For some reason, it's so much easier to make ridiculous, spur-of-the-moment decisions while in China. I don't necessarily view that as a bad thing, either.
I've noticed that I've had a lot of "why not?!" moments here. I've noticed that in America, I really restrict myself. I've noticed how liberating it feels to do something silly "just because."
For example, today I got another ear piercing and then bought colored contacts. Why? Because I can! And, it's fun to change things up. I'm going to rely on that kind of thing pretty heavily back in the States because I'm afraid life might seem terribly monotonous to me after having an adventure every single weekend- if not every single day- over the last four months. After all, I did go biking through the breath-taking mountains of Yangshuo and stand on the Great Wall all within a month. Heck, I went to Beijing and Shanghai in the same week.
I feel like a completely different person since I've been here. I'm more outgoing, more sociable, more adventurous, more patient, less angry, and overall more relaxed. I can't say that I worry about much, because if I can't do anything about the situation in question, why worry?! I deal with things a lot better. If something doesn't go as planned, I make an adventure out of it. In a lot of ways, I feel so far away from the girl that I used to be. Don't me wrong, my overall personality is still the same. I'm still hard-headed, difficult to get along with at times, and care about people I love more than anything. Not to sound conceited, but if there's one thing I love about myself, it's that I will drop whatever I am doing and tend to someone who is in need. If I can help, I will do anything to do so. Even if I barely know the person.
It's kinda funny how I came here to be a teacher, because I'm the one who has been taught- about unconditional love, patience, priorities, and most importantly, how to enjoy the little things, and make those count for more than the bad stuff. My students have taught me far more than I ever could them.
I've had this wave of calm wash over me the past couple days. In no way am I insinuating that I won't be upset when it's time to say goodbye to my babies, but I have stumbled upon this idiopathic understanding that this entire four month occasion is not one fit for tears, but one fit for relentless smiles, laughs, appreciation, love, and remembering the best times of my life.
It also helps that I have a mass hoard of people waiting to welcome me at Dayton International Airport. I don't feel ready to come home, but I think that will change as I'm watching China fade into the horizon from United Airlines flight 3661 in a couple weeks. My life has astounding potential and it's pretty awesome to think about all the things I can do.
I can't wait to start planning my next adventure, but I promise to ignore the itch and stay stateside for at least a little while.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
No Go Back to Meiguo
Today was one of those days where I was the world's worst teacher. I just let my kids color. You know why? Because I literally just wanted to look at them and take pictures and listen to them say, "Teacha Kayla, look!" I'm trying so hard to absorb everything about them. It's like I have an unrealistic goal of not forgetting anything about them. I wish that were possible.
After teaching, I got Korean food with Megan, Kailey, and Scott. We stopped for milkshakes after and the people told us that they were closing for good tomorrow. So sad! The first few times I walked in, the guy would hand me his phone and have me type what I wanted into a translator. After awhile, he just remembered. It was cute.
I really just want to cut the last couple weeks out. All of this saying goodbye nonsense will be the death of me. I'm so excited to come home, really. I'm just one of those people who hates to close any chapter in my life. Even if it was a bad one. Moving on always makes me sad, lethargic even. There are so many great things to look forward to, though, and what I've learned in China will stay with me for forever. I'm seriously considering just not allowing my own children to go to college until they live abroad. Gap years are genuinely a good idea and it seems like America is the only country that doesn't think so. If I had had this experience right out of high school, I could have saved a lot of money and time!
Megan, Kate, and I are going to Shanghai on Saturday. I'm way excited to spend the weekend with two of my favorite people in my favorite city in the entire world.
Enough chatter. Here is some food for your heart.
After teaching, I got Korean food with Megan, Kailey, and Scott. We stopped for milkshakes after and the people told us that they were closing for good tomorrow. So sad! The first few times I walked in, the guy would hand me his phone and have me type what I wanted into a translator. After awhile, he just remembered. It was cute.
I really just want to cut the last couple weeks out. All of this saying goodbye nonsense will be the death of me. I'm so excited to come home, really. I'm just one of those people who hates to close any chapter in my life. Even if it was a bad one. Moving on always makes me sad, lethargic even. There are so many great things to look forward to, though, and what I've learned in China will stay with me for forever. I'm seriously considering just not allowing my own children to go to college until they live abroad. Gap years are genuinely a good idea and it seems like America is the only country that doesn't think so. If I had had this experience right out of high school, I could have saved a lot of money and time!
Megan, Kate, and I are going to Shanghai on Saturday. I'm way excited to spend the weekend with two of my favorite people in my favorite city in the entire world.
Enough chatter. Here is some food for your heart.
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| Kisses for my sweet, sweet Colin. |
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| Silly Frank. |
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| Mike :) |
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| Jackson. One of my favorites. |
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| Love. |
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| Jason melts my heart. |
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| "Teacha Kayla, I love you. No go back to Meiguo (America) . Ricky go. Yes?" |
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| Hahah :) |
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Hey, Insomnia. We're Not Friends.
I can't sleep for the life of me. This, my friends, is the trouble with having amazing weekends with my best friend, which happen to entail sleeping until one o'clock in the afternoon.
The entire group, with the exception of five of us, went to Suzhou this weekend. Megan's roommate and my roommate were among them so I moved into Megan's room for the weekend. On Friday night, our head teacher Kailey came down and hung out with us. We watched Home Alone- one of my favorites- and just stayed up late chatting about everything under the sun.
On Saturday we decided to go out into town with Scott and Kailey. McDonald's was on our fatty American brains. It's about 40 minutes or so away from the school by bus. We enjoyed our artery-stiffening, cholesterol-inducing lunch and walked around the mall. I bought a few DVDs at one of the stores- how can you possibly resist, they're 10 kaui ($1.50 each)- and then Megan and I headed to a part of town that we have dubbed "Old Changzhou." I haven't the foggiest what the real name of the place is, but that's what happens when you can't read Chinese. It's a really beautiful place and looks like what I had imagined all of China would. I finished almost all of my shopping there. There's a very few things I want to get. There are only four people on my gift list still. That's not bad considering I started out with twenty or so. We stopped by the night market on the way home and grabbed a yummy, super delicious wrap. WHY is there no real Chinese food in America?! You're all being scammed, in case you weren't aware.
We took the lazy way back to the school, in a tuktuk. My, how I love those things. Once back to the room, we wasted no time making ourselves as publicly unacceptable as possible. After all, that's the best part of the day! We've adopted some alter egos recently. Megan bought this incredulously ugly sweater and she looks like a Swedish milkmaid whenever she wears it. To add to the persona, she always throws her hair up in bun when she has it on. As for me, I've decided that leggings are acceptable to wear as pants. Don't judge me, people. I've also been braiding my hair lately. Maybe it's because it's three feet long and I'm a hair away from shaving myself bald. Pun intended. She's Olga, I'm Helga. We're hilarious. Actually, we had a serious discussion yesterday as to why we laugh SO much when we're together. We've come to the conclusion that we mostly laugh at each other's laughs and facial expressions while said laughter is occurring. Oh, what a vicious cycle. But I love it.
For example, at one point, Megan just stands up randomly and says, "Well, it's about time to eat again." Cue inconsolable laughter. Would this be funny to normal people? No, probably not. Sucks to be normal, that's all I know. I told her today that when I go home I'll be cracking stupid jokes with Lucas and he probably won't laugh. I'll start crying and think about how Megan would have laughed about it.
Anyways, we watched three movies Saturday night. Peter Pan, Revolutionary Road- with Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, let me tell you, I MUCH prefer Titanic-, and Taken. It was the worst idea of my life to watch Taken while living in another country. Hello, nightmares.
On Sunday, today, we drug our lazy arses out of bed around one p.m. I got in the shower and then all of a sudden I hear Megan talking to someone. When I come out of the bathroom she says, "You will never believe who is standing in the hallway." Well, this is China and I can tell you without a doubt that there is certainly never a dull moment in this place. When we were on our way to Guilin, two months ago, we met this really nice Chinese man named "Andy" on the metro in Shanghai as we were trying to make our way to the train station. We were running really late and were super concerned that we were going to miss our train. He goes out of his way to take us all the way to the boarding platform for our train. Guess who was standing in the hall? Yup, Andy. We hurried up and got ready thinking we could go to lunch with him or something. We get to the bottom of the stairs and he tells us that he has to go. He came all the way out here (he lives in Shanghai) to see us for .5 seconds. Chinese people are so weird.
We decided to go out to Muslim anyways, even though it was pouring rain. It was delicious, as always, but there was a guy cooking that we hadn't ever seen before. At one point, Megan realizes that he's talking about how big our boobs are. Excuse me?! When he comes over so we can pay, Megan smiles sweetly at him and says, "Why thank you, pervert." Oh, the joys of a language barrier.
After yummy lunch we walked to the train ticket office and got our tickets for Shanghai this weekend. It's our last vacation before we're coming home. It seriously seems like yesterday that we were buying tickets to Guilin for our first vacation. Where has the time gone? That's another issue for another post.
So we decided to back to the shopping area where we went Saturday. There's a Walmart there and all kinds of stuff. We *may* have gotten on the wrong bus three different times and wound up in a part of town we'd never been before. Four hours later, we finally made it. I'm not sure what's gotten into me. I won't go to a Chinese hospital for fear of organ harvesting but I will give in to getting a piercing which very well could lead to my ear rotting off of my head. Let's hope for the best? After we made it back to the school, we watched Jack Frost- we're on a Christmas movie kick, can you tell?
That brings me to now. Where I am currently contemplating why in the world I decided to ram a shard of metal through the ear on the side that I have slept on ever since I can remember. Oh yeah, because my other ear is legitimately deformed and there's no way that would have worked out either.
