So below is something that I reference a
lot, so when you see it in my posts, you can laugh that much more with me :D
Hahahaha. Just a friendly picture that Shelby and Marissa introduced me to.
This is what Shelbs posted on Marissa’s facebook wall when she found out she
couldn’t date in China. It’s pretty much a term you can just use for anything.
And life is just that much funnier when everyone knows what you’re referencing.
;)
An American in China
Friday, November 2, 2012
PLEASE OBSERVE
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Halloween Fun!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! So this week we were asked to dress up for
two days, the 30th and the 31st. The first day I didn’t
really know what to do. I thought about doing my zombie costume, but I was
afraid I would scare the children (and I would have been sooo right….hahaha),
so I went with the typical Steve Erkal look…the only problem was….nobody knows
who steve erkal is….so they just kept saying I was “cute” and kept asking if I
was Harry Potter….hahaha BUT it’s okay J
I threw it together really fast the morning of, and it wasn’t too bad!
PANTS AND SHIRT: hand-me-downs. Courtesy of Monique Larkin
SUSPENDERS: ribbon. Courtesy of the school.
TIE: Shanghai market, a present for my brother (shhhh). $1.50
SOCKS: borrowed. Courtesy of Sabrina
SHOES: Supermarket. $8
GLASSES: foam and paper. Courtesy of the School.
BODY: God. Priceless.
SUSPENDERS: ribbon. Courtesy of the school.
TIE: Shanghai market, a present for my brother (shhhh). $1.50
SOCKS: borrowed. Courtesy of Sabrina
SHOES: Supermarket. $8
GLASSES: foam and paper. Courtesy of the School.
BODY: God. Priceless.
Anyways, it was pretty successful. The next day, I had to be something different, so it was time to kick my creative juices into gear. I cannot tell you HOW I came up with this idea, because I honestly have no clue. But I wanted to be a princess! So I decided to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast! So I made a beautiful yellow dress….out of trash bags :D

DRESS: trash bags. Courtesy of the supermarket, $0.50
HAIR: yours truly JCourtesy of Google and Stephen (he would watch the YouTube tutorials and tell me what the girl was doing. And of course he was very helpful explaining how she could have made the video 10 minutes shorter by just giving a step by step instruction rather than showing how every step was made “if a man was making this movie….” Gotta love him J)
Any ways, we had a great week of Trick or treating between
classes, halloween crafts, and of course lots of candy J Alltogether a very successful
holiday!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sunbeam meets Sun
A sunbeam. Most people think of a ray of light, but I think
of a familiar primary song J
Now of course I can’t teach that song
to my kids, or I’ll risk getting sent home. SO! I changed the words, and it’s
still they’re favorite song! J
(Let’s all pretend we’re a sunbeam, and shine so bright each day. In every way
let’s be happy, at home at work at play. A sunbeam, a sunbeam, let’s all pretend
we’re a sunbeam. A sunbeam, a sunbeam, I’ll be a sunbeam today). A sun beam is
just a small portion of a great light source; one that can warm the entire
earth and provide nutrients for numberless life forms. A sunbeam is like an
example of the sun. Since you can’t handle the full sun, you get to experience
just a small portion that can warm your skin…or your heart!
That brings
me to my next point. I think I’ve been a rather dull sunbeam lately. When I came
to China, I had expectations, and I have come to a novel conclusion (at least I think its novel haha).
If you spend all your time trying to make your situation
match your expectation, you unavoidably prevent reality from influencing you
positively, therefore robbing yourself of a situation that would surpass your
expectations.
The
story behind it: Here I am, in freaking China, and all I can seem to get done
is minimal because I keep trying to make my experience here what I expected it
to be. I expected a third world experience, with dirt floors, walking a mile or
two to school every day, and poor children starving for knowledge. Instead I
live in a city, much like Seattle. They have AC, and life is normal. My
children are 50million times more rich than my family (and that’s ALMOST not an
exaggeration….), and I walk 8 minutes to get to school. I have a supermarket
that’s like a walmart right down the road with everything I need, and I’m now a
master at taxis and the subway. I am so busy, I haven’t seen much of China, and
I keep trying to force myself to go without things so it will be more like what
I imagined.
