Happy Halloween!

This week has been really blah. Holidays are going to be really hard for me while I'm here. I miss everything about Halloween, and nothing here in China feels like Halloween. If I get my panties in a wad over Halloween, watch out for Thanksgiving. That's going to be SO hard and the only thing that will keep me sane is that I'll be leaving in three weeks. But at the same time, I'm going to hate leaving. Why is life so hard?

Anyways, on Monday we went to this amusement park thing with the kids. I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't a blast. I am glad that I went, and it was fun, but it rained and was pretty chilly. Megan and I just sat at a table and talked for three hours after riding a few of the rides. That night, we went to Muslim food and I was in bed by 8 p.m. It was great :)

Look familiar? I think we may have some copyright infringement on our hands, folks!

The entrance

Megan and Samuel

Aaron :)

My sweetie, Audrey

Tuesday I was not in a good mood. It was one of those days where you just hate everything and everyone. Oh, the joy that I am :) My kids and I made balloon ghosts and they really enjoyed themselves. Later, I went to the night market with Kate and Megan and succumbed to my weakness of yummy wraps.

Everything that goes in it. I don't know what a lot of it is so don't ask.

On the grill

SO. Good. You people don't even know!

Henry :)

First graders

Striking resemblance, eh? Brayden

Wednesday, today, we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, which they loved, and Hocus Pocus! We also did face painting and THIS BLOG POST  HAS BEEN INTERRUPTED BY NEWS OF A PACKAGE WAITING FOR ME IN THE SECURITY POST. TBC....

Kate and I rocked awesome socks thanks to Leah and my Mama!

Snow White is my best friend.

My little love <3

Handing out goody bags!

My goons :)

 Ohhhhhhhh my goodness :) I just got a package from my Aunt Lisa back in Ohio. It never gets old. Seriously. How perfect is it that I was just talking about how I hadn't been in a good mood this week? She sent me chocolate poptarts, Maple and Brown Sugar oatmeal, Burt's Bees chapstick, Easy Mac in Velveeta form, instant brownies!, Wet Ones (completely necessary in China), Clorox wipes- also totally necessary, hand sanitizer, Dove soap, SOUR PATCH KIDS!!!, AND, here's the kicker, she sent me CEREAL with ALMOND MILK because she knows that I don't like regular milk. Are you busy wishing your aunt was as nice as mine??

Yessss :)

My goods!

My Perfect Weekend

I have had several of those since I've been here. Actually, I daresay that all of them have fit into that category. This weekend was enjoyed all snuggled up in my bed, listening to music, watching movies, while laughing hysterically with my other half in female form, Megan, over something on Pinterest or some ridiculous comment that one of us made. Kate went out of town for the weekend so Megan moved in and stayed in my room with me. Even though we did nothing, it was awesome and these are the things I will miss about China when we go back to America. We were talking today about how we didn't think we could get any closer, but it has happened here. I don't know if I would make it through this experience without her. What would we do without someone to plan our imaginary weddings with?

We aren't teaching tomorrow. You guessed it, we found that out yesterday. I love China's etiquette with schedule changes.... Anyways, all the kids are going to an amusement park and we're going with them! I'm really excited to spend time with my kids outside of the classroom. I will be sure to post lots of pictures! This is my last week of teaching before our trip to Beijing. My, oh my, am I excited :) It's sure to be epic times 235,035,386,375,487. Cause my friends are that awesome.

 I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

Hello, Weekend!

Thursday

We made apple/peanut butter/sour gummy worms/smarties butterflies in class. The kids love eating in class. They're super cute about it! The day was pretty uneventful. I helped Megan keep her sanity about ELE, and she said that things went much better today! I am so glad. ELE stress is the WORST. I wanted to eat all day. This is a problem when in China. I let my stomach get the best of me and I decided to make my very last bag of popcorn around midnight. Of course that came back to bite me in the butt! Almost the entire bag was burned :( Talk about disappointing. That's what I get for being a glutton. For your pleasure, here is a video of the cutest Asian boy ever, wiggling his ears :)

Friday

Today was so off kilter. Thirty minutes before ILP classes, our head teacher comes around and says that all classes are canceled for the day. We were pretty excited to unexpectedly have the day off. Was it too good to be true? Of course.... At 12:15 (we usually teach at 12 on Fridays), Scott comes back around saying that second grade is teaching today, and of course we were the only grade that still had class. What the truck. I was frustrated. It was great getting to see my kids, but I was so unprepared and I hated that everything was so off schedule. We just made Hawaiian punch and they thought it was the coolest thing ever. They love to stir anything, it's funny. After teaching, I actually went to the cafeteria for dinner for the first time in a month probably. It was alright. Megan and I still went to the night market for food though. We just can't resist. Kate is gone for the weekend so Megan has moved in with me so we can have "sleepovers".  We just finished watching Steel Magnolias. It was her first time seeing it and she loved it! I've made a fan of her :)

AND- most importantly out of everything that happened today, when I got back from teaching, there was a package on my bed. YIPPEE! I was SO excited. It was from my friend Leah back in Ohio. She sent me Halloween socks (coincidentally, the same two pairs that my mother sent me haha :)), oatmeal cream pies, chocolate poptarts, cheddar/broccoli rice, a velvet poster, and conditioner!!!! I am so ecstatic about that last part... buying that stuff here in China is a pain and expensive. Overall, it's been a great start to the weekend!