I've realized that it's really the small things that I'm going to miss the most about China. Walks into town, bus rides with smelly Asians who talk about our big noses and big eyes, Muslim food, night market food, tuktuks, and seeing the smiley security guards when we get back to the school from wherever we've been. I've also realized that it's going to be a lot harder to adjust to America than I had previously though. Used to, I didn't think there'd be any adjustment at all. After all, I did live there for twenty and three fourths of a year before I moved to China. Now, as I've realized how accustomed I am to life in China, I'm starting to realize how overwhelming it will be to be back in America. How strange it will be to be able to fully understand the conversations around me, to not take a bus or a train anywhere, to feel like I'm paying way too much for everything, to constantly be converting U.S. dollars to kuai, to sleep on an actual bed- I'm seriously probably going to have to sleep on the floor for a good few weeks, to eat food that is jam-packed full of preservatives and other junk, to going every single day without doing the one thing that I love the most about my life right now- and that's seeing my precious babies everyday.
Aaaaaand this is what happens when I can't sleep. I write novels about things that probably no one cares about. That's okay, it's mostly for my own documentation, anyways :)
The entire group, with the exception of five of us, went to Suzhou this weekend. Megan's roommate and my roommate were among them so I moved into Megan's room for the weekend. On Friday night, our head teacher Kailey came down and hung out with us. We watched Home Alone- one of my favorites- and just stayed up late chatting about everything under the sun.
On Saturday we decided to go out into town with Scott and Kailey. McDonald's was on our fatty American brains. It's about 40 minutes or so away from the school by bus. We enjoyed our artery-stiffening, cholesterol-inducing lunch and walked around the mall. I bought a few DVDs at one of the stores- how can you possibly resist, they're 10 kaui ($1.50 each)- and then Megan and I headed to a part of town that we have dubbed "Old Changzhou." I haven't the foggiest what the real name of the place is, but that's what happens when you can't read Chinese. It's a really beautiful place and looks like what I had imagined all of China would. I finished almost all of my shopping there. There's a very few things I want to get. There are only four people on my gift list still. That's not bad considering I started out with twenty or so. We stopped by the night market on the way home and grabbed a yummy, super delicious wrap. WHY is there no real Chinese food in America?! You're all being scammed, in case you weren't aware.
We took the lazy way back to the school, in a tuktuk. My, how I love those things. Once back to the room, we wasted no time making ourselves as publicly unacceptable as possible. After all, that's the best part of the day! We've adopted some alter egos recently. Megan bought this incredulously ugly sweater and she looks like a Swedish milkmaid whenever she wears it. To add to the persona, she always throws her hair up in bun when she has it on. As for me, I've decided that leggings are acceptable to wear as pants. Don't judge me, people. I've also been braiding my hair lately. Maybe it's because it's three feet long and I'm a hair away from shaving myself bald. Pun intended. She's Olga, I'm Helga. We're hilarious. Actually, we had a serious discussion yesterday as to why we laugh SO much when we're together. We've come to the conclusion that we mostly laugh at each other's laughs and facial expressions while said laughter is occurring. Oh, what a vicious cycle. But I love it.
For example, at one point, Megan just stands up randomly and says, "Well, it's about time to eat again." Cue inconsolable laughter. Would this be funny to normal people? No, probably not. Sucks to be normal, that's all I know. I told her today that when I go home I'll be cracking stupid jokes with Lucas and he probably won't laugh. I'll start crying and think about how Megan would have laughed about it.
Anyways, we watched three movies Saturday night. Peter Pan, Revolutionary Road- with Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, let me tell you, I MUCH prefer Titanic-, and Taken. It was the worst idea of my life to watch Taken while living in another country. Hello, nightmares.
On Sunday, today, we drug our lazy arses out of bed around one p.m. I got in the shower and then all of a sudden I hear Megan talking to someone. When I come out of the bathroom she says, "You will never believe who is standing in the hallway." Well, this is China and I can tell you without a doubt that there is certainly never a dull moment in this place. When we were on our way to Guilin, two months ago, we met this really nice Chinese man named "Andy" on the metro in Shanghai as we were trying to make our way to the train station. We were running really late and were super concerned that we were going to miss our train. He goes out of his way to take us all the way to the boarding platform for our train. Guess who was standing in the hall? Yup, Andy. We hurried up and got ready thinking we could go to lunch with him or something. We get to the bottom of the stairs and he tells us that he has to go. He came all the way out here (he lives in Shanghai) to see us for .5 seconds. Chinese people are so weird.
We decided to go out to Muslim anyways, even though it was pouring rain. It was delicious, as always, but there was a guy cooking that we hadn't ever seen before. At one point, Megan realizes that he's talking about how big our boobs are. Excuse me?! When he comes over so we can pay, Megan smiles sweetly at him and says, "Why thank you, pervert." Oh, the joys of a language barrier.
After yummy lunch we walked to the train ticket office and got our tickets for Shanghai this weekend. It's our last vacation before we're coming home. It seriously seems like yesterday that we were buying tickets to Guilin for our first vacation. Where has the time gone? That's another issue for another post.
So we decided to back to the shopping area where we went Saturday. There's a Walmart there and all kinds of stuff. We *may* have gotten on the wrong bus three different times and wound up in a part of town we'd never been before. Four hours later, we finally made it. I'm not sure what's gotten into me. I won't go to a Chinese hospital for fear of organ harvesting but I will give in to getting a piercing which very well could lead to my ear rotting off of my head. Let's hope for the best? After we made it back to the school, we watched Jack Frost- we're on a Christmas movie kick, can you tell?
That brings me to now. Where I am currently contemplating why in the world I decided to ram a shard of metal through the ear on the side that I have slept on ever since I can remember. Oh yeah, because my other ear is legitimately deformed and there's no way that would have worked out either.
I've realized that it's really the small things that I'm going to miss the most about China. Walks into town, bus rides with smelly Asians who talk about our big noses and big eyes, Muslim food, night market food, tuktuks, and seeing the smiley security guards when we get back to the school from wherever we've been. I've also realized that it's going to be a lot harder to adjust to America than I had previously though. Used to, I didn't think there'd be any adjustment at all. After all, I did live there for twenty and three fourths of a year before I moved to China. Now, as I've realized how accustomed I am to life in China, I'm starting to realize how overwhelming it will be to be back in America. How strange it will be to be able to fully understand the conversations around me, to not take a bus or a train anywhere, to feel like I'm paying way too much for everything, to constantly be converting U.S. dollars to kuai, to sleep on an actual bed- I'm seriously probably going to have to sleep on the floor for a good few weeks, to eat food that is jam-packed full of preservatives and other junk, to going every single day without doing the one thing that I love the most about my life right now- and that's seeing my precious babies everyday.
Aaaaaand this is what happens when I can't sleep. I write novels about things that probably no one cares about. That's okay, it's mostly for my own documentation, anyways :)
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Giving Thanks From China ♥
Well friends, here it is. The day I've been dreading ever since I arrived in China. I've been in Kentucky with my family for Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. We never have a huge crowd, but they're my crowd.
Today has been a really dreary day. It has poured nonstop. It has, indeed, been perfectly appropriate to my mood. I talk a lot about how I don't want to come home. Except for today. Today, I've been missing home like crazy.
I've been waiting on a package from my mom all this week. Diligently I check the security post for mail, and it hasn't been there. I told Kate that if it wasn't there today, that I was really going to break down and cry. I just wanted one little piece of home for Thanksgiving. We walked to the post together on the way to get our kids today, and it wasn't there. I was crushed :(
There isn't a day that goes by here in China without something interesting or entertaining happening. Thanksgiving is no exception. In class today, we watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I'm sitting in my classroom with my kids when Phyl-one of our native coordinators, a teacher here at the school- comes into my room with another Chinese teacher. She explains that the Chinese teacher will sit with my class while I go with her. It's raining cats and dogs and she says, "We walk outside, okay?" Uhh okay? So she gets out her little umbrella and tries to make my amazon self fit under it with her. Hilarious. She mumbles on about some random topic and then I realize we're walking to the security post. Then she points to a van outside the gate. "Here, okay?" I had no idea what was going on. We walk over to the van and a guy gets out and opens the door. All I'm thinking is, "Seriously? This is how I'm getting sold into the sex trade??" I walked over to the open door, and there it was.
MY PACKAGE!!! However, there was an issue. It was missing almost an entire side of it. Phyl says, "It is broken. If you do not like, we will send it back to America." I probably gave her the most dumbfounded look in the history of forever. I wanted to scream, "Over my dead body will you send it back!!!" I had to sign something saying that I accepted it as it was and then she barked some orders for the security guards to carry it all the way over to my dorm building and up those wonderful five flights of stairs to my room. Needless to say, I was writhing with excitement so the last hour and a half of class was torture. Finally, I got to come open my package!
My mother is too good to me, that's all I'll say. Although. I do have a small bone to pick with this little lady. I wake up this morning and get on Facebook. At the top of my newsfeed? A picture of her perfectly manicured hand with an enormous rock on it. The woman got engaged and I got to find out about it on Facebook!!! Anyways, I am so incredibly happy for her and John. He really does seem like Mr. Right, and let's hope he really is. Took long enough for her to find him :) I definitely approve!
So, being in China has put my life into complete perspective for me. No one understands everything that you take for granted on a daily basis until you're stripped of it all. It's really hit me since I've lived here that I have NO freedoms. None. I can't even get on Facebook or Blogger without paying to use a proxy. I have to censor what I say in public. Politically, China is kind of a terrifying place to be. Everything that I once had in America is now worth gold to me. While my kids were watching the movie today, I came up with a list of things I'm thankful for this year. And you get to read it! You lucky ducks, you! Here we go with my list of what I am most thankful of all for....
