier, I'll just list the activities going on besides singing.
- Shouting
- Screaming
- Playing on teeter-totters; this room doubles as an indoor activity room so there are plastic teeter totter things like what Play-Skol would make.
- Teacher's taking video and pictures of each kid.
- Kids running around
- Crying… And let me tell you, crying is highly contagious. One kid started and within 2 minutes three more took queue and decided crying was the thing to do. Which only added to the aforementioned screaming.
- Snack time; one class had their watermelon slices sitting in this room. Not only does juicy watermelon make a mess, but they didn't give me one!
- Leaving and returning; the other classes left to go have snack and then came back. Or small groups left to go potty or wash hands. It's a lot of movement.

I was going into sensory overload. Even with three teachers per class it was nuts. 15 adults for 120 kids doesn't exactly add up to a lot of control.

However, there was one little thing that happened that made the whole experience awesome. This little girl named Lily was sitting in front of me. When she realized I was behind her she would turn around slowly and look at me, then whip back to the front. She wears glasses, so she had to turn almost all the way around to see me. And the glasses are pretty strong so they make her eyes look pretty big. So adorable!!! Then, after a bit I moved my chair back a bit because I was getting overtaken by kids moving their chairs. Well, after she had snack, she returned to her chair and saw me moved so she  moved her chair back right in front of me again. AH! There is a picture above of her playing peek with me. But I also got another picture when she moved by me. If there was a chance of taking one of these little Chinese people home with me, it would be Lily.

Until next time.

My four classes of four year olds (about 100), plus a few three year olds. 

This is Lily. 
She's adorable.
This picture doesn't do her justice.
I sorta love her. 

Pondering.

There are two sides to every coin. This American idiom is applied in a multitude of situations, decisions, and people. It basically is another way of saying take another look or change your perspective when approaching something. When applied to people it can mean the way others see you and how you view yourself. 

I'll use myself as an example, because, well... I'm writing this. Other people have described me as confident, a leader, smart and smart ass, goal/decision oriented, outgoing, loud, abrasive, and always happy. You, my readers, have been the ones who have given me these compliments. For that, I thank you. Kind words are always appreciated. 

Now for my side of the coin. I'll agree that I'm confident but it's because I usually operate in areas of comfort. It's easy to be confident when you're comfortable - luckily I have been able to make myself comfortable in a variety of situations. I don't mind leading, but would rather follow. I think I'm smart but there is so much I don't know. As for smart ass.... somethings are just natural. 😉 I'm outgoing, but again I like to follow.  I'm loud, but not as loud as when I was younger. When you get told you are loud as much as I was you would become quiet too. Abrasive is another way of saying I'm not empathetic. And that's true. (I'm working on it) Lastly, I'm always happy because nothing ever bothers me much. I don't let the little things get to me. 

Now, the real crux, decisions. When I make a decision I stick with it. Mom always said "you don't have to play/join this or that again, but you have to finish the commitment you already made." It's a good life rule. The problem for me is that either I don't dwell enough on a decision or I dwell way too long. Plus, I would rather someone else make the decision. 

The current situation that requires this topic is my long term decision of "to china, or not to china." I've been in the Middle Kingdom for just shy of two months and have about eight to go, and my decision to 're-up' for another year doesn't have to be made for another four or five months. Needless of this large amount of time, I've been thinking about it ever since I arrived. Today, as I was pondering it again I just wanted someone to tell me what to do! I realize this is completely irrational because I wouldn't like it after the fact. But the idea of not having to sweat over this is rather appealing. 

To make things clear, I've not made a decision either way. But I ponder a lot. 

A girl and her bike.

I can't tell where the journey will end, but I know where to start.
All this time I was finding myself and I didn't know I was lost.
Hope I get the chance to travel the world, but I don't have any plans.

We are the saints. We are the children. We are the sons and daughters of our G.d. 

I'd rather forget and not slow down.

The last post was about biking, but I spend a fair amount of time on my bike. Today, the sun was warm and the breeze was cool. My iPod was set on shuffle and the perfect blend of songs popped up to accompany my ride. Above are a few lyrics that stuck with me. 