Things from home never fail to make me cry.

<3 this girl

Ants On a Log

Let me just say, I barely made it through class today. I loathe celery and I don't quite understand how anyone eats it. Well, raw, anyways. I can tolerate it when it's cooked. The smell of it is so overwhelming! Oh, the joy of living in a country with limited edible substances (by my standards). I could have given my kids pickled chicken feet and I'm sure they would have been happy as hippos but I definitely would have hurled at that.

So, we made "ants on a log" today in class. It was easy and I could actually buy all the materials at the store. The kids thought it was the greatest thing ever, but get this- none of them had ever had raisins before. And, if it wasn't for ILP, none of them would have ever had peanut butter either. So strange to me. The food here in China is not something I will ever get used to. Is it obvious?

I got a little upset today in class. When my homeroom came in, I immediately noticed that Ricky was missing. I asked the other kids where he was. "Ricky.... *imitates Chinese teacher yelling*....." Great. Not two minutes later, he came in with big tears rolling down his face. Ricky is not "good" most of the time, and I know it. But he's good in his own way. It bothers me that he gets in trouble for that. He's one of those kids that can't and won't conform to the norms of what everyone else is doing and I love him for it. I could not stand watching him cry. I tried everything to cheer him up. The other kids all surrounded him and took turns wiping his tears with their own sleeves. I am amazed at these seven-year-olds. They are such good little people.

Fun Fact: Ricky can wiggle his ears :) and, he tells me that he loves me. Every. Single. Day.

My girl :)

I love him so much.

Krew and Angela

Aaron and Jason. Can you tell they like to eat in class??

Jake, Ronnie, and Apple.

Angela :)

Apple!

My loves <3

 Everyone loves to eat in class, so it really didn't take long for him to cheer up. Every day now, they ask me to take pictures. Well, okay, but only because they're so darn cute!!!

After teaching, Megan and I went out for food and milkshakes. We're so cool :) I love this girl so much! She keeps me sane, and in stitches :)

Ten on Tuesday

1. Bribery is the best concept. Ever. I've started bribing my kids with marshmallows in order to keep them in line when we're walking to and from class. It works like a charm!

2. I don't know if it's terrifying or just plain fabulous how close Megan, Kate, and I have gotten over this experience so far. The things we talk about... Lord help us.

3. Last night, Kate and I watched UP!, made hot chocolate in our Disney villains cups, put chocolate-covered cookie dough bites in this hot chocolate, and dipped Oreos in it. Oh, and we sobbed just shy of hysterically while watching the movie. It's one of my favorites, but holy cow, Disney producers sure do know how to cause water main breaks.

4. Teaching today was cut short by an hour, so I only had two rotations.

5. We made octopuses out of bananas! It was ridiculously adorable.

Mike :)

Julius. She is such a doll!

Jason and Audrey :)

Admit it, you love him. He never follows directions. He does everything in his own way. I kind of secretly love him a lot for it.

Apple and Ronnie.

7. I had a really great night with Megan at the night market. Even though I ate way too much. It was still great. We decided that we won't be able to be away from each other when we get back to America, so I'm just going to stay with her all the time. Sorry, Lucas. Dolores might start charging me rent or something :) We have a lot of Pinterest tasks to accomplish between crafts and recipes.

8. I'm going to Beijing next weekend and I'm definitely going to the Great Wall. Are you super jealous? Yup, you should be.

9. I've noticed just how much I laugh while I'm here. Today in class, Ricky had me cracking up. I was laughing so hard and could not stop. He's just so weird, kooky, and amazing. Why do I have to love him so much? Oh, he also put a spider sticker on my butt and I didn't notice until I was walking back to my room after dropping them off.

You have to know Ricky to find this picture funny, but he was just rubbing Ronnie's head the entire class period while Ronnie was trying so hard to ignore him and pay attention. I couldn't stop cracking up at him. 

10. Tomorrow is the official halfway point in terms of days. What the heck. I'm not ready to be ready to go home. I still need to acquire a few more suitcases so that I can stow away a few Chinese children that must come home with me.


