A Skip and a Hop to China!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Aunt Amy
At the school I live in a complex with some of the other teachers. Sam and mine apartments are on the bottom of the complex and are a lot bigger than the other teachers. Anyways, a few of the teachers have little families with one or two kids. There are about 5 or 6 kids total. All of them re so adorable. Four of them are my favorite. They aren’t sisters but they hang out together all the time. I wish I knew their names but they are all in Chinese. Two are 4 years old and the others are 2, I think. Often they will come running up to my door and knock on it. They then giggle and talk in Chinese to me. I just smile and tickle them. When I have candy I give some to them. They love it. When I give them candy or I tickle them they giggle and squeal with delight. It reminds me so much of Alaina and Abby. For the last few weeks when they come to see me they call me Ayee or Aunt. Its so cute!! Since Autumn isn’t married I don’t have any nieces. I’m so glad that they adopted me as their aunt. One day after coming home from a holiday. I heard knocking at my door and went to answer it. It was one of my nieces with her hair all braided in pigtails and with cute hair pretties in it. I said Ni hao and she giggled and ran away. She ran out the door of our porch and yelled something to the other girls in Chinese. The only word that I understood was Ayee. I guess she yelled something about Ayee being back because three of my other nieces came running to my door. It was adorable. I just felt such love for them. They missed me!! I wish I could just take them home with me to America. But I don’t think their parents would approve. I am happy to be their aunt now and it will be very hard to leave them when I go back to America.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Holy Guacamole!!
Wow, ok it has been way to stinking long since I have posted. I am terribly sorry!! I know that there are a quite a few people following this blog and really want to know what is going on while I am here in China. I'm sorry for not being more persistant in my updates. So here is part of whats been going on. A few weeks ago, on Sunday, two of Sam's students, Christina and Allen, invited us to go on a picnic. We both were really excited to go. I thought that it was going to be like an American picnic. You know, the food, watermelon, some frisbee and football action. I was wrong. We met in a park and hung out there for a few minutes and then Christina informed us that we were going hiking up to the top of the mountain near the school. At first I was suprised and then I thought, "Ok, it will be fun and not that difficult. I can manage." I was wearing long jeans with nilons underneath from work, my red wool jacket, and just my brown shoes. Both Sam and I weren't really prepared.
It was a beautiful day! The hike was really fun. It was great to be with Sam's students and to see him interact with them. It was a really warm day so 20 minutes into the hike I was sweating and I had to take off my coat. The sky was clear so we had a great view of the city the whole way up. At first the hike was in a kind of shaded area with some trees and then when we got to the base of the mountain there weren't anymore trees. Allen said that a few weeks ago there was a fire that burned down the trees. Having no trees made the hike a little hot since there wasn't any shade but it was still a lot of fun. The students were singing songs in Chinese as they climbed and Sam and I sang a few for them. I felt like I was back at home hiking with my family!! They asked us questions about America. It was great! There were about 30 or 40 students total. There was one part of the mountain that was really hard to climb. The trail seemed to go straight up the mountain. Christina and I stayed together while Sam and Allen raced to see who could get up to the top. Christina and I stopped quite a few times to rest. It was so hot!! It was probably 80 degrees that day with no shade. I just kept telling myself that we were almost there. Finally we made it to the top. 
The view from the top was AMAZING!! You could see the whole city and the valley. On the top of the mountain is a radio tower and a building that you can sit in and look at the view. On the other side of the mountain we could see the dam. The view was so great. 
I was so proud of myself for climbing this huge moutain! Everyone just sat and rested. People started pulling out candy and other food to eat. I guess this is where the picnic comes in. Sam and I ate some candy and took pictures with the students.
We sat on the mountain top for about an hour and then we started the decent home. It was a lot eaiser! We seemed to get down so much faster. The whole day was great! I'm so glad that I went hiking with Sam and his students. 
The view from the top was AMAZING!! You could see the whole city and the valley. On the top of the mountain is a radio tower and a building that you can sit in and look at the view. On the other side of the mountain we could see the dam. The view was so great. 
