Thank you!

Dearest friends thank you so much for your thoughts over the last few weeks. I have been so sick for so long that I am rejoicing now that I am finally starting to get well. In all, I spent 3 1/2 weeks at home because I was not strong enough to go any farther. I finally returned to school this Monday and I am pleased to report that aside for getting tired much faster than normal and coughing, I am doing well. The doctor is also pleased with my progress and I will be having an x-ray in 2 weeks to see if the pneumonia is totally gone. Thank you again for your thoughts. I need them so much. :)

Simply Exhausted

So, I know that many of you have already heard about this, but I am coveting all of your thoughts right now.  I'm having a pretty rough time right now.  I started having nightmares last week sometime.  This has been a common occurence since I was a child, but this problem still ruins my sleeping patterns.  By Friday the lack of good sleep combined with a new country and job took its toll and I got sick.  I spend Saturday and Sunday miserable, feverish, coughing, and without a voice.  By Monday all I was doing was coughing and I had no voice.  This morning I woke up with a voice but I had not slept since I got sick and my body was not recovering from the cough like it needed.  Tonight I begged for sleep and here I am 3 hours later having choked and coughed more times than I can count, exhausted, still suffering from nightmares, and desperately just wanting sleep.  Will you all please keep this in mind for me?

My roommate is also really sick and has not been able to sleep either.  She found out today that she has pneumonia and she says that sleeping is like drowning in her lungs.  Can you also keep her in your thoughts?  Thank you all so much!  I'm going to attempt to go sleep...again.

Funny Mistake...That I Will Probably Repeat

So yesterday I was getting dressed and I decided to wear this cute Chinese looking red jacket with some ebroidery on it. It is finally cool enough out that I can wear it so I pulled it on and tried to make myself look nice. My roommates mentioned that I looked nice, but I thought nothing of it as we walked out the door. I realized I had made a mistaked within 20 minutes. As all the staff piled on the bus almost every person (young, old, male, and female) stopped to tell me how nice I looked. If you know me, you know I really don't like that much attention. What really made me laugh is when they started asking me which tailor had made the jacket for me. When I replied that my mother had bought it somewhere in the States for me they were shocked. And all I could think is this is going to be an interesting day. The day continued to get funnier at school when every Chinese person I saw asked me where I got the jacket. They were also shocked that my mother had bought it in America. The funniest part of the day though was when I went to lunch. I was walking up to make me salad when my roommate's TA stopped me and asked about my jacket. I answered with the now familiar response on where the jacket came from. She said, "This jacket it very beautiful. This is what Chinese brides wear." I'm sure I looked shocked because I was. I almost took off the jacket right at that moment, but instead I started laughing and said I had no idea. It was an interesting day to say the least...and part of me feels like I should not wear the jacket again...but then again I love the jacket. :) What do you guys think? Should I become a Chinese bride again on another day? :P

So, a lot has happened in the last couple of days. First of all, my Apple decided to stop working. I don't know about you guys, but a great deal of my life is in my computer. I was so upset when it wouldn't turn on, but I told myself not to worry because the next day we were going on an all-staff retreat for four days...surely in that amount of time, I could find someone tecky (hopefully one of the tech guys at our schools) to help me out. Despite asking several people, I still do not have a working computer...in fact, no one even looked at it. The tech guys promised to help after break, the idea another guys gave me (who had no idea what to do with Macs) did not work, and another guy was not able to work on it because the internet at the hotel we were at was not working.
Now, keep in mind, this is the way I was beginning my break. I was in a horrible mood and I couldn't think of any good reason why they were making me go 45 min away from home to stay in a hotel for four days with everyone else when all I wanted to do was sleep. I am ashamed to say that I kept this attitude for the whole first day that I was there. However, Dad is merciful and teaches us things a little at a time. My first night at the hotel (despite very hard beds) I slept for 11 hours (plus a 2 hours nap the afternoon before), I read part of a book (something I had not done in ages), and I spent a great deal of time talking to friends. The two days after that followed the exact same trend. So, despite my horrible attitude about this weekend, I am coming home well rested, at peace and content, and I have grown closer to some of the staff at our school. Isn't it amazing how even when we are griping and complaining, Dad chooses to show himslef to us in ways that we neither expect or deserve? I am so grateful that he has given his love to me.
Anyone else feel that way too? I love you all and I really hope that someone is reading this blog... :P

International Day

So, each year our school has an International Day. This day is meant to celebrate all of the different cultures and countries represented in our school. Students and teachers dress up in native costumes or clothing that "represents" their culture, we eat a lot of food, and we play games. I figured I would just use this blog to share some of my favorite pictures with you.

