Yes, We’re Still Alive…

Wow, I think I officially fail as a blogger…I had hoped that I would get in the habit of blogging while I was here so that I could actually start and maintain a blog when I got home…now I don’t see that happening any time soon. I really am sorry for the lack of blogging during this whole trip, especially these last 2 weeks. We were sick almost all of last week and this week has been a little crazy and stressful as we get ready to head home. I have a lovely 12 hour plane ride ahead of me, so by the time I get home, I’ll have completed the best blog post ever! Well probably not, but I’ll at least attempt to recap these last couple weeks. I’ll also definately post tons of pictures for you =} For those of you who are wondering when we get home…
We arrive Monday, March 28th at 12:59 PM. We’re flying Delta/Alaska so we’ll be at whichever concourse that is…(the main one, I think).
Once again, I’m sorry about the lack of blogging. I am so excited to come home and see all of you. Thanks for reading =}

China: Part 3

Ohhhh… I failed majorly. I haven’t written for too long. My bad. I was waiting a while in between posts because not much goes on during the week to note. In this short amount of time its already a routine. :P

We get up, eat our breakfast (normally consisting of Trix cereal or chocolate and peanut butter toast) then we complete planning for the day and make copies in the office. We are at our first class by 10, teaching the primary kids vocab words and playing games like “Sarah says” or “Where is the…”. (This week we will be teaching them “I Spy”!) Around 11 we head over to the inn to either complete a job set up for us or talk to the family on Skype. Numerous times the two older boys in the primary class have come over when we are talking to our family and started their own conversations with my parents, mostly saying “Where do you live in Americ?” and “I am going to Shanghai!”. It’s quite funny. At 11:45 we are off to the outreach center to brave whatever lunch the cook decided to make. (The best meals we have are chao bing, which is fried flatbread, and rice with potatoes and beans and sometimes peanuts. Yummy! And of course we always bring a man tou (steam bun) back to the room to coat it in peanut butter!) At 12:30 we must be at our high school class which consists of Grady, Wendy, Stacey, and sometimes two staff members, Nurse Song and Zhang Ayi. In this class we mostly teach parts of speech and some vocab. But this class is definitely hardest because they are all older, but we still have to use kiddish methods because they are around the same level as our first class who are much younger. It is very tough trying to keep them involved and learning in the class without getting too bored or insulted. So when that is done, around 1:30 we head back over to the inn to either do a job, plan for the next day, or make copies for the kindergarten class which we go to at 2:30. This class is my favorite (did I already say this ;P) as I love little kids. When we walk to the school building the kids are just walking there too. Most days Sarah and I get called to from across the lawn “Sarah!!” “Erin!!” (most times its “Eric” though). When everyone is in class we sit down and sing for quite some time. We normally sing wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, if your happy and you know it, I’m a little teapot, head shoulders knees and toes, ABC’s, apple tree, and a new one we learned called Moo-jer-zi-na. (Thats how you say Thumpkin in Chinese, I have no idea how you really spell it though :P ) Brent, Jacob, Eric and Josiah always yell out what song they want to sing next with their attempted English quickly doing the motions of the song, throughout our singing session. One of their favorite songs is Cookie Jar, where you say one of the kids names in the sentence “Noel Joy stole the cookie from the cookie jar?” and they say “Who me?”, “Yes you.”, “Couldn’t be!”, “Then who?” and you move around the room saying each one until you get to the last person (Who is usually me) and instead of saying couldn’t be I say, “Yes I did!!”. And they all smile and laugh. But recently they have all decided to steal the cookies from the jar so we have to say “Noooooo!” after each adorable kid. I love how they all say the words differently. Jacob sounds surprisingly English when he says his part, but Josiah says “Koo me? Coolldent be!” in a really deep voice, and Henry normally screams his part. I just love those little kids :) Well after our singing we read a book and point out various words for them to learn in English then proceed to a coloring page that normally entertains them for a short time. But soon they get bored so they start asking us to write the names of all the kids in the class on the back of their paper and they grin and yell with delight when it is finished :P Well kindergarten is our last class of the day so afterward we normally head back over to the inn to work or plan for the next day. Sometimes the kids, if they are playing outside will come over to our window and yell our names until we stick our head out (literally, there are no screens :P) and tell them we will come play. Normally we end up playing good guy, bad guy or just chasing each other around the sidewalk. If our planning is all done we can go around to the houses and visit children but they close at 5 and nobody is allowed in because of dinner and bedtimes, so normally our day ends with that. Next we either order in dinner from across the street, go out to dinner (mostly McDonalds and Hollywood), or make some dinner here, like Mac and Cheese or Mac and Cheese :) Oh, and sometimes mashed potatoes. Next we just relax, maybe watch a show, hang our with our awesome room mate Sara, write blog posts (obviously not very often) or read books, then we are normally asleep by 10 or 11. Sometimes 12. :P Then it starts all over again. So now you understand why I don’t write everyday. Because something new doesn’t happen everyday. It’s not boring but it’s just not new :)

