Keara Lei

Dumbledore Oil Painting

2011-12-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

So this semester I am auditing a Painting 1 class. I couldn't actually sign up for the class since I haven't taken any of the Art prerequisites, but the teacher is letting me sit in. Its been a blast! The last painting we had to turn in had to be a portrait in an interior of some sort. It took me DAYS to figure out what I wanted to paint, but i finally did! And its MAGICAL (pun intended). Lets just say I took my Harry Potter obsession to a whole new level! Here it is!

I really wish I could Apparate..

2011-01-06T23:55:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, as in most of the time, I want to be in two places at once. Usually those two places are my home in South Jordan and my home in Logan. I love them both so much, and there are people in both places that I want to be with all the time.

Dang that two hour drvie....

The nerd in me wishes everyday that I could apparate like in Harry Potter. I mean, seriously, how cool would that be??

Thats all.

New Year's Eve 2010

2011-01-02T22:05:00.000-08:00

Me and a few of my friends decided to throw together a last minute New Year's Eve party. It ended up being AWESOME. There was a pretty good turnout. It was fun to see some of my friends I haven't seen in awhile, and to see my friends I see a lot :)

We had Elk steak and Moose jerky - compliments of Jeremy G. and Ken. And a whole bunch of other snacks. Then we played a ton of games, but we had to split into two groups to play.

Jeremy K., Brandon, Chelsey, Jeremy G., Megan, a girl, Austin

Josh, Kati, Tyson, Andee, Ken, Me and Brittany

Ken also brought a word search that his cousin made for him ten years ago. He hasn't finished it and was hoping to get some help. The word search is huge- it is 1,000 words and I think, if I remember correctly, that there are 23, 760 letters, give or take a couple hundred. And they are smart words- I bet half of them I don't even know, they're like scientists and stuff. I am starting to think his cousin is a genius. I got a little overwhelmed, so I made a goal of finding one a year. I found one word in time for 2010, and I found another word I'm counting for 2011 haha.

Ken, Brittany, and me working on the huge word search

The letters are TINY, and the handwriting isn't the best... haha

At midnight we went outside- from my porch we could see fireworks going off all over the valley. It was cool. We tried to sled down a pathetic hill, but it didn't work, we just got really cold. Then we went inside and found a game all of us could play (one of my all time favorites) - SIGNS.

Everyone got super into it and we had a blast! I love that game. Chelsey, Megan and I play it all the time up at school, so we are pretty good at passing our signs back and forth really fast which makes the game really fun. Andee's husband, Tyson, giggled like a girl through the whole thing- haha it was the best.

I think we ended that game around 2 o'clock in the morning when some of the people started to leave. The rest of us sat around and talked for a couple more hours. For some strange, unknown reason, Chelsey, Megan and I had a sit up competition at 3:30 in the morning. CHelsey and I tied (I guess... But really, I won... haha). We both did 55 sit ups. Then we just leaned back at forty five degree angles. I think I won that one. And I think I won the planks too... haha who knows. It was too late to do anything like that. We're crazy. My abs finally started to get sore today.

Around four all the boys finally left and us girls could get ready for our sleepover. Except we didn't. We ended up talking til 5:30 in the morning. Again- we were crazy.

But it was probably the funnest New Year's Eve party I've been to in awhile! Soooooo much fun.

I love all of my friends :)

Week of Weddings!

2011-01-02T20:13:00.000-08:00

Four of my friends were married this week! Two different couples:

Taisa & Andrew and Amanda & Preston.

Taisa and Andrew were married on Tuesday, December 28. Taisa was my roommate this year, so by default, Andrew was too haha. We got to be really close, and I'll miss Taisa. Our other roommate, Jordan, is also moving out and I'll miss her a ton. My camera battery died so I didn't get any pictures at the wedding. But I stole one from Chelsey :)

My friends Amanda and Preston were married on Wednesday, December 29. Preston lived in my dorm building freshman year. Megan, Amanda's twin, was my roommate. But Amanda and Preston didn't ever meet until after Preston got home from his mission and went to a party at Chelsey's house (go Chels!!) and the rest is history! Amanda is in my major, so we've gotten to be pretty close while bonding over our math nerdiness. I was lucky enough to be one of her bridesmaids too!

Again, I had to steal pictures from Chelsey... haha

Mr. & Mrs. Lamb!

They're soooo happy!

All of the bridesmaids!

Best friends!

Megan caught the bouquet!

I'm so happy for all of my friends! You are all wonderful! Congrats!!

Final Grades/Christmas Break

2010-12-24T22:13:00.000-08:00

So I did way better in school this semester than I thought. Its pretty awesome! I got a 3.83 GPA! I got A's in Discrete Math, Calculus 3 and English and a B+ in my Stats 5200 class. (I was SOOOO close to an A... almost had a 4.0) But I am still pretty stoked!!

This break has been pretty nice so far! Really boring sometimes but really relaxing. I always kind of go through a little bit of an identity crisis at the end of each semester. I don't know what to do with myself with all my homework and studying done. But hey, I am DEFINATELY not complaining!

I've also gone on a couple of dates with a really cute boy :) All i'm going to say is butterflies. And that I suck at dating. I'm always super insecure about everything. Andee, I'm going to publicly appolgize for bothering you like a 16 year old girl. Ha. But, I wont say anything more until I have more to tell.

Tomorrow I get to talk to Casey!! I'm so excited! I miss him a ton. He's my buddy, and I get so bored at home with him gone. But he gets home in like 7 months! Yay :)

The Mall

2010-12-18T13:14:00.000-08:00

Let's go to the mall, everybody!

So, yesterday I went to the mall with Andee to get a tie for my brother for his Christmas present (boring, I know, but what else do missionaries need?) and guess what?!

A lady from the mall customer services came up to us and gave us both free $20 gift certificates and told us thanks for shopping at the mall during the Hollidays!

Awesome!!

And the best part is my gift certificate is to Forever 21, which is like my favorite store. So great.

Rockin' It

2010-12-16T11:30:00.000-08:00

Guess who totally rocked Multivariable Calculus this semester?!

ME!!!

I got an A and I am super stoked!!

This was a pretty good semester - So far I know I also got 107% on my Discrete Math final project, so I think I'll get an A in that class too. Pretty Awesome!!!

More to come, as soon as I find out my other final grades!!!

Fun with Friends

2010-11-29T15:47:00.000-08:00

So, I don't know if you guys know this, but I really like you. You're all pretty awesome. I really enjoy my friends. I miss them when I cant be around them.

This last week I was able to see a lot of my friends because of the long break for Thanksgiving. It was nice. I got to see my "Sizzler friends" Stephanie, Lindsay and Francescia. We went to lunch and talked for like 2 hours, and then we went to the mall. We are each others best and worst shopping partners... We all LOVE to shop and spend money, so we enjoy going with each other, but we also convince each other to buy everything so we always spend too much when we're with each other. But I love those guys :)

I also went to lunch with my friends Andee and Kati. It was nice to catch up. And Andee is PREGNANT! So thats really exciting :)

I also went to dinner and a movie with Andee and her husband Tyson. I wasn't cool enough to have a date haha. Tyson was kind enough to point that out. However, Andee has now taken it as her responsibilty to get me dating..... haha its good, I guess, because I really need to start getting out of my shy bubble and dating, but I like to complain about it. But I think this will help. Haha thanks Andee, for watching out for my eternal well-being.

Last night was our Sunday night "Game Night." However, it just ended up being me, Chelsey, Megan, Kyle and Jake ad instead of playing games we just talked about a ton of random things, from really really weird to very deep topics. Haha it was great. I like to just talk with my friends.

Oh, we made a new texting rule. Spread it like wildfire because we really want it to stick- we were all talking about how much we hate texting, and that when you do text, the tone that you mean to convey never comes across the right weay, expecially when you are sarcastic. Since I am the QUEEN of sarcasm, I really struggle with this problem. So, we decided that when you say something sarcastic through text, that you suround it with the ~ symbol, kind of like using quotes. Example: ~I LOVE to text.~

So, this sentence could have been interpreted literally (heaven forbid) and people would have assumed that I really DO love to text, when actually its quite the opposite. Now, with the introduction of the new ~ symbol, we'll never have that problem again!

I thought I should share this, just in case I use it in a text and you're kind of confused....

Well, Thank you my friends, for being my friends. You're all

AWESOME!!!

Halloween!

2010-11-29T15:28:00.000-08:00

So this is VERY overdue. Oh well. That's the story of my blog.

This year for Halloween Chelsey and I decided that we didn't want to waste time at the stinky, sweaty Howl dance up on campus, and that a party would be more fun.

And IT WAS!

We had some pretty sweet decorations and we made a ton of food, and we had punch with dry ice for an awesome effect.

We played a lot of "Minute to Win It" games. Haha I suck at most of them. Bouncing pencils on their erasers into a jar is impossible. At least when I try.

After the games a massive dance party broke out. It started inside, but then our friend Tyler pulled his car around to our back patio so we could hook the iPod into his nice set-up. It started to get pretty legit from here on out. The music was loud, we were loud.... and we ended up getting shut down by our managers before the cops were called on us. Haha. I was pretty proud of our party. We even had word of mouth- people were showing up that we had no idea who they were. Pretty sweet party, eh?

Costumes were a MUST! Here are some of the awesome pics:

Chelsey was "Storm" from X-Men

Brittany was someone from Farscape (?)

Jake and Kyle were the wonderful duo of Buzz and Woody

I was Dorothy from Wizard of Oz

Haha we had 2 people come as Katniss from the Hunger Games! Megan as the "Arena" Katniss and Ben as "The Girl on Fire" Katniss.

There were a lot of other great costumes, but I'm too lazy to wait for them to load haha. But we had a BLAST!!

My New Calling

2010-10-04T15:26:00.000-07:00

So... My new calling in Church is a Family Home Evening "Mom."

I am now a "mother" to 28 wonderful "children." Ha.

Me and my "Husband" are in charge of FHE every 1st and 3rd Monday of the month. Today is the third time we are in charge of it. I can't get ahold of my so-called husband, so I have no idea what we'll be doing in two and a half hours. I've already run out of ideas. Pathetic, eh? I have no clue how I'll keep that many people entertained twice a month for the rest of the school year...

....So....

That's where you come in.

(Hopefully..)

Can you please give me ANY ideas for a fun FHE?

It can be anything, as long as its cheap. We dont have a budget from the ward, so its all out of our pockets. But if you remember a certain FHE that you liked, PLEASE let me know! I'm pretty desprate here.

Thanks guys!!!

My Scholarship Story

2010-08-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

So, I thought that I should FINALLY post about this, since it's kind of

HUGE!!!

I've been putting it off because this is a long story, but its definitely worth telling, even if it's a month late.

So, after Spring semester in 2009, my 2 year academic scholarship from USU was up. I was going to start applying, but i was going to China and and had forever to start applying.....

Of course, me being the procrastinator that I am, never applied for a new one. When I got back from China, I was kinda like, oh crap.

That's when my mom and I started looking everywhere for new scholarships. We figured there had to be a scholarship for people with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, and we spent hours upon hours looking up different scholarships online.

One Sunday I had just come back from spending Spring Break in Moab. I was really sick of driving, so I didn't want to drive all the way back to Logan that day too, so I stayed at my parents house and was going to drive back up in the morning. When I woke up it was snowing (of course) so my mom and I thought we'd look at scholarships while we were waiting for the road to clear. Out of no where, we found a scholarship for EXACTLY what we had been looking for. A pharmaceutical company called UCB was giving away 30 $10,000 scholarships to people with Rheumatoid Arthritis. When my mom and I saw this we couldn't believe it. It was perfect. Then we noticed something. Something really bad. We had missed the deadline. The scholarship applications were supposed to be turned in the previous Friday. We had barely missed it.