I was so proud of myself for climbing this huge moutain! Everyone just sat and rested. People started pulling out candy and other food to eat. I guess this is where the picnic comes in. Sam and I ate some candy and took pictures with the students. We sat on the mountain top for about an hour and then we started the decent home. It was a lot eaiser! We seemed to get down so much faster. The whole day was great! I'm so glad that I went hiking with Sam and his students. 
Friday, March 27, 2009
Doing Well
I'm so sorry that I haven't posted anything new lately. I have been really busy with teaching. Also our internet has been acting up and sometimes won't work the whole day and even then it is very slow. Things are going great here in Shuangpai. I love it here! The people are so kind and are so willing to help. I have made many friends with the students and some people around the town. I might go shopping tomorrow with a girl that Sam and I met the first week we were here in Shuangpai. I am excited! She is such a sweetheart! Two Sundays ago I went hiking with Sam and one of his classes up a mountain close to the school. It was a lot of fun!! I will put up pictures of it tomorrow and tell ya'll more about it. Other than hiking and classes not much has been going on. I hope that all is well at home and that everyone is doing great!! Love ya!!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Oh What a Beautiful Day!!!
Today was so fantastic!!! It rained all last week and was really cold so I was so ready for a change in the weather. When I looked outside it was sunny and warm without a cloud in the sky!
I woke up in a great mood too!! You know those days where you wake up in a great mood for really no reason? That was today! I think it partly could be that my birthday is on Thursday but also because the weather was so great. For some reason I just felt like today and this week was going to be great! As I got ready for the day I started to sing really loud "Oh, What a Beautiful Day" from Oklahoma. I have always liked this song and the words fit perfectly to today. Everything was going my way!My 10:30am class in room 229 was amazing!!
When I walked into class there was a gift sitting on the desk with a card. My students had bought me a gift!!!!
They also had on the computer the Happy Birthday song and
they sang it for me!! By the end of them singing I was teary eyed! It was so sweet of them to get me a gift! I didn't expect any of my classes to do anything for my birthday. I opened the card, which was funny because on the front it said "Happy Birthday!! We always wondered if we were cut out to be parents."
I don't know what that means coming from my students but it was very sweet. The gift was a snowglobe! It has little angels in it. It is so cute!!! After I thanked them for their gift we had class. I taught my students about adjectives and we played a game. We played Catch Phrase. They really liked it.
My next class didn't start until 2:30 and the weather was so beautiful I decided to go on a bike ride. Sam played basketball so I went by myself. 
It was great! I headed out of town the same way that Sam and I went on a bike ride before. The scenery is so amazing! Not even 15 feet out of town and it is country. The mountains are close to the road. All along the road are rice fields and some old houses. Trees line the road and there are little patches of trees here and there but it isn't until the montains that there are more. Right now the fields are green with the sprouts of rice. There are also yellow flowers growing. A little bit past t
he bridge in the picture on the right there is a road that goes to the left. I saw a few cars go on it today and I decided to see where it went. I also wanted to get away from the cars on the road. It is scary to be riding my bike as they pass! I'm so afraid that one will hit me! Once I turned onto this little road to the left everything seemed to go quiet. I turned off my ipod and just listened. There was nothing! Just the rippling sound of stream close to the road and the wind in the trees 
but nothing else. As I took in this beautiful sight I realized how much people miss. We go about our day to day lives with ipods on and phones to our ears, that rarely do we stop and just take in what is around us. I couldn't believe just how peaceful it was when the busy road was just 100 feet away. 
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Why I am Here
There are many parents following my blog who have daughters adopted from Shuangpai. I am so excited to be able to share with you my experiences and pictures from the city where your daughters were born. I hope that through my blog you will be able share with your daughters when they are older where they are from. I have such a deep love for China. It is not just from studying the rich history or culture that China has. Rather, it is from these two little girls in the picture above.My family adopted two gems from China. Alaina, at the top of the slide, is 6 years old from Jaingsu province and Abby, at the bottom, is almost 3 and is from Fujian province. My family started the long adoption process about 6 years ago when
my parents knew that our family wasn't quite complete. They had heard about how girls were being abandoned all over China and knew that there were two who were meant to be in our family.