Wow, I just looked in my journal to see where I needed to start from in my posts and… I am ashamed. Last time I wrote was forever ago! So much has happened so I am going to take a couple hours and write about it :)

Monday, February 28th-

We make cupcakes today for Joseph’s birthday. We used the cake mix we had brought and made cupcakes. But I’ll just say, Sarah and I are definitely not going into baking for a living. Most of the cupcakes were sunk in and crumbling, we tried to make star ones and the bottom was falling off, and when we iced them the top normally came off. So its safe to say they were disasters! But the kids liked them and they didn’t taste too shabby :) It was fun, we were able to sing happy birthday to him in class and they all had noodles, cupcakes, and Crystal Light, which they all toasted with.

Tuesday, March 1st-

Today at lunch I was surprised to see something in my bowl. Lunch normally consists of rice, steamed buns, and some sort of veggie to put on top. So I was quite shocked to see some meat in my bowl today at lunch. Oh course I ate none of it because the cook was oh so kind to make the only meat I got be chicken neck and fat and gristle. Wonderful, eh? I had a peanut buttered steam bun for lunch that day.

March 6th- Today we had Subway and went shopping. I am really bad at shopping because I would like to buy everything! Oh bother. When we were at Jenny Lou’s I bought a ton of pasta because I cannot live without it. And I bought a drink at Starbucks. Well… Thats about it for today. Not that different :P

Monday, March 7th-

Today we went to the university city because we were wanting to get out, and we didnt know what to have for dinner. So we went to Hollywood and I ordered a Chicken Sandwich, which was quite delicious. We sat upstairs where most of the college students sat. The lights were off to preserve electricity for the first half of our meal. Soon a Chinese girl came up to our table and started talking to us about how she has a test coming up in school, and that she wanted to become and nurse and was trying to decide where to go for school. She asked us all kinds of questions about nursing school and salaries in America and we had no idea. We felt kind of silly because she was expecting us to know a lot about it and we didn’t know anything :P After dinner we went to the Xtian book shop because Sara wanted to find a book. While in there we ran into a group that was traveling from Canada and was planning a concert for the next week. They said they were going to be in Langfang for a week and they were going to work in an orphanage for a while (Surprisingly it wasn’t PHF). It was cool meeting people who spoke our language and shared our beliefs in a place like Langfang!

Friday, March 11th-

Today we went to the concert at the book shop. It was Sarah, Sara, Jewel and I. We went to McDonalds first for dinner and then got to the book shop by 7. It was packed. The concert consisted of singing, rapping, break dancing, and drama. The people around us seemed really into it. Which was pretty cool. Afterward if they wanted to talk more about the Father than they could go into the back room and talk with the Canadian students posted there. When the last song was over there was a steady stream of people going into that room. That was awesome. Tonight was also one of the nights that we felt more foreign than usual. The students all asked us about home, and someone asked if they could take their picture with me. That reminded me more of the last two trips… thankfully that hasn’t been happening that much this time. It was funny talking with the students about America. I was talking to one girl and her friend and she was asking about what kind of music I like. She said that she loves Lady Gaga but Britney Spears has first place in her heart because she listened to her first. When the topic of Lady Gaga came up, her friend (that was a guy) blurted out, “Lady Gaga is HOT!!!” It was hilarious! Two guys also came up and showed me a card trick. It was a strange night but it was also fun :P