If you have the ability, take the time to walk, run, bike, or drive with a dual purpose. When I'm biking it is to get to school - but the alternate purpose is to breathe the (mostly) clean air, witness the locals scurrying about, and listen to music. Music has a cleansing effect. Even though for a good portion of my ride I'm watching intersections, weaving around other bikers and ebikes, and avoiding parked cars (that have doors that open suddenly) I still have moments when the music is coursing though me. I can feel it inside making me ride faster, making my heart beat harder, or making me slow down and enjoy the lyrics. This is one of the things I love about China. The traffic can be crazy, especially in the mornings, and the people love to stare, but with my headphones in I'm just biking. I'm just a girl and her bike. 

Until next time. 

 No hands ride home this afternoon. 

My morning commute; waiting at a stop light with fellow morning travelers. 

Soaring. Zooming. Flying.

When I ride my bike it's usually to get to school or get home. The route has gotten pretty standard. Out the gate, left at the end of the road... one block and right. Straight around the round-a-bout and after a few more blocks, right across the bridge and left into campus. Then the same thing in reverse to get home. I take that route two or four times a day.

Sometimes on my route, things happen. I like to ride without using my hands sometimes. The locals usually stare at me anyway, but when I ride with no hands they definitely do. One day as I rode past a lady on an e-bike she just started laughing at me and pointed. Laura was behind me and she thought it was funny. Then today, I pulled up to a stop and a guy I had passed pulled up next to me. I glanced at him, noticed he was staring and said 'nihow' and he responded with a slur of mandarin. Now, my mandarin is, well, nonexistent, so I had no clue what he said. But then he held his hands out, and I realized he was talking about my riding. Amusing.

The most fun/best experience I had riding around town was the other day. I was only a block from school, and there were no cars, so I moved from the bike lane into traffic and coasted down the slight hill to school with my arms stretched out. It was a mostly clear day and there was some sunshine, and I loved the wind as I picked up speed. I couldn't stop smiling for the next ten minutes.

It was one of those moments that made me especially happy. I can't explain why, but it was just lovely.

Until next time.

Hangzhou Marathon

Hello again!

So, it's been a crazy couple of days. I'll start at the beginning, I'm told it's a very good place to start.

Last week ended on a pretty good note. Teaching on Friday consisted of coloring... and who doesn't love coloring. (some Chinese four year olds don't, but that's moot) They colored in teapots to correspond with teaching them to sing and dance to 'I'm a little teapot.' It was super cute. *pics above*

Then, I headed out to the train station to grab tickets for Seth and I to go to Hangzhou on Saturday morning. We stayed for study, but because the power didn't get fixed, we ended up canceling it. Oh, well! The evening was then concluded by going for dinner with Shaw, and watching the Great Gatsby. I've never read the book (and I'm thinking I should) but the movie was alright. I enjoyed the settings and costumes. But, I've strayed from the point.

Saturday morning our train ended up being late, and we waited an extra hour at the train station. But as a perk we got some snacks on the train. Yay! Once in Hangzhou, we met up with our people. There are  10 or so HZ-ers (Hangzhou-ers), 6 of us SX-ers (Shaoxing-ers) and then 4 from Wuhan, and 7 from Shanghai. Oh, and Tony's parents were there and Chuck another visitor. It was a good group. We went out to visit the tea fields and they were just wonderful. Nothing super specific to see or do, but we walked through a little town and climbed up into the tea plants. The clouds (pollution) was low so it made the mountains/hills disappear into the mist. Very cool. *pics above*

Then, we had ch.rch at 5 and one of the HZ Chinese friends was washed. My first one here, and it was quite the sight. Also, because there were so many Americans the sound was awesome, we even had one a cappella song.

Then, (not to diminish the importance of the last activity) we went out for MEXICAN!! Now, when I'm at home I do not go out for real Mexican all that often - but the concept of non-chinese food is just so wonderful. For those of you who are in America, I don't know if you realize the wonderfulness of being able to choose between Western, Chinese, Mexican, Greek and other ethnic foods.... I mean even the choices of Panera, Culvers, Taco Bell, and Panda Express. Everything here is of a singular background. I'm not complaining (yet) because I love all of it so far. But going out for Mexican was great. I had some nachos with shredded chicken and a strawberry margarita. And yes, it was de-lish!!! After dinner we went back to the Flying H (the girls apartment) and played games with friends. Fun times had by all.