WHAT
THE HECK AM I DOING?!?! The world grew up and I stayed naïve….hahaha.
I have an amazing ward, and the sisters need to go back to
the states and teach everyone how it’s done. I realized I need to be more
proactive in accepting the modern changes that China has undergone, and start
learning how to be better at taking advantage of opportunities. I keep beating
myself up because I haven’t traveled very much, and I stay at home on weekends….but
then I realize I never have an empty moment when I stay home. I’m always
working on something, or attending ward activities, or helping someone. THAT’S
OKAY! Yeah I still want to travel, and I have every intention of doing so, but
beating myself up over not getting the experience I expected is…..preventing me
from getting an experience worth getting! I have travel plans, yes. I have
cooking plans, yes! (I’ve learned how to create some of the AMAZING vegetable
dishes here!). And I have a new plan to delve myself into the language. I know enough
to get me around, but I want to actually learn it.
My real
goal is to enjoy what I have, and take advantage of what’s here. Everything is
modern, so it’s really hard to really experience the culture like I wanted to,
but I’m going to try, and enjoy what I get to. Time to be a brighter sunbeam J
Trunk or Treat!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Cousins! Happy visit :)
This weekend Cousing Scotty and his
wife Kailey (pronounced Kiley) came and visited me!!! Oh it was a blast and
much needed! :D Friday after school I got on a motorbike taxi to the subway and
took a train to the railway station to pick them up! They were 4 other people
from their program.
Scott and Kailey knew this amazing
Italian restaurant that was authentic and super cheap! So we headed there and
had some AMAZING food J And of course I forgot to put my memory card
back in my camera, so I didn’t get a picture.
After dinner we helped the other 4
people get to their hostel, and then we headed to my place! I filled Scott and
Kailey in on all my crazy news with missions and marriage and they were excited
for both.
We got back to my apartment and
showered and FINALLY went to sleep around 1 J
Please examine this beautiful felt crock. Yes I said it, felt. |
The next day Scott and Kailey slept
in, and I got up early to go grocery shopping. I came back with breakfast and a
surprise for later. By the time we had a plan, were dressed, and ready to go,
it was about 11, so we stopped at a German bakery so Scott and Kailey could try
their amazing sandwhiches!!!! (that’s pretty hard to come by here ;D) Then we
hopped on a bus to head for the subway. When we got on the subway we headed to
The Science and Technology stop to do lots of Christmas Shopping! Except it was
then that I realized I didn’t know much of what anyone needed…..so I got stuff
for me J Hahaha. I got a great winter dress coat (It’ll
be great for the mission) as well as a good jacket (it’s starting to get cold
here…and I don’t have one). You should also note that it’s a $100 Northface,
and I bartered it for $20….and got it :D I got some cute really good polarized sunglasses
for $6, and brand new large, sturdy, and durable suitcase (because I’m gonna
need another one to bring stuff home) for $28, and a cute vintage mini suitcase
for my photoshoots! I also got a bunch of things for my dad/brothers/boyfriend,
and a few things for my sisters. All in all, it was a very successful shopping
day!
We were going to go to an acrobat show
that night, but all the cheap tickets were sold out L So, as we were exhausted from walking around
ALL day, we headed home and finished the night with showers and a movie! Okay
so the movie didn’t work…..but it was a relaxing thought! Haha. I skyped my
parents to go over mission stuff, and then we went to bed.
Probably my favorite part of our time
together were the pillow talks. When the lights were out and we were all
snuggled in our beds just talking across the room to each other. I absolutely
loved it, and it’s something I’ll treasure J
I’m a nerd like that. Hahaha.
We talked more, and then it was time
for them to leave to catch their train L But it was a wonderful weekend!!
Mission/Marriage Update
So I met with my Branch president,
and it was great! We had a verrry long conversation
about Stephen, marriage, missions, schooling, and all that good stuff. He gave
very wise council as a realist (his motto is hope for the best but prepare for
the worst). He read to me from the Bishop Handbook that if women are in a
position to get married they should. But he also told me a story of an
experience he had in which the moral of the story was, sometimes the Lord wants
you to choose a specific decision that might not work out, so you can know for
sure that the former was the right one. In addition, he said that they’re in
great need of more missionaries, and I would make a great one, and I would
never regret it. He also said it might be ideal for Stephen as well, to get
more schooling out of the way (provided he’s still around). He made a point
that he would not sway me either way, and that it definitely had to be my
decision. I filled him in on how I viewed things.