Saturday, March 12th-

Today was Sara’s birthday! Since she is a fashionista we went shopping for her birthday at Yashow market in Beijing. It is a HUGE, five story market with millions and billions (possible exaggeration ;) ) of booths selling whatever you can think of. It was very tough to not buy every thing!! For lunch we had fried noodles from the food court on top floor and then worked our way down, bartering for whatever we bought. It was exausting! :P But I did get a couple good deals :) I can now say however, I WILL NOT GET ANY MORE MOVIES!!! That is my weakness, I confess. I love all of the tactics the salespeople have to get you into their booths. ”I remember you!” ”I give you good price!” ”A girl can never have too many bags!” “Oh beautiful lady!”. After we escaped from that crazy place we went across the street to Cold Stone Creamery. Yes I did just say that. I had some a combination of coffee ice cream with peanut butter, almonds, oreos and… I don’t remember. I just remember it was delicious :) Plus the view outside our table looked just like Seattle! We then headed home because we didn’t want to hit too much traffic. I’ll just say right now. We are lucky to be alive. Our driver was INSANE!! He was driving on the wrong side of the road, speeding every chance he got, cutting cars off way too closely, and passing semi’s when they were turning into our lane! Oh my. I suffered through it on the way there but I tried to sleep on the way back instead of watching the horror take place :P We then came back and watched one of the movies Sara had bought for herself, and a couple Office epidsodes to end the day. It was fun but we were very tired after the whole escapade! zzzzzzzzzzzzz……..

More Pictures =}

Picture 1: Kennedy

Picture 2: Brent and I (He is so sweet and always gives me a hug when he gets to class)

Picture 3: Bill

Picture 4: Elizabeth and I

Picture 5: Phillip getting ready to shoot me with his nerf gun

Picture 6: Sweet little Grace

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Pictures Of The Kids

Sorry it took me so long to get more pictures up! Between our schedule and the crappy internet, it’s tough to get them up… Enjoy! =}

Picture 1: Noel Joy and I

Picture 2: Sophia

Picture 3: Jackson

Picture 4: Perry

Picture 5: Vincent (I was talking to him and he grabbed my finger, I wish you could see it better in the picture…)

Picture 6: Sierra is so stinkin’ cute!

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Shopping, Canadians, And Other Exciting Adventures

I figured that I should write a new post tonight so that there’s not a week between all of my posts. It’s been another busy week full of teaching. The weather has been so beautiful! We’ve had blue skies every day, which is pretty rare for Beijing.
We went to meeting on Sunday (Mar 6th) morning which is always nice. Being able to go makes me feel even more at home here. Afterwards we had to Subway for lunch then went to the Lido District again. DVD shopping is amazing but it adds up WAY too quickly. We also went shopping at the Sunny Gold Market and I’ve finally finished almost all of my shopping!
On Monday (Feb 7th) we went to the college campus to get some dinner at a restaurant called ‘Hollywood.’ We’ve gone there a couple time; they have a mix of Chinese and American food that’s actually pretty tasty. After dinner we went to the Xtian bookstore nearby. While we were there we met a group of students from Bethany B*ble College in Canada. It was nice to meet people who spoke English and actually knew where Washington is!
Tuesday (Mar 8th) was quite uneventful. We did start watching The Office together which is alway fun.
Right after class on Wednesday (Mar 9th), we went shopping at WalMart. I love that place! (Only in China though, not the states…I just want to make that clear to my managers and coworkers lol). We stalked up on some food and got some treats to take home to the states. My suitcase is going to be so heavy! As soon as we got home we hurried to leave again. We went out to a super delicious dinner and had staff fellowship at the Baker’s, which is always a nice experience.
Yesterday (Mar 10th) was another typical day, just filled with teaching, a makeshift dinner and The Office.
Today (Mar 11th) was an average day but we had a good evening. After we were all done with work, J, Sara, Erin and I went back to the University District. We enjoyed yummy McDonald’s for dinner the went back to the bookstore. The group from Canada put on a concert/outreach for the college students. There was a great turnout; the place was packed! I took a few pictures so I’ll try to post them when I’m on my computer again and the Internet decides to cooperate. I have more pictures of the kids I want to post too. I’ll try to get them up over the weekend.
Tomorrow (Mar 12th) is Sara’s birthday so we’re spending most of the day in Beijing. I’m not entirely sure what we’re going to do, but I do know that shopping and Coldstone Creamy are on the list =} Well it’s late and we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow so I’m done writhing for the night. Happy Friday to everyone and thanks for reading =}

Pictures From February 18th

Some of the kids with the cards they made on February 18th with a group the 2nd graders from the city.