1. My freedoms as a citizen of the United States of America. I wouldn't trade that for anything and I promise I'm gonna enjoy it a lot more once I get back there. Of those 30 countries that I listed the other day, nearly all of them expressed a desire to live in America. It really opens your eyes to hear people talk about your home the way that they do. America is admired all over the globe for our freedoms.
2. My mom. I have the most chaotic relationship with this woman out of anyone that I know. She's taken pretty good care of me from 10,000 miles away. In her letter that was included in my package today, she said, "I'm incredibly proud of your courage and hope that maybe I have taught you some of that." Oh, mom. If only you knew. The truth is, you'll never know how much I've learned from you. You're the only one that I can credit my hard-headed resilience to and I am so proud of you for overcoming all that you have in your short life and teaching me to never settle. Everyone thinks we're a lot alike in a lot of ways, but we're especially alike in our desires to travel and be on the go until there's nothing left to see- which will never happen! I can't wait for us to take a huge trip together, hopefully to China.... :)
3. My best friend, Lucas. I could rant and rave about him all day and all night and still have more to tell you. He is wonderful in every way. His patience, never-ending support, and infinite love are a few of many, many things that I adore about him. He's my other half. The only person in the entire world who doesn't annoy me the least bit no matter how much time I spend with him. He is such a good person. We're so very opposite in a lot of ways. I get angry and upset so easily and he has a way of calming that in me. To be as sappy as possible, he is my everything. I love him so much. After this four months, I don't think there's anything that we couldn't get through together.
Also, I am so thankful for his family. I love them like my own- all of them, but especially his mom. Lucas is such a mama's boy and I can't blame him. She is a really fabulous lady. I really enjoy going to Indiana for the weekend to get to see everyone. They're a blast to be around, and, someone always has a baby! What's not to love about that? :)
4. My siblings. Oh, where to start. My brother is my hero. I admire him so much and am so proud of him. No one gets under my skin quite as well as he does, but he's also one of very few who I think genuinely understands me. I'm gonna force him to walk me down the aisle one day. He's just that special to me. I love him so very, very much.
Elysia, my bilo. No one can fight and love each other like we do. My Lord. We've been through the ringer together. We've actually just always been together. Growing up, I may have hated having a sister so close in age to me. And now, we are the best of friends. If I need something, she's my girl. We would do anything for each other. No one knows me like she does- the pure, unedited, me. She's going to do big things in this world and I'm so proud to call her my sister.
Alexandra! Family gatherings would not be the same without you! We're always on the same page when it comes to social family awkward issues. We always seems to look at each other at the same time and bust out laughing at something ridiculous. You have such a big heart, it makes me smile. I like to think we're a lot alike in that way. I know you would do anything for anyone you love and I'm the same way. We have a lot in common both in personality and in what we like to do for fun.
Chelsea, my bug sister. Okay, maybe that joke is way outdated. Or maybe not :) Oh, Chelsburt. I tend to think of you and Camryn as more like daughters or nieces than sisters. I've always been so motherly to you. Your uniqueness constantly makes me laugh. Your weird hats, your unprovoked random comments (Frogs are AWESOME!) and your overall obsession with reptiles and amphibians describe you to a tee. I miss going to your soccer games and staying afterwards to help you learn a few things from the old pro, yours truly! Haha. I miss your silly self.
Camryn, oh Camryn. I love how you hijack the webcam whenever I'm skyping with mom. I adore your personality and how you dare to be different. I miss coming over and having you bombard me with the most random facts known to mankind. Your eagerness to share information with people makes me smile. I can't wait to give you your present from China. I spent the most money on you over anyone else. You should feel totally special. I know that you are going to LOVE it and I'm so excited to give it to you.
Samantha, the baby. This little girl, who is not actually all that little anymore, is definitely a Little Miss Thang. So sassy and so adorable. I love your sense of style and your attitude. You're one of those people who is wise way beyond your years. You impress me with how well you do in Speech! I love having a baby sister to beat up on and to love on.
5. Karmyn Grace. If you read my post from October 16, you know all about this little blue-eyed beauty who I love with every ounce of my being. She is so, so precious to me. I love hearing that giggle more than anything. I only wish that she could stay small for forever.
6. My step mama, Michelle. It's really scary how much we're alike with no blood relation :) You're one of the most helpful people in my life. You always give the best advice on every situation and I know that you only want the best for me. In this aspect, I'm so glad that my life didn't turn out like a Disney movie! You rock, and I'm so grateful that you're a part of my life.
7. My grandparents. All four of them mean the world to me. They've all played a significant part in who I am today and I am eternally grateful that I've had the opportunity to enjoy my grandparents as much as I have, and I consider myself immensely blessed that they've been so involved in my life.
9. My aunts and uncles. I have some pretty fabulous ones. My Aunt Cherri and Uncle Scott have been like parents to me. I owe being able to buy Sophia (my car) to them! I am eternally thankful for everything you have done for me and I miss you both like crazy. I miss talking sports with my Uncle Scott and sitting in the kitchen while my Aunt Cherri makes chocolate chip cookies or breakfast. Some of my very best memories include these two people. I don't know what I would do without them. And then, there's my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jerry in Ohio. They, too, have done a lot for me. I lived with them for almost a year. Lisa and I had a list of shows to watch together almost every night. I miss those days and I can't wait for Christmas Eve dinner this year! We always have such a blast.
10. My amazing, awesome friends. Megan, Alison, Leah, McKenzie, and Kate. You all keep me sane and I love you more than you'll ever know <3
11. Everyone who donated to my program fee with ILP. I will never be able to thank you enough. I can't put into words what this experience has meant to me. It has changed my life for the better. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!
12. My sweet little China babies here in Changzhou. I really, truly love them. I would do anything for them. They're like my own children. I really want to adopt from China someday.
13. My education
14. My job
15. American food
16. The people of China and their hospitality
17. Western toilets
18. Conditioner
19. Easy Mac
20. Emily (my fwuffay puppay :))
21. Rainboots. Those things make me absolutely giddy. I love a rainy day just so I have an excuse to wear them and splash through all the biggest puddles like I'm five years old.
22. Hostels
23. Fast trains
24. Tsingtao
25. Carpet
26. Houses
27. Seatbelts
28. Hot water
29. Ohio
30. Kentucky
31. My bed. Even though it's literally a chunk of plywood, at least I have one.
32. Packages from home! Shout outs to- my mom, my step mom, McKenzie, Leah, Jeremiah, and my aunt Lisa! You guys are the best!
33. Megan's nook
34. Clorox wipes
35. Travel size packs of Kleenex
36. Washer and dryer!!!!!!
37. My health
38. The health of my family
39. Inside jokes
40. The mountains of Tennesssee
41. My coworkers! Especially my third shifters Roger and DeeDee
42. My car
43. My boys- Fields, Ryan, and Tyler. I love and miss them so much!
44. Waterproof shoes
45. Faith in God
46. Microwave instant brownies
47. The very best China roommate that I could ever have, EVER!
48. Candles
49. My camera- that has captured endless memories and experiences for me since I've been here
50. The love from these little people who call me "Teacha Kayla"
Today has been a really dreary day. It has poured nonstop. It has, indeed, been perfectly appropriate to my mood. I talk a lot about how I don't want to come home. Except for today. Today, I've been missing home like crazy.
I've been waiting on a package from my mom all this week. Diligently I check the security post for mail, and it hasn't been there. I told Kate that if it wasn't there today, that I was really going to break down and cry. I just wanted one little piece of home for Thanksgiving. We walked to the post together on the way to get our kids today, and it wasn't there. I was crushed :(
There isn't a day that goes by here in China without something interesting or entertaining happening. Thanksgiving is no exception. In class today, we watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I'm sitting in my classroom with my kids when Phyl-one of our native coordinators, a teacher here at the school- comes into my room with another Chinese teacher. She explains that the Chinese teacher will sit with my class while I go with her. It's raining cats and dogs and she says, "We walk outside, okay?" Uhh okay? So she gets out her little umbrella and tries to make my amazon self fit under it with her. Hilarious. She mumbles on about some random topic and then I realize we're walking to the security post. Then she points to a van outside the gate. "Here, okay?" I had no idea what was going on. We walk over to the van and a guy gets out and opens the door. All I'm thinking is, "Seriously? This is how I'm getting sold into the sex trade??" I walked over to the open door, and there it was.
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| Learning about the Mayflower and Pilgrims. Ricky's face says it all! |
My mother is too good to me, that's all I'll say. Although. I do have a small bone to pick with this little lady. I wake up this morning and get on Facebook. At the top of my newsfeed? A picture of her perfectly manicured hand with an enormous rock on it. The woman got engaged and I got to find out about it on Facebook!!! Anyways, I am so incredibly happy for her and John. He really does seem like Mr. Right, and let's hope he really is. Took long enough for her to find him :) I definitely approve!
So, being in China has put my life into complete perspective for me. No one understands everything that you take for granted on a daily basis until you're stripped of it all. It's really hit me since I've lived here that I have NO freedoms. None. I can't even get on Facebook or Blogger without paying to use a proxy. I have to censor what I say in public. Politically, China is kind of a terrifying place to be. Everything that I once had in America is now worth gold to me. While my kids were watching the movie today, I came up with a list of things I'm thankful for this year. And you get to read it! You lucky ducks, you! Here we go with my list of what I am most thankful of all for....
1. My freedoms as a citizen of the United States of America. I wouldn't trade that for anything and I promise I'm gonna enjoy it a lot more once I get back there. Of those 30 countries that I listed the other day, nearly all of them expressed a desire to live in America. It really opens your eyes to hear people talk about your home the way that they do. America is admired all over the globe for our freedoms.