Sunday morning was an early one. We were up at 6 and out by 640 or so. We met the boys and headed for the starting line of the 2013 Hangzhou International Marathon. Two of our friends, Nate and Hannah, ran the full, and two of our friends, Jen and Dan, ran the half. I didn't see them before the race started but we saw all the runners start, and gave high fives to a whole bunch of Chinese runners and clapped and cheered and made noise. =) Then, I got coffee with Tony's parents while we waited for Tony to meet the landlord of Zion (still no power). A quick taxi ride to the finish line, and we waited for Nate. We missed Dan and Jen finish, but they both did well and finished under the times they wanted. Whoo! Nate came it just about 3 hours. He was very focused as he came to the last half kilometer but gave us a little fist pump as we cheered loud. He set a new personal best I think... He's pretty awesome. Then about 45 minutes later came time for Hannah. We cheered and hollered again, and ushered her to the finish. She finished about 4 hours and was happy with it.

Then, I went with some of the guys to get Cold Stone ice cream. They all biked along with the marathoners so they were going to bike back to the apartment. I got some directions and set off for home on my own. And believe it or not, I 'china' pretty well. (china: verb; to be native in China successfully) Made it back and then Seth and I headed out for the train station. We wanted to get home before the busses in SX stopped running. Well, we got to the subway station that takes us to the train station and got a phone call.... All train tickets to SX sold out. Internal monologue at this moment went like this: Well, shooooot! We headed back and stayed the night, caught an early train this morning and made it back in time to teach at 9. Whew....

Needless to say, "I'm so ti-ard"

And that folks is a not so typical weekend in China. We'll do it all over again, sorta, in a month when we go to Shanghai for the marathon there.

Until next time.

Happy Halloween

Today was Halloween in China, and as such my kindergarten had fun activities this morning... meaning I didn't have to teach. (oh yeah!) Instead we got to hand out candy. It was a ton of fun to see all the costumes and to be the bearer of all that's holy to 4-6 year olds... candy.

Also, my friend Christi came over last night and we made cookies. The recipe was for pumpkin spice cookies with a hershey kiss pressed into the center... like peanut blossoms. And as my previous posts have indicated things in China are different, and never really go as planned. So, here's how things went.  ... We planned for a week to get together. The day before we realized we didn't have an oven. But, borrowed one from our neighbor. Then, in order to get pumpkin puree I boiled chunks of pumpkin and removed the skin once soft, then mashed it. (I'm a regular pioneer cook). While that was happening, we baked pumpkin seeds. Then, I didn't have a bowl big enough to mix the dough, so we used my wok. Yes, very China. Also, China doesn't have shortening... but a quick internet search revealed a substitute of mashed banana. So, in went the banana! The dough ended up being very sticky, but we managed to get it into roughly ball shape and onto the pan. Speaking of the pan, we oiled it rather heavily because things burn quite easily here in the orient. After a while of much anticipation and frequent checking they were done. The cookies were a bit dense, but we pressed the kisses into them and stuck them in the fridge... the kisses were sliding off. After a short wait, it was time to taste test!! They looked good, they smelled good, the dough tasted good, and I was ready... I'd like you to know that they are good. But because of the banana they have a certain banana taste. Yep, that's China.

Oh, and today when I went back for the afternoon one of my teachers gave me a snack. She said it was fruit from the ground. It was a white-ish transparent slice of a pie. I asked her what it was, and she had to go look up the English.... apparently it was water chestnut or something. It was odd.

Lastly, I biked a ton today. The route to school is about 2.6 miles (I have an app) and I biked it four times today. Then, I biked the 3.6 miles to Wenli... Where the guys live to get dinner. In case you don't want to add that all up its roughly 14 miles.

Okay, now I'm sitting at Tony's with Laura, Jason, Seth, Tony, Angela, and Tony's parents watching Hocus Pocus as per required for Halloween.

Until next time.

Manic Monday

Hello again,

For those of you that know me, you could skip the first paragraph. For the rest of you, I'll enlighten you a little. When I was in college (a long five months ago) I had some struggles in my senior year with regards to my choice in career. When I was student teaching I was not sure that I'd made the right choice, that I'd make a good teacher, that my students would learn anything besides sarcasm from me. Well, after some consideration I decided to finish out my endeavor.... a.k.a finish college... after all I was so close to the end. Then, because the timing was right and I was still unsure about teaching (and traveling appealed to me) I chose to come to China.