The whole process was long and both times were delayed but in the end, my family received the greatest gifts ever. My 3 biological siblings and I love these girls and cannot see our family without them. We love them just as if my mom gave birth to them. From the first moment we saw their tiny passport size picture with our referral we were in love!! Everyday I look at these girls and just think of what there life would have been like in China. I am so grateful to have these girls in my life. When the opportunity came that I could live in China teaching English I thought of my sisters. I knew that it would be a once in a lifetime chance for me to be able to live where they lived. I want to be able to go home and tell them about how amazing the people are and how rich the culture is. I am excited to be able to show them pictures of their homeland and to tell them about it. I can't wait to experience more that China has to offer so I can tell my sisters about it. I hope that by living here and telling them my story it will help them somehow with understanding their past which will make their future all the better.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
It Aint Like Momma Fixed It!!!
Today I think was the first time that I truly wished I was home!!!!! I miss my momma's good ol' Southern cookin' complete with a stick of butter and plenty of love. Sam and I have been cooking for ourselves for the last week. I wanted to try something from home, chicken noodle soup. I went to the market two days ago and bought a chicken, complete with head, feet, and some feathers.
I also bought some vegetables, noodles, and chicken bouillon.
I was so excited when I got home to start cooking. I started to boil the chicken. I couldn't cut off the foot or wing so I just left it on there. EWW!!! While that was boiling I cut up the veggies. Adding the veggies to the broth and letting those cook together I started the task of getting the meat off the chicken. What meat??? There was nothing on this scrawny chicken!! I overcooked it, I think, which is better than under cooking it when I wasn't sure exactly how long it had been sitting in the market. At this point I was starting to lose confidence in this soup. Adding what little meat I could find on that chicken and the noodles I left the concoction to stew. Oh, I also added the chicken bouillion and some white pepper. When it was done it tasted nothing like my mom's chicken noodle soup. Sam was so brave and tried some of it. He said that it could be saved if I just maybe added some water. Way to be the optimist Sam!! I tried that and it didn't work!! I think that chicken bouillion was what made it taste bad or the white pepper. All I know is that Sam and I later went out to eat at a resturant instead of eating my soup. I ended up not touching it and throwing away the whole batch! Oh well, at least I get points for trying right?
Chinese Funeral
Early this morning I went to the market to buy some veggies for my grand attempt at chicken noodle soup. I love going to the market and just walking around. There is something about it that is so fascinating. When I was walking home I heard the loud noise of firecrackers going off. As I looked over to see what was making that loud noise I saw these beautiful colorful discs. There are many shops here in Shuangpai where people make these circles out of tissue paper and tree limbs. At first, I thought that they were for some kind of celebration coming up but I later found out, through my students, that they are for funerals. Anyways, after the fireworks I saw a row of people carrying these discs with ribbons on them. I realized that it wasn't some kind of parade but rather a funeral percessional. I walked toward the street and started to take out my camera. After the people walked by with the colorful discs a dragon was next. It was one of those dragons that people stand under.
Every once and a while the dragon would stop and the people underneath it would make it dance. As you can see in the video. The noise in the background is all the firecrackers that were going off. Sorry its sideways!!!It was mezmerizing to see this dragon dance. I then realized that I should stop taking pictures and just watch what was happening. I think that it would have been disrespectful for me to continue to take pictures. Cars followed the dragon and then the coffin. It was held up by men with wooden beams. It was coverd with colorful paper and with white. The family followed in front of it wearing white. White in China is a symbol of mourning. As I watched the family pass by I couldn't help but feel sad for them. They held a picture of an old man. A father, brother, grandfather, or friend to probably many people in the crowd and more importantly to the people in front of the coffin. It made me think of my family and of the loved ones that I have had pass away. I am so grateful for my family. I realized once again how percious life is, even here in China. Each moment is so priceless that we must make the most of each and value each moment.