My mom didn't want to give up, so she decided to call the number on the site and see if there was any way we could still send in the application. The lady on the phone had really good news- they had decided to extend the applications for one more week!

We both had to scramble to start getting everything ready. I had to write a 2 page essay on how I have tried to reach past the boundaries of my Rheumatoid Arthritis, and live my life to the fullest. I also had to have two letters of recommendation, a Doctor's note with my diagnosis, a picture of myself and the application filled out.

So, my week was crazy. I was able to get a letter from my Aerobics teacher, and also from my favorite Professor at school, my Differential Equations & Linear Algebra teacher Professor Bornholdt. He wrote an AMAZING letter. I really don't thing you could get a better one than the one he wrote for me. I also finished my essay, and it turned out perfect due to my technical writing major friend Brittany, who edited and arranged everything so it was at its best.

My only problem was that my mom had all of my medical records, and she was in South Jordan, and I was in Logan. So my mom drove up to Logan to bring my my Doctor's note and to finish putting everything together. Before she came up I realized that my mom had written on the back of the scholarship application. Of course I didn't want to turn that one in, so I got back online to print out a new one. I looked all over the entire site, and there was no longer a link to print the application. I called my mom, panicking, and she said she would call again and see if there was some way to print off a new one.

Here is where the story starts to get good. My mom calls, and a lady answers. My mom explains our situation, and asks if there is anyway to get a new application. The lady says that it isn't a problem at all, that she can email it to us. So, while she is emailing it, my mom strikes up a conversation with her. For those of you who know my mom, you know that she does this with everyone. Normally, it really bugs me. But this time, I was very thankful. It turns out that the lady on the phone was quite the talker, and she and my mom had a lengthy half hour conversation about our family, and her family. This lady (who is from South Carolina) couldn't believe that my mom had 5 kids, and that one had RA and one was autistic. All she had was a 3 year old daughter, who was more than enough work. By the end of all this talking, the lady asked if she could get my name. My mom said sure, and told her and spelled out my name for her. The lady then goes on to say that her name is Amy, and that she is actually the President of the company, and that she rates the applications from best to worst so that the panel who chooses doesn't have to go through the 100's of applicants. She said she probably shouldn't answer the phones, because she tends to become biased towards those she had talked to and rate them higher. (This is sounding better by the minute) She then says that she will keep an eye out for my application!

So, my mom comes up and we're both very excited about the phone call. We get all of my application stuff together and send it in the mail. And then we wait. And wait. And wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

After three months of waiting, June FINALLY get excited, because if I didn't win, I REALLY didn't want to have my hopes high. I mean, what if my letter just got lost in the mail, and June 30th comes and I hadn't received a letter or a call??

(Which, by the way, is something that would totally happen to me.)

On the morning of June 30th, I couldn't even think straight I was so nervous. I knew the phone call would becoming from Georgia, and that they were 2 hours ahead of us. So I figured I should be getting the call by 3:00 that day if i was going to get one. Nine o'clock rolls by, ten o'clock, eleven, twelve, one, one thirty, two.... By this point I was an emotional wreck, I'm not going to lie. I wanted this scholarship SO BAD. If I didn't get it, I wasn't going to be able to go back to school in the fall because neither me or my parents would be able to afford the tuition. I was SO nervous. I couldn't understand why I hadn't had a phone call or a letter, and I was so afraid that my worst fears were coming true, and that my letter really was lost in the mail. On top of that, I had to be in to work at 3:30, and I wasn't looking forward to selling shoes while my whole world was balancing on a stupid phone call.

By two thirty I couldn't handle it anymore. I had to know, because if I didn't get the scholarship I some how had to get over it and cope before I went to work. So I had my mom call the number again. Of course, Amy picks up. My mom goes on to say that her daughter had applied and that she hadn't received a letter or a phone call, and that we were curious to know the outcome. Amy asks what the applicant's name was, and my mom says "its Keara Brady."

(Insert cute southern accent here)

Amy: "Oh! Mrs. Brady! I was so hoping you would call!"
Mom:: "Hi Amy. I was hoping we would get to talk again too! Is there any way we can find out about Keara? She's just dying here waiting to find out."
Amy: "Oh shoot. Shoot, shoot."
Mom: "What??"
Amy: "Oh shoot. I'm not supposed to say. Oh shoot!"
Mom: "You can't tell us?"
Amy: "Oh shoot. Oh, well, don't tell Keara, but, SHE WON! I was so hoping she would! But don't tell Keara! I told the committee that I really liked her, and I was really pulling for her to win, and when I found out she did I was just so happy! But, don't tell Keara!"
Mom: "She is sitting right in front of me!
Amy: "She's there??"
Mom: "Yes, she's sitting right across from me, reading everything that goes across my face."
Amy: "Oh shoot! Well... okay, well... oh shoot! Just tell her, and give her a big hug for me!"
Mom: (to me) "Keara, you won!!"

Right here I burst into tears, I was so happy and emotional from all the stress.

So, I WON!!!!!

Amy went on to tell us that when I do receive the phone call, that I had to act really surprised, because the man that calls is the one who gives the actual money away, and calling and telling the people that they had won was his favorite part, and hearing how excited they were.

So, at 3:20 when I FINALLY received the call, I played my part, Maybe too well, because the guy said that if I was driving, I should pull over, haha. He also told me about the awards banquet that they are having during the first weekend of November in Atlanta, Georgia, and that they will fly me and one person out, all expenses paid.

So, me and of course my mom will be going. And we will get to meet Amy. :)

This scholarship really was SUCH a blessing. When I applied for it back in March, I didn't even realize HOW badly I would need this scholarship. I mean, yeah $10,000 sounded really nice then, but I didn't realize how much my life would change months that would cause me have no way of paying for my schooling. I am SO THANKFUL. This was a testimony builder for me that the Lord really does look out for us, and has a plan for us. He watches out for us before we even know we need to be watched out for. I know He has a plan for me, and He will help me succeed on the path that He has laid out for me.

And trust me, there is NO WAY I'm wasting this amazing blessing.

Silly Parker

2010-07-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

So, Parker is my 8 year old brother. He is autistic, and can be very funny.

Here is one of the most recent conversations that had me giggling:

Parker: "Keara, what school do you go to?"

Me: "Utah State University."

Parker: "Do you go to Eagle Gate College?"

Me: "Nope, I go to Utah State."

Parker: "Do you go to Stevens Henager College?"

Me: "Nope."

Parker: "Well, why?!? Thats the best school!"

Me: "How come?"

Parker: "Because, when you start you get a laptop, and when you graduate its yours!"*(*Insert "Keara, you're an idiot" tone)

He totally repeated the commercial word for word. It was just so random and unexpected. I love it when he does such funny stuff. He's a pretty cool kid.

Gleek!

2010-07-19T00:37:00.000-07:00

So, my dear friend Stephanie told me I had to watch Glee. I've heard a lot about it, but I've never gotten around to watching it. Well, it turns out they have started replaying the old series every Thursday night, and I happened to watch the very first one, and.....

I am a "Gleek."

I LOVE it. Last Thursday's episode was so funny. Sue Sylvester (If you dont watch the series, Sue is the woman in the picture) makes my laugh SO HARD. The whole show does. The script is just fantastic, and the characters are hillarious. And every week I get chills from the music. I love getting that feeling! I just cannot get enough, and I wish I didn't have to wait for it every Thursday.

If you want to start watching it, do! Go to and they have the first 5 episodes already up, and they post an episode every week after it airs on TV!

Payless

2010-07-18T22:56:00.000-07:00

So. All I wanted this summer was to find a job that I could just go to, do all of my work, do that work well, put my hours in, and leave. While trying to find a job, my dad told me that when he was younger, he realized this: that it doesnt matter what you do for work, you just have to think about it this way- that you are trading one package for another. So that was my theory for this summer. It didn't matter where I worked. I just want to work so I can trade it for the better package- moving back to school this fall. All seemed great when I was hired at payless. I mean, it SHOES for crying out loud. My most favorite things in the world. So I thought, "Hmmmm. This is a nice a package." Well, I didnt realize that I would be working with ALL GIRLS. Most of the time I would like to believe that I like most people, and I'm not too critical and I am pretty excepting of people. So, at work, I'm nice to everyone. I dont really care if what they are talking about isn't my most favorite topic of conversation. After all, I'm just here so I can return to Logan. And when I first started there, it was nice. But. Then I realized all of the girls are huge gossipers. And they all say that I can't go and tell 'so-and-so' anything, because she will tell everyone what I said, and that she causes "so much drama." And, lo and behold, that same girl is the one telling everyone everything. Its really annoying. And on top of all that, there are all these previous grudges everyone already has with everyone else. So, most of the time at work, I have to listen to the other girl tell me all of the horrible things she hates about all the other girls that work there, and the next night I listen to it all over again from a different girl. This is hard, because I dont want their gossip to change my opinion of the other girls, I want the girls to all have the chance to show me who they are, and not just go by what other people have told me. I'm trying really hard not to remember anything ANYONE tells me, and remained unbiased. And the whole time I have to keep telling myself "USU. USU. USU." And, I dont want to get caught up in ANY of it, because all I want to do is put in my hours and earn my money. So, while I'm listening to all these other girls complain about everyone and everything, I try and be cordial and nice. I thought that this would be fine, but now they all think I am their friend, and JUST their friend. And its SO ANNOYING. UGH. I seriously feel like its middle school all over agian. I guess some of the girls are still in high school, but still... why can't they just come and do their work? That's all anybody is asking of them. And part of Eclipse keeps popping into my head, where Bella tells Edward that she is Switzerland. One day I may just explode and tell all the girls that I am Switzerland, too. That I'm not choosing any sides, and that I am everyones friend, no matter if they dont like each other. One day... So, the majority of my duties at work seem to be peer counseling. I'm trying to slowly retrain all of these girls' thinking habbits into nicer ones. Hopefully it works. And meanwhile, if I have a glazed over look, its because I'm having to remind myself how awesome it will feel when I get to move back to Utah State. Five more weeks, five more weeks......

Finally!

2010-06-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

I FINALLY found a JOB! I got hired at Payless today. Very exciting. Since I love shoes SO MUCH, I'll LOVE going to work everyday! Haha I'm excited to sell shoes. Even if it is only a minimum wage job. Good news though, there is a Payless in Logan, so hopefully I can transfer when I move back to school. Some of you may be thinking, "Keara working in a shoe store = BAD IDEA" and I dont really blame you. They told me that once a month I get 50% of a pair of shoes, and the rest of the time I get 30% off. So, it is going to be VERY tempting. BUT. I have to pay for my housing and schooling next year, so I have A LOT to save up for. I'll just have to keep that in mind. But, you might have to remind me... :D

Memorial Day Campout

2010-05-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went CAMPING!

I love to camp, as does my entire family. Its the best ever. My mom's side of the family are camping enthusiasts, and they have camping down to a perfection. We go around 5 times a summer with them, and it never gets old.

I have a few cousins around my age, and we play cards ALL DAY. Seriously, if you want to play a good game of scum, come hang out with me and my cousins.

We also have amazing dutch oven cooking the whole time. My dad is an amazing dutch oven cooker. Its the best! I probably gain 5 pounds every time we camp, the food is so good.

My uncles also know how to make quite the campfire. If its not too hot to stand around, we laugh for hours at each other, all in good fun of course.

We also go fishing, four wheeling, horseback riding, cliff jumping and my anut Kerri supplies fun crafts. I just love summer (and hate winter) because I get to go camping. Its wonderful!!

And, I think, a family that camps together, stays together!

(Above, my cousins Alex and Tanner cliff jumping, and below, me trying and not succeeding in jumping off. It took my a few times before i got the guts to jump off..)

What Happened??

2010-05-26T20:02:00.001-07:00

W O W

I haven't blogged in a long time.... what happened? I mean, I've never been that good at updating my blog, but I was doing pretty well, in China at least. I'm thinking it's probably because my life was very busy, but at the same time insanely boring. (and still kind of is… haha) So...