Here is Alice being goofy. This was her first day with me as a teacher. :)

So, most of my class decided to crawl under my desk to have their picture taken. So here is Hannah, Phoenix, and Christina.

David and Paul...

David and Tae Yoon...



One of two Americans in second grade...She is doing a Mardi Gras-Chinese combination. It was actually really cute.


Learning the limbo...In Korean dresses...


Learning something like a square dance...


Chinese Games...

Living the Dream

So, you know all those cliche movies you see that say the person is "living the dream?" Well, I always thought that was so silly cause every time we reach a goal or dream we get a new one. It is something that just makes us human and constantly gives us something to strive for. However, I realized today that I have been living my dream and I have not made up a new dream. I am living my dream. I am soaking it in every day and the unbelief still hits me every moment of every day.
I have not yet found the ocean common. I haven't taken my wonderful job for granted. I haven't hit culture shock (which supposedly is supposed to return every few months). I am not only contenct where I am but happy as well. I am being stretched, pulled, and at times broken, but nothing has made me regret moving here. In fact, I am elated with the direction that Dad took this season of my life. I am developping good friendships though I still miss those at home. I am learning to like new food even though I still have horrible cravings for American food (those are the days I go to McDonalds for dinner :P). Oh, and the best part is that I am getting enough sleep that I am not constatly zoning out because my extreme lack of sleep is making me unable to focus. Haha...
Oh, and for everyone's information, I have not found China Man or a boyfriend or whatever you want to call him. I'm waiting for Dad's timing on that and if he decides that is a never than...well, life has been an adventure up till now and not having a guy does not and will not "short change" me in any way. Ok, that's my guy rant...everyone keeps asking...I just thought I would let the rest of you curious people know too. :P
I love you all! Oh, just so you know, we had International Day this week. I put pictures up on Facebook, but I will try to post pictures on here a little later.

So, I don't really have anything special to share right now, but I feel like I haven't really talked to you much, so I would like to give you a short update.
The Olympic hype is finally cooling down. Where as we struggled to get into our apartment complex before, the guards are significantly more relaxed now. I don't think as many people are as excited about the para-olympics (which is a same because they are amazing) as the Olympics. We are still looking forward to the day when they unlock all the gates again so that we don't have to walk as far.
The weather here is turning beautiful. It's only reaching a high of about 84 F each day and the humidity seems to be turning down quite a bit. The nights are actually gorgeous at around 66F. It is so nice to walk home at night and just enjoy the cool air. It's so shocking to think that just a few weeks ago the air was so thick that you could see it and the night was never any cooler than the day. We have also had the good fortune of seeing the sunrise almost every morning. The sky has been so clear lately.
My class is going very well. I love working with me kids although I do go home exhausted every day. Each one of them is so sweet and desperate to please. And they are all excellent at drawing. It shocks me every day that these 8 and 9 year olds can put out work that takes my breath away. One of the students is exceptionally good at art and his favorite thing to draw is dragons and dinosaurs.
Getting to know the people that I work with has been a great amount of fun. There are about 100 foreign staff and almost as many teacher assistants. There are so many names to remember that at times it can be very very overwhelming. However, when you put all of us in a room together it feels like you landed in a family reunion. We are all talking and jabbering. Everyone is watching out for everyone else's kids. There is always food. Babies are passed off quickly and everyone is always catching up. We actually met our next door neighbors just about a week ago and we have already eaten with them once (we are eating there again tonight for dinner) and we have babysat their kids. It is also great because now whenever the mother sees me, she hands over her 4 week old baby and lets me hold him till he starts crying too much. I love it! Can I stay in this family forever?
Oh, and for those of you who listened to me right after I got to China last fall and heard me whining about all the weird things they do and how they look...I have found that Qingdao is like San Francisco as opposed to some place like Los Angeles. The city is clean, full of cars, full of kind people, right on the ocean, and just fun to live in. I love living here so much and I am stunned by the beauty of this place still. I can't believe it. The morning walk to the bus along the ocean always takes my breath away. The waves roll gently (or not so gently if there is a storm) onto the beach and calms all my worries for the day. On the days when there is a storm coming, I watch the waves crash on the shore and I am amazed that a storm has touched another place and it affects us even so far away. My favorite day on the ocean is when a typhoon (aka hurricane) hit Japan. We got very little rain from the storm, but the wind ripped across the ocean and the land. Because the wind from that storm was so strong, the waves not only crashed on the shore, but they were crashing up over the wall above it as well. Now, for those of you who can't see why that is so amazing, let me tell you this. The wall is about 100 feet above the ocean. On that day there was no beach simply water relentlessly beating at the wall. It was spectacular and awe inspiring.
Ok, I'm rambling about nothing so I'll finish this blog. Some things to remember when you think of me is the staff here. We are having an Open House for the parents tonight and tomorrow. Tonight is middle and high school and tomorrow is elementary school. We are all a little nervouse, but also excited. Also, many of us have family at home who are sick or in the hospital. Please keep them in mind. We are all feeling the stress of being seperated from our family. There are many people here who are contemplating going home for Christmas just to be with their loved ones. Lastly, there is a lot of sickness going through the school. One family has had every member sick and the mother had a bad case of pneumonia. There are several awful bugs going through the school and we are fighting them as best we can. Anyway, time to go live. :) Thanks for your thoughts. I love you all so much and I miss you too! I'm on Facebook if you want to talk or you can send an email through my Mom. :)