 I was thinking today about what it will be like to say goodbye to them, knowing that I will never see them again. Of course, I can't help but cry just thinking about it. When I came here, I truly had no idea what I was in for. I didn't know I would get so attached to these little people. I didn't know that I would wish for longer class periods, more days of teaching, and an overall longer stay in China. I didn't know that I would, indeed, be leaving a piece of my heart here in Changzhou. Why does such a sweet thing have to have such a bitter ending?

Excuse my lack of makeup today, but just look at how cute my babies are!

I'm in Trouble

There's a serious problem. I'm not sure if I've lost my mind (completely). You see, for as long as I can remember, I have loathed Mondays. We're just not friends, Monday and I. We have one of those hate-hate relationships going on. Until today. And the next Monday. And the next, and the one after that. Until I come home- wherever that is.

I started off my Monday as usual, moaning and groaning as I got up, wishing I was still in Shanghai with my AMAZING friends,  made my powerpoint for ELE, and got ready to teach. ELE was completely fine, but I still hated Monday... Until, I picked my kids up for class today. They're always crazy on Mondays. So much so, that I've wondered if their parents feed them straight crack the entire weekend, but class today was amazing. I was having so much fun with those little crazies. I genuinely did not want class to end. I could play with them all day. Two and half hours is just not enough!! My SPE is Kitchen this week. We made smiles out of apples, peanut butter, and marshmallows. Guess who forgot their frackin' camera today? Yup, this teacher right here. I'm so sad to announce that I don't have any pictures of their adorable faces covered in peanut butter sticky cuteness.

Let's backtrack a little. I have a lot to catch up on. Whoops.

Friday after teaching, Megan, Kate, Paul, and I headed to the train station for Shanghai! We missed the train that we originally wanted to take so we waited around in a McDonalds for the next one. We usually take the slow trains because they're extremely cheap and only take 2 1/2 hours, but they were sold out until really late. We opted to pay more and take a fast train. It was really cool, and only took an hour! Right outside the train station we ate at this cheap Italian place. It was delicious in every way! I *may* have gotten pizza and ravioli. There might have been garlic bread and a bottomless coke in there somewhere too, but my memory is so foggy that I just can't remember for sure :) After dinner we took a cab to our hostel. I love how I never had taken a taxi in my life before I got to China and now it's a main mode of transportation.

Our hostel was really nice! Except that the internet was jank. When we were checking in, Megan said she hoped there was no one else in our room (we were staying in a six bed dorm so most of the time you get paired up with strangers). Paul disagreed, saying he'd really like to meet some new people. We opened the door to find two 65 to 70-year-old people. It was hilarious. We decided to walk around and see what there was to see and didn't find much, besides that every one of us is completely retarded when it comes to sense of direction. Except Paul, but even he slipped up that night. Outside the hostel there was a patio thing so we sat out there and just watched the world go by. But, this is China, and nothing is ever calm, cool, or collected.

A taxi drives up to the hostel where this white guy jumps out, picks up his Asian lady friend and carries her limp body to the patio. He sits her in a chair and throws some money at Paul, telling him to go get her some crackers and gatorade. This was one of the weirdest things I've seen in my entire life. It gets better. The lady starts foaming at the mouth and making this clicking noise, proclaiming that she's going to kill the man that she's with. She stands up, knocks over a table and all the drinks on it, and stumbles into the hostel. Megan was smart and walked away to keep from laughing, but I wasn't as sensible, hence why I got chewed out by Creeper McGee for laughing. After the woman left, he informed us that she "wasn't just drunk" as he shakes his jacket and we hear pills rattling around in bottles. Seriously? I'm 99% sure that he drugged that lady at a bar somewhere and did God-knows-what to her. People are freaks.

On Saturday, we went shopping on Nanjing road for most of the day. I spent way too much money (but not really) and knocked out most of the stuff I wanted to buy for people. We had plans on seeing an acrobat show, but the cheap tickets were sold out. Megan and I decided to not fork over the extra 100 kuai so we found a Starbucks and talked about life while Kate and Paul enjoyed the show. I definitely want to see one in Beijing. Afterwards, we went out dancing and had such a great time, barring my encounter with a somewhat violent Irishman. The dude needed to get a grip. These are the things that I will forever be saying to Megan and Kate, "Remember that time in China....."


On Sunday, Megan and I did some more shopping at a market in the metro stop. We ended the Shanghai trip with eating at that Italian place again. It couldn't have been more perfect!

Friday Already?!

This week has flown by. I can't believe that I'm leaving China two months from today. Still kinda seems like a long time, but the first two months went by extremely fast. From here on out, I'm on the downward slope. I'm really excited to come home, but at the same time, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to leave my little babies. I love them SO much. I guess I just have to remember that the cutest boy in the history forever is waiting for me back home, and I do sort of miss him a ridiculous amount.