2. My mom. I have the most chaotic relationship with this woman out of anyone that I know. She's taken pretty good care of me from 10,000 miles away. In her letter that was included in my package today, she said, "I'm incredibly proud of your courage and hope that maybe I have taught you some of that." Oh, mom. If only you knew. The truth is, you'll never know how much I've learned from you. You're the only one that I can credit my hard-headed resilience to and I am so proud of you for overcoming all that you have in your short life and teaching me to never settle. Everyone thinks we're a lot alike in a lot of ways, but we're especially alike in our desires to travel and be on the go until there's nothing left to see- which will never happen! I can't wait for us to take a huge trip together, hopefully to China.... :)
3. My best friend, Lucas. I could rant and rave about him all day and all night and still have more to tell you. He is wonderful in every way. His patience, never-ending support, and infinite love are a few of many, many things that I adore about him. He's my other half. The only person in the entire world who doesn't annoy me the least bit no matter how much time I spend with him. He is such a good person. We're so very opposite in a lot of ways. I get angry and upset so easily and he has a way of calming that in me. To be as sappy as possible, he is my everything. I love him so much. After this four months, I don't think there's anything that we couldn't get through together.
Also, I am so thankful for his family. I love them like my own- all of them, but especially his mom. Lucas is such a mama's boy and I can't blame him. She is a really fabulous lady. I really enjoy going to Indiana for the weekend to get to see everyone. They're a blast to be around, and, someone always has a baby! What's not to love about that? :)
4. My siblings. Oh, where to start. My brother is my hero. I admire him so much and am so proud of him. No one gets under my skin quite as well as he does, but he's also one of very few who I think genuinely understands me. I'm gonna force him to walk me down the aisle one day. He's just that special to me. I love him so very, very much.
Elysia, my bilo. No one can fight and love each other like we do. My Lord. We've been through the ringer together. We've actually just always been together. Growing up, I may have hated having a sister so close in age to me. And now, we are the best of friends. If I need something, she's my girl. We would do anything for each other. No one knows me like she does- the pure, unedited, me. She's going to do big things in this world and I'm so proud to call her my sister.
Alexandra! Family gatherings would not be the same without you! We're always on the same page when it comes to social family awkward issues. We always seems to look at each other at the same time and bust out laughing at something ridiculous. You have such a big heart, it makes me smile. I like to think we're a lot alike in that way. I know you would do anything for anyone you love and I'm the same way. We have a lot in common both in personality and in what we like to do for fun.
Chelsea, my bug sister. Okay, maybe that joke is way outdated. Or maybe not :) Oh, Chelsburt. I tend to think of you and Camryn as more like daughters or nieces than sisters. I've always been so motherly to you. Your uniqueness constantly makes me laugh. Your weird hats, your unprovoked random comments (Frogs are AWESOME!) and your overall obsession with reptiles and amphibians describe you to a tee. I miss going to your soccer games and staying afterwards to help you learn a few things from the old pro, yours truly! Haha. I miss your silly self.
Camryn, oh Camryn. I love how you hijack the webcam whenever I'm skyping with mom. I adore your personality and how you dare to be different. I miss coming over and having you bombard me with the most random facts known to mankind. Your eagerness to share information with people makes me smile. I can't wait to give you your present from China. I spent the most money on you over anyone else. You should feel totally special. I know that you are going to LOVE it and I'm so excited to give it to you.
Samantha, the baby. This little girl, who is not actually all that little anymore, is definitely a Little Miss Thang. So sassy and so adorable. I love your sense of style and your attitude. You're one of those people who is wise way beyond your years. You impress me with how well you do in Speech! I love having a baby sister to beat up on and to love on.
5. Karmyn Grace. If you read my post from October 16, you know all about this little blue-eyed beauty who I love with every ounce of my being. She is so, so precious to me. I love hearing that giggle more than anything. I only wish that she could stay small for forever.
6. My step mama, Michelle. It's really scary how much we're alike with no blood relation :) You're one of the most helpful people in my life. You always give the best advice on every situation and I know that you only want the best for me. In this aspect, I'm so glad that my life didn't turn out like a Disney movie! You rock, and I'm so grateful that you're a part of my life.
7. My grandparents. All four of them mean the world to me. They've all played a significant part in who I am today and I am eternally grateful that I've had the opportunity to enjoy my grandparents as much as I have, and I consider myself immensely blessed that they've been so involved in my life.
9. My aunts and uncles. I have some pretty fabulous ones. My Aunt Cherri and Uncle Scott have been like parents to me. I owe being able to buy Sophia (my car) to them! I am eternally thankful for everything you have done for me and I miss you both like crazy. I miss talking sports with my Uncle Scott and sitting in the kitchen while my Aunt Cherri makes chocolate chip cookies or breakfast. Some of my very best memories include these two people. I don't know what I would do without them. And then, there's my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jerry in Ohio. They, too, have done a lot for me. I lived with them for almost a year. Lisa and I had a list of shows to watch together almost every night. I miss those days and I can't wait for Christmas Eve dinner this year! We always have such a blast.
10. My amazing, awesome friends. Megan, Alison, Leah, McKenzie, and Kate. You all keep me sane and I love you more than you'll ever know <3
11. Everyone who donated to my program fee with ILP. I will never be able to thank you enough. I can't put into words what this experience has meant to me. It has changed my life for the better. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!
12. My sweet little China babies here in Changzhou. I really, truly love them. I would do anything for them. They're like my own children. I really want to adopt from China someday.
13. My education
14. My job
15. American food
16. The people of China and their hospitality
17. Western toilets
18. Conditioner
19. Easy Mac
20. Emily (my fwuffay puppay :))
21. Rainboots. Those things make me absolutely giddy. I love a rainy day just so I have an excuse to wear them and splash through all the biggest puddles like I'm five years old.
22. Hostels
23. Fast trains
24. Tsingtao
25. Carpet
26. Houses
27. Seatbelts
28. Hot water
29. Ohio
30. Kentucky
31. My bed. Even though it's literally a chunk of plywood, at least I have one.
32. Packages from home! Shout outs to- my mom, my step mom, McKenzie, Leah, Jeremiah, and my aunt Lisa! You guys are the best!
33. Megan's nook
34. Clorox wipes
35. Travel size packs of Kleenex
36. Washer and dryer!!!!!!
37. My health
38. The health of my family
39. Inside jokes
40. The mountains of Tennesssee
41. My coworkers! Especially my third shifters Roger and DeeDee
42. My car
43. My boys- Fields, Ryan, and Tyler. I love and miss them so much!
44. Waterproof shoes
45. Faith in God
46. Microwave instant brownies
47. The very best China roommate that I could ever have, EVER!
48. Candles
49. My camera- that has captured endless memories and experiences for me since I've been here
50. The love from these little people who call me "Teacha Kayla"
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| The soy milk had exploded within the package, soaking everythingg inside and making that massive crater in the box. |
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| The look on my face when I saw oatmeal cookies in front of my face :) |
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| SALTINE CRACKERS!!! Yussss. |
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| Looks disgusting, eh? I did not care one bit. |
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| The culprit of the leak. |
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| Yum. Yum. Yum. |
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| My mound :) |
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Bullet Blogging
1. I typed the longest post in the history of forever last night, and when I hit publish, a screen comes up that says, "Whoops, there's been an error!" Gee, you don't say! I. Was. Angry.
2. Yesterday when I got out of the shower, I slipped and fell right outside the bathroom door. Kate was asleep but of course the sound of an elephant crashing to the floor woke her up. She sleepily mutters, "What are you doing?" as I'm sprawled out on the floor in all sorts of unnatural positions. Hell if I know, sister. Once I popped my hip back into socket, all I could do was laugh.
3. Speaking of laughing, Megan and Kate have me laughing constantly. I've never laughed so much in my life. We have so many inside jokes that will never be forgotten or get any less hilarious. English cream, Vancouver, feather whip, curtains, Jerry/Joker, "Didjee get eet?!"
4. Since I've been in China, I've met people from the following countries. We'll start from the most obvious; The United States of America, China, England, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Wales, Sweden, Israel, Greece, Denmark, Costa Rica, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, Indonesia, South Korea, Germany, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Mexico, and I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting. Isn't that insane?? Insanely awesome, of course. Someone pointed out to us how it's so obvious that we're from America. We pronounce our "r"'s really hard. After listening to so many different nationalities speaking English, it's so true.
5. China will always, always, always, have a place in my heart. I am coming back here someday in the not-so-far-off future.
6. Yesterday was the one month mark. One month from November 19, I will be on my way back to China from South Korea, and then on my way from China to America. My heart is divided in half with equal strings attached to both sides. On one side, I have all my friends and family and especially Lucas, pulling really hard. And playing tug of war on the other side, are my Chinabesties and my little babies. Why is life so difficult?
7. I have not seen a house the entire time I've been here. Or carpet. I have eaten meat less than five times. I have taken a taxi, bus, bike, ferry, airplane, metro, and train as methods of transportation.
8. Shanghai is my favorite city in the entire world. I could (and would love to) live there.
9. I've said it a million times, so here's a million and one. I have learned SO much since I've been here. I saw this quote on something in Shanghai a few weeks ago and it said, "Happiness is a direction, not a destination." Truer words have never been spoken.
10. A lot of people have asked me why I named this blog "Chasing Life in China." The truth is, it just sounded good at first. Then I came here and I realized that I definitely chose that subconsciously. I feel like I'm always on the chase. I have to be planning an event or trip or I feel like I will drown in boredom. I want to change that. Going along with number 9, happiness is not a destination. Come to think of it, I really don't want to be happy. Sounds ridiculous, right? I really mean it. I'd much rather be content. To me, happiness is short-lived and easily forgotten. We are happy when we get a promotion or get something we wanted for Christmas. Being content is much more valuable and fulfilling. Being content means not feeling like you're just going through the motions with your day-to-day life, it means that you enjoy it. No one can be happy all the time. But you can be content. And that's my goal. I'm not saying I never want to be happy, but I'm not striving for that every day. Living in China, I've learned how to be content.