I love second grader's writing...let me share some...
Concerning Michael Phelps (we've been doing a unit on the Olympics)
1. I like swiming because i also whant to be like him. actually im not good at swiming.
2. I like swimming and you like swimming! so I like you very much!
3. I like Michael because He have 14 gold! medals! grat swimmer of world but? I don't no.

Concerning Yao Ming (yay unit on the Olympics)
1. Yao Ming is RILY TALL! in fact he's mom and dad was the tallest people in China wen he was born. Yao Ming is 28 years old and he's still rilly tall. I meen he is 28 years old but he's still good... I bete that he loves he's job.

Spelling Word Sentences
1. When pharaoh die he get in the pyramid.
2. Believe he, she's angry.
3. The mountain is big of the land.
4. Sweet means sugar.
5. I will not against the rule even if I don't what to.
6. I went to grandma and grandpa's hose and it snowed so we made a snowmen.
7. My mom is very sweet.
8. Clifford lives in a red barn.
9. I don't like chocolate because when I eat many then my teeth will be black!
10. I am doing to my dad, mom the respect.
11. I like Qingdao because I can be Miss. Keller's class!
12. I want to go to Beijing so I can see the swimminger!
13. I can't smell the air.
14. Everything breathes air everything.
15. Sometimes we all cry.
16. Smell Brnadon's armpit, it smells gross.
17. My mom likes lattes a lot.
Those are the ones that made me laugh. I love my kids. I hope you enjoyed these too.

Hurting

I need your thoughts right now. During the past week I have found out that my grandmother is in the hospital in pain because she has lesions/cysts on an area where she previously had cancer. I also found out that my great-aunt Theona...who has always been like a grandma to me...is taking a tunr for the worse in a losing battle against cancer. I know you all know that these are tough things to deal with no matter where you are, but I'm not quite sure what to do half-way across the world. I'm trying to continue as normally as possible, but it has been hard not to think about these things and when I do think about them I am suddenly in tears. Please be thinking.
And can you please do me a favor? I would love to have you all comment on my blog, but for security reasons...please don't. If you would like to respond to something I wrote, please send your response to my email so that Mom can make sure it is ok to send it on to me first. Thank you so much!
I love you all and I miss you so much!

STOP FOLLOWING ME!!!