To update you on my life:

· Spring semester is finally over! I got okay grades. I was proud of them for the most part. An A in Nutrition, and B's in my Linear Regerssion & Time Series and Linear Algebra & Differential Equations classes.

· I am now moved home to South Jordan for the summer. So far so good, but a little dull. Call me! I'd love to do something.

· I am currently job hunting. (If you know of anywhere hiring, let me know!)

· I have started painting, and I really like it. I hope to make it a hobby that sticks. I'll post pictures when I finish my Great Wall painting!

· I hope to finish guitar lessons with my mom.

· I'll be going camping a ton, and I get to go this weekend!

· I have a lot of weddings! Yay, Marriage! Five of my cousins have been or are getting married in the near future, so that's very exciting! I also have several friends planning their weddings, and two of them are my amazing friends, Lindsay (from my China group) and my old time friend Andee (who just got engaged last week!). Summers are great for weddings!

· I know a lot of you won't believe this is coming out of my mouth (well, keyboard), but I am starting to run. My friend Lindsay (from above) and her twin ran a half marathon in March, and my roomies and I went and supported them in their crazy run. I don't know why, but ever since then I have wanted to enter some kind of race. I don't think I'll ever make it to a half marathon level, but I'm going to give running a try. I figure a lot of people love it, so it can't be too bad….. I'm starting off really easy though, and I am just going to do a 5K. We'll see if I even make it that far!

· I'm also reading a lot. I've already read 4 books since I've moved home, and I would love some new ones to read. If you have any good recommendations, please tell me about them! Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll be more on top of my blogging this summer!

My cast for "The Host"

2010-03-11T12:45:00.000-08:00

I've been hearing a lot about how "The Host" is becoming a movie soon, and IMDB just wont let me see anything more than the movie being "In development." So frustrating.

I just read the book this week (LOVE IT!) and i thought I would post who my choice of actors/actresses are for the different roles. So, here they are!

Jared:

Jensen Ackles (mmmm)

Melanie Stryder: (I picked two.. I can't choose between them, they'd both fit the part)

Ashley Greene & Missy Peregrym

Ian O'Shea:

Jesse Metcalfe (also mmmmm)

Uncle Jeb:

Brian Doyle-Murray

(The Janitor in "17 Again")

Doc:

William Mapother

Kyle O'Shea:

Henry Cavill (yum)

Wanda: (I also picked two for her.)

Jayne Wisener & Amanda Seyfried I couldn't find someone I like for Jamie... there aren't that many cute, tan, black-haired, pre teen actors out there haha... but I'm sure the real casting people will find a good Jamie.

Anyways, I love this book and I am really excited for the movie. I hope it turns out better than Stephenie Meyer's other movies. If you haven't read the book yet, DO!

Goodbye China :(

2009-12-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

This will be my last post in China. I am SOOOO sad to leave! Its seriously heart wrenching. We had to say goodbye to our kids today, and it was the hardest thing I have ever done. I am so sad I'll never see these kids again. They just squeezed their way into my heart and pushed everything else out. All 38 of them have a special place, and I am so sad.

When we said our goodbyes, we all just broke down sobbing. At first some of the kids didn't understand, and they would just run around laughing and saying "Teacher sad!" but after the Chinese teachers explained that we were leaving for good, they were all upset. We were attacked by hugs and kisses and little kid tears. At one point I was sprawled out on the ground with at least eight kids on top of me giving hugs. It was super cute, but it made it so hard to leave. I never wanted to get up. It was especially hard seeing the other children crying. One of the Chinese teachers, Katie, told us that Bella's mom called her to ask when we were leaving, because Bella was at home sobbing about her English teachers going back to America. It broke our hearts even more to hear that. We seriously love these kids so much. They already feel like a dream, and I hope I can remember everything about them; their cute little quirks, and their giggles, and the funny things they do and say. I wish everyone of you could know these kids like I know them. It is probably annoying hearing me go on and on about little kids you don't know, but just trust me that these little ones are amazing.

Well, we head out tomorrow night on a super long journey home, full of huge luggage and lots of tears. But I know that I have tons of great family and friends waiting for me on the other end, as well as a steaming Little Caesar's pepperoni pizza with crazy crust and a two liter jug of Dr. Pepper. Pizza makes everything feel better haha.

Picture 1: Me and my precious Luna!

Picture 2: Cute Bella. (named after Bellatrix Lestrange, of course, but she is nothing like her at all. Such an inappropriate name.)

Spectacle!

2009-12-15T00:42:00.000-08:00

Spectacle, our kids Christmas Program, was on Friday. They did so good after all that practicing they had to do! It was fun seeing them get all dressed up and to have their parents all come!

Before the show started, we went down early to help get the kids ready. We didn't know what this entailed when we signed up, and we had quite the shock when we got down to our classrooms. There were at least 30 Chinese girls there, doing all the kids hair and make up. And I mean ALL the kids. The poor boys, who already are doomed to look girly for the rest of their lives, were forced to put on TONS of makeup. Eye shadow, white foundation, blush, lipstick, glitter... the Whole sha-bang. Poor boys... But, I must admit that I was happy I had my camera there to capture this moment. Haha a lot of those boys weren't happy about wearing pink, shimmery lipstick, not happy one little bit. And now we have this one in a lifetime experience saved forever! But they all looked very pretty, haha.

Each class performed a skit in English, and then sang their Christmas song. All of the English teachers did a dance to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," as well as a piano piece from Lindsay, a guitar/singing piece by Becca, Chelsey and me, and a song by Teresa. But the Chinese teachers saved the best for last when they had all the children perform. The older class did an adorable dance that melts your heart, and the younger class did a fashion show to some great Backstreet Boys music that makes you laugh until you cry. Some of the little kids' 'model walks' were the funniest thing you will ever see. No joke. Ask me to show you the video when I come home, cuz you'll get the biggest kick out of it. Gucci, Mandy , Emily and Yumi are so good at the walk that its unbelievable that they are only four. Haha its So Funny!

At the end of the show, the Chinese teachers surprised us and had all of the English teachers come up to the front. The Principal then gave us each a hug and a fan as a present. Then all the kids came in and put flower lei's around our necks. I was bawling by the end. Dang, I am going to miss these kids so much. It was a really tender moment, and I will always remember it. I love these little kids so much!!

Picture 1: Poor Anson in all his make up glory. Picture 2: Adorable, dainty Gucci all made up! Her name is really perfect for her in sooo many ways. Picture 3: Mass make up chaos. Those boys were not very happy about this make over.

Let It Snow!

2009-12-15T00:14:00.000-08:00

You know how half way through December a lot of people are so sick of Christmas songs that they want to shoot every radio in sight? Well I have a story for you.

About a month and a half ago, the Chinese teachers told us that we needed to start teaching our classes a Christmas song for the big end-of-semester program we have. I decided to teach my kids one of my favorite songs, Let It Snow. I thought it was funny that we had to start in October, but we did as they said. So, instead of teaching our first and fifth class rotations, we had our home room class to sing the song with. My class is all 4-5 year olds, and it was CRAZY trying to get them to sing the same boring song for 40 minutes a day. 40 minutes! I even get bored with that! By December, my kids were SO BORED with the song. I felt so bad.

That's when the Chinese teachers came up to us and told us that our songs were not good enough. They said the kids don't know the words well enough. I thought they were crazy for saying that, because I thought my kids were doing great for learning a whole song in English when they barely know any words. But the Chinese teachers thought otherwise, and we had to come before and stay after class with the kids who were "struggling" with the words. Some of these kids were now singing the same song for over and hour a day. They were getting so restless. But, we got through the extra practices and I gave them all hugs and told them they were doing great.

That's when the Chinese teachers came up to us and told us that our songs were STILL not good enough. So, the last week of teaching our beloved students, they canceled classes! We were now practicing the songs for three hours a day! The kids' poor attention spans were seriously shot. At one point one of my girls, Yumi, actually started banging her head on the table in boredom. Haha it was actually really funny. But dang, they were cute singing all the songs.

I found it funny that the Chinese teachers were okay with cutting so many classes, when earlier in the year they were upset at us when we missed one day of teaching because we were stranded in Beijing, and they were making us make up that teaching day. And now here they are cutting two weeks worth of classes in the end. Weird, huh? At one point I asked our coordinator, Annie, that

"Isn't it more important to be teaching them English, then to be teaching them Christmas songs?"

And she got a shocked look on her face and replied with a sharp

"No! Our production is more important!"

I really don't see their logic at all... but there wasn't anything I could do, except try to entertain my kids as much as I could through the three hours of grueling Christmas song singing everyday. Sometimes I wondered to myself if these poor children would ever forgive me for inflicting this torture on them. So much Christmas music in such small children haha.

They ended up doing very well at their Christmas Program, and I think most of the kids have forgiven me, but more on that later. Here are some great pictures of the kids being bored out of their minds. Enjoy!!

Picture 1: Emily fell actually fell asleep singing the song. Poor girl. She is super cute when she sleeps, though, so I didn't wake her. Picture 2: Ron was showing me some of his pent up frustration. Haha.

Thanksgiving in China

2009-12-02T05:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving from China!

We had a Thanksgiving dinner with some of the teachers, cooks and guards from our school on Thursday and we had a wonderful night! It was so much fun showing them some of our culture for a change. (They probably think Americans are obsessed with food haha) We were able to cook mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pie, and all of our Chinese guests seemed to really enjoy out American food. We sat and talked, ate good food, listened to a teacher's husband play the guitar while their adorable two year old sang along, and had a turkey piñata. It was a blast! I am so thankful for these wonderful people and all of the new things I am learning from them! You'll never meet a nicer, more giving people. It was such a neat experience sharing Thanksgiving with them!

Pictures:

First: Me and my Thanksgiving feast! Delish!

Second: Me, Kati (one of the teachers here) and her son, Ryan, who is one of my students. He is super cute and smart!

Rice Terrace Photos

2009-11-30T04:10:00.000-08:00

I know I've put a lot of pictures up lately- I'm sorry. But A picture is worth a thousand words, right? And I definitely don't have the right words to explain this beautiful place. So enjoy!!

Village Pictures

2009-11-27T08:14:00.000-08:00

It was so pretty here I just have to add more pictures! Enjoy!

More Village Pictures....

2009-11-27T00:55:00.000-08:00

Couldn't resist... Picture 1: A shot of the misty mountains from the rock steps up to the rice terraces. Picture 2: A view of the village from the top of the mountain. Picture 3: Some of the local women climbing the steps to go to work. Such dedicated farmers.

Rice Terraces

2009-11-26T23:15:00.000-08:00

The last part of our trip was taking a bus to the rice terraces! I've seen tons of pictures of the rice terraces growing up, so I was really excited to see them, and they most definitely did not disappoint! They were awesome!

We had to take a three hour bus ride out to the terraces, which wasn't too bad compared to any of our other transportation stories haha. When we got there we were able to walk around the villages and see how the farmers live and what their houses are like. Their houses are three stories high. The bottom floor is where all the animals live, the second floor is for bedrooms and "living" as they put it, and the third floor is for food, a.k.a. the kitchen. I thought their houses were really pretty, and had a nice rustic Chinese mixture, which was neat to see.

We also got to see a show demonstrating some of the local culture for us. In this village the ladies only cut their hair once- when they turn eighteen. So, as you can imagine, they had really long hair. They also have different ways of wearing their hair depending on where they are in life, such as single, married and a mother. In the show they demonstrated how they make their buns with over 4 feet of hair. I have no idea how they live with their hair that long. Can you imagine the up keep? Wow.

After the show we went to a different village that was higher up in the mountains, right up with the terraces. There we ate lunch, which consisted of "Bamboo Rice" which is a hollowed out bamboo stick filled with a rice and veggie mixture and then cooked in the fire. It was delicious. After we ate we started climbing the rock paths up higher into the mountains to get to the rice terraces. This village was literally on top of the mountains, and we were immersed in the clouds, and it felt like we were on top of the world. It was gorgeous.

There were a few places that you could stop along the path to take pictures of the rice terraces, which went on and on in every direction, with thousands of "steps" all over the mountains. They look sooo cool. Its crazy to think that people actually managed to make all these terraces, and then farm on them. It blows my mind. Its got to be so much work. They do get to look at one of the most beautiful places in the world, though, while they work , which has got to be a plus. It really is so beautiful there. You can just look at it for hours and not get sick of it. I was sad to leave, and wish we could have stayed a little while longer!

More Rafting Pictures

2009-11-26T21:27:00.000-08:00

These mountains were so beautiful! I've missed mountains a ton since coming to China. It was nice to see some and feel more at home again!

Bamboo Rafting

2009-11-26T21:20:00.000-08:00

On the second day of our trip we were able to take a bamboo raft tour of the stunning karst mountains along the Li River. It was soooooo cool. It was raining that day, and so there was a lot of fog and mist surrounding the peaks, and it gave a wonderful effect to the scenery. It was like we were traveling through the Misty Mountains in Lord of the Rings haha. Sadly, the fog made it really hard to capture the mountains on camera and still give them justice. They are so hard to describe. Just trust me that they are astonishing.

Our guide was really funny. He had laminated pictures of the mountains we were seeing, and every few minutes he would hand us a couple pictures and start going off in Chinese, like we knew what he was saying. He would just sit there, talking and pointing up a storm, while we just nodded our heads at him. And then he would light up a cigarette. I swear he went through a whole pack on our boat ride. It was gross. He was a funny old man though.

Another funny story on our boat ride: It was raining, right? And there were lots of other rafts going up and down the river while we were. We passed another raft going in the opposite direction, and one of the guys had put a plastic bag over his head to keep the rain out! A plastic bag! Haha! I thought it was common sense to NEVER do that, but... it seems like a good idea, I guess... until you pass out lol. Too bad he was going the other way.. I really wanted to see how that whole plan worked out for him.

But it was so cold! It was about 8 degrees Celsius (I'm not sure what that is in Fahrenheit..) and all we had were thin jackets. It was freezing in the rain on a raft in a river. We loved that bamboo raft, but it felt nice to get off and get warm and dry again. We all ended up buying North Face coats at a market that night, along with hats, gloves and scarves. We were really cold, if I didn't get that point across very well. But the next day we were all snuggly and warm in our coats!

More Pictures!

2009-11-24T02:38:00.000-08:00

Pictures:

First & Second: More of the beautiful mountains from the top of Moon Hill.

Third: A nice, juicy burger from Minnie Mao's!

Moon Hill!

2009-11-24T00:56:00.000-08:00

After exploring the Mud Caves on Saturday, we stopped for lunch at a little village nearby. We got some great sweet n' sour chicken, and then wandered through some shops set up along the road. Guess what we came across in front of one of the shops?? A baby monkey all dressed up in a costume! And the man let us hold him! It was really funny, cuz my hoodie has fur around the brim of the hood, and the monkey immediately jumped over to me and started to stroke it, and then he just grabbed out a fistful of it and started to eat it! Haha it was funny. Something even funnier was that when Becca came up to try and hold him, the monkey tried to slap her in the face, repeatedly. Haha he just loved my fuzzy coat so much he didn't want to go anywhere else! He was adorable. Sadly we couldn't get a picture of him without paying.

Next, we rode our bikes over to Moon Hill, which is one of the 'Dr. Seuss' mountains with a huge circle in the middle of it that is shaped like a moon. You can hike up the mountain and take pictures from inside the moon, and it was really neat. But it was a lot of steps up to that moon haha. At the top we got some great pictures though! We also met some cute kids from a nearby city, and one of the girls knew some English. We walked back down with her and her mom, and they were very intrigued by how large American families were. The girl, who we named Samantha (she reminded us of one our really sweet girls we teach named Samantha), kept saying how she was an only child, but then she would talk about her brothers and sisters, so we are still confused on exactly how many kids are in her family. Maybe the other 'siblings' she was talking about were really cousins or something.. who knows. But she was a really cute girl!

We rode our bikes back to our Hostel after that, and then went to a restaurant named Minnie Mao's for dinner, where we got Burgers and Apple Pie!! Oh I love American food! After getting a belly full of food, we went and crashed. We were SOOO tired. It was a ton of biking and hiking that day, and we had been up since four! Man, a hard bed never felt so soft!

Pictures:

First: The little village we ate at, with the mountains in the background.

Second: A picture of Moon Hill from far away.

Third: View of the mountains through the "moon" in Moon Hill.

MUD CAVES!

2009-11-23T07:03:00.000-08:00

We went to one of the coolest places in the world last weekend. Seriously.

It's a little town called Yangshuo. It is home to some of the neatest places and sits on the west bank of the Li River nestled amongst beautiful karst peaks. These mountains have been nicknamed the "Dr. Seuss" Mountains for apparent reasons, and they are the stunning mountains I have EVER seen.

Anyways, I'll get back to my trip. We left Friday afternoon on a sleeper bus (Woohoo it was like riding on the Knight Bus!) for about 11 hours and got off at a street in Yangshuo around 4:30 in the morning. Apparently we got off on the wrong stop. (But can you blame us? We cant understand Chinese... at least it was the right city..) Thankfully, some other Chinese people who got off the bus with us knew a little bit of English, and they had a cell phone, so they helped us get a hold of our Hostel and get to where we were going. One of the best things about Chinese people is that you are always automatically friends, and they will always, always help you.

By the time we got settled at our Hostel, it was around 6:00 in the morning, so we waited for some of the restaurants to open so we could get breakfast. We found a great little place really close by that had amazing noodles in peanut sauce, fried rice and dumplings. We ate there a few times on our trip it was so good.

The next thing on our agenda for the day were the Mud Caves! The Mud Caves are huge caverns inside some of the 'Dr. Seuss' mountains, and we couldn't wait to play in that mud. To get there we had to bike, and we found a place that rents bikes for 5 kuai, which is less than a dollar, for the entire day! How crazy is that?? So off we went on our bikes. It didn't take long for us to get lost, however. Our Hostel lady didn't give very good directions (a common occurrence, sadly) and so as we circled around a few different round-abouts and rode down a few roads for a long time, we finally found the right way. Luckily, the ride was breathtakingly beautiful. This town is seriously nestled right in with these incredible mountains. The landscape was seriously beyond description. I wish I could post my memories on my blog so you could see it all so much more vividly.

After about a 45 minute bike ride we got the Mud Caves place. We had to take a very fast and bumpy ride in a van along a dirt road to get to the actual caves, and I must admit I was terrified that the van was going to fall apart on every bump it hit. (Side note about Chinese people: There is that misconception in American that Asians cant drive, and I just want to set that straight. They can. They sooo can. They might seem fast and crazy, but they are in way more control and waaay more vigilant than any American driver)

So, to get inside the caves you have to take a little row boat through a small entrance in the mountain, and follow that river a ways inside. Then you get out of the boat and you get to literally walk all through these HUGE caverns. Some of the rooms were at least 5 or 6 stories tall, and super wide. They were amazing. And the rock formations were so neat to see. They also had little wooden paths they had made, crisscrossing the river and climbing over the rocks. We felt like we were in several different movies haha. (To name a few: Walking through the Mines of Moria in 'Lord of the Rings', exploring our pirate cave where we dump off all of our pirate loot like in 'Pirates of the Caribbean', Working in the mines like the Seven Dwarves in 'Snow White' Hi Ho!!, On our way to find One-Eyed Willy like in 'The Goonies', walking through Batman's Lair in 'Batman Begins', Finding the horcrux in 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', rowing our way to Queen Mab's Dominion in 'Merlin', etc., etc.)

We were able to go on a tour of the whole cave, which goes through 4 of the mountains, and the go back and play in the mud! So we changed into our swimsuits and dove in! It was WEIRD. You can float on the mud, and it is such a weird sensation. It is probably the closest I have ever felt to flying haha. You just are suspended, and it doesn't feel like you are touching anything! We got some great muddy pictures! (We had to buy them from the workers though, which was kind of lame, but of course they were way good pictures so we had to do it.) It was so weird. So after floating, rolling and flopping in the mud, as well as sliding into it, we hosed off and then made our way to the hot springs that were also inside the caves. The hot springs felt SO good! It was kind of like a waterfall, with little bath-shaped pockets on different levels with the water cascading down. You just pop a squat in one of the holes, and soak up the heat! We were able to relax in there for 30 blissful minutes before being ushered out into the cold.

That was the first adventure on this trip! Stay tuned, for there are many more to come!

Pictures:

First: Some of the mountains in the background of the Li River. Beautiful, huh?

Second: Me, Becca, Chelsey and Lindsay inside the caves. We got to climb on top of the formations!

Third and Fourth: These are two of the pictures we bought in the mud caves, so I had to take a picture of the pictures with my camera, so that's why there is a slight glare, but it was the best I could do until I get home to a scanner. Aren't we muddy? haha

23

2009-11-04T00:55:00.000-08:00

That's how many times I was hit with a stick today.

So how did I get in this situation?

I have one word:

Piñata.

I don't recommend having a stuffed animal piñata game while teaching a whole bunch of unruly and boisterous five years olds, unless you are looking for some kind of torture.

There I was this morning, unsuspecting and excited while I prepared for today's lesson, reminiscing over all of the childhood memories I have of hitting a piñata. As I sat tying that stuffed monkey to a long bamboo stick, I had no idea that in 30 minutes time I would be cornered by a little four year old boy named Ron, who was blindfolded, walloping a stick, and VERY determined to hit that stuffed monkey. I might add that Ron added eight of those whacks to the "Hit List."

The problem was that these blindfolded and dizzy children would follow the sound of my voice while trying to hit the stuffed animal piñata, so as I was telling them to "hit the monkey!" the kids would come right over to where I was standing, brandishing that stick the entire way. I dodged where I could, but I will most definitely have bruises tomorrow.

It was still a very enjoyable day. The kids were cute as always. I just have one more word for you: OUCH.

Photo: This is Ron. Imagine that running at you with a 2 foot plastic stick. It's a good thing he is so dang cute.

Are YOU a Fat Kid?

2009-11-01T05:46:00.000-08:00

Do you find yourself wondering

"Am I a TRUE fat kid?"

I am pleased to announce that the Fat Kid Presidency has created a new way of testing your Fat Kid Level. You can now take

THIS

quiz to test your skills. The only question now is

are YOU ready?

Kids & Halloween

2009-11-01T05:02:00.000-08:00

On Friday we had a Halloween party with our students!

All of the teachers dressed up in costumes and the kids loved it. I decided to be a fairy and made wings out of hangers and garbage bags and when the kids saw me they all shouted "butterfly, teacher, butterfly!" I decided to just go with it instead of try to teach them what a fairy was. So now I am a butterfly. Lindsay made a way cool pirates sword, and even put beads in her hair. Chelsey was a witch, and Becca and Teresa were cats.

We also taught them how to Trick-or-Treat! We decorated paper bags and then the kids went from classroom to classroom knocking on the doors and chanting

"Trick-or-Treat, Trick-or-Treat!"

while we dropped candies into their bags.

(FYI Chinese candy = Gross)

After the Trick-or-Treating, we played the Donuts on a String game where you have to try and eat all of your donut without using your hands. At first the children were okay at not using their hands, but after a couple minutes they got restless and started to cheat. They were SO FUNNY to watch. Most of them were sticking their tongues out as far as they could reach, trying to rope in the donut. The donuts also had sugar on top, and so the kids' faces were covered in little white granules. Haha they were adorable.

The kids had a ton of fun learning a new Holiday from us, and we had a ton of fun teaching them about Halloween. All in all, It was a

BLAST!

Photo #1: All of the teachers in our costumes with our foreign coordinator Annie.

Photo #2: Cherry and her donut.

Photo #3: Adorable Yumi with her sugar face.

This is Halloween!

2009-10-31T05:42:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! Its that time of year again! I love Halloween, and this year I got to help make a Haunted House!

The Chinese teachers here asked us (well, demanded is more like it) to make a Haunted House for the Halloween party that was being thrown for all the International schools in the area. We were really excited, but of course we were a little overwhelmed. Haunted Houses are a lot of work, ya know? So we designed a layout of sorts, and decided what we wanted in the house and got to work! It took FOREVER to make but we got it all done!

I'll walk you through the Haunted House. You enter through some black cloth and come upon a creepy zombie rocking in a chair (that would be Chelsey) who then follows you. All of the sudden a ghost pops up out of nowhere, and frightens you. Then the zombie pushes you into a room and locks you in. There you find an insane clown, draped in chains. There is banging on the doors and walls, and the clown is clanking the chains and staring you down. The door then opens and the clown and zombie push you into another room. On the wall there is a sign saying "crazy doctor" (China's version of a mad scientist) and there are bowls with eyeballs and a brain. There are jars filled with ominous colored liquids, jars filled with floating animals, and jars containing animals with too many legs. On a different table you find half a head and a knife, covered in blood. The Doctor has been working.... You find yourself caught up in looking at all these disturbing scenes, peering into the bowls and touching the brain. And, before you can register what is happening, a skeleton (me) pops out from behind the open door, and you go screaming back into the hall with the clown and zombie close at your tail. You now find yourself in a dark hallway, and you can barely see. The monsters behind you are pushing you onward, but the steps you take are small from the fear of the unknown that lies ahead. You scuffle into another room where 3 coffins lay. On the wall hangs a sign and a mirror.. the sign tells of the 3 dead who lay here, and to turn around 3 times and look into the mirror, where you'll see one of their ghosts. Being a curious person, you follow the directions, and after you come to a stop from your spinning, nothing happens. You look around in disappointment and hear a scream. You then realize the scream is coming from your own mouth, because one of the dead bodies (Teresa) is now sitting up, and moving towards you. You run out of the room and down a new hallway. You make a turn and see before you a slight glow. As you move closer and closer you find a room filled with glowing sticks. This is a most interesting room, you are thinking. All of the sudden some of the lights are moving towards you. You are confused, and scared, because glowing sticks shouldn't be able to move. You then understand that it is a monster (Lindsay) jumping out towards you. After some more screaming and running down dark hallways, you see the exit ahead. You bolt for the door, and as you cross the threshold a giant spider drops onto your head from nowhere. You brush it aside, yelling as you go.

Our Haunted House was a pretty good hit. We made several kids cry and leap into their parents arms. It was pretty fun haha. We also had a performance at the party. All of our kids sang songs for their parents. They sang the Itsy Bitsy Spider, One Two Buckle my Shoe, and the Witch Song. After that we had the wonderful experience of performing Thriller again. This time was more fun because we used the whole song, not just a segment from it. We started out going through the crowd and scaring them, and when the chorus would come on we would brake out into the dance steps. For the last two minutes of the song we went up on the stage and performed the whole routine. It was really cool because we were all dressed up and had our creepy face paint. The face paint was lots of fun to have, except a lot of the children were too afraid to come up to us and say hello, which was sad. A few of them would warm up to us as soon as they heard our voices and realized it was us. One of my favorite students, a 4 year old named Yumi, saw me and wasn't afraid at all! She just yelled "Teacher!!" and came running over to me to show me her costume and give me a hug. It was super cute.

The party was a lot of fun! After it was over we had to walk home, and it was the funnest walk I have ever been on. If you ever want a good laugh, paint your face really creepy, and then go walking on the streets of an unsuspecting China. You'll love it haha. The Chinese don't celebrate Halloween, and so as we were walking home we got a lot of funny stares. We decided that we should try to scare people while we were at it, so when we would pass shops we would just stand there looking through the window at people until they would look up and when they finally did, they would jump sky high. Sometimes they would cower into a friend of theirs and wouldn't look up again for a few minutes, hoping we would be gone when they finally sat up. These were the most fun because we would move even closer to that person and wait, and when they finally looked up again we would scare them even more than before. Haha it was way too much fun. And when we were walking, people would avoid us as much as possible, walking on the road to stay as far away as possible. When we got to a really crowded area where all of the shopping places are, we were able to scare a lot of people. But after a little bit they all started whipping out their cell phones and began to take pictures of us and with us. This turned into a 15 minute photo shoot, and we ended up being "escorted of the premises" by the guards. It was so funny.

Halloween is

MUCH

FUN!

(Pictures: #1: All of the teachers and our foreign coordinator Annie inside the Haunted house. #2: Me and Yumi, one of my favorite students. #3: Part of the Mad Scientist's room. Note- All of the things in the jars are REAL. We found them in a box in a creepy deserted room. #4: Becca and I in our face paint.)

The Love of My Life

2009-10-26T04:09:00.001-07:00

My whole heart belongs to him. I would marry him without a second thought. Who is this, you may ask?

Michael Buble.

He sings to my very soul. I LOVE his voice. I have all of his CD's, and every song memorized. I can listen to him for hours everyday and never get sick of his wonderful, crooning voice.

And guess what. He has a new CD out, Crazy Love, and I want it SOOOOO bad. How many times can you listen to and iTunes sample? I've already listened to all of his new CD's samples like 10 times. And there is a music video on the Deluxe version, and I have watched that clip probably 100 times. So why am I not buying the CD?

Cuz its $14.99, which is about $150 kuai. And I really need that $150 kuai. Isn't is depressing? Trust me, it is. So I'll buy the CD in a couple months. (Unless I just break down and buy it haha, which is definitely a possibility)

I guess the point of this post is, if you haven't heard Michael's new CD, go listen to it! And if you haven't heard Michael Buble at all, then, well, there's no point in living until you do. So go listen to him, and you'll know EXACTLY what I mean. Ah... I'm listening to him right now, and my ears are so happy...

Forbidden City

2009-10-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

Lama Temple

2009-10-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

This temple was right by our Hostel and it was AMAZING! So many beautiful colors!

Beijing Trip Randomness

2009-10-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

Photo 1: Kissable Panda at the Beijing Zoo! Chelsey and I couldn't resist.

Photo 2: Super cool sunglasses at the silk market. Jealous?

Photo 3: A dragon boat on the lake in front of the Summer Palace.

More Great Wall Pictures

2009-10-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

I thought you would all enjoy some more photos from one of the most amazing places in the world!

ATTENTION PLEASE

2009-10-23T22:02:00.001-07:00

Attention all citizens of LOGAN, and students of UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY:

We are looking for 3 openings in apartments for this SPRING semester.

Since I am currently on the other side of the planet, it is hard to find such accommodations. So....

We need YOU!

All my friends who read this and got to USU, help me out! That means:

Brittany Hart

Megan Carter

Amanda Carter

Mandy (I cant remember your last name haha)

Megan Bell (does she read this with you Mandy?)

Stephanie Boothe (Um, please tell Sami haha)

I REALLY need your help! Because of the time difference It makes it almost impossible for us to coordinate a time to call different apartment complexes and see if they have any contracts that need buying, plus it isn't cheap to call. So PRETTY, PRETTY PLEASE help a girl out!

I know of a few girls who want to sell their contracts in Pineview, I just don't have a way of contacting them, but we need to tell them we'll buy them, so keep your eyes peeled for signs, and, if you have to, eavesdrop on other peoples conversations haha.

Thanks a ton people of Logan.

Beijing Trip Part 2

2009-10-14T06:06:00.000-07:00

I'll just jump right in from the where I left off.

After the zoo, we went to grab dinner before the rest of our night. We stopped at a little restaurant by our Hostel that had the comforting sign above its door saying:

"Relax! We have an English Menu!"

We ate at this restaurant like 4 times during our stay, and we have yet to see that English menu. But the food there was delicious. It was the first place we found sweet n' sour chicken, and man was it good. We got it every time we went. They also have this really good fried rice, and a dessert (I don't know how to spell it) that is like a fried roll that they serve with a buttery honey sauce that is to die for. MMMM so, so, so, so yummy.

After dinner we went to a Kung Fu show! It was SO CRAZY COOL. It was a story about a young boy starting on a journey to be a Kung Fu Master, and about his trials and overcoming them, and then finally succeeding. Through the whole show all the performers were doing amazing Kung Fu routines, and it was so entertaining to watch. My favorite part was when they brought out long strands of material, and the performers did way cool stunts with them, just by holding on to the material. They would fly across the stage and swing each other around. It was so neat.

On Tuesday, we went on a tour of the

GREAT WALL OF CHINA.

It was SOOO cool. We found an amazing tour guide who took us to a part of the wall that isn't open to the public, so there were barely any other tourists there, and it felt like we were all alone on this amazing wall that snakes on forever through huge, lush green mountains. We felt like we were on top of the world. It was so beautiful up there. We spent a few hours hiking along the wall and ate lunch on it and took so many amazing pictures. We were so sad when we had to climb off the wall and hike back down. But on the hike back down, I hit a patch of loose gravel and took a really hard fall and twisted like every muscle on the left side of my body, and somehow in the same motion managed to land way hard on my right side and scratched and bruised my leg way bad. But it is a way cool battle trophy. We joke about how the "Great Wall kissed me" before I left. But it is seriously one of the coolest bruise/cut combos I have ever seen. But after we hiked back down we went to a little village that is right at the base of the mountain where we sat at a little restaurant and talked with our tour group before heading home. It was nice and relaxing.

Wednesday we went on a really big tour to the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and also silk and pearl factories. It was a really cool tour.

We headed out at seven thirty in the morning to the Temple of Heaven, and we were early enough to see the sun hitting the temple and it made the colors shine really pretty. The Temple of Heaven is beautiful, and made all out of wood, and the architecture of it is amazing. They also have it painted really extravagantly with reds, teals, blues and golds. The Temple of Heaven is really neat, and one of the things I liked most about it was that huge groups of Chinese people meet outside it every morning and there are groups of little ladies doing Tai Chi, couples practicing ballroom and ancient Chinese dance, and groups of old men playing chess and flutes.

Our next stop was a silk factory where we learned how they make their beautiful silk products. It was really interesting, but I feel bad for the poor silk worms cuz they just drop them in boiling water while they are in their cocoons so they can steal their silk. Poor, poor silk worms. But the process of taking the cocoon and getting the silk strands is really insane. Its hard to explain and it would take a long time, so I wont, but if you are interested in that sort of thing, look it up lol.

From there we went to the Forbidden City! I was really excited for this part because before we left I read a lot about the Forbidden City online so I would know what everything meant and have more of a background. I absolutely loved seeing it! It is HUGE. It is the biggest wooden structure in the world, and they didn't use any nails to make it! It blows my mind. It is really beautiful, too. Some of the buildings they have preserved in its original form, and they haven't repainted any of the outside, so we were able to see some of the original paintings that are several hundred years old. We also got to walk through the imperial gardens, and they have huge trees and pavilions, and there was a really cool rock formation there that had lots of holes throughout it, and it led up to a building that the emperors would use to interview people. I have so neat photos of it.

We then got to go see the pearl factory, where they showed us some fresh water oysters that they harvest from the lake at the Summer Palace. Fresh water oysters have a lot of pearls in them, around 20, compared to salt water oysters that only have one. I thought that was interesting. The lady who was talking to our group cut one of the oysters open and she let us keep some of the pearls inside. They also taught us how to see if a pearl is fake or not. I am pretty sure some of the pearl necklaces I got from Hawaii are fake. So I am mad. But at least I will be able to differentiate between fake and real ones from here on out! (Want to know how to tell? Rub two pearls together, and if they make a grinding, gritty noise and then leave a powder, then they are real.)

Our last stop was the Summer Palace. And you've guessed it- this is where the emperor and the royal family would spend their summers! The Summer Palace was beautiful. It is set right next to a huge lake, and is surrounded by Weeping Willows and pines. It is also home to the longest corridor in the world, just in case you wanted to know. Apparently the emperor and empress wanted to be able to take walks outside while it was raining, so they had a huge corridor built that goes to all of the many different buildings contained in the Summer Palace. Personally, I think an umbrella might have been a way cheaper answer to this problem, but that's just me. However, I can now say that I have walked down the longest corridor in the World. At the Summer Palace there is a little island in the middle of the lake and we got to take a boat across the lake to see the island and the buildings there. The boat ride was fun and we got some cool pictures of the Palace from a distance. Its really peaceful at the Palace, so I can see why an emperor would pick that spot to build his summer getaway. Oh, and FYI, if someone ever tells you that the Summer Palace and the Forbidden city are pretty much the same so don't go and see both, it's a lie. I'm so glad we saw both of the places. They both are special for different reasons, and they both have unique characteristics that I highly enjoyed.

That tour was JAM PACKED and we had quite the day! It was so much fun and we got to see so many amazing things and places! That night we went to the new Olympic Park! We went at night when everything was all lit up and glowing! The Bird's Nest and the Aquatics Center are way cool at night. It was fun to see it all and walk where Michael Phelps has walked. (Possibly, but don't ruin that daydream for me.) Pretty much,

Olympic Park = Awesome.

On Thursday we went to the Silk and Pearl Market. Oh my goodness. It is SO overwhelming. There are 6 floors of a huge building just filled with shop after shop after shop of everything and anything. And if that is tempting enough, add 3 Chinese people to every shop calling at you to come inside, grabbing your arms and pulling you to their table, saying:

"I give you special price, so cheap for you!"

Just so you know, they are LYING THROUGH THEIR TEETH when they say that. I am like 99.99% positive that these shop owners don't have a conscience. They will jack up the price by 400% just because you are white, and they think you are made of money. But, good thing for us, we have gotten pretty good at bartering. And bartering can be SO much fun. (which doesn't help if you are trying to not buy anything haha) The shop owners will try and get the best price they can, and they hate to drop, even if the thing they are selling cost them $1 to buy. They just say things like "You break-a my heart!" and "Please, please too low, too low!" and they will 'comfort' you by saying things like, "You are my friend, I give you low, low price!" and they will quietly whisper "Shhh! Best price, don't tell!" But, they are still lying. The trick is you have to name a really low price, and they will say "No, No, too low, too low!" and then you just walk away. 95% of the time you will get a little Chinese lady running after you yelling "Okay, okay, I give you, I give you." But don't feel guilty, because if a Chinese person were to walk in to their shop, they would sell for an even lower price. It can seriously be so much fun to barter. Luckily for me, Becca had a HUGE list of pearl items from her sister that she had to buy, so I helped her barter and get all of her stuff for 2 hours while evading the temptation to buy tons and tons. We also met a friend along the way, named May. She was the worker at the pearl stand, and was way nice. She finally gave in to our hard core bartering skills and told us we were difficult so she was giving in, and so we got it all for a good deal. (hopefully) We even got a picture with her, and then she gave Becca and me free necklaces haha. She was a cutie.

That night we went to the Chinese Acrobatics show. It was so cool, and kind of disturbing, because I do not know how they get their bodies to do the things that they do. I wont even try to describe it, but it was awesome. After the show we went with out Great Wall tour guide, Ben, to a restaurant nearby. It was a "hot pot" restaurant, where they have a big circle table with a hole in it and a burner underneath, and they bring out a huge bowl with two sides: Spicy and spicier. Then they bring out meat shavings and an assortment of vegetables that you drop in the boiling soups, and they cook way fast and you just grab it out and eat! It's a lot of fun, and I think we should get some in America. (We might already... I just don't know haha)

On Friday we hopped back on a train. Sad, I know. But this time is wasn't as bad. We had a hard sleepers, which are hard bunks in little compartments. There are 6 beds to a compartment, and Becca and I were in the top bunks of one. It was interesting, but fun. We had to climb to the 3rd bunk without a ladder, but if you step on the lower beds, then the Chinese people in them get mad at you. Haha so it was slightly difficult but we managed just fine. And this train ride was only 21 hours long, and much more enjoyable due to the fact that we could sleep on a bed with a pillow and blanket. We were really sad to leave Beijing though. We loved that trip. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go there and see so many cool things. I am so spoiled. I wish I could show everyone everything that I've seen, or at least show more pictures, but I can't. I'll try and put as many good ones up as I can!!

I Climbed the GREAT WALL OF CHINA

2009-10-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

Enough said.

Beijing and Xi'an

2009-10-12T05:44:00.000-07:00

Woohoo!

We just got back from our week long vacation to Xi'an and Beijing! Man oh man did so much cool stuff happen!

We started out on a nice note with a 26 hour train ride to Xi'an. And guess what. We had STANDING tickets. It was a lovely experience. It's one of my favorite things to stand in between seats full of Chinese people for 26 hours, surrounded by smoking men and people hawking lougies. Better yet, we were perched right next to the squatter. (If you don't know what this is, look it up.) I am now positive that Chinese people have smaller bladders than anyone else on the planet. We were having to move ourselves and our luggage every 23 seconds (approximately) and the smell was wonderful. If you are looking for a way to spend 26 hours of your life, I recommend this! (I'm being super sarcastic here, in case you couldn't figure that out haha) Okay, okay it wasn't so bad. The first 2 hours were, but then we made some friends who let us go sit on the floor with them, and then it got better. The thing about China is that wherever you go you will meet a new buddy. We have so many new Chinese friends we just don't know what to do with them! So, as words can't really express this train experience, I'll stop here. But I will say that I wouldn't take back that memory. But I will NEVER do it again haha.

We arrived in Xi'an at 11:00 Friday night, and so we went straight to our Hostel and crashed then on Saturday morning we went adventuring. We were only staying in Xi'an til that evening, so we had to cram! Our first stop was the Terracotta Warriors. If you haven't heard about them, they are pretty much a huge collection of clay soldiers that were unearthed in the 70's when a farmer found a clay ear in his well he was digging. They were buried with an emperor to help him journey to the next world. They were pretty interesting, and I was surprised by how big they were and how much detail each one had. It probably took forever to make all of them.

After the Terracotta Warriors we went and explored the Muslim Quarters. It's a block full of shops and food places that are surrounding a Muslim Mosque that was built almost 800 years ago. It was really entertaining, and everywhere you looked there was something new and exciting to capture your attention. The Mosque was beautiful. Becca and I were really excited to see the Mosque because we took and Intro to Islam class together last fall, so we got to use some of that knowledge while we explored. It was really fun.

That night we had to get back on a train (sigh) for another 13 hours so we could get to Beijing. This time it wasn't so bad, because we had hard seats, so we were able to get some shut eye in. At this point we were all so exhausted that we could have fallen asleep practically anywhere, so we were happy to be able to sit down.

We got to Beijing around noon and checked into our Hostel there (the Candy Inn, and I would highly recommend it!) and then we got started with our day! Our first stop was the Lama Temple.

The Lama Temple is old. (don't ask how old cuz I don't remember haha) It used to be a palace for princes to live at, and then it was made into a temple a few hundred years ago. It is really amazing and beautiful. The Chinese use such beautiful colors in their buildings, and such amazing architecture. We took some beautiful pictures, and we were able to see some people worship with incense. Its really cool to see how such a different religion works. In one of the buildings there they have a HUGE statue. Its over 26 meters high, (A giraffe is about 5 meters high, so maybe that can put it into perspective for you a little bit) and it was made out of a single piece of sandalwood! It actually holds the Guiness Book of World Records for largest statue made out of a piece of wood, just in case you would ever want to know that random fact. It was a ton of fun to see.

On Monday we went and saw the Beijing Zoo! The Hogle Zoo will never be as cool ever again. The Beijing Zoo in huge. They have like 10 times as many animals. I'll tell you a couple of my favorite things that we saw/did.

Well, in China, instead of selling hot dogs at stands like we do in America, they sell these meat sticks. I was really hungry, and they smelled pretty good, so I thought I would try one. At first it wasn't too bad, it just tasted like China (and yes, China has a flavor). But then I felt something weird in my mouth, so I spit out the piece I was eating and looked at it and it had thick spikey black hairs in it. So, of course I wasn't going to eat anymore. But China also doesn't believe in having very many garbage cans, so I had to hold onto the meat stick for awhile. So, as we were walking, we came up to some of the monkey exhibits. They are very different than the U.S. ones. For starters, they just have glass walls, and then no top. And, as should be expected, people were throwing in food and trash to try and feed the monkeys. Someone threw in an entire bucket full of popcorn that was still sealed in plastic, and this big furry monkey came over and grabbed it, finally figured out how to open it, and ate the popcorn. So, we were just standing there, taking in all the madness, when I remembered I had a meat stick in my hand. Might as well not let it go to waste, right? So I chucked a chunk of it over the glass wall and I hit a baby monkey in the head. Haha it was kinda funny. At first he just looked around all confused and then he realized there was a piece of food on the ground next to him and so he picked up the meat chunk and started gnawing on it. It was really funny. So that is the story of the Meat Stick and the Monkey. Another highlight of the Zoo was the Zebras! You know how in the Hogle Zoo the Zebras are far away and you just get to see them from a distance? Well, in China it's the total opposite. They keep the zebras in a big pen that is lowered about 5 feet from the sidewalk, and all they have around the pen is a small metal fence. So we could just lean across the fence and totally PET the ZEBRAS. Yes, you heard correctly! We got to PET them! It was so cool. They are so pretty. We also got to see cute, cuddly, fat panda bears! They were adorable. The Zoo was amazing.

This post is already way long, so I'll stop here for now and then write more later! I have so much more to tell!

My New (ish) Obsession

2009-09-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

Well.... you all know that I love shoes. I

L - O - V - E

Shoes. Always have, always will, they're apart of me and who I am sorta thing. Before I left for China I was at approximately 97 pairs of shoes. I am fully aware that this is a little on the ridiculous side. But I can't help it.

(Admitting there is a problem is one of the first steps, right? At least I am on the right track..)

This summer I did a really good job of not buying any shoes; I had to save money for China, right? Well, all that hard work has gone down the drain. I am here to admit defeat. I have been sucked in in the worst possible way.

China shoes are

ADORABLE.

There aren't really words to describe shoe shopping in China. Its amazing, and I am so sad that I will have to leave this shoe heaven. Chinese shoes are MADE for my feet (or at least that's what I tell myself). They always have my small size, and I LOVE it! And, what's even better, is that all the shoes seem to sparkle. No, they aren't all glittery and stuff (though a lot of them are), but they just seem to radiate love and beauty an joy. They sit all delicate and shiny on their little shelves, taunting me and my small wallet. Its TORTURE. And the worse part is, that compared to U.S. pricing, they are SUPER cheap. So, in a way, it is logical to stalk up and buy a lot of nice shoes for an amazing price while I'm here, but I know that I'll still keeping buying shoes wherever I am for the rest of my life. But what's a girl to do?

One of the girl's that I teach with, Teresa, gave me this advice:

"When in doubt, buy it."

I don't think this is good advice for me (or anyone for that matter), but while I am holding that pair of black velvet stilettos with diamond studded heels and embellishments, for the super low price of $10 (American money), it's the only thing running through my head. And it just gets worse when I spot the purple patent leather heels with heart shape diamonds on the toes, or the navy blue ballet flats with black jewels, or.... I can go forever, so I'll just stop there.

It literally causes me pain.

(Okay, maybe not physical pain, but you know what I mean.)

I think I've done pretty well for how tempted I have been. I've only bought 10 pairs. (So far)

So I guess this post is dedicated to now having more than 100 pairs of shoes, and also to China, and their wonderful stores that suck me right in. I hope they sell these wonderful shoes online... that would solve everything... haha.

Renshou Temple Photo

2009-09-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

Pictures only work if I send them one at a time but better than nothing, right?

Another picture!

2009-09-28T00:50:00.000-07:00

A picture.

2009-09-28T00:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is all I can send. Its of the Donghauli Ancient Alley!

Guangzhou & Foshan!

2009-09-27T23:10:00.000-07:00

I realized that I never blogged about the little trip we just had! We had 2 days off of teaching so we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and go on a vacation to Guangzhou and the neighboring town of Foshan. It was WAY cool!

In Guangzhou we went to a little island called Shaiman Island. It was settled mostly by foreigners, so we got to see some white people haha. And they have a restaurant there with American food, and it was SO GOOD. I had the best hamburger of my life there....

They also have really good shops for souvenirs, so we stalked up! We got lots of jade necklaces and earrings, painted scrolls, caligraphy sets and tons of stuff. We'll probably be going back there haha

In Foshan we were able to see a Buddhist temple. It was really pretty. I love the architecture they use. There was a 5 story pagoda that was really cool, and giant silk lanterns. China is awesome.

After the temple we visited an ancient alley where they have preserved some of the old housing structures and buildings. This was BY FAR the coolest part of the trip. It felt like we were walking through China a hundred years ago. We were the only ones there so it was really quiet, and it started raining and so the atmosphere was really neat. We got some AMAZING pictures. I just love that place.

Our next stop was the Nan Feng Ancient Kiln. This Kiln is over 500 years old, and one of the pottery centers of the world. They told us that its fire has never gone out (but when we walked past it, it didn't look lit lol so make of that what you may). While we were there we were able to sit at a pottery wheel and try and make something out of clay. It was my first experience, and I wasn't very good, but I want to take pottery lessons now! Maybe one day I'll be able to make something.

Our trip was a blast. China is amazing. They have such a unique culture that's so different from ours. I love learning about it!

Karaoke Night!!!

2009-09-07T02:36:00.001-07:00

One of the teacher's in my group, Skyla, had her birthday on Saturday! The Chinese teachers had a great idea to celebrate: We had a Karaoke night! So we went to the top floor of a hotel that was nearby. The place was totally decked out- shiny black walls and black floors with sparkly lights and glitter. Totally a Chinese karaoke studio. It was awesome!

My group (Chelsey, Becca, Lindsay, Teresa, Skyla, Laura and I) and also some of the Chinese teachers from the school (Annie, LuLu, Katie and her 5 yr old son Ryan, LuLu's husband and LuLu's friend David) all came. It was cool to have both groups there because we got to hear some cool (weird/funny) Chinese songs. Annie is a pretty good singer, and so she sang a lot of really neat songs for us. Also, LuLu's husband is a singer in a band, and he sang "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson, and he did amazing! It was really fun.

The Chinese teachers wanted to hear a strange array of American music from us. They picked out a lot of Michael Jackson, which is great, and also a lot of old Avril Lavigne songs (like Sk8er Boi haha). We also got a few Brittney Spears songs (Lucky, Hit Me Baby One More Time) and some old Backstreet Boys songs. It was really funny to hear them all again. We surprised ourselves by knowing a lot of the lyrics still.

We had a BLAST. We sang and danced and goofed off and had birthday cake. It was GREAT! What a fun night!

Chinese Restaurant Extravaganda!

2009-09-07T02:18:00.000-07:00

So, this weekend we had teaching off (yay) and so we decided to something fun!

On Friday we decided to go try a new authentic Chinese restaurant, and we picked one that is just about a block away from our apartments. It was pretty interesting.... haha. It's a really cute place- when you first walk in there is a cute coy pond and bamboo and chinese-y stuff. It really sets the mood.

The thing is, we don't speak ANY Mandarin, and only about 10% of the people in our city of Zhongshan speak English, so everywhere we go is an adventure.

The host finally mimed out of us that there were only going to be 4 people in our group, and took us to a table. As we walk through the restaurant, EVERYONE turns to stare. No joke. Mouths open, chopsticks still half way up, pinching their food and waiting patiently for their owners to remember to eat. They all turn around in their seats and seriously stare the whole time they are eating. Its kind of disturbing and entertaining at the same time.

Our waiter comes over with some menus, and of course breaks out into his Mandarin routine. We just stare with blank faces, not understanding a word of it. He finally realized we didn't understand him, and just gave us the menus. But unlike an American restaurant, he stood their waiting for us to order, instead of giving us some time and coming back later. So we open the menu, and thank goodness their were pictures or we would have had a HUGE problem. But the pictures still don't help that much. You cant really tell what it is. (except for the turtle and the fish heads.. those are pretty obvious haha).

Well the waiter REALLY wanted to us to order. But we couldn't decide. Plus, the menu was the biggest menu I have ever seen at a restaurant. I think there were at least 100 entrée's. Finally we got to the last page of the menu and 2 of the pictures looked good. So after that hassle the waiter put our order in.

So as we were waiting, our eyes wandered over to our neighbors table. They had a big dish of something that looked REALLY good, so we waived our waiter down and ordered that too.

Our first meal that we ordered came out and it was surprisingly good! Lindsay and I really liked it, but Becca and Chelsey didn't think to much of it. I think the pork/chicken dish we ordered was the closest thing to sweet n' sour pork we can get. We also got these really good bun/roll things that tasted kind of like a doughnut.

A little bit later the other meal came out and it smelled really good. I dove right it and picked up a piece of beef with my chopsticks and popped it in my mouth and BAM! It was SOOOOOO spicy! And if you know me, I don't do spicy. Mild salsa is spicy for me haha. So I hurry and pulled the beef out of my mouth and just sat there with it in my chopsticks. I didn't really know what to do. So I thought about it for a little bit.... "Hmmm... that was really spicy.. but it tasted good... but it was spicy... I'm REALLY hungry... " So I was brave and put the beef in my mouth again. And I realized something. You get used to the spicy flavor, and it is REALLY YUMMY! So me and Lindsay went crazy and ate a TON! I was really proud, because that isn't something I would normally do. Spicy is REALLY spicy haha.

The best part of the meal was when the waiter brought out watermelon at the end. Watermelon is like HEAVEN here! Nothing ever tasted to good haha.

So our first Chinese Restaurant experience went really well. We think we got REALLY lucky with what we ordered. We'll see if we can be that lucky again!

(Wow this is kinda long... sorry!)

SO MANY TOKENS!

2009-09-03T22:17:00.001-07:00

The ILP program that we teach through has a reward system. If the children say the right phrase, then we give them little red, plastic tokens. They have little felt bags that hang around their neck that they are supposed to put the tokens in, but they are 5 year olds. HA. Like that happens.

So we rotate classes every 20 minutes, and the first thing the kids say as they come running into my class is "Teacher, teacher! So many tokens!!" And then every child has to come show me their bags and handfuls of tokens before I can get them to sit at our little table.

And then throughout the lesson, every time I hand a token out, the kids exclaim in euphoric delight: "So, so, SOOOOOO many tokens! So many tokens!"

All afternoon this phrase has been stuck in my head, while pictures of cute little Chinese children flash in my mind, and their accents make me giggle. These kids can be so funny.

SO, SO, SOOOOO MANY TOKENS!

Teaching in China

2009-09-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first day of teaching in China....

WHOA.

It was so CRAZY!

My class has seven children in it, and they are only 4 years old. They are ADORABLE, but they don't speak a word of English. So while I am "teaching" them English, they just stare at me like I'm an alien pretty much. Poor kids.

Since they are new to the English program here at the school, I was able to give them English names. After naming them all, I found out that 3 of them already had English names, and the boy I named Fred was actually already named Apple and is a girl. Whoops. My bad.

We rotate classes every 20-25 minutes, so luckily I get to teach some of the older students (5-6 yrs old) too. They are Easier and harder. They are easier cuz they have had a year in the program already so they know some English, but harder because since they know some English, they aren't as shy and you cant get them to SIT STILL. During class today, one of the little boys kept grabbing the board game from me and whacking me in the head with it, while one of the girls kept pulling on my braid and covering my eyes. They just cant seem to keep their hands to themselves. Oh children are such a joy.

But really a few of them are SO CUTE. There is this one girl name Emily in my class and she loves to just stay by my side so whenever we line up to rotate she comes and hugs my legs and is so cute. Its hardest for the 4 year olds because they all miss their moms still, and so a lot of them cry throughout the day. There is also this boy named Harry and he is super smart and picks up the language really fast and is extremely helpful. He also has really big ears that stick out and you just want to eat him all up he is so cute!

Some of the kids are really funny, too. And not always on purpose. Example Numero Uno: Susan (AKA 'Sweaty Sue'). Sweaty Sue is one of the new 4 year olds in our school, and just the mention of her name here has a rolling on the ground laughing. There aren't really words to describe this lovely little girl, other than she is SWEATY. For some reason she sweats more than anyone else we have ever met here in China. Even just sitting there, without any physical activity, she has beads of sweat rolling down her face, and her hair is always plastered across her forehead. Oh she is such a joy. I need to get a picture of her in all her sweaty glory!

So teaching is NOTHING like anything we expected, and NOTHING like what we were trained for, but I am liking it so far, and I am having so much fun!

Yin Hau Temple Photos

2009-08-29T05:59:00.000-07:00

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The Yin Hau temple I wrote about. I can only send a few pictures at a time through email, so I'm sorry I cant put more up. I have SO many great pictures, its hard to choose from them all! I hope they work.... I cant check to see! Cross your fingers I guess lol

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China Adventures!

2009-08-29T05:49:00.001-07:00

GREAT NEWS!

We FINALLY have Internet working here in Zhongshan! I'll be better at blogging now.

I've done SOOOOOOO much in the last week and have 2 memory cards full of pictures! China is wonderful, but it is SO HOT and HUMID! We have been dying haha its hotter and more humid here than any other place I have visited. Haha its been quite the experience adjusting but we love it!

We got to visit Hong Kong before coming to our city and I LOVE Hong Kong! Its probably my favorite place I've been too. I got so attached to that city in only two days. We got to visit lots of places while we were there. Here are the places we went the first day:

- The Yin Hau Temple (one of the oldest and most traditional chinese temples in Hong Kong)

- The giant Buddha statue (Its HUGE and on the top of a mountain)

- A Monastery next to the Buddha statue (SO beautiful and AMAZING architecture and styles)

Everything was SO COOL and interesting. We all had an amazing time. Since I have to update my blog through email I cant control where the pictures go, or if they will even work, but I'll try and get them to go in order of the places I wrote about. If you want to email me I would love to hear from everyone. My email is leiflower5@msn.com.

(Andee- if my pictures don't work on here, email me and tell me lol)

I would also like to do a shout out to my AMAZING friend Brittany- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I love you and hope it's the BEST EVER and I'm sorry I'm not there to celebrate with you! You're GREAT!

The LDS website

2009-08-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

So my mom told me that you can download the scriptures for your iPod for free on the Church website and so I was like,

"that would be totally awesome to have on my iPod in China" so I went and looked it up.

It is SOOOOO cool. I have the Book of Mormon, D&C, Pearl of Great Price, the Old Testament, and the New Testament now on my iPod.

But OH NO it doesn't stop there!

They have all these things you can download:

The Ensign

The New Era

The Friend

ALL the Conference talks from like FOREVER

Preach My Gospel

Jesus the Christ

Study Manuals for the different scripture sets

So I now have ALL those on my wonderful iPod and it will be great in China if I cant go to church every sunday, and just for everyday wonderfulness.