11. I will still have a ridiculous appetite for travel. After all, it's the only thing you can buy that makes you richer.
12. I have a mini-rant. Some people have mentioned how living here in China is not "real life." Excuse me. Really? It's not real life? I think it's pretty darn real and let me share why. I think it showcases an extremely contorted view of "reality" for people to say that. I will go as far as to say that what I'm doing here is far more valuable that what a lot of people are doing. I don't pay bills? You're right, I don't, because I work for FREE. I still work every single day except weekends. Between teaching eight classes and lesson planning, that's a lot of work. I still go to grocery and have to budget my money. Taking part in this opportunity means that I've been able to travel to some of the most amazing places on this Earth and I've also gotten incredibly close to a whole lot of little kids who love me and I love them. Take a step back and look at whose life is more "real" before making an ignorant comment like that. That's the end of my rant.
13. I'm getting to the point where I'm realizing that I'm going to start having all of my "lasts" here. The last Muslim meal is going to break my heart. The little restaurant that we go to is going to be such a huge memory of China for me. The family that owns it is completely adorable and I love them. I'm going to miss them so much. They always get SO excited when we walk in the door.
14. Speaking of Muslim, we were there yesterday and a couple of girls walked in. Megan goes "Look, her hair is ombre!" Me-"No, dear, that's called, 'I haven't been to the salon in a year.'" I'm really going to have to be careful when I get back to America. I have a tendency to say exactly what comes to my mind because I know that no one can understand me, and if they can, they can't understand my sarcasm. It's wonderful.
15. I've lost 38 pounds since I've been in China. I am hellbent on not gaining it back in America. Takers to keep me motivated? Looking at pictures from before I came to China should do the trick. I'm getting an 8x10 of one of the really bad ones and I'm gonna look at it every day. I left a size 10 and I'm coming back a 4. Yes, yes, yes.
16. Kate's "Snow White" singing impression sends me completely over the edge in a fit of laughter. She is coming to Ohio. End of story. Sorry, Harward family!
17. For anyone who wants to be a part of my airport welcoming committee, I'd LOVE to have you! My plane arrives in Dayton at 9:03 pm on December 19th. We're probably going to get food after so I can catch up with everyone! I'm offering a special Chinese present for the person who creates the best sign, just FYI.
2. Yesterday when I got out of the shower, I slipped and fell right outside the bathroom door. Kate was asleep but of course the sound of an elephant crashing to the floor woke her up. She sleepily mutters, "What are you doing?" as I'm sprawled out on the floor in all sorts of unnatural positions. Hell if I know, sister. Once I popped my hip back into socket, all I could do was laugh.
3. Speaking of laughing, Megan and Kate have me laughing constantly. I've never laughed so much in my life. We have so many inside jokes that will never be forgotten or get any less hilarious. English cream, Vancouver, feather whip, curtains, Jerry/Joker, "Didjee get eet?!"
4. Since I've been in China, I've met people from the following countries. We'll start from the most obvious; The United States of America, China, England, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Wales, Sweden, Israel, Greece, Denmark, Costa Rica, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, Indonesia, South Korea, Germany, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Mexico, and I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting. Isn't that insane?? Insanely awesome, of course. Someone pointed out to us how it's so obvious that we're from America. We pronounce our "r"'s really hard. After listening to so many different nationalities speaking English, it's so true.
5. China will always, always, always, have a place in my heart. I am coming back here someday in the not-so-far-off future.
6. Yesterday was the one month mark. One month from November 19, I will be on my way back to China from South Korea, and then on my way from China to America. My heart is divided in half with equal strings attached to both sides. On one side, I have all my friends and family and especially Lucas, pulling really hard. And playing tug of war on the other side, are my Chinabesties and my little babies. Why is life so difficult?
7. I have not seen a house the entire time I've been here. Or carpet. I have eaten meat less than five times. I have taken a taxi, bus, bike, ferry, airplane, metro, and train as methods of transportation.
8. Shanghai is my favorite city in the entire world. I could (and would love to) live there.
9. I've said it a million times, so here's a million and one. I have learned SO much since I've been here. I saw this quote on something in Shanghai a few weeks ago and it said, "Happiness is a direction, not a destination." Truer words have never been spoken.
10. A lot of people have asked me why I named this blog "Chasing Life in China." The truth is, it just sounded good at first. Then I came here and I realized that I definitely chose that subconsciously. I feel like I'm always on the chase. I have to be planning an event or trip or I feel like I will drown in boredom. I want to change that. Going along with number 9, happiness is not a destination. Come to think of it, I really don't want to be happy. Sounds ridiculous, right? I really mean it. I'd much rather be content. To me, happiness is short-lived and easily forgotten. We are happy when we get a promotion or get something we wanted for Christmas. Being content is much more valuable and fulfilling. Being content means not feeling like you're just going through the motions with your day-to-day life, it means that you enjoy it. No one can be happy all the time. But you can be content. And that's my goal. I'm not saying I never want to be happy, but I'm not striving for that every day. Living in China, I've learned how to be content.
11. I will still have a ridiculous appetite for travel. After all, it's the only thing you can buy that makes you richer.
12. I have a mini-rant. Some people have mentioned how living here in China is not "real life." Excuse me. Really? It's not real life? I think it's pretty darn real and let me share why. I think it showcases an extremely contorted view of "reality" for people to say that. I will go as far as to say that what I'm doing here is far more valuable that what a lot of people are doing. I don't pay bills? You're right, I don't, because I work for FREE. I still work every single day except weekends. Between teaching eight classes and lesson planning, that's a lot of work. I still go to grocery and have to budget my money. Taking part in this opportunity means that I've been able to travel to some of the most amazing places on this Earth and I've also gotten incredibly close to a whole lot of little kids who love me and I love them. Take a step back and look at whose life is more "real" before making an ignorant comment like that. That's the end of my rant.
13. I'm getting to the point where I'm realizing that I'm going to start having all of my "lasts" here. The last Muslim meal is going to break my heart. The little restaurant that we go to is going to be such a huge memory of China for me. The family that owns it is completely adorable and I love them. I'm going to miss them so much. They always get SO excited when we walk in the door.
14. Speaking of Muslim, we were there yesterday and a couple of girls walked in. Megan goes "Look, her hair is ombre!" Me-"No, dear, that's called, 'I haven't been to the salon in a year.'" I'm really going to have to be careful when I get back to America. I have a tendency to say exactly what comes to my mind because I know that no one can understand me, and if they can, they can't understand my sarcasm. It's wonderful.
15. I've lost 38 pounds since I've been in China. I am hellbent on not gaining it back in America. Takers to keep me motivated? Looking at pictures from before I came to China should do the trick. I'm getting an 8x10 of one of the really bad ones and I'm gonna look at it every day. I left a size 10 and I'm coming back a 4. Yes, yes, yes.
16. Kate's "Snow White" singing impression sends me completely over the edge in a fit of laughter. She is coming to Ohio. End of story. Sorry, Harward family!
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| She got a package from my mommy :) |
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| Love. |
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| Candy, Frank, Charlie, Henry, Emily |
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| Bob, Brayden, Robbie, Andy, and Nick. Crazies! |
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| Miss Angela |
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| My boy <3 |
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| Two of my absolute favorite people. Look at the scar on his poor little hand :( |
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
For some reason, it was really hard to drag my butt out of bed today. I zombie-walked to ELE and after it was over I came back to my room. Kate came in and told me that we weren't teaching ILP today. Welp, works for me! I was bummed about not seeing my kids though. Tomorrow I don't teach ELE, but I do teach ILP. And- it's parents' day. Shoot me now. The last time we had parents' day, I was petted. Like I was a dog or something.
It's going to be quite the adventure to make the trip by myself. I'm mostly worried about getting to the train station in Changzhou. From there, it will be a three hour train ride to Shanghai and then I will have to make my way to the airport. I feel like I know Shanghai really well so once I get there I think it'll be smooth sailing. I'm praying that everything goes as planned and there are no major issues. Isn't it pretty awesome that I can navigate my way around one of the biggest cities in the world, in the biggest country in the world? I think so. I'm rather impressed with myself actually.
I was Ms. Popularity in the Skype world today. I Skyped with my mom, my aunt, and Lucas. And then my brother, which is the most important one of all!
It's as official as it's going to get until I land in Seoul, South Korea, but I'M GOING! Signed, sealed, and not quite delivered. My plane ticket has been purchased. I'm going to be there from December 15 until December 19. That's only 29 days from now, folks. I absolutely cannot wait to spend time with him, just the two of us. Never in a million years did I think the two of us would wind up in South Korea, of all places in the world. It's going to be completely great and the best Christmas gift that I could ask for. My brother is one of a kind and I love him and Elysia more than anything. I wish she could come to Korea, too. What a reunion that would be!
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| My hero <3 |
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Potpourri
Well, today was crazy. I'll just cut to the chase.
In my rotation of first graders, one kid decided to go absolutely nuts because he was "out" in the game. He punched another girl in the class in the face and when I got up to grab him he started swinging at me and trying to rip my hair out. Today was not your day, buddy.
Naturally, I grabbed his arms put him in a headlock. Then he started trying to bite me. I was so done at this point! I dragged him outside and down the hall to a Chinese teacher who took care of him. Is there a full moon or something? The kids have been animals this week. Maybe they know about how I've been feeling, and they're doing their best to make sure I don't miss them. Clever little children, they are. I must admit, no matter how bad they are, I still love them more than anything.
I've started to notice the smallest things about them that make me smile. Like Colin's giggle, for example. If I could bottle up that sound, I'd be happy for the rest of my life. That sounds like a good idea. I need a bottle of Colin's giggle, a bottle of Ricky kisses, a bottle of butterfly kisses from Candy, and a bottle of love from them all. Shouldn't be too hard to acquire, right?