For those of you who have known me for very long, you know that I have been trying to escape New Mexico for over four years now. I became an official resident of Ohio just over a year ago, but New Mexico keeps finding ways to show up in my life.
Coming to China has unfortunately not changed that at all. When people here asked me where I was from I would tell them NM...why can't people say where do you live? "Well, I live in China. What about you?" I always feel like I am lying to them if I tell them I am from anywhere but NM. So, I got here and told people I was from NM and there like "oh, that's cool there is another guy here that has family there." Well, I finally met him and much to my relief, he does not live there. It's just his permanent address while in China cause his in-laws are there. I kept breathing....and tried to make NM sound good cause so many people like it....I always feel bad saying I really don't like the desert or making any negative comment about NM cause then people look at me like "I loved it....what's your problem?"
So, I was glad I finally met this guy at my school cause maybe now NM would be laid to rest. Nope....I'm definitely not that lucky. On Friday, we had a student assembly. There was a band here that had come to tour China. They were from....you will never guess....Yep, NM. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And even worse, they were from Santa Fe, Alamagordo, and Corrales. Those places range from 5 minutes to less than 2 hours from my house. It was insane....and everything about this band screamed New Mexico....don't get me wrong. They were very good, but they did the old country and they either looked like rebellious young adults or hippies. Yeah, I know what you are thinking, but that is very sterotypically New Mexican. Wow....NM is going to follow me to my grave and I am realizing that I just need to grin and bear it....Oh well. I love you all!

Teaching

So...have you ever felt like you are treading water and not really going anywhere...well, my teaching has kinda felt that way during the last week. It was a little better today...it felt kind of like a doggy paddle, but please think of me when you talk to Dad. I really have problems asking for help and your first year of teaching is hard no matter what country you are in.
So, my class has graduated from four to six students. I absolutely love my kids. They are so sweet and I truly look forward to seeing them every day. They are so excited about silly things sometimes....This morning we played Go Fish and they loved it and almost didn't want to stop for recess. It made me smile.
Yesterday was an adventure...after school I went with my friends to the hairdressers. I had just planned on trimming my hair, but then I decided that I was sick of being hot and I chopped it to my shoulders....yep, my long hair is gone and I am so much cooler now and I love my hair and I totally look like my mom when she was in her twenties....I love my hair....I was actually pretty terrified that it would look awful especially since my glasses were off the whole time, but my hair looked exactly like the picture and he even styled my hair too....Did I say that I love my hair? One of my friends got her hair permed and the way they did her curls looked like they were giving her electro-shock therapy. It made me laugh so hard...and then they did a Chinese girl and the contraption on her head looked like an alien brain sucker...it was funny....
I wish I could tell you all how much I love being here. It is an amazing place and I couldn't see myself anywhere else. Dad truly led me here and my head of department really encouraged me this morning by saying that Dad had placed each of these kids in my class for a readon. For some reason or another each one was put there when they could be at some other school in some other city. It was such an encouragement....but anyway....I love you all!

Do I really live here or I am having an incredible dream?

So much has happened since I wrote my first blog and I would apologize for not writing sooner, but I don't think any of you have seen my blog yet anyway. :P
Well, the Olympics started over a week ago now and we were so excited to get to see the openings. I did not get to see the Opening Ceremonies (something that makes me very sad), but I did see the opening for the Sailing Events in person. It was incredible. We sat on the grass (something unheard of in China...there is little grass and it is very protected) and watched so many fireworks that the sky turned black with smoke. It was incredible fun even though we sat on the grass for about 3 hours waiting for the fireworks to start. We also met many other foreigners and really enjoyed talking to them. There was one couple there who had a young baby and we played with him for a while...however, Western children are so highly regarded in China that there was a group around the couple and there son about 5 people deep at one point. It was insane.
School also started this week. I love my kids and I love my class. I feel like an actual teacher instead of an inexperienced child when I am leading my own class. I love it! I only had four kids in my class on Wednesday (the smallest class in the school) and the next day it jumped to a startling 5 children. :P I have another little girl coming this week and another girl coming the middle of September. So, I will finally make it up to 7 children. And they get through everything (with the exception of drawing....which they do very very well) entirely too quickly. I need to start over-planning in hopes that I won't bore them to death.
So, we still have no internet in our apartment....the reason that I haven't written in so long...but we are still trying very hard to get it. We came to Starbucks early this morning so that we could get on the internet and I spent a lot of time just catching up with friends as American coffee buzzed through my veins.....its been a good morning. I even got to talk to my mother which made everything even better.
Well, it's time to go shopping...We currently have no food in our house. Please talk to Dad about school. It's going so well so far and it is our hope that things will continue that way. I love you all so much and I miss you so much it hurts!

I'm Here!