Leaving China doesn't mean that I'm coming home, however. I've actually decided to go to South Korea to visit mi hermano for a few days. I'm way beyond excited! It's going to be a blast! Of course, I can't fly home from Korea because that would just make too much sense. It's just so much more fun to do things the most difficult, pain in the @$$, way possible. I'm overjoyed to announce that I have to fly back to China before I can go home. I think there was so much sarcasm in there that it started to drip a little. Anyways, this nonsensical way of doing things unleashes problems galore. Like, I only have a single-entry visa to China, that I've already used. Once I leave, my visa is void. Oh, the joy.

My kids have been really good this week! The SPE of the week was Games. We played charades, musical chairs, bingo, and memory. Today I think I'm going to let them pick which game they want to play since it's Friday.

Tonight, Megan, Kate, Paul and I are going to Shanghai for the weekend! I'm so excited to get away for a couple days and do some massive shopping. It's crazy how close Kate and I have gotten in the two months that we've known each other. She's gonna be part of my wedding so you know it's serious :) I'm one lucky girl to have two amazing chicas to spend my China adventure with. They're pretty great.

As for me, I'm off to ELE. Happy (almost) Friday, everyone!

My younguns :)

I don't have a favorite....

Absolutely not.

October 16, 2008

It was 6-something in the morning when my cell phone rang by my head, waking me up. Immediately, I got a lump in my throat when I saw that it was my Uncle Scott. This can't be good, I thought to myself. He would not be calling this early unless something terrible has happened. Panicked, I answered the phone.

"Have you talked to your aunt yet?"
"Uh, no...." Ohhhmygosh. It's definitely bad.
"You need to call her. She has something to tell you."

Oh, boy. I seriously thought someone had died or something majorly bad had happened. I remember shaking so badly as I dialed her number. I felt immediate relief when I heard her voice. I knew nothing bad had happened. I asked what she had to tell me.

"Your cousin was born this morning." Uhh, excuse me? You see, my aunt and uncle are not old people by any stretch of the imagination. It wasn't like it was a ridiculous thing for her to say. Except there's one problem. How could she have gone 9 whole months without me knowing, or anyone telling me, that she was pregnant.

I'm pretty sure my exact words were: "What are you talking about???"

"The little girl that Scott and I are adopting."

WHATTT!!!!! I'm pretty sure I attacked her with all kinds of variations of, "And WHY am I just now finding out about this??"

Come to find out, they themselves had only gotten the call on Monday (three days earlier) that there was a possibility coming- in November. Much like her personality, Karmyn Grace took this world by storm that day and was born a lot earlier than anyone was anticipating. Especially me, since, you know, I wasn't anticipating her existence at all. She was as healthy as can be, despite being a few weeks early, and absolutely gorgeous.

I remember hanging up the phone and running downstairs where Elysia was eating a bowl of cereal. I taunted her with my information. What are big sisters for, anyways?! I told her we had a new cousin. Of course, she was perplexed, but I made her keep guessing who had had a baby until she started guessing people that we weren't even related to. It was funny.

I will never forget walking into their house the day before Thanksgiving that year, and seeing that little bundle for the first time. Alas, I fell madly in love and that child has me, and everyone else, wrapped around her little fingers. She's keeping us all young, that's for sure! I can't fully explain what a blessing she has been to our entire family. They had wanted a baby for so long, and for them to finally have their prayers answered was a feeling I'll never forget. There is no one alive on this Earth who deserved a child more than my aunt and uncle. Karmyn was meant to be a part of our family.God answers prayers. Remember that :)

Just LOOK at that face :)

My girl.

Having faith in God, is having faith in His timing, too!

Less Words, More Pictures

I get a little bit insanely jealous that everyone from home is posting pictures of being in hoodies and hats. I can't wait for it to get cool here, although I'm starting to feel like it never will!

On Sunday I did the exact same thing as Saturday, hence why I didn't make a new post. I'm not a fan of the Department of Redundancy Department.

This weeks' ELE topic is seasons. It went pretty well today. The time actually went by pretty quickly. With my ILP kids, we played charades, but not really. They weren't really grasping the concept that you weren't supposed to talk and were only supposed to act out the animals. So it turned into a game where the "actor" would give three clues as to what the animal was. It was a good language activity because they had to come up with the clues on their own. As always, they love anything competitive.

Here are some ridiculously cute pictures of miniature Asians.

Henry

Katie

Playing with my hair. Apple and Angela!

Alex is weird :)

How freakin' adorable is he?!?!

Ronnie and Jason

My crew!

Typical.

Bromance :)