Well, I'm here to say that teaching sucks. But keep reading... Teaching sucks much of the time because of the setting. Teachers in China are not a unit like a faculty in America. They are very independent, and they don't care so much... At least, that's the vibe that they give off. In my school in particular this seems to be the problem. I've been talking to some more veteran teachers - they say my kindergarten has not been able to keep any one teacher for more than a year because the teachers are unhappy. If it were America, I'm sure there would be someone saying "we should look into this" but here in China everything is very non confrontational.

Other reasons that the teaching sucks is because I'm a foreigner. The kids don't speak English besides what they've memorized, and I don't speak Chinese (at least nothing useful in a classroom). The teachers don't participate (although it depends a little) and it's hard to do anything with the kids apart from flash cards (which they become sick of or stop paying attention to).

But the point of this blog is not pure negativity. I'm here to say that sometimes teaching doesn't suck and that's what I like to focus on. Today, for example, was a good day. This morning during classes we reviewed shapes and I had the kids put bean bags on certain cards. Then I read them 'I'm a little teapot' (tomorrow we'll learn the song). One class had a shortage of kids due to sickness. There were only 9 of them. The teacher asked if we could have class outside because the kids needed more sunshine. It was pretty gorgeous today. So, the nine kids and I walked the 30 feet outside and had class for 15 minutes and then played on the jungle gym for the rest of class. I enjoyed being able to interact with them in a non-class setting. I biked home during lunch, rested a bit and caught up on some tv, then biked back. Today, we spent the afternoon in the small classrooms (those are the ones I teach-we rotate based on the day). I visited D class and caught them during snack. Afterwards, we went outside and sang 'London Bridge'... I was half of the bridge. That was fun. Then I went to C class. This is the one that had only 9 kids earlier in the day... now they were down to 6. We played with clay/playdough and made shapes!! Which was great to see them making the shapes we had talked about earlier. I had a lovely conversation with Gary and Frankie. I knew their names because they are some of my favorites, and C class is my favorite. I know that as a teacher, we're not supposed to have favorites, but let's face it... it happens.

So, moral of the story is that teaching sometimes sucks, but then there are days like today where things just go right.... Today just might get me through the week.

Until next time.

Extra! Extra!

Over the last few days I've had multiple moments where I've thought to myself... 'Self, you should put this in a blog.' Then later when I'm sitting in front of my computer the internet is being dumb and I can't blog. So I put it off. Well, I'd hate for my ever loyal readers to miss out on anything so I'll give you the headlines and elaborate the more interesting ones. 

Sports day huge success, walking and dancing. - Thursday and Friday last were sports day on our campus and I volunteered to walk I the opening ceremony. Picture the Olympics less organized. We walked the track and when we reached the 'front' a few of us danced a little Zumba number. I walked and danced and had a grand time. 

Street food continues to satisfy Megs daily lunch needs.

Shaoxing has visitors bringing cheese, enjoyed by all. - Tonys parents are visiting from America. They live in Green Bay and brought Simons string cheese. Mom is planning to make chili next week. I am excited beyond words because if we can make it I will definitely be duplicating it this winter. 

Huge turnout for Friday night study - great times had by all.

Shaoxingers trek to hangzhou for Halloween party- I went as Sheldon from Big Bang because I have a shirt that says bazinga. We had dinner and hung out and ventured to the roof for a fire. It is really awesome to have a bonfire in a bucket on the top of a seven story building surrounded be other high rises. I was just thinking how I missed fall camping and bonfires. Also great to connect with old friends and new and catch up. 

Little teapot booklet and song initiated this week, results in following blog.

New scarf looks amazing, purchase determined worth while

Power outage at Zion makes life interesting- due to the typhoon (and possible windows left open) there is some electricity issues at Zion. First floor lost power on Wednesday, guy came to fix on Friday, it works!, then second floor goes out, guy returns, fixes second floor but certain lights trip the circuit. The whole apartment goes out and the big breaker needs to be flipped. Guy informs us to not use those certain lights that trip circuit.... (Oh China) it's still being worked out. 
As, you've probably noticed, my postings have gotten further apart in frequency. I don't mean to do this... I have things to say nearly everyday but I've gotten busier. Also, my daily life has transitioned to 'normal' and I tend to overlook things that you might find interesting. However, I post pictures nearly every day. =)

Until next time.