Well, I’m here…and to set all of your minds at easy, I am well and safe and so happy to be back in China. I don’t even know where to begin to explain the last 2 weeks. I am in love…in a way that I have never loved before. After many adventures and about 30+ hours of flying, we finally got off the plane, through customs, and met representatives from our school. It was so good to see them. We were so incredibly tired…and then we stepped outside. I was so amazed…my new home is more humid than any place I ever remember being. (I know, I know, you were expecting…And it was so beautiful I couldn’t believe I was actually there…trust me, no airport is that beautiful…If you find one then let me know…I am perfectly happy to be proved wrong…) Thu humidity was so bad, in fact, that I immediately started sweating in the wonderful sweater that had kept me warm for the last 1½ days on the plane…needles to say, the sweater didn’t last long. From there we piled (and I do mean piled) the school bus full (and I do mean full) of all of our luggage. (By the way, moving to another country is hard…2 fifty pound bags? How about a large dump truck? I could fit all my stuff in there.)


So, our bus ended up being so full that we had to take several taxis back into town. I didn’t talk much on the ride because I was so tired, but instead I tried to absorb my new home. It was pretty, but nothing spectacular. The most incredible part came when we drove into our part of the city though. I suddenly sat up straighter and I was filled with a sense of anticipation that I hadn’t felt for hours. I suddenly felt like I had come home. If you ask me today, only two weeks later, I could not tell you where we were, but I suddenly new I was home and I was filled with so much peace I could hardly breathe. Have you ever felt that? You are so full of joy and peace that suddenly there isn’t room for air in your lungs anymore?

When we pulled up to our complex I received a few more surprises. First of all, I am literally living next door to the Olympic Village in my city. We are so close in fact, that only cars with a permit are allowed in. Luckily, we had switched our luggage to a smaller van with a permit when we dropped other members of our team off at their places. Secondly, I literally stopped breathing when we turned the corner to go the complex’s gate. There was the ocean. It was my next-door neighbor. I couldn’t tear me eyes away to see my new home.... What does a person do with that much water? Even now I often stand next to the ocean, or walk on the beach, or simply listen to the waves crash and all I can think is “Do I actually live here or are they going to make me go back to America soon?” My favorite thing about this place is the ocean…I still shocks me every time I see it.


Anyway, the next several days were a series of blurred activities. Dad was so good and I only had jet lag for about 12 hours. Even with a sleep clear brain I can’t tell you everything we did our first week. There was a lot of shopping…a whole lot of shopping. There was shopping for bedding and necessities for the apartment…which by the way is absolutely gorgeous! Don’t tell my parents, but my home is so better than theirs…See Facebook if you want proof…well at least my place is on there… There was also shopping for food and toiletries. I was so amazed to find that I could spend money so quickly just setting up a small portion of my apartment. By the way, I love my roommates! They are incredible!


So, this week we made it to the school. We had orientation from Tuesday through Friday. Talk about information overload. I’m really glad we had it though because there were a lot of things we needed to know. The rest of our time this week was spent setting up our classrooms. I have probably spent between 10-15 hours so far turning my room from something that looked like a prison into an exciting place to learn. ☺ It looks incredible now, just ask me and I will tell you so. I still have some work to do on it before school starts Wednesday, but it looks really good…again, see Facebook for pictures. (A little side note, I am planning on eventually putting my pictures on Picassa, but I don’t have internet in my apartment at this point so it is just too much of a hassle right now. When I get them up I will put the link on this site for you.)




If you wouldn’t mind talking to Dad for me, here are some specific requests. It seems that Dad has chosen my roommates and I for special gifts. Since we left the US we have run into hassles on the plane, a lost camera (I forgot it on the plane…how intelligent was that…but it came back to me…Thanks Dad!), no hot water for over 1 week, a broken air conditioner, sickness (we are having a lot of trouble acclimating our stomachs to Chinese food), and a minor injury (I fell…go figure…). Please ask for endurance and good spirits in these things. Next, please ask for a good school year. You all went to school and can imagine many of the preparations and bumps in the road you hit even before students arrive. I really don’t want to mess anyone’s child up…Lastly, the Olympics officially began last night. Please ask that everything will go very well and that things won’t be too chaotic for long. Anyway, I really need to go, especially since this blog is really, really long already.


I love you all! Thank you as always for thinking of me and talking about me.