I've decided to change my major (I think). Clearly this post has no rhyme or reason and it's just going to be a giant conglomerate of things. The very first time I remember saying that I wanted to be a nurse, I was five years old. I was at the hospital because I had broken my foot and I said it to the doctor. I've wanted that for as long as I can remember. I love medicine. I have a passion for medicine, and for people. Nursing was the perfect career choice. So I thought, anyways. I have learned so much about myself since I've been here. Most of it is because of the sheer distance. There is no one to convince me one way or another. Being so far away from home has really given me a clear outlook on my life. I see things that I never had before.
I'm going to apply for the Athletic Training program at Wright State this Spring. I can't believe I just typed that sentence after I swore that I would never go back there. I want to do this for several reasons. Number one, whatever I do, I deeply need to be involved in medicine somehow. I know for sure that I want that. Number two, I want to teach. I never knew that about myself until I came here and started doing it. More specifically, I want to teach English as a second language to little kids. There's not much of a demand for that in my area, but I'll make it work somehow. Because Athletic Training is actually an education degree, all I would need to teach is a certificate in teaching in addition to my degree. Thirdly, I have a passion for sports, but I never viewed that as anything more than a hobby. I played soccer for the majority of my life and was really involved with football when I was in high school. The thought of getting paid to sit at football games on Friday nights and soccer games makes me absolutely giddy. I love it.
Going back to the clarity thing, it's funny to me that I never came to this conclusion before. Athletic Training is the perfect combination of everything that I love and love to do. I'm hoping that it works out because I haven't been this excited about school in a long time. The program only accepts 16-20 people once a year so we will see. I'm optimistic about it. My sister made an interesting comment a few weeks ago over email.
"Maybe by "chasing life in china," you've found what you want to be doing with yours!"
It just so happens that I think I have. Another thing that's been clear to me since I've been here, is just how much I love that boy of mine. I'd be lying if I said this ordeal had been a walk in the park for us. It took a lot of stress for me to realize that it's a good thing to miss him as much as I do. I can't imagine my life without him and I don't want to. Being apart has been so hard, but so good in a lot of ways. I will never take the small things for granted again. The ridiculous noises he makes to make me laugh, futile attempts at tickling me, holding hands in the car, making late night food runs, forehead kisses, and telling him that his hugs "weren't real" just so I could have another one. Those are the best. I think that it speaks volumes about him that he encouraged me to do this. He understood how much I needed it, even more than I did. I've found someone who understands me better than I understand myself. Someone who truly, honestly, deeply wants what is best for me, even if I ever decided that that wasn't with him. Yeah, he said that, but I'd be concerned for my mental state if I ever took him up on that. Whenever I think about how sad it's going to be to leave China, I just think about what our life together is going to be like and all the exciting things that are coming our way. And when I do that, I think I'd hop on a plane tomorrow.
In all aspects of life right now, I certainly could not ask for more.
In my rotation of first graders, one kid decided to go absolutely nuts because he was "out" in the game. He punched another girl in the class in the face and when I got up to grab him he started swinging at me and trying to rip my hair out. Today was not your day, buddy.
Naturally, I grabbed his arms put him in a headlock. Then he started trying to bite me. I was so done at this point! I dragged him outside and down the hall to a Chinese teacher who took care of him. Is there a full moon or something? The kids have been animals this week. Maybe they know about how I've been feeling, and they're doing their best to make sure I don't miss them. Clever little children, they are. I must admit, no matter how bad they are, I still love them more than anything.
I've started to notice the smallest things about them that make me smile. Like Colin's giggle, for example. If I could bottle up that sound, I'd be happy for the rest of my life. That sounds like a good idea. I need a bottle of Colin's giggle, a bottle of Ricky kisses, a bottle of butterfly kisses from Candy, and a bottle of love from them all. Shouldn't be too hard to acquire, right?
I've decided to change my major (I think). Clearly this post has no rhyme or reason and it's just going to be a giant conglomerate of things. The very first time I remember saying that I wanted to be a nurse, I was five years old. I was at the hospital because I had broken my foot and I said it to the doctor. I've wanted that for as long as I can remember. I love medicine. I have a passion for medicine, and for people. Nursing was the perfect career choice. So I thought, anyways. I have learned so much about myself since I've been here. Most of it is because of the sheer distance. There is no one to convince me one way or another. Being so far away from home has really given me a clear outlook on my life. I see things that I never had before.
I'm going to apply for the Athletic Training program at Wright State this Spring. I can't believe I just typed that sentence after I swore that I would never go back there. I want to do this for several reasons. Number one, whatever I do, I deeply need to be involved in medicine somehow. I know for sure that I want that. Number two, I want to teach. I never knew that about myself until I came here and started doing it. More specifically, I want to teach English as a second language to little kids. There's not much of a demand for that in my area, but I'll make it work somehow. Because Athletic Training is actually an education degree, all I would need to teach is a certificate in teaching in addition to my degree. Thirdly, I have a passion for sports, but I never viewed that as anything more than a hobby. I played soccer for the majority of my life and was really involved with football when I was in high school. The thought of getting paid to sit at football games on Friday nights and soccer games makes me absolutely giddy. I love it.
Going back to the clarity thing, it's funny to me that I never came to this conclusion before. Athletic Training is the perfect combination of everything that I love and love to do. I'm hoping that it works out because I haven't been this excited about school in a long time. The program only accepts 16-20 people once a year so we will see. I'm optimistic about it. My sister made an interesting comment a few weeks ago over email.
"Maybe by "chasing life in china," you've found what you want to be doing with yours!"
It just so happens that I think I have. Another thing that's been clear to me since I've been here, is just how much I love that boy of mine. I'd be lying if I said this ordeal had been a walk in the park for us. It took a lot of stress for me to realize that it's a good thing to miss him as much as I do. I can't imagine my life without him and I don't want to. Being apart has been so hard, but so good in a lot of ways. I will never take the small things for granted again. The ridiculous noises he makes to make me laugh, futile attempts at tickling me, holding hands in the car, making late night food runs, forehead kisses, and telling him that his hugs "weren't real" just so I could have another one. Those are the best. I think that it speaks volumes about him that he encouraged me to do this. He understood how much I needed it, even more than I did. I've found someone who understands me better than I understand myself. Someone who truly, honestly, deeply wants what is best for me, even if I ever decided that that wasn't with him. Yeah, he said that, but I'd be concerned for my mental state if I ever took him up on that. Whenever I think about how sad it's going to be to leave China, I just think about what our life together is going to be like and all the exciting things that are coming our way. And when I do that, I think I'd hop on a plane tomorrow.
In all aspects of life right now, I certainly could not ask for more.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Teacher Ricky
My kids were completely terrible yesterday. I felt like it was the first day of school all over again. I think their regular teacher, Ms. Lu, found out that they were bad because when I picked them up today, she had a good few minutes chewing them out. And what do you know? They were angels today.
The past few days, we've been making turkeys out of coffee filters and paper. It's been so fun, I can't wait to post pictures. The coffee filter is the turkey tail, and you tie-dye it with washable markers and water. The more messy something is, the more they love it. They turned out really well! I have Pinterest to thank for that one.
Today we finished the turkeys. Ricky was in one of his hilarious moods and he just decided to take over class. The kids were being a little chatty so he stands up and says "Listen to Teacha Ricky!" Everyone goes quiet as he folds his arms and starts listing off who is being good and who is not being good. I was hanging up the turkeys on the wall so he was designating whoever was being good to come hand me their turkey. If they started talking again or did something he didn't like, he would yell "ATTENTION! Listen to Teacha Ricky!" I thought to myself that it was kind of nice to have a warden and I wondered why he didn't do this yesterday when they were being hellions. Oh, that's right, he was the one causing all the problems yesterday...
And then, on the way back to their regular class, he breaks out in Gangnam style- both the song and the dance. If you've never heard a seven-year-old belting out the words "Heyyyyyyy sexayyy ladayyy" in a super thick Chinese accent, you're missing out on life.
On a more depressing note, I'm fairly positive that I'm getting sick. I feel the sickness creeping in on me. I'm achy, with chills and a combination head/earache. Lovely. I can't say I'm surprised. I did go to Beijing and Shanghai, two of the biggest cities in the world, in the same week. Would I take it back? Not a chance.
I'd say that tonight I'm going to savor my tomato soup and apple cider and be thankful that I don't teach ELE in the morning. Over the weekend, I finished the vast majority of my shopping. There's only a few small things that I'd like to get before I leave.
The past few days, we've been making turkeys out of coffee filters and paper. It's been so fun, I can't wait to post pictures. The coffee filter is the turkey tail, and you tie-dye it with washable markers and water. The more messy something is, the more they love it. They turned out really well! I have Pinterest to thank for that one.
Today we finished the turkeys. Ricky was in one of his hilarious moods and he just decided to take over class. The kids were being a little chatty so he stands up and says "Listen to Teacha Ricky!" Everyone goes quiet as he folds his arms and starts listing off who is being good and who is not being good. I was hanging up the turkeys on the wall so he was designating whoever was being good to come hand me their turkey. If they started talking again or did something he didn't like, he would yell "ATTENTION! Listen to Teacha Ricky!" I thought to myself that it was kind of nice to have a warden and I wondered why he didn't do this yesterday when they were being hellions. Oh, that's right, he was the one causing all the problems yesterday...
And then, on the way back to their regular class, he breaks out in Gangnam style- both the song and the dance. If you've never heard a seven-year-old belting out the words "Heyyyyyyy sexayyy ladayyy" in a super thick Chinese accent, you're missing out on life.