So, I thought you might like to see where I live.... 

Here and There

The last few days have been spent here and there. School. Kachow. Apartment. Downtown. Fung Yan Yuan.

All these places are around town, some farther than others. What I've noticed is that I look for markers to tell me I'm in the right place. There's rubbish street to let me know I'm back at campus. There's a road full of construction stores before I have to get off for school. The opera house is downtown where I need to get off the bus.

But sometimes the markers I see, are not just for navigation. The other day I saw a black VW bug drive into school and I paused for the 15 seconds it took to drive by. I had to make sure my mom wasn't driving it. The grass near the kindergarten was cut and I took a few deep breaths reminiscing about Autumn...how I probably won't have one here, and missing my piece of crap lawn mower because I love to mow the lawn at home. Waking up and putting my slippers on. The ones I wear because the tile is cold. The same slippers that I wore through winters at school, and trips to get wood at home.

I'm not sad, or homesick, I'm just really appreciating the small things that are different about my  life now. I'm technically a working adult. But instead of driving a car, I ride a bike. Instead of pulling into a driveway, I have 6 flights of stairs. I don't mow the lawn, vacuum the living room, or make dinner. I change the water tong, hang up all my laundry, and get cheap (sometimes mysterious) street food.

I'm fairly confident that everyone envisions their future. Either the grand scheme or the finer details. Looking around sometimes, I know I never envisioned any of this. Who would have thought I'd end up in a foreign country living life nearly opposite to how I grew up or living in a city of 4 million people. I definitely did not, but then I pause to think about what it was that I did envision. I come up blank usually... Sometimes I think about hidden, secluded mountain or forrest homes. Living off the land and raising animals and children. Then I think 'nah' and jump to a high rise in a big city with a view full of lights. Basically, the vision always changes and I've got no plan on where I want to end up. Is the lack of an end goal detrimental? I don't think so. I think I've got the opportunity to go anywhere, and be anything because I've got no preset notations of what my life should be. My book is being written day by day. I've got no future plots lines sketched out. I'm just reading. And I can be happy anywhere.

Until next time.

P.S. I bought a bike.... gonna tackle these Chinese roads!

Thursday

The internet in our apartment hasn't been working for a few days. So these last couple posts are all coming on the same day. 

The newest point of interest is the weather. It has cooled off significantly. The last few days have been starting out around 55 and the days haven't gotten above 72 all week. I'm still wearing shorts and tees, but have added a fleece. And today I went for shorts and a long sleeve. 

Also, I might be getting sick. I woke up with a dry throat and a minor sniffle, but I might have slept with my mouth open. Today at school I felt a little light headed but lunch remedied that. The tiredness has not parted though. 

Today's mission: find a cheap backpack. I was supposed to have the afternoon off, but Sophie didn't come to school today, so I'm covering. It sucks but it means I'll have all of next week off....hopefully. I came back to campus to shop on rubbish during lunch and then caught the bus back. Mission accomplished. Found a backpack! Only 35 kuai. Also picked up a loofa or lufa or however you spell it and a vegetable peeler. 

Observation: I think adults use everyday occurrences to excuse kid behavior. For example, some of my kids were feisty, naughty, wild today. My thought was 'what is up that's making them this way?' And the first thing that popped into my mind was the weather just changed. But what effect does a drop in 15 degrees have on the behavior of children. Now I'll admit the first snowfall at home does have an effect on kids, but it effects us all. Adults are just better at focusing in other things. Honestly, my kids are feisty most days... And some classes are consistently better than others. (I'm going with better teachers in the better classes). But today I was just not having any of it. 

That' s the hinkly piggly of my day. A bit random and tiring. I wrote the above statements at intervals through out the day, so some of the tenses might not match. But now, I'm off to go reheat some fried rice and perhaps watch a tv show.... 

Until next time. 

Zumba!

I'm my four years at MLC I never went to Zumba. It never worked time wise or motivation wise... But tonight Emma took me shopping for veggies and I made fried rice in my apartment (very satisfying to cook again, and it was tasty). She invited me to go to Zumba here on campus, so I said sure, why not? 

It was fast paced, tiring, major cardio, and awesome!!! It was sorta dancing and took all of the little coordination I had but no one was super great so I felt comfortable messing up. It was about an hour and twenty minutes. A good workout. Plus there were a handful of foreigners (one of them being the teacher/leader). 