I told him how I had felt the Lord confirm that both
getting married to Stephen and going on a mission are both worthy experiences
and that it was up to me to decide. I told him that since the Lord had already
confirmed that marrying Stephen was a righteous decision, he would not tell me
not to marry him, but if I chose to go on a mission, if he wanted me elsewhere,
he would tell me. I also said that I felt it was too soon to back out because I
know I would regret not knowing if I should have gone or not. Plus I WANT to
serve! So badly! We decided (meaning I decided and he said it was a good idea)
to continue with the process and submit my papers.President Larkin had a similar experience with his wife to me and Stephen (like almost identical) and he said that things change when you’re in person. It either is confirmed that it’s definitely right, or it’s not, definitely not. I may go home and see Stephen and it doesn’t work at all, so I’ll continue with my mission. I may go home and see Stephen and it works out great, and I still decide to continue. Or I may go home and meet Stephen and decide that’s where I want to be, and that’s where I want to stay. With any of those possibilities I’m covering all my bases. I’m registering for classes in November (you can’t submit a missionary deferment until you have your call, and your report date has to be before the end of that semester date). But if I end up following through with a mission, then I can easily defer the next 18 months. When I register for school, I’m going to register for all online classes in case I do decide to stay home. I can look into the institute in Bellevue and get some roommates, a job, and do my schooling from there so we can be in the same city.
So what am I doing? I’m filling out my papers, seeing physicinas, going to the dentist, getting a picture taken, all the while getting a wedding dress made and buying bridesmaid dress fabric. Let me tell you, I have to be on two separate tracks to function….hahaha, but for right now, I’m just going to live in the now, and let the future take care of itself J
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Snot-nosed Tykes and their Loving Parents
Yes in the literal
meaning of the phrase….it’s cold season!!! And my lovely children, who have
successfully deflected any means of sanitization, blowing their noses on
something other than their hands, WASHING their hands, and covering their
mouth, have graciously passed their delicious germs onto me, their loving
teacher. We have a very close relationship you see…..
Hahaha but thankfully I’m doing well! I got a priesthood blessing
last Sunday for my infection, and they threw in a nice piece for my cold :) That and my added
amounts of sleep and eating oranges every day (AND THE SAVING REALIZATION THAT
I HAD PACKED NASAL SPRAY), life has been a whole lot less miserable :)
**Side note super-fast!!! So things with my roommate have
been going very well! If you didn’t hear,
the school rehired her, so I got to keep her :)She has come to church with
me every time I’ve invited her, AND Last Saturday night, I needed to catch up
on the afternoon session of conference that I had missed, she came in and asked
if she could watch it with me! So of course I plugged in the ihome for a more
in-your-face not-so-surround surround sound, and brought out the cookies!
Hahaha. I invited her to come with me the next day to watch Sunday conference with
the YSA’s (it may or may not have been the food in between sessions that lured
her, but hey!), and she even brought a notebook and took notes!..you know…when
she wasn’t dozing off ;) Hahaha. It’s been going very good though :)
ANYWAYS!(sorry, that was connected in my head, I promise). Back
to what I was talking about :) So funny story about being sick:
I was walking down the hall, trailing my kids, when Phyllis,
the western teacher coordinator, stopped me. She pointed to my water bottle and
asked what it was for. I lifted it up and said, ‘oh, yeah, I’ve got a cold, so
I’m drinking lots of water’. Apparently carrying around a water bottle is
against the rules, and I quote: “this not allowed. If parents see you with
water bottle they think, OH! Western teacher only think about themselves! Only take
care of themselves and no one else, this not good. But I see you are clever!
You use THIS kind of water bottle (you know, the recyclable ones you buy in a
vending machine but twice the size) because parents not know who iss for. I think
you are clever. Take care of health!” And she was on her way. This school
cracks me up, let me tell ya.
ALSO the parents are a bit different too! At first, they seem like your typical parent who only has one child, so they see to their every needs, but when they come to pick them up, the school literally turns into a zoo....okay not literally, but I wanted emphasis....haha
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