Picture 1: The kids working together with their teachers help

Picture 2: Josiah cutting very carefully

Picture 3: Eric and his awesome panda card

Picture 4: One of the teachers helping Seth

Picture 5: Henry showing me his card

Picture 6: Hayden gluing the words in her card

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Update Of The Week

Good grief, so much for staying caught up on blogging. I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to write. Not much exciting has happened since I last wrote. We celebrated Joseph’s birthday on Monday (Feb 28th). We thought we were going to do it on Tuesday, but it’s China so things rarely go the way they’re planned. In between our classes we had to whip out a batch of cupcakes and frost them. Let’s just say, cupcakes are not our forte… Thankfully the kids didn’t notice. Joseph’s favorite food is noodles so Teacher Wang made a big bowl for the whole class. See below for some pictures =} Elizabeth kept posing for pictures while eating her noodles, she is so adorable!

On Tuesday (March 1st) the J and all the teachers went to Beijing to buy books so school was canceled for the day. After we got ready for our day, we went to the store and got the gifts we picked out last week then planned out our lesson plans for the next day. We did have class with the older group (Stacey, Wendy, Grady, Nurse Song and Zhang Ayi). When class was over, we helped a few of the kids with they’re stamping then went to the houses to spend some time with the kids that we don’t get to see in school. We seemed busier without class then on a normal class day. We spent some time getting our room cleaned and ready for our new roommate, but plans changed (again) and she ended up not coming today. When Sara got done with work (after 5), we went to buy fruit for the kids. We also stopped by a bakery and got a few yummy pastries. We finished cleaning and organizing the pantry when we got home then had dinner and watched Chuck.

Wednesday (March 2nd) was quite uneventful. Our new roommate, Isabel did show up though which was nice. She is going to be working with the therapy kids during the week and staying with her Aunt is Beijing on the weekends. We taught our classes as usual then we went shopping at Wal-Mart and out to dinner at Pizza Hut. It was pretty delicious =}

On Thursday night (March 3rd), we went to dinner with Tim Baker and the Moody’s. It was the first time we’ve gone out for Chinese dinner since we’ve been here and it was really good! After dinner we went to Tim’s house for a nice time of fellowship. We finished Chuck last night, I’m so bummed. I don’t know what we’re going to do in the evenings now.

Today I got to spend some time messaging my loved ones at home. I love it here, but I really miss being at home. We were watching a movie and we heard the kids outside so we opened the window. As soon as they saw us, they yelled at us to come play with them. We went out and enjoyed the beautiful weather, chasing each other and running around. There was a group here filming a documentary about Shepherd’s Field so we got to watch the kids sing a song for the camera. I’m going to try to finish posting pictures now, I just thought I should blog while I had time. Thanks for reading =}

Picture 1: The birthday boy with his noodle bowl (Sorry it’s a little blurry)

Picture 2: Some of the kids in the classroom

Picture 3: Grady after he finished his cupcake

Picture 4: Seth posing with his noodles (eating and thumbs up, man, this kid has talent!)

Picture 5: Shelby (Ling Ling) enjoying her noodles

Picture 6: One of Elizabeth’s many noodle poses

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More Pictures Of The Kids Playing Outside

Here are a few more pictures from the 25th.