I have been more active here in China. In the last two days I've walked two or more hours because I've taken to walking home from school. It takes about 50 or 55 minutes to do so. And each one ends in the hike up to the sixth floor. But I enjoy my walks.... A lot. 

Now I have Zumba to add to my active lifestyle. There might be class tomorrow if our leader doesn't get called into work... And they're gonna text me. Yay! 

Until next time. 

Well Traveled

The definition of well traveled is a person widely traveled, or a place often visited. Vague, I know. Laura told me it means you know your home well and you've been outside the country. Basically, it means you've seen a few things. Now, I've always thought that I'm not well traveled. I know... I know, you're thinking "Girl, you're in China!" But let me explain. 

As a kid, I never wanted to go anywhere other than up north to my cabin. That was as far as I needed to travel because the woods around my cabin were alive and quiet, homey and mysterious all at once. Plus, I got to roam around on a four wheeler. What kid wouldn't be content. As I've gotten older I've had the yearning deep inside to see more things. Go new places. Get lost and then found again. And until very recently I still thought I was not well traveled. Then I began to think..... I have done more than the average 22 year old. I've been to Disney world. To Augusta, and Portland, Maine. I've been in the Atlantic Ocean on a yacht and swimming at a beach. I've been to Connecticut and seen the beaches there. I've visited Boston twice where I walked the freedoms trail of our ancestors. I saw New York City once (and need to go back). I've seen Franklin Delano Roosevelt's home in New York State. I've been to Dallas and Fort Worth. Seen a classic Texan street and watched them drive long horns down the cobblestones. I've been to Arizona and visited an old west ghost town. I've visited Seattle and surrounding areas twice, seeing puget sound and the giant troll. Not to mention the two claims I have on the gum wall. I've even seen the rolling hills and windmills that are scattered through Iowa. I've seen the Great Lakes and the cascade mountains from an airplane. And that's just what I've had the opportunity to see and do inside the U. S. of A.  

Now I'm in China and I've seen a lot of things here in Shaoxing that have become normal for me. I forget that not everyone experiences this. The canals and bridges that make this city unique. He old men playing cards and shouting hello! 

Come February, the plan is to visit Southeast Asia... Thailand and perhaps Vietnam or the Philippines. 

It always takes me a second to remember that I'm pretty well traveled for a small town, Midwestern girl. My first response is always 'I've not really been anywhere.' But the truth is, I have. I can navigate my home town and state real well, my country pretty well, and now I'm attempting to navigate a foreign country. 

I don't mean this to be a brag posting. I'm so very thankful for those opportunities and this one. It truly amazes me sometimes to realize "I'm in China!" 

I don't know if I'll get another year over here or if I'll venture in another direction. That's in HIS hands, and wherever I go, it'll be another addition to my list of experiences. 

Until next time. 

P. S. No matter how 'well traveled' I get, I know where home is...always waiting and welcoming. 

Month

Month. One Month. Thats how long I've been in China. (plus, two days)

I arrived here on the 14th and today its the 15th, one  month later. I'm still alive. I'm still walking and talking. (not that there was any concern) For me, it has been only a week and yet it seems like a lifetime. Granted, I'm only 22, so my concept of a lifetime is a bit short. I digress.

My month in China has been full of experiences that I would never have had in other circumstances. From the good, to the bad, to the strange and the ugly. My first morning here I saw a guy peeing on a building from my kitchen window. Today, I saw a guy peeing in the bushes on the way home from school.... Now this doesn't happen often, but the irony is amazing in this instance. Ha. I've had the opportunity to make new friends, I've been on a trip, I've swam in the Yellow Sea, I've eaten a few crazy things, and I've absorbed so many sights.

Along with this. I've shuffled, trudged, and flown through an array of emotions. (global relocation is not a walk in the park) I've been excited, thrilled, and curious. I've been homesick, confused, and frustrated. I've been content, happy, and relaxed. Although, not necessarily in that order. I've told a few people this in my time here, and perhaps I've told you but here goes. I don't know what I was expecting, but this isn't it. All my preconceived notions (I'll admit there weren't many) have been shattered. Don't get me wrong, I'm not disappointed. Rather, I'm pleasantly surprised, and amazed.