On a more depressing note, I'm fairly positive that I'm getting sick. I feel the sickness creeping in on me. I'm achy, with chills and a combination head/earache. Lovely. I can't say I'm surprised. I did go to Beijing and Shanghai, two of the biggest cities in the world, in the same week. Would I take it back? Not a chance.
I'd say that tonight I'm going to savor my tomato soup and apple cider and be thankful that I don't teach ELE in the morning. Over the weekend, I finished the vast majority of my shopping. There's only a few small things that I'd like to get before I leave.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Moments
I've had so many of them lately.
On Friday we didn't teach because our school had their own rendition of "The Voice". It was SO adorable!! I had three kids perform in the show. Mike, Nick, and Bob sang a song and then were break dancing to "Walk it Out." I died, it was so cute! Ricky found me sitting in the crowd and came over to sit on my lap. That's where one of these "moments" occurred.
I'm sitting there surrounded by all the kids of my school, with my very favorite sitting on my lap, giving me hugs and kisses, and the thought of leaving him crept into my mind. I started crying. I can't help it. Sometimes I'm so grateful that I chose to do this and experience the love of these little kids, and other times I think it was the worst idea of my life. HOW am I supposed to leave? Knowing that I'm never going to see them again? It's going to be sad to leave my babies, but particularly devastating to leave Ricky. I'm constantly overwhelmed when I think about how much I love this little boy even though it's been such a short amount of time since he bounced (literally) into my life.
And then it donned on me that I have FOUR weeks of teaching left. What the heck? When did this happen? I'm leaving China in one month and two days. Nonsense. I couldn't wait until the halfway point. I couldn't wait to say that I was on the downward slope. And now? I kinda hate myself a little for thinking that way. It was such a waste.
I think I'd probably do anything to be able to take him home with me. I'd give up every personal freedom, I'd take on another job. I just don't want to leave him here. It sounds ridiculous, and maybe it is, but what can I say? I love that little boy so much.
I also think about how different I am since I moved to China. I was naive enough to think that I wouldn't change at all, actually. I used to think that I had a view of the world. Now I know that my "view" of the world was actually really ignorant and quite frankly non-existent. I have gained such an appreciation for my country, but at the same time, I resent it a little bit. I feel so uninformed about the world. I meet people everywhere I go that know more about America than I do. They know more about the world in general. I dislike that so much.
It makes me want to travel everywhere. I'd love nothing more than to get rid of nearly everything I have, pack a backpack, and buy a one way ticket to some country that I've never even heard of. The world is such an amazing place. Being in Beijing I had another moment as I was standing on the Great Wall of China. I thought to myself, "Wow. My life is pretty freakin' amazing." I don't want it to end. There's so much more that I want to see.
As much as I want to just enjoy my last few weeks here, I'm dreading tomorrow. I'm dreading dropping my kids off after teaching. I'm never going to be able to spend enough time with them. It's hard.
On a completely unrelated side note- This weekend, Megan and I watched this guy kill a fish by throwing it against a rock multiple times. I will be having nightmares for the rest of my life. That is all.
On Friday we didn't teach because our school had their own rendition of "The Voice". It was SO adorable!! I had three kids perform in the show. Mike, Nick, and Bob sang a song and then were break dancing to "Walk it Out." I died, it was so cute! Ricky found me sitting in the crowd and came over to sit on my lap. That's where one of these "moments" occurred.
I'm sitting there surrounded by all the kids of my school, with my very favorite sitting on my lap, giving me hugs and kisses, and the thought of leaving him crept into my mind. I started crying. I can't help it. Sometimes I'm so grateful that I chose to do this and experience the love of these little kids, and other times I think it was the worst idea of my life. HOW am I supposed to leave? Knowing that I'm never going to see them again? It's going to be sad to leave my babies, but particularly devastating to leave Ricky. I'm constantly overwhelmed when I think about how much I love this little boy even though it's been such a short amount of time since he bounced (literally) into my life.
And then it donned on me that I have FOUR weeks of teaching left. What the heck? When did this happen? I'm leaving China in one month and two days. Nonsense. I couldn't wait until the halfway point. I couldn't wait to say that I was on the downward slope. And now? I kinda hate myself a little for thinking that way. It was such a waste.
I think I'd probably do anything to be able to take him home with me. I'd give up every personal freedom, I'd take on another job. I just don't want to leave him here. It sounds ridiculous, and maybe it is, but what can I say? I love that little boy so much.
I also think about how different I am since I moved to China. I was naive enough to think that I wouldn't change at all, actually. I used to think that I had a view of the world. Now I know that my "view" of the world was actually really ignorant and quite frankly non-existent. I have gained such an appreciation for my country, but at the same time, I resent it a little bit. I feel so uninformed about the world. I meet people everywhere I go that know more about America than I do. They know more about the world in general. I dislike that so much.
It makes me want to travel everywhere. I'd love nothing more than to get rid of nearly everything I have, pack a backpack, and buy a one way ticket to some country that I've never even heard of. The world is such an amazing place. Being in Beijing I had another moment as I was standing on the Great Wall of China. I thought to myself, "Wow. My life is pretty freakin' amazing." I don't want it to end. There's so much more that I want to see.
As much as I want to just enjoy my last few weeks here, I'm dreading tomorrow. I'm dreading dropping my kids off after teaching. I'm never going to be able to spend enough time with them. It's hard.
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Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Beijing!! AKA- The Best Vacation of My Life
I feel like such the sucky blogger. I do apologize. On the bright side, I just got back from freakin' Beijing! It was such a blast and I daresay it might have been even better than Yangshuo. Eh, maybe not. They're tied.
On Friday, Megan and I headed to the train station. Our train left a little after 8 pm. I was salty about having to pay double for the ticket because the cheap ones were sold out, but it was truly a blessing in disguise. The seats on this train reclined, and I was joyous to wake up realizing that I slept nearly a full 7 hours. When we arrived, we wandered around Beijing for FOUR HOURS because my stupid phone was dead and that's where I had the address of the hostel in Chinese. Oh, the joy. What did we do? Slinked into the Metro line and used an outlet we found above a lit poster. I was anticipating that we be thrown in jail or something if we were caught. China is crazy.
Our wanderings weren't all bad, we found a McDonald's that was serving breakfast. Heck yes, we are fat Americans. We had the address of the hostel in Chinese, but for some reason, we were turned away from two taxi drivers. Come to find out, the hostel was just too close and so they wouldn't be getting much money out of us. While walking around some more, trying to find the GD hostel for the fourth hour, we walked by this Chinese man on the sidewalk. He spoke English and started talking to us. He had an art gallery nearby and offered to help us locate our hostel on a map. We followed him inside and he ended up calling our hostel and getting directions on the bus so we only had to spend one kaui instead of twelve on a taxi. While inside his shop, I bought something for my mom. He also told us he worked with a touring agency and could sign us up for a tour of the Great Wall for only 100 kaui per person. We were skeptical, but we figured what the heck and we took our chances. The funny thing is, when we got back to our hostel, we saw signs plastered everywhere about scams involving cheap tours sold out of art galleries. I'm pleased to report that ours was no such thing. Anyways, this nice man walked us all the way to the bus station and we arrived at our hostel shortly.
It was SO nice! I was way impressed. We only paid 45 kaui a night/person (about seven USD) and it was better than many hotels that I've been to in the U.S. WHY doesn't America have hostels?? They have very, very few. It makes me sad. Anywho, we lounged around the hostel because we were exhausted. After a few hours, a young girl about our age comes in with her mom. They're from Denmark and we make friends with her pretty fast. We end up going to dinner with her and then out to another hostel. I have met so many awesome people since I've been in China. On one of my blog posts, I'm going to write out every country that I've met someone from. It blows me away that this is really my life.
On Sunday, we ventured out to the Summer Palace which was absolutely stunning. The Summer Palace is kind of like the White House of China. It's where the emperors lived when they still had them. It was built in the 1800's and the architecture was absolutely beautiful. All parts of it, from the buildings, to the Pagoda in the background, to the lake, to the gazebos, to the snow-covered mountains as the backdrop, made me giddy. It was about twenty degrees Fahrenheit but I didn't care. It was wonderful and I am so glad that we got to walk through it.
After leaving the Palace, Megan and I indulged in some Subway. It was so very American and wonderful. I will never take food for granted ever again. We took the Metro back to our hostel and lounged around a little bit before going back to the same hostel from the night before and hanging out with the same people that were there.
Bright and early Monday morning, we were relieved to find that our tour was not a scam. A tour guide, a driver, and little van picked us up. First, we went to a tea house in Bejing. I am not really into tea, but my, oh my, that tea was good. In particular, there was this tea made of fruit and flowers that I thought was to die for and I wish I could have bought some. Lucky me, Megan did so that we can have tea parties when we get home :) The next stop was a jade museum. It was really awesome, but also super expensive. Megan bought something small and then we were finally on our way to the Great Wall of China. I'm still in total disbelief that I've actually been there. The scenery was to die for. The mountains were covered in snow, and it will always be remembered as such a wonderful time, clinging to the railing for dear life as the steps were humongous, steep, and covered in ice. Each step might have been our last, seriously, and that thought graced my mind every time I had to go up another. There were so. many. steps. What a better way to die than on the Great Wall of China??
After we got our fill of Chinese history, we went to lunch. It wasn't very impressive, I must admit. But it was free. Our last two stops were a silk factory and a pearl market. I was pearl-ed out from Shanghai and that silk was way expensive. Also, I was SO tired. I only slept for three hours the night before. Beijing is truly the city that never sleeps.
Our last night in Beijing, we decided to be predictable and hang out in the same spot we had been. We made some really good friends there and it was so sad to leave. It's the traveler's curse. To travel in a foreign country says a lot about a person. We connect with these people and have the best chats about life only to never see them again. One of the English guys that we hung out with said something really funny about speaking different languages; "If you speak three languages, you're trilingual. If you speak two, bilingual. If you speak one, you're American." LOL- Sad, but true.