Picture 1: Eric and Moses posing for a picture
Picture 2: All the kids playing outside
Picture 3: Elizabeth zooming around on her little scooter
Picture 4: Brent (I ran out of good captions…lol)
Picture 5: Henry
Picture 6: Hayden, Noel Joy, Teacher Zhang and an Ayi in the background

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Pictures From “The Great Painting Adventure” & The First Nice Day Of The Year

Sorry I haven’t posted for so long! Nothing too exciting has happened in the last week, so it makes it tough to find something to write about. My internet seems to be working better today though, so here’s some more pictures. I’ll try to get a blog post written before this day is over. Here’s some pictures from the day we painted (I only got 3 because it got a little out of control lol) and some from the first day of nice weather when the school aged kids got out of school early to play outside.
Picture 1: The Kindergarten Class painting.
Picture 2: Miss Joy right before she intentionally painted on the table. (Don’t let her cuteness fool you, she can be quite the little stinker sometimes)
Picture 3: Eric showing me his paint palette and how nicely he had mixed most of the colors
Picture 4: Noel Joy, she’s so sweet. I love her smile!
Picture 5: Jacob Jai, Josiah and Jerak being silly
Picture 6: Shelby (Ling Ling) riding on one of the scooter things. (It was a little to small for her but she still made it work lol)

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My Recap of the Last Week (February 22nd-27th)

I’m so thankful Erin is good at summarizing our days the way she does. Maybe I should start journaling so that I actually have something to refer back to if I need to summarize more than a day or two…or I could just keep doing what I’m doing and ask Erin if I forget! =}

Well since she got you all caught up, I’m just going to give my thoughts on a few of the days.

Tuesday (Feb 22nd)

The Fishing and Sporting Goods Exposition was a strange experience. Like Erin said, there were cars and people EVERYWHERE! It was quite ridiculous! There’s not even a place to go fishing. There’s only a tiny little river and a few mud holes but oh well I suppose. I was kinda tempted to hop out of the car and buy some of the food they were cooking on the street.

Thursday (Feb 24th)

Painting was definitely an adventure. For some odd reason, I thought it would turn our perfectly and that they would only paint in our cute little outlines. I guess I was daydreaming because it turned out to be the complete opposite. Oh well, the kids had fun and I think we figured out a good way to revive it. I’ll post a picture or two when it’s finished. I took a few pictures of the kids painting too that I’ll try to get up. For some reason, I haven’t been able to get the pictures to work today so I’ll try again tomorrow. I really enjoyed the time of fellowship with had with C and J, Christina and Sara. J’s cornbread and taco soup was so amazing! Our devotion on real love was very meaningful and a good reminder of how we should represent our Father to the world. We need to remember to love around us, whether we like them or not, no matter how hard it is.

Friday (Feb 25th)

It was almost like spring on Friday. After surviving our 3 classes for the day, Erin and I were relaxing, sorting pictures and working on the blog. I took my headphones out and heard the kids playing out in the yard so I quickly grabbed my camera and went outside to join them. They were riding around on their little cars and scooters, chasing each other and laughing. The sound of those kids laughing and the smiles on their faces brings joy to my heart, but it also breaks my heart. This place is one of the best places in China for orphans, but the kids are still orphans while they’re here. They need a forever family. They need the love of a mama and a papa, the joy of brothers and sisters. They need to be spoiled by grandparents and have play dates with friends. I’d bring them all home if I could. After playing with the kids, we proceeded to eat dinner and watch way too much Chuck!

Saturday (Feb 26th)

We slept in and just had a day of R&R yesterday. I spent some time talking to my family and my love which was nice. We also spend some time working on cleaning and organizing the staff kitchen pantry. (Something I am not good at, so don’t get any ideas about asking me to come clean and organize your pantry when I get home. Unless of course, you are my mother, in which case, I don’t really have a choice! =}) We ordered some Chinese food for dinner and enjoyed a few episodes of Chuck before bed.

Today – Sunday (Feb 27th)

We got up and got ready for meeting only to discover that some of us weren’t feeling good and that there was snow (I’ll post pictures later) on the road, so driving wouldn’t be a good idea. At home there has to be a good several inches on the road for people to not drive, but when it comes to driving in snow here, think Seattle. If there is even a skiff of white stuff on the ground, they won’t drive. Granted, they don’t have plows or snow tires, but I still find it kinda silly. That’s just the cultural though. Erin and I spend a while in the store in the Inn trying to figure out what gifts to bring home and trying to take up time. We also got our lesson plans for tomorrow all figured out, which is a nice feeling. Now we’re going to have some mashed potatoes for dinner and yes, watch Chuck. =}