Luoyang.....

This past Saturday we went on an educational trip to an ancient city about 3 hours from where we live. We went with the resident historian here at SIAS. His name is Gary Todd, he is from Illinois and has taught at both U of I champagne and SIU-Carbondale. His goal is to improve both academia in China as well as learn as much Chinese history as one could possibly know. He is like-minded and could basically tell you anything you wanted to know about chrch history, Bro Rick you'd be impressed... He's usually the guy we go to if we have a question about something in politics, history, etc. He always has an answer and most of the time it comes with an adamant response. He takes it pretty seriously but. he's still a lot of fun! He is the guy who is hard to get to know unless you open the conversation or initiate the relationship. On a typical day, like any historian, you can go to his room and find him reading a book.




Here recently he came upon some ancient coins from about 2000 years ago. I think he dug them up at a dig site somewhere close or received them from someone. Along with the coins he collects artifacts and antiques from the different dynasty's of China. He's got daggers, coins, writings, and many others. He loves to show them to people who are interested so if you ever stop by his room... ask him about them. He lives directly under us in the apartment building so it's a convenient trip down the stairs to talk with him.

Anyway here are some pics from our trip and his web site so you can read more about the histroy of the city we live in and surrounding cities...

http://www.garyleetodd.com/

.bathroom.tailor.propane.tears.english.

lacy:

today was pretty eventful; spending some time with students and friends :) we both had two classes.... which by the way one of my classes was pretty funny! in my sophomore oral english class, we played charades; i gave them phrases that are commonly said... like goodbye, hello, i cant hear you, i need to go to the bathroom, etc.... because when you go to a different country not knowing the language, you find it yourself playing a lot of charades! one of my students ended up with the "i need to go to the bathroom" phrase.... well the way he acted it out was hilarious! he held himself like a 5 year old would if they had to go to the bathroom; then he pretended to open a door and he squatted down! the whole class was laughin! i was laughing because i hate squatties; i dont like goin to the bathroom in a chinese toilet.... i hold it till i find a western toilet :) if i absolutely have to, i will; which so far has only been on a train.... but peter is the one who acted it out and he has pretty good english and is always funny.... its one of my favorite classes!

anyways, i went to the tailor with a student of andy's, jodie.... shes really cool and very good at english! shes a senior and plans to further her study in england, which i think she'll be great there! she had a coat made the same place i did, so i went with her.... the tailor there is hilarious! the way her voice sounds and the way she talks; she always sounds angry and like she is arguing with everyone, but shes not! haha its kinda like if you were to start yelling in an angry voice about how its such a nice day today lol jodie and i just laugh; its almost as if the tailor puts on a show because we are laughing :) sunday night she is taking me to a restuarant with spicy noodles, so thatll be interestin! at the same time, andy was goin on a hike with a student, jim, around the wooded area of the campus.... he said him and jim had a really cool conversation; ill let him tell you more about that since it was his experience :) which i have to say that he has been doing awesome with the "trooth corner"! he has been doing really well tryin to explain truth to the students; because some students are better with english than others, so he has to make sure everyone understands and not just a few.... it is really awesome when you see their face light up because they understand; like a light bulb just went on! one thing i wish we had was a "bble" that was half english and half pin yin.... meaning that the chinese language is not in characters, but written how their words are pronounced; i have been really tryin to learn more of the language.... i can hear and understand certain words in a conversation, but i cant really make out what is actually said; i am getting a lot better and its gets more and more exciting! it would just be cool to be able to read a verse in chinese, but since i do not know characters, that is hard to do lol anyways, all i want to say is that i am proud of andy and please continue to think specifically for this corner because their minds and hearts are thinking!

well later tonight, we had about 14 of andy's students from last year come over; it was a packed house! we fit them all in our little living room; it was awesome! we just showed em pics of our wedding and some of our trips in china.... they didnt stay that long, but at the end they took tons of pics! seriously, i was blind for a while afterwards from all the flash! they all wanted to get a pic with me and andy; my eyes were killing! :) but it was a good time to meet his students from last year!