On Tuesday we checked out of our hostel and then walked around Beijing. Our hostel was right beside Tian'anmen Square. It's where the Forbidden City is and also there's a building there that houses Mao Zedong's dead carcass. I kid you not, people. It's even in a glass coffin so you can go in there and stare at his evil, decaying self. Frankly I'm glad that we don't do that in America.
We went back to our old hangout spot one last time and said some final goodbyes before heading to the train station. I have never in my life been so ready to act completely insane in a public place before. I cannot, and will not, ever, ever, ever take a K train in China as long as I live. I'll give you a list of the joys and pleasures of taking the cheap train.
1) This was a 14 hour train ride. The one to Guilin was 23. However, this one was much worse for the fact that since it was "cold" they kept all the doors and windows shut and obviously no one in the entire country can go five seconds without smoking a cigarette. Our entire car was a cloud of smoke. It burned my eyes, my nose, my throat. I briefly thought about just suffocating myself so it could be over with quickly. I hate that everyone smokes in China and there is no escaping it.
2) You have to live in China to understand how filthy it is. People spit/poop/pee everywhere. Even on the trains. I dozed off for a few minutes only to be awoken by someone sawing some serious logs. I look over to find that there is a man laying flat down on the the nasty floor of the train. I gagged and then had the intense urge to drop something on his face so he would shutthefrontdoor up!!!
3) Megan and I had to make an unpleasant venture to the bathroom. Ha, I just laughed typing that. Let me rephrase: Megan and I had to make an unpleasant venture to the hole in the floor of the train that was absolutely covered in urine. If the sight and smell of this debacle doesn't make you absolutely giddy at one in the morning, I don't know what will!
That is all to my ranting. I came home this morning to news of another Obama term. Disappointed, I was. At least he can't blame the last administration for anything anymore! I'm hoping that something changes and there's an effort on both sides to get along or at least move forward. My view on politics has changed a lot since I moved to China, mostly because I realize that most stuff is not a big deal. The past few days, I've gained a real hatred for the social norms and timelines in America. It's suffocating. I just want to travel the world and live out of a backpack for a few years. Is that so much to ask? This Earth is an AMAZING place. I don't think I can ever get enough of it.
On Friday, Megan and I headed to the train station. Our train left a little after 8 pm. I was salty about having to pay double for the ticket because the cheap ones were sold out, but it was truly a blessing in disguise. The seats on this train reclined, and I was joyous to wake up realizing that I slept nearly a full 7 hours. When we arrived, we wandered around Beijing for FOUR HOURS because my stupid phone was dead and that's where I had the address of the hostel in Chinese. Oh, the joy. What did we do? Slinked into the Metro line and used an outlet we found above a lit poster. I was anticipating that we be thrown in jail or something if we were caught. China is crazy.
Our wanderings weren't all bad, we found a McDonald's that was serving breakfast. Heck yes, we are fat Americans. We had the address of the hostel in Chinese, but for some reason, we were turned away from two taxi drivers. Come to find out, the hostel was just too close and so they wouldn't be getting much money out of us. While walking around some more, trying to find the GD hostel for the fourth hour, we walked by this Chinese man on the sidewalk. He spoke English and started talking to us. He had an art gallery nearby and offered to help us locate our hostel on a map. We followed him inside and he ended up calling our hostel and getting directions on the bus so we only had to spend one kaui instead of twelve on a taxi. While inside his shop, I bought something for my mom. He also told us he worked with a touring agency and could sign us up for a tour of the Great Wall for only 100 kaui per person. We were skeptical, but we figured what the heck and we took our chances. The funny thing is, when we got back to our hostel, we saw signs plastered everywhere about scams involving cheap tours sold out of art galleries. I'm pleased to report that ours was no such thing. Anyways, this nice man walked us all the way to the bus station and we arrived at our hostel shortly.
It was SO nice! I was way impressed. We only paid 45 kaui a night/person (about seven USD) and it was better than many hotels that I've been to in the U.S. WHY doesn't America have hostels?? They have very, very few. It makes me sad. Anywho, we lounged around the hostel because we were exhausted. After a few hours, a young girl about our age comes in with her mom. They're from Denmark and we make friends with her pretty fast. We end up going to dinner with her and then out to another hostel. I have met so many awesome people since I've been in China. On one of my blog posts, I'm going to write out every country that I've met someone from. It blows me away that this is really my life.
On Sunday, we ventured out to the Summer Palace which was absolutely stunning. The Summer Palace is kind of like the White House of China. It's where the emperors lived when they still had them. It was built in the 1800's and the architecture was absolutely beautiful. All parts of it, from the buildings, to the Pagoda in the background, to the lake, to the gazebos, to the snow-covered mountains as the backdrop, made me giddy. It was about twenty degrees Fahrenheit but I didn't care. It was wonderful and I am so glad that we got to walk through it.
After leaving the Palace, Megan and I indulged in some Subway. It was so very American and wonderful. I will never take food for granted ever again. We took the Metro back to our hostel and lounged around a little bit before going back to the same hostel from the night before and hanging out with the same people that were there.
Bright and early Monday morning, we were relieved to find that our tour was not a scam. A tour guide, a driver, and little van picked us up. First, we went to a tea house in Bejing. I am not really into tea, but my, oh my, that tea was good. In particular, there was this tea made of fruit and flowers that I thought was to die for and I wish I could have bought some. Lucky me, Megan did so that we can have tea parties when we get home :) The next stop was a jade museum. It was really awesome, but also super expensive. Megan bought something small and then we were finally on our way to the Great Wall of China. I'm still in total disbelief that I've actually been there. The scenery was to die for. The mountains were covered in snow, and it will always be remembered as such a wonderful time, clinging to the railing for dear life as the steps were humongous, steep, and covered in ice. Each step might have been our last, seriously, and that thought graced my mind every time I had to go up another. There were so. many. steps. What a better way to die than on the Great Wall of China??
After we got our fill of Chinese history, we went to lunch. It wasn't very impressive, I must admit. But it was free. Our last two stops were a silk factory and a pearl market. I was pearl-ed out from Shanghai and that silk was way expensive. Also, I was SO tired. I only slept for three hours the night before. Beijing is truly the city that never sleeps.
Our last night in Beijing, we decided to be predictable and hang out in the same spot we had been. We made some really good friends there and it was so sad to leave. It's the traveler's curse. To travel in a foreign country says a lot about a person. We connect with these people and have the best chats about life only to never see them again. One of the English guys that we hung out with said something really funny about speaking different languages; "If you speak three languages, you're trilingual. If you speak two, bilingual. If you speak one, you're American." LOL- Sad, but true.
On Tuesday we checked out of our hostel and then walked around Beijing. Our hostel was right beside Tian'anmen Square. It's where the Forbidden City is and also there's a building there that houses Mao Zedong's dead carcass. I kid you not, people. It's even in a glass coffin so you can go in there and stare at his evil, decaying self. Frankly I'm glad that we don't do that in America.
We went back to our old hangout spot one last time and said some final goodbyes before heading to the train station. I have never in my life been so ready to act completely insane in a public place before. I cannot, and will not, ever, ever, ever take a K train in China as long as I live. I'll give you a list of the joys and pleasures of taking the cheap train.
1) This was a 14 hour train ride. The one to Guilin was 23. However, this one was much worse for the fact that since it was "cold" they kept all the doors and windows shut and obviously no one in the entire country can go five seconds without smoking a cigarette. Our entire car was a cloud of smoke. It burned my eyes, my nose, my throat. I briefly thought about just suffocating myself so it could be over with quickly. I hate that everyone smokes in China and there is no escaping it.
2) You have to live in China to understand how filthy it is. People spit/poop/pee everywhere. Even on the trains. I dozed off for a few minutes only to be awoken by someone sawing some serious logs. I look over to find that there is a man laying flat down on the the nasty floor of the train. I gagged and then had the intense urge to drop something on his face so he would shutthefrontdoor up!!!
3) Megan and I had to make an unpleasant venture to the bathroom. Ha, I just laughed typing that. Let me rephrase: Megan and I had to make an unpleasant venture to the hole in the floor of the train that was absolutely covered in urine. If the sight and smell of this debacle doesn't make you absolutely giddy at one in the morning, I don't know what will!
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| I can't put the pictures by the paragraphs that they correspond to, for some reason. This is us on the way to the Summer Palace! |
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| A gazebo on the lake at the Summer Palace |
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| Breathtaking backdrop! |
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| My bestie |
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| Dragon love! |
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| Artsy :) |
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| A Godsend. |
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| The place of the the 2008 Olympics, the "Bird's Nest" |
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| The Great Wall of CHINA! |
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| LOL :) |
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| I will never forget this |
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| Beautiful! |
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| 20,000 stairs covered in ice! |
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| I promised my Papaw Webb that I would take my blankie to the Great Wall of China. And, I did :) Here you go, Grandpa! I'm not ashamed! |
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| For baby sister <3 |
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| When I came home, I had a package from my awesome cousin, Jeremiah! My family is the best. Excuse my nastiness. This was taken as soon as I got off that wretched train! |
That is all to my ranting. I came home this morning to news of another Obama term. Disappointed, I was. At least he can't blame the last administration for anything anymore! I'm hoping that something changes and there's an effort on both sides to get along or at least move forward. My view on politics has changed a lot since I moved to China, mostly because I realize that most stuff is not a big deal. The past few days, I've gained a real hatred for the social norms and timelines in America. It's suffocating. I just want to travel the world and live out of a backpack for a few years. Is that so much to ask? This Earth is an AMAZING place. I don't think I can ever get enough of it.
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