One month. China and I have gotten along so far. Some of us foreigners in Shaoxing have a saying when we do something successful here... 'We China so well.' It's true. I ride the bus to school, I teach, I get fruit, I put money on my phone, I sleep, I China pretty well.

I've been here a month! Did I say that? Still seems crazy to me. Only 8 more to go.

Until next time.

Oh, one more thing!

Thanks to all of you, this here meager blog has been viewed over 1000 times!! 

That's so awesome! It really means a lot to me that you take the time to keep up with what I am doing.

This blog is what connects me to all of those who I love so far away. 

Keep reading! and I'll keep posting! Also, feel free to comment. =) 

Love you all. 

Until next time. 

Higgly Piggly

Okay, lots to tell, but they are all short... Here goes!!

I forgot my headphones at home today... So no musical moments. *sad face. But fear not, the day was still quite nice.

I had four hours to kill in the middle of the day between teaching sessions. So I ate at McDonalds for the first time in China. It was pretty good. I had a spicy chicken sandwich. Then, I walked around ending up sitting on a bench reading my nook with coffee. I got two (i may or may not have a problem) and sipped for a little over an hour in the shade. twas so lovely. Then, when I was sick of sitting I headed for the busstop.... It was too early to go back to school, but I was bored. But rather than stop and wait for the bus I just kept going (I just felt like walking... twig; movie quote!) and after about 45 minutes I found myself back at school. I just walked in the sunshine and rather enjoyed myself. :) I was still early so I sat on a swing by the river and read some more.

On the bus after school I came to a conclusion. I'm fairly confident the term 'wizened old man' was coined by someone who visited China. There was an elder gentleman who was sitting next to me (well, I was standing, but you get the idea) and he had work worn hands, and his hat was on a little crooked and he looked well aged by the sun. The term 'wizened old man' popped into my head like I had read it out of a book. Which prompted me to think about some of the other old men I've encountered.... and it applies to them too. Even some of the old women fit. But I think a wizened old person would be sorta smiley... and the women here don't smile. Like ever... But the old men smile. Especially when you say 'nihow' or 'hello'...

Today at school we had a mini sports day. The kids did their dances for the parents. They all had on matching outfits... either shirts or track suits. Super cute. (I took pics.. they should be above)

I think thats all. Ummmm........  ........ ... .. . . . Yah.

Until next time.

Music

This is the theme this week I guess. Music.

Perhaps it is because I've been riding busses by myself a bit more the last few days, so I've been turning to my headphones, and tuning the world out.

Today's selection includes Avicii, Michael Jackson, Ed Sheeran, Melissa Etheridge and Guns-n-Roses... As all music selections should.

But the song that caught me today has these lyrics.

Fare thee well; My own true love; Farewell for a while 
I’m going away; But I’ll be back; Though I go 10,000 miles


Now depending on your personal musical tastes, your movie knowledge, and I think some factor should be given to your age.. You may or may not know this song. It is called 10,000 miles sung by Mary Chapin Carpenter and rather prominently featured in the movie Fly Away Home. The song by itself is about losing a loved one and finding them again either in another life or heaven. The movie uses the song to commemorate the loss of a mother and the characters actually travel a great distance...

I like the mellow, easy feel of the song. I always picture myself flying when I hear it... (In the movie, Fly Away Home, the song plays while flying) Anyway, I did a little research. From my home in Appleton, to my second home in Shaoxing, it is approximately 7,200 miles. (as a plane flies)

When I found this number, my first reaction was 'That's all?? It should be farther shouldn't it??'

Then I realized.... distance is not really measured in miles. It's measured in the flight time; it took me 24 hours to get here. It's measured by who is or is not with you. I'm always home among my friends here. But my family is a very long way away. It's measured in moments. I wish my sisters could be here to see some of the things I've seen. Kaitie would love all the little kids I get to see everyday (as naughty as they are sometimes) and Hannah would love the old places mixed with the new. My Grandma's would just love everything and make exclamations about all of it. My parents would love to see me navigate this crazy city... (I also think they'd love to go home after about a week or so). Everyone else would find something here fun, crazy, or amazing just as I have. I've been in the foreign state for a while and things still shock, amaze, and puzzle me. 

So, even though I go 7,200 miles or more... I'll be back. I'm going (gone) away but I'll be back. 

Much love, 

Until next time.