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.

Siberian beauty

While walking to work the other day I passed two men walking the most beautiful Siberian Huskies. I've been thinking about getting one, obviously not till I get my own apartment. But still I was considering it, I'v never had a pet dog before. Aren't they beautiful?

All my love

Hmmmm ... So I taught my first two classes last night, they weren't the most amazing things ever but I think I did pretty good all things considered.  Then at like 3 this morning I awoke to news of the earthquake in America, I instantly got on facebook to make sure everyone was ok. They were all fine, and I was better for the lack of sleep as I got to talk to one my best friends for about an hour before he sent me to bed. Anyhow the other day I went in a little shop and I got a small notebook and a calligraphy style fountain pen, I planned on writing down chinese words and phrases as I learn them. I was disappointed to find later that the pen had no ink in it. So today I went back and through a serious of back on forth conversation I got a jar of ink, it ended up being red but that's alright, I'll probably get another one later and get black. the bottle of ink was only 3 yuan that's like 45 cents. It's unbelievably cheep. Anyhow, this is my book and my pen. The pen has ink and the book has words. Talk to you soon.

"Days like these I got nothing to sing about"

Well that's not really true. But it's a great song by John Mark McMillian. Crazy day, I had to go to the big police station down town and then I had to get a body check (EKG, Sonogram, Chest X-ray, Blood drawn,   Blood Pressure and Temperature, Height and Weight, Eyes, and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting). Later I had two hours of training and demo work and Nancy told me I did very good, that makes me sooo happy. Then I had a break and went for a walk, long story short I got this hair thing, to the left <. And this food thing down below. Both were amazing! The food is also from a street vender. It's like a fresh made pita pocket with peppers and beef in it, soooooo goood. I don't think I've ever had so many peppers in my life, but I'm actually beginning to enjoy them. Oh and the bottom picture is a work picture of me and the envelope they put it in, (I like the envelope).

Not Normal

So this morning, I ate peanut butter toast and worked on a little project, I'll show you later. Later my boss took myself and some friends out to lunch. It was a fancy Korean restaurant, my first time ever eating dog. It was remarkably tasty. I didn't have to go in to work today so after beginning the ultimate game of rummy (which I am winning) we went on a horrendously delightful looooooooooooong walk through the city. Over all a good day.

Arrrrrrrrg like a Pirate

See these keys? These are the keys to the apartment, That middle one is crazy it's like four keys in one. Do you know how long it took me to use that key and figure out how to get the door open? TEN MINUTES! Yes you heard me 10 min, that's insanity!

Out and About

I walked to the music store this morning, if figured I'd just go look around. I ended up being the only one in the store, so they were trying to talk to me and it was like language barrier ... epic fail! However, I next ventured on to KFC where I successfully ordered and ice coffee without ice, in Chinese! Then a woman asked me how to get somewhere (in chinese) and I successfully explained to her that I speak very little chinese. I'd say I gained some awesome points for trying and partially succeeding at communicating. Oh and then I went to the school for 5 and a half hours. When I got home it took me a good 10 minutes to figure out how to get the door unlocked :P. Oh and this > 
is a tower that I pass on the way to KFC. I love it! 

What shall I do?

Hello all! Today was good, some friends came in late last night so I only  got four hours of sleep. However, the noisy little dears we've been watching are now gone and the house is quiet. Went into work and had a training session with Andy, Andy like Paul is from Scotland though I have to say he has a much more epic accent. Anyhow, after that I watched four of Pau's classes. Over all a good night, it ended with an invitation to join my two new Scottish buddies at a karaoke bar tomorrow night,  Paul "me and andy might have a few beers but you don't have to, if you don't want to. But it's a lot of fun." I do really wanna go it sounds like a lot of fun. They seem like really good nice guys and I've been missing my guy friends. Talked to one of them earlier today (my bestest guy friend ever, that is) It made my day so much better, you don't even know. And I got to talk to my dear mommy, love her so much! I was practically dripping in happiness. Though, I'm exhausted now.  Oh and I just got my first bloody nose of the year, I think it's gonna be a long one.

P.S. This is a russian art museum.

Tid bits

Really am feeling to tired to write a decent blog post which always puts me in even more of an unbloging mood. But i'll give you a bunch of pictures from the other day and tell you a little of what I've been up to. The day after I arrived my emailing friend Esther came by and asked if I wanted to go out. I really had nothing better to do so I said sure, it was a lot of fun. Then met a bunch of the university students last night, made some new friends and today I got my teachers shirt and sat in on my two first observational classes. I will admit that I do miss my family and friends. But I really do love the people, the culture and the city. I'm not always I find, exceptionally pleased with the food. However, it hasn't made me sick yet. Oh yes and stairs, lots of them, all over the place. And I walked to KFC (pronounced Kunda G) all by myself, ordered an ice coffee said thank you in Mandarine and walked home. The internet is being stupid and the pictures won't load I'll try latter.

Here in Harbin my new Home

Yes I am here! I am alive and almost all is well. I finally have the internet hooked to my computer, but I'm so exausted I don't know what to say. I know! I won't say anything, I will just let you look at pictures. To the left is my new window seat, I love it!  We're on the 6th floor (no elevators :P ) so a nice breeze comes in at night and I can listen to the sounds of the city. I'll tell you much more tomorrow.

Adventures

So a while back, July 12th to be exact I posted a list of questions and answers and told you I didn't know what they were for. Well, TADAH! It is my going away present :) I'm gonna miss my lefty sister so bad. I leave in 8 and a half hours what is so far the biggest craziest adventure of my life. I'll probably be the big baby crying on the airplane, but I'm ok with that. Adventures have their ups and downs. But it'll all work out, Gods plans are always best. Well I'll see ya in China ;)
(I'll post  better pictures later)

Last Sunrise in Delaware

Second to last

So I only have one more full day before my journey begins, and I must say I am feeling better about it. I have my visa, and I've had time to spend with friends and family. Tonight is that last bonfire and I'm wanting to stay out all night and watch the sun come up. (Don't know that I will but I want to.) Almost all packed, everything is under 50 pounds and I'm eating some Dubliner cheese, dark chocolate and drinking earl grey tea. I had a good relationship repairing conversation last night and it has significantly lowered my level of stress. I'm hoping to have everything done tonight so tomorrow I can take a nap and just hang around and relax with family and friends. I leave tomorrow at midnight.