after they left, we went to ghetto hotpot for a late dinner.... we took a student named george and our friend kerry who is a teacher here; it was a good time! hotpot is hard for me to describe; andy is better at describing things.... in the middle of the table, there is a huge bowl over a propane fire with water and some spices all heated and constantly boiling..... then you can add different things in there like lamb meat, potato noodles, noodles (they have awesome noodles), cabbage, tofu, sliced potatos, etc.... then you can just wait till its boiled in the water and use your chopsticks to fish it out! you can dip it in either garlic sauce or this peanut sauce.... if you like spicy and some people do not like spicy, they have a divider that divides the bowl into two parts and you can have different flavors..... their spicy is RIDICULOUS! i like spicy, but they have so much ginger in it that it makes your face turn red! no joke! our friend george was eatin it up! i have tried some before thinkin it would be good, but it was unbearable! my tongue was on fire! and after i said that, george said his face was on fire, haha.... he is a sophomore and his english is very good; i would think he was a senior! we hang out with him quite a lot; hes always around peter hall hanging out with the foreigners.... kerry had some of the spiciness and had to back out haha; george kept telling him to come back! it was funny cause kerry was tearing up! it was a pretty good day!

earlier i had text some of my students; girls that i hang out with the most.... sarah, raina, sandra, janey, angel; these girls helped me with double dutch for culture week! they are awesome and so crazy! i always have fun with them.... its hard to find students here that speak good english and understand the kind of humor i have, but these gurls have a similar humor as i do so we click very well! it can be frustrating sometimes always trying to explain and define your words; thats why its refreshing to hang out with these girls because they are very good with their english.... i asked them to come to power hour with me this sunday and 2 of them will go with me; im not sure about one.... raina and i are going for a walk tomorrow around downtown because she wanted to tell me about her job interview last weekend; she said it was funny and had to tell me, so i will ask her if she will go with me then.... keep these girls in mind; its crazy that it has only been almost 3 months and i have become very close to some students! ill have to get pictures with them soon, so i can put em up here :)

Crab Rangoon!

Hey Everyone!

Tonight we had a group of students over for an English Corner! We had a great discussion... and we made Crab Rangoon! I thought I'd show them some American Chinese food... I wasn't sure I would be able to achieve China Buffet status, but we were successful.

Here's what we do. Each Wednesday evening we have students over, invite only, so we're able to discern the one's who are searching or just genuine friends of ours. We have snacks, brief conversation about our days/lives and then we test them to see if they remember one anothers name.

In the Chinese culture it's normal to never talk to a stranger. It's hard to go outside of your circle of friends because of trust or the simple fear of getting to know someone new. The culture is based on relationships and this isn't so obvious to the normal onlooker but, once you cultivate a few relationships you understand deeper. If you are a friend, you are a friend for life. There are two circles or levels of relationships one; is that of being an acquaintance and two; that of deeper friendship or family. If you are on the outer circle then you can count on not receiving much in terms of closeness but, if you are on the inner circle then you would receive the shirt off of someones back if you ever were in need, literally, not figuratively. I've seen so many acts of charity between friends. Some students go so far as purchase computers for each other. This happens all the way to the point of cheating on exams. If a student has not studied then their friend doesn't want to see them fail so they will help that friend pass by allowing them to cheat. It happens in America we just seem to know how to cheat in a more sophisticated way.

Anyway, sorry for rambling... I'm doing my best to give you a window into the culture. Back to testing them on each others names. We just want them to start feeling comfortable with others around them hoping they will build friendships outside of their dorm rooms. There are definitely the exceptions to the rule but, that's the norm.

Tonight we began by having everyone arrive at 730pm. Once everyone arrived we started by telling them what Crab Rangoon was and then showed them the ingredients. They began laughing at me because that's basically what we do all the time, laugh together. they call me crazy because I am always doing something different and trying to show them so many stupid things we westerners do, like make Crab Rangoon in China! Or, buy 20 snickers bars for our visitors (those who came last week all got a snickers bar, they're kind of pricey for the students to buy). Again... rambling... Once we got the stuff all mixed we put it into the wanton rappers (in Chinese HUN DUN PI..."who'n-do'n-pee"). then put them in the oil to fry.

The students thought they were very good( in Chinese TAI HAO CHE... tie-how-cher). They said they were different but approved... mission accomplished!

So now onto the discussion... We talked about relativitism, what's right, what's wrong, and who decides? On the board I drew stick figures in different colors representing different people and different thoughts. "Mr. Green killed Mr. Red because he wanted to... who is right? you'd think the answer would be simple. Nope... "It's okay, as long as he did it for fