Wednesday, December 25
Merry Christmas to everybody! Here are the pictures from our Christmas show that we did last week! It was a busy week preparing all of the costumes, decorations, and making sure that the kids all knew what they had to do. Who knew it would be such a pain for 20 6-7 year olds to do a play, recite poems, and sing! They did a GREAT job though and the parents were really happy with their students! I stayed in and didn't go to the city last weekend cause I was so tired from preparing all week and everybody told me I had panda eyes!! (black circles around my eyes haha) So I stayed in and did absolutely nothing which was wonderful! I walked to the nearest grocery store on Saturday to get some drinks. It's a 30 minute walk away and it was FREEZING outside...especially since I was a bum and waited until late afternoon so by the time I was walking back home, the sun was going down so my legs were frozen! But overall a good week. Monday and Tuesday I didn't really do anything new with my students, just talked about Christmas things more and did a lot of coloring. I'm ready for break to be here!! I have to figure out what I'm going to do with them on Thursday and Friday still! My students do have finals...that I just found out I have to make and administer...fun...NOT! Since our program is so different, they are not going to take the same final as the other students so I just learned that I have to come up with exam questions for them to do but apparently, they're supposed to be really easy and everybody should get an A on the test. Things confuse me here sometimes...who am I kidding.....a lot of the time.
Monday was my birthday but I just worked so there was nothing super special. My students sang happy birthday to me which was nice and my friend Joy got me a gift and a cake so that was very sweet of her! I have to make sure to find out when her birthday is! MMMMM cake sounds good right now : ) So yeah...today is Christmas! My friends and I went out last night to celebrate a bit so that was fun and then in a little while, we are going to a local restaurant that is serving Christmas dinner so that will be nice to have some Western style food! Well...that's pretty much that's been going on here lately. I've broken my promise about being better about writing but I'll make it my New Years resolution to be better!! Which reminds me...I need to make New Years plans! I'll beat you all to it!! Mwahahahaha!!!
Merry Christmas to everybody! Here are the pictures from our Christmas show that we did last week! It was a busy week preparing all of the costumes, decorations, and making sure that the kids all knew what they had to do. Who knew it would be such a pain for 20 6-7 year olds to do a play, recite poems, and sing! They did a GREAT job though and the parents were really happy with their students! I stayed in and didn't go to the city last weekend cause I was so tired from preparing all week and everybody told me I had panda eyes!! (black circles around my eyes haha) So I stayed in and did absolutely nothing which was wonderful! I walked to the nearest grocery store on Saturday to get some drinks. It's a 30 minute walk away and it was FREEZING outside...especially since I was a bum and waited until late afternoon so by the time I was walking back home, the sun was going down so my legs were frozen! But overall a good week. Monday and Tuesday I didn't really do anything new with my students, just talked about Christmas things more and did a lot of coloring. I'm ready for break to be here!! I have to figure out what I'm going to do with them on Thursday and Friday still! My students do have finals...that I just found out I have to make and administer...fun...NOT! Since our program is so different, they are not going to take the same final as the other students so I just learned that I have to come up with exam questions for them to do but apparently, they're supposed to be really easy and everybody should get an A on the test. Things confuse me here sometimes...who am I kidding.....a lot of the time.
Monday was my birthday but I just worked so there was nothing super special. My students sang happy birthday to me which was nice and my friend Joy got me a gift and a cake so that was very sweet of her! I have to make sure to find out when her birthday is! MMMMM cake sounds good right now : ) So yeah...today is Christmas! My friends and I went out last night to celebrate a bit so that was fun and then in a little while, we are going to a local restaurant that is serving Christmas dinner so that will be nice to have some Western style food! Well...that's pretty much that's been going on here lately. I've broken my promise about being better about writing but I'll make it my New Years resolution to be better!! Which reminds me...I need to make New Years plans! I'll beat you all to it!! Mwahahahaha!!!
Saturday, December 28
Well hello...see...I'm trying to be better!! I'm at Joy's apartment now in the city and am having a nice relaxing weekend in! Yesterday, when we first came into the city, we went into the market to buy some things from dinner. We got some yummy fried chicken (currently looking for the recipe), some chrysanthemum stems/leaves for a dish (sounds gross but is actually really really good...need to learn how to make that one), and some tomatoes for another dish. While Joy was making dinner, I was trying to have to teach me some things in Chinese cause I really want to learn now! But back to that a little later. I learned how to make this really common dish called eggs and tomatoes which is super simple to make actually really good. I'll make it for anyone who wants to try when I'm home! She also make the chrysanthemum dish which is really good with some garlic and then a seaweed dish which again, sounds really gross, but is actually really very good. We got the spicy fried chicken from a vendor so that was already made but also very delicious. They have this numbing spice here, I have no idea what the English translation is, but it literally makes your mouth numb when you eat it but it's surprisingly good. It was a really great dinner! After dinner, Joy's husband came home, he ate, and I just hung out in my room and played on my computer. Later, Joy came in and I told her how I want to learn Chinese and she gave me some books to read...so I'm actually studying now! I'm going to try to be very disciplined and learn! My downfall is remembering everything...darn you dad for my horrible memory!! I just stayed in all night, did some studying, watched a movie and then went to bed. Very relaxing!
This morning, Joy got up early to go get her haircut but not before she made me a yummy breakfast sandwich! She's so nice! I told her I have to find some good American dishes to cook for her...but she doesn't have an oven so it might be hard! She said she really wants an oven though so maybe once she gets one I can make her something. After she got back from getting her haircut, I left and took a walk to IKEA. I was apparently half listening when Joy told me where to go cause I took a wrong turn and walked 15 minutes in the wrong direction so I had to turn back around and go the correct way. It was FREEZING outside today too!! It was probably 15 degrees out when I was taking my 45 minute walk outside haha. When I finally got to IKEA, my legs were so cold that they hurt! Guess I should pay better attention next time I'm given directions! I got some candles, a pillow for my bed, some rugs for my room, and then a few other odds and ends. I also got some gingerbread cookies from their food section cause I had been talking about the gingerbread man with my students and they all said they wanted to try one so I got some! They are stars and hearts, not men, but they'll have to do! I could have gotten the frozen dough and baked them myself but couldn't find a man cookie cutter so they get the hearts and stars! One of the parents was asking where they could find gingerbread men so I told them. I went to the supermarket (Carrefour) afterwards to grab some drinks since I realized that I hardly ever drink anything here! Silly me...with all the pollution and it being super dry, I'm doing the worst thing for myself!! So I got some Coke Zero, tea, and coffee haha. Some nice lady helped me with putting my bag from IKEA in a locker since I had no idea what I was doing...people are so nice here! And then another man started saying something to me I told him I didn't know what he was saying and he pointed to his eyes and gave me a thumbs up...people are fascinated by my non-brown eyes!! Then when I was in the store, another man came up to me and just kept saying hello in Chinese and so I said back....so he kept repeating it and then wanted to shake my hand. It was quite an eventful trip to the supermarket!!
Once I walked back to Joy's home, she helped me buy a train ticket to Beijing for New Years. I'm so excited!! I'm going to be staying at my friend Rose's apartment with her and I have a few other friends that are going to be in town so it's going to be a really great time!! I'm leaving Tuesday afternoon once school gets out and then I only have 4 more days of teaching left until I'm on break!! Rose and I are planning on traveling a bit before we both go home so that should be fun! However, I will be about a week at school with nothing to do so Joy told me she would teach me Chinese more...I'm so pumped!! So back to today...the rest of the afternoon/evening, Joy and I just hung out, we had some dinner together, talked about work (she wants me to help/give tips on how to teach the American way since she may have classes to teach next term), and then we both taught each other our respective languages. Now, we are both studying...I'm actually about to watch a movie. I'm tired haha. I love early nights! Our plans for tomorrow are to get my visa from the entry/exit office, apply for a bank card, and then I may meet up with some friends for one of their birthdays and then we go back to school! Busy days!! Oh man...I also have to start working on my final to give to the students!! BUSY BUSY!! Well...hope you enjoy all of the random pictures that I put up here!!
Well hello...see...I'm trying to be better!! I'm at Joy's apartment now in the city and am having a nice relaxing weekend in! Yesterday, when we first came into the city, we went into the market to buy some things from dinner. We got some yummy fried chicken (currently looking for the recipe), some chrysanthemum stems/leaves for a dish (sounds gross but is actually really really good...need to learn how to make that one), and some tomatoes for another dish. While Joy was making dinner, I was trying to have to teach me some things in Chinese cause I really want to learn now! But back to that a little later. I learned how to make this really common dish called eggs and tomatoes which is super simple to make actually really good. I'll make it for anyone who wants to try when I'm home! She also make the chrysanthemum dish which is really good with some garlic and then a seaweed dish which again, sounds really gross, but is actually really very good. We got the spicy fried chicken from a vendor so that was already made but also very delicious. They have this numbing spice here, I have no idea what the English translation is, but it literally makes your mouth numb when you eat it but it's surprisingly good. It was a really great dinner! After dinner, Joy's husband came home, he ate, and I just hung out in my room and played on my computer. Later, Joy came in and I told her how I want to learn Chinese and she gave me some books to read...so I'm actually studying now! I'm going to try to be very disciplined and learn! My downfall is remembering everything...darn you dad for my horrible memory!! I just stayed in all night, did some studying, watched a movie and then went to bed. Very relaxing!
This morning, Joy got up early to go get her haircut but not before she made me a yummy breakfast sandwich! She's so nice! I told her I have to find some good American dishes to cook for her...but she doesn't have an oven so it might be hard! She said she really wants an oven though so maybe once she gets one I can make her something. After she got back from getting her haircut, I left and took a walk to IKEA. I was apparently half listening when Joy told me where to go cause I took a wrong turn and walked 15 minutes in the wrong direction so I had to turn back around and go the correct way. It was FREEZING outside today too!! It was probably 15 degrees out when I was taking my 45 minute walk outside haha. When I finally got to IKEA, my legs were so cold that they hurt! Guess I should pay better attention next time I'm given directions! I got some candles, a pillow for my bed, some rugs for my room, and then a few other odds and ends. I also got some gingerbread cookies from their food section cause I had been talking about the gingerbread man with my students and they all said they wanted to try one so I got some! They are stars and hearts, not men, but they'll have to do! I could have gotten the frozen dough and baked them myself but couldn't find a man cookie cutter so they get the hearts and stars! One of the parents was asking where they could find gingerbread men so I told them. I went to the supermarket (Carrefour) afterwards to grab some drinks since I realized that I hardly ever drink anything here! Silly me...with all the pollution and it being super dry, I'm doing the worst thing for myself!! So I got some Coke Zero, tea, and coffee haha. Some nice lady helped me with putting my bag from IKEA in a locker since I had no idea what I was doing...people are so nice here! And then another man started saying something to me I told him I didn't know what he was saying and he pointed to his eyes and gave me a thumbs up...people are fascinated by my non-brown eyes!! Then when I was in the store, another man came up to me and just kept saying hello in Chinese and so I said back....so he kept repeating it and then wanted to shake my hand. It was quite an eventful trip to the supermarket!!
Once I walked back to Joy's home, she helped me buy a train ticket to Beijing for New Years. I'm so excited!! I'm going to be staying at my friend Rose's apartment with her and I have a few other friends that are going to be in town so it's going to be a really great time!! I'm leaving Tuesday afternoon once school gets out and then I only have 4 more days of teaching left until I'm on break!! Rose and I are planning on traveling a bit before we both go home so that should be fun! However, I will be about a week at school with nothing to do so Joy told me she would teach me Chinese more...I'm so pumped!! So back to today...the rest of the afternoon/evening, Joy and I just hung out, we had some dinner together, talked about work (she wants me to help/give tips on how to teach the American way since she may have classes to teach next term), and then we both taught each other our respective languages. Now, we are both studying...I'm actually about to watch a movie. I'm tired haha. I love early nights! Our plans for tomorrow are to get my visa from the entry/exit office, apply for a bank card, and then I may meet up with some friends for one of their birthdays and then we go back to school! Busy days!! Oh man...I also have to start working on my final to give to the students!! BUSY BUSY!! Well...hope you enjoy all of the random pictures that I put up here!!
Sunday, December 29
Happy Sunday!! Today was a pretty lazy day. I slept in kinda late since I haven't been feeling very well. I think I'm coming down with the cold that Joy has. I'm currently drinking green tea with honey to try to soothe my throat and maybe that will magically get rid of my headache too. Cross my fingers! After getting up, we had some breakfast, showered, and then went out. We had to go to the entry/exit administration office to go pick up my visa since it is there so I can become an official resident of Shenyang and be legal to work here. However, once we got there, you apparently can't pick them up on the weekends even though the first time that we were there, they told us that we could. So, we couldn't get my visa/passport, wasn't able to go apply for a bank card, and therefore was a pretty pointless afternoon. We went back to Joy's apartment and then drove back to school. Pretty uneventful! We are going to get it tomorrow morning since I need it in order to get my train ticket on Tuesday to go to Beijing...I feel lost without it! My passport/visa is everything to me here!! On our way back to school, we stopped at KFC to get some dinner and Joy had her first drive through experience! I've only ever seen 1 drive through here so she was all confused on what to do...it was so funny! I told her that in America we have them everywhere since people are too lazy to get out of their cars haha.
Once we got back to school, I washed my sheets, put on the new sheets that my parents got me for Christmas (thanks again!) and basically just did a total clean up job. It is so incredibly dusty here that it feels like an always losing battle. Plus I shed like a dog so the dust/hair combo is pretty gross! I even did a load of laundry and cleaned my bathroom. I felt pretty accomplished!! I'm debating on whether to study some more Chinese but like I said, I'm not feeling too hot so it may just be a movie and off to bed early kind of night. Joy and I are leaving at 8 tomorrow morning to go back to the city to get my visa. So much driving! Plus car rides always make me sleepy. I swear, I never feel well rested here. So yeah....a day of driving and cleaning...my kind of Sunday! Oh and my new pillow and rugs look really cute in here. Kinda feels homey!! I also am burning my new candles and they just smell delicious. The one smells like apple pie so it's really yummy : ) Well....that's all folks. Hope you all have a great Sunday!
Happy Sunday!! Today was a pretty lazy day. I slept in kinda late since I haven't been feeling very well. I think I'm coming down with the cold that Joy has. I'm currently drinking green tea with honey to try to soothe my throat and maybe that will magically get rid of my headache too. Cross my fingers! After getting up, we had some breakfast, showered, and then went out. We had to go to the entry/exit administration office to go pick up my visa since it is there so I can become an official resident of Shenyang and be legal to work here. However, once we got there, you apparently can't pick them up on the weekends even though the first time that we were there, they told us that we could. So, we couldn't get my visa/passport, wasn't able to go apply for a bank card, and therefore was a pretty pointless afternoon. We went back to Joy's apartment and then drove back to school. Pretty uneventful! We are going to get it tomorrow morning since I need it in order to get my train ticket on Tuesday to go to Beijing...I feel lost without it! My passport/visa is everything to me here!! On our way back to school, we stopped at KFC to get some dinner and Joy had her first drive through experience! I've only ever seen 1 drive through here so she was all confused on what to do...it was so funny! I told her that in America we have them everywhere since people are too lazy to get out of their cars haha.
Once we got back to school, I washed my sheets, put on the new sheets that my parents got me for Christmas (thanks again!) and basically just did a total clean up job. It is so incredibly dusty here that it feels like an always losing battle. Plus I shed like a dog so the dust/hair combo is pretty gross! I even did a load of laundry and cleaned my bathroom. I felt pretty accomplished!! I'm debating on whether to study some more Chinese but like I said, I'm not feeling too hot so it may just be a movie and off to bed early kind of night. Joy and I are leaving at 8 tomorrow morning to go back to the city to get my visa. So much driving! Plus car rides always make me sleepy. I swear, I never feel well rested here. So yeah....a day of driving and cleaning...my kind of Sunday! Oh and my new pillow and rugs look really cute in here. Kinda feels homey!! I also am burning my new candles and they just smell delicious. The one smells like apple pie so it's really yummy : ) Well....that's all folks. Hope you all have a great Sunday!