Pretty's, Happy's, Awkward's and Just Plain Gones

Hello! I have only 1 class over the next 8 days and I'm glad beyond words because of it. I'm unfortunatly still sick and am finding it esspecially hard to breath tonight. I've attempted to avoid eating the Chinese food, as it almost garanteed makes me feel sick (every time). I think I might have figured out what it is that's bothering me though. Almost all the food here is spicy, and by spicy I mean hot. The average spicy meal here will actually make my lips turn a dark pinkish red from the heat, and I think that's what is bothering my stomache. See back home in Delaware I hardly every ate anything spicy, mild taco-bell sauce, maybe something a little hot a friends house. But never anything like this. 

The top picture is a new shirt I got and this is a red headband/earwarmer I made when I first got here. So funy story to share with y'all. So ya I went out to the park yesterday morning just to get some air and get out of the house, (note I've been sick and after 23 classes my voice was baisically gone). So I'm at the park and I took a scetch pad with me, (another story) and I was drawing two willow trees and some guy comes up and starts talking to me (in Chinese) so not only do I not understand him, but even if I did and knew what to say back you must remember my voice is almost gone and I can hardly speak English. He just kept on talkin and asking me questions, even after about 50 "I don't know"'s and 5 "I don't speak Chinese"'s , anyhow I'm waiting for him to get the picture and leave, but does he? No! He sits down next to me and just keeps talking. I called my friend Becky and asked her to talk to him, after about a half an hour of handing the phone back and forth I found out that  this 30 somethin year old man owns a bar and that he was interested in the picture I was drawing, but he was more interested in me, if you know what I mean. He wanted to know how old I was and if I had a boyfriend blah blah blah blah. It was totaly awkward. Anyhow, I got out of it with a name, number and a note, I still don't know what it says but I'll find out Sunday and let ya'll know.

Anywho, I went to the morning market for the first time and got these threads for only 3 yuan. Also started a tatting project and saw my breath on the way home from the store today, it's getting rather chilly. (Also got some grey yarn at the night market we'll see what that ends up.

Feet on the Floor

So my last post, a bit dramatic perhaps but all true, I will admit it was a bit magnified by the fact that I haven't been feeling well. And I'm still actually feeling rather sick. I was feeling better last night so I went out for dinner with some friends. It would have been wonderful, if I hadn't eaten anything, as is, it was good. I got to talk to my one friend about problems difficulties and emotions that I've been dealing with and she talked me through it so that was good, I'm still sick and a bit of an emotional reck but at least now I'm looking up. I miss that feeling of knowing who I am though. A random facebook friend I don't really know popped up on chat, he ended up asking me what kinds of things I like to do. It came out something like this.

" I dunno, I'm kinda laid back, just like to live a simple, fun, life, good food, good music, fun cloths, dancing, long nights on the beach with my friends, spending time with my family, shopping with my sister, listening to my brother play guitar, working on cars with my dad, talking to my mom about everything under the sun over coffee and tea, baking delicious food like lasagna and pumpkin pie, watching and quoting stupid movies. I enjoy school actually, I like doing photo shoots with my besty lefty and I like hanging at the music store, with my two best guy friends, and I like buying flowers and I like making things. Youth Group is the high light of my week, it's a good time with my Father and my family, worship is the best, and the word is always good, and the prayer is so encouraging.  I love thrift shops and antique stores. I'll never get the smell of salt or the crash of the waves out of my mind and I love getting up early and taking my coffee to the beach just so I can see how God has decided to paint the sky today. 

I could post things all day, but it's all upside down right now, because that's all back home in DE. I'm praying the Father teaches me how to love being in Harbin, maybe not quite as much as dear sweet Delaware, but enough to get me through the year with fond memories attached.

If You Think It's Easy

If you're anything like me, you probably think moveing to and living in a foreign country, is no big deal. But you'd be wrong. So wrong! This is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Some days are good, but most I miss my family and friends like crazy. It's funny how as time passes you begin even to miss things you never took notice of back home, you wish you could eat one normal meal. You wish you could wake up to a hug from your mommy. You wish you could here the waves crash against the shore and smell the salt in the air. You wish you could walk into a legit food market like, Food Lion and hear a normal conversation in English. You wish you had a bath tub you could just sit in, or even that you could drink the water out of the tap. It's hard hear, and honestly half the time all I want, is to just go home. But I can't, the Father sent me here, and He sent me for a reason. I know the end of the story, I come up out of the desert leaning on my beloved. It's the middle of the story that's driving me a little crazy, and yet I remember, this too shall pass.

Birds Nest {hairstyle}

So my new friend Becky (I need to learn her Chinese name), well last night she told me she loved my hair, so we swaped hairstyling ideas. This is how she does her hair. She calls it her little birds nest, hers is much prettier, as she has beautifull, long, silky, black, asian, hair. But I like it and I wanted to share it with you.

Pass along a Chinese Song

The blog is now entitled my new life in China, but I haven't really told you to much about what it's really like here, what I do with my days, how much coffee I drink, or even the highlights of my week. You may think at this point that I'm actually going somewhere with that statement but you'd be wrong. Sadly I'm writing lesson plans for the next 2 days and all I can say is this week has been good and I'm praying my 20 weekend classes are the same. (yep thats right 20 classes in the next two days) Well there's so much to tell maybe you'll here about it Monday. For now all I can say is I'm without a camera (I think I left the battery charger back home in DE :P ). Maybe I'll get a new one next week. Here is a song that has really blessed me, I'm trying to learn it in Chinese, we'll see how that goes, hope it blesses you as much as it has me.

When in Braids

Me and my Jítā!

So I finally got a guitar the other day, I walked in a few stores and when I found this one I new I had to buy her. The second I walked in the store she said hey, hey you! My name is Dorcas we should be friends, she was only 380 yuan so I brought her home, she looks, sounds and feels beautiful. At first I didn't want to name her Dorcas because it sounded like a weird name that my friend Cal would pick, but Dorcas is her name, she's very insistent, and there's no changing it! 

Horribly bad about posts

Sooooo it's been basically forever since I posted anything, I've been rather selfish and I'm sorry. But this will have to be short, I have to teach 8 classes tomorrow and 10 the next day and I can't seem to sit down and get my lesson plans done. You see this post is already a distraction. But here's a little bag and a comb and a block of Irish Cheddar. Little purchases that make the bad days a little brighter.