I am so thankful for technology! Haha instead of having to pack all those books, manuals and magazines I have them all on a little 3 in X 2 in metal box. It is so wonderful. I just LOVE our church for doing all that!

If you don't have all those amazing things on your iPod's already, I STRONGLY recommend checking out what the church website has to offer! AMAZING!

OH YAY!

2009-08-18T22:53:00.001-07:00

Ok everyone! It WORKED!!!!

This is SUCH good news to me! AH!

So, now I can send stuff to my blog! Hopefully pictures, too!

I'll try and send stuff as often as possible! Oh this is just soooo amazing my heart is overjoyed!

Such a RELIEF!!!!

Lets see if pictures work:

Emailing posts!

2009-08-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

This is a trial run to see if I can email posts to my blog, and stay updated that way since China has blocked blogspot.

Well, here it goes!

Wedding Dash!

2009-08-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

So I have 3 weddings this week. I've already been to two.

On Tuesday, my cousin Alyssa got married. She is a great girl and so beautiful. She had a wonderful reception! For her sign in book, she had a little photo booth like the ones in the mall and you got to have your pictures taken and then you tape the pictures into a book and write next to it, that way they have all the pictures for memories! I thought it was such a great, clever idea!

On Thursday my friend Josh got married to my my friend Kati. Friend weddings are always so much fun. I am so happy for them as they start their new life together.

Tomorrow my friend Terri gets married to my friend Dustin. I am one of her bridesmaids, so I have been able to help her with stuff all summer. We are excited for her wedding to get here! It will be a fun day tomorrow, even though it will be really long. I cant wait!

There have been so many weddings this summer I dont know what to do with myself! 9 friends of mine have "gotten hitched" and half of them were younger than me. 9!!!

I find myself saying over and over: "You're just 20, you're just 20..." but why must I feel all this pressure to be married so soon? It adds so much stress to a young girls life, and many, if not all, of my friends would agree. Why cant we be like other people and not think about marriage til we are 30? You know, just focus on our careers and getting settled in life rather than trying to do all of it at once. Its kind of an emotional overload, all this multi tasking.

Whew. I'm only 20, I'm only 20....

Boys

2009-07-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

So, a lot of my friends have recently been experiencing problems with boys. Yes, you heard correctly. BOYS. This may come as a shock to some of you, because aren't boys supposed to be calm, docile creatures?

I am here to tell those of you still believing this misconception: NO. They are not calm and docile, but frequently lash out in violent, unexpected ways.

The main reason of this post is to get opinions and theories from all of those who have experienced such a lapse in behavior as previously mentioned.

WHY do boys tell us things that do not coincide with their actual thoughts?

WHY do boys tell us we "look like we are 12" (for example), but wont actually tell us how they feel?

WHY do boys play such horrible and cruel games?

I mean, I used to think girls were the ones who played mean games.... but honestly, it isn't us ladies, and we need to stick together. This is a matter of Homeland Security.

Feel free to post experiences and comments. I'd love to hear them.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2009-07-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

So.....

I LOVE Harry Potter.

If I could marry a book, it would be the HP series. No joke.

(And, yes, this post is for real.)

Tuesday is going to be the best day of my life so far.

Why, you may ask?

Because Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out in theaters!!!

(And I will be watching it with my favorite people ever and fellow HP nerds/enthusiasts)

I cant even put into text my enthusiasm for this event.

And, as a picture is worth a thousand words... I thought I would put some up:

(Just so you know, Ron Weasley a.k.a. Rupert Grint is my favorite person ever and is one of 3 people I would marry with out thinking it over, so thats why there are lots of his pics... I just cant get over his face.)

(Three more of my favorite characters who just make me smile thinking of them and their awesomeness: Luna Lovegood and the infamous Fred & George Weasley)

(I can't wait for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes!)

This movie is going to be amazing. This was my favorite book out of the series, and I cant wait to see it on screen. J.K. Rowling is only one of the most amazing people ever.

So, all in all...

Harry Potter = True Happiness

(Boys may suck but I will always have Harry Potter to turn to.)

Friends

2009-07-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

I just want to start out by saying I LOVE having friends. They make life fun.

But you know what? Have you ever had someone tell you that your life doesn't revolve around someone else? Well I have, and I am here to say this:

My life does revolve around my friends. It SO DOES.

And the last few weeks have been extremely frustrating. All my friends are busy or live too far away and I have nothing to do. Going on walks and bike rides and reading Harry Potter only get you so far on the entertainment scale.

(Although I will admit Harry Potter brings hours and hours of happiness into my life.)

So this is just a shout out to all my friends:

I love you all and love to be with you! You all have made me such a better person and I learn so much from all of you. Thanks for being my friends. After all, friends are family that you get to choose.

Summer!

2009-05-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

GUESS WHAT???!!! It is now SUMMERTIME!!!!!!! That means I get to lay out in the sun and go swimming and go camping and go fishing and watch movies outside and go four wheeling and go to concerts and go to lagoon and go on road trips! I just LOVE summer! And the heat and warmth and sunshine! Thank you Summertime! "Summertime, and the living is easy... Summertime, and the cotton is high..."

My Uncle Steven

2009-03-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

My uncle Steven passed away early monday morning. They think that he died to complications with a heart murmur. He also had severe osteoperosis, and hurt all the time. He is now alot happier. Uncle Steven was super cute. He was really my great uncle, but we all just called him our uncle, or grandpa, because he liked that.

He is dancing with my aunt and cousins.

Uncle Steven was left mentally handicapped after having encephalitis as a little boy which left scar tissue on the left side of his brain.

My amazing grandma has been taking care of him for years, and we all loved him alot. Uncle Steven was in a lot of pain, but he couldn't tell us because of his communication problems. It is for the best that he has passed on. He is now with his parents in heaven and very happy.

A few things about my Uncle Steve. He LOVED to fix things. He would sit for hours taking apart a VCR and then tried to fix it. He also loved his new cellphone and loved to send picture messages on it.

Here He is getting a "diploma" for learning how to fix computers.

He loved my grandma's kids and grandkids, and was overjoyed when we would call him grandpa too. He loved getting visits and having parties, especially halloween ones. He loved to dress up in costumes.

His "Three Stooges" costume. Can you pick me out of the crowd? ;) His cellphone. He loved his phone! My Uncle Steven was a really sweet person and we will all miss him, but we know he is much happier now that he is in heaven with his family and we cant wait to see him again, healthy, happy and alive!!!

Creepy sounds in the Old Farm parking lot...

2009-03-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

So.... Last night My roomates and I were over with the lovely girls of X3 watching a movie (The Secret Life of Bees, which I highly recommend).

The movie went great, and we sat and talked to about two in the morning.

We finally decided that we should head back to our apartment and get some shut eye....

We walked out the door and about three steps later....

SCREECH!!!!!!

And we heard the creepiest sound, like someone sharpening a huge execution axe, or metal talons scratching down a chalkboard, or some creepy old man opening a rusty gate. The sound kept coming, at regular intervals, making the sound even more chilling.

Better yet, it was windy, and the air was electric from the approaching storm. Perfect setting, right?

Screech, Screech, Screech, Screech.....

Becca immediately wanted to go check it out, but Brittany objected. Afterall, it was two in the morning and the sound was making the hairs on our arms stand up. So, Brittany pulled Becca into the house.

As soon as Brittany had moved out of the way of the door, Becca bolted out. Now Becca doesn't like to brag, but she runs FAST! By the time that Brittany made it to our front door to try and catch her, Becca had made it all the way around the corner of X3.

Screech, Screech.....

By now, I was getting pretty curious, and wanted to know what the sound was and where it was coming from. So I wrapped a blanket around me and went to follow Becca.

I couldn't find Becca for awhile, and by the time I did, Brittany had joined me. We saw Becca walking towards us from across the parking lot, and we were a little suspicious of her..... We assumed that she would try to scare us, so we tried to beat her to it, and attempted to scare her. We went and hid by the door of X2, so no matter which side she came around, we would be able to scare her.

Screech, Screech.....

But there was a problem... Becca wasn't coming. So we decided to sneak over to X3 to look around the back of the building, but she wasn't there. And then, all of the sudden....

Someone walked out of X3. It was our really good friend Lindzi! She said that her roommate Heather told her that she had heard creepy sounds outside, and naturally, Lindzi wanted to check it out too.

Screech, Screech, Screech....

So the three of us went to go find Becca and the sound.

When we got to where the dumpsters were, we found Becca. She hadn't figured out the noise yet, and so the four of us walked to where the sound was coming from - over towards the stadium.

Screech, Screech.....

We were walking kind of hesitantly.... the noise was nerve-racking, after all. And as we got closer and closer, the sound became louder and louder. Brittany was pretty nervous, and she kept grabbing me and using me as a sheild to protect her, just in case anything came our way. Isn't she a great friend? (Love ya Brit!)

We were almost to the edge of the parking lot, and the noise was insane.

Screech, Screech, SCREECH!!!

We were right next to the sound. There was a large ominous tree, with its sprawling, tangeled branches glowing in the erie moonlight.

We were too nervous to get any closer, so we stood next to a tan car, keeping it between us and the chilling sound.

We looked up in the branches, in the shadows and past the tree into the run down shacks on the neighboring land of Old Farm.

SCREECH, SCREECH, SCREECH!!!!

But we couldn't see anything.

And then, Lindzi noticed something....

The car we were standing by had its windsheild wipers still on!!! The lack of rain on the glass was causing the wipers to screech against the sheild, and it echoed across the parking lot to our apartments.

I still wonder how the wipers were that loud, and how they made that spooky, heart pounding sound, but it was.

And, so, the mystery of the creepy sound was solved.

Swipe, Swipe, SWIPE!!!!

** If you have any mysteries you need solved, contact The Mystery Investigators.

Office: Old Farm Apt U1

Work Number:

(435) 789-ARGH

(801) 44-SCARE

Thank you for your business **

My 20th Birthday!

2009-03-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

Cassie, Brittany, Me and Andee!

Me and Andee-poo!

Megan, Becca and her sweet jacket, Jenny and Brittany!

Me, Megan, Chelsey, Jenny and Becca!

Me and Cassie!

Me and Brittany!

Me and Chelsey!

I turned 20 yesterday and had a great birthday! I have the most amazing friends that I LOVE!!!! I got such cool presents! Like Dr. Pepper pajama pants, an Orlando Bloom/Will Turner Pez dispenser, A really pretty neclace made from a geode, and personalized fruitsnacks in my favorite flavors and so much more awesome stuff! And my parents got me a really cool camera with way fun settings and I took lots of cool pictures to "scrapbook" the night. So bear with me :)

We went to Firehouse for dinner and had really good bread and Cordon Bleu pizza with this alfredo sauce that is to die for. And I got a free f'zhookie dessert for my birthday! They are like 20X better when they are free I swear. We also had cake back at my apartment and it was really yummy :) and all my friends sat and wasted their precious time just for me. I am so spoiled ha ha. Thanks guys!!! You are all THE BEST! I love my friends!

The Office

2009-02-08T20:29:00.001-08:00

So I have always heard all about the t.v. series "The Office," and have always wondered why everyone is so obsessed. Well, my roommate Brittany had the first two seasons, and she made me watch it. I can now say that I am one of "The Office" junkies and I am so upset that I didn't start watching it sooner. I have now watched the first 4 seasons in about 3 weeks and can't wait to watch more. So, Fact: Dwight is the COOLEST person ever and I am in love with Jim. I think Michael is totally oblivious and I think Ryan is a loser. Kelly needs to get out of high school and Creed is awesome. What can I say? I just love The Office and I am sure I'll write more about it!!!

Why I am creating this Blog...

2008-12-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

As many of you may already know, I am going to China in the fall to teach English in one of the schools there for about 4 months. I am going with two of my roommates from college, Chelsey and Becca. We are really excited and can't wait to go. I thought this blog would be a great way to keep people up to date and to share pictures of our experiences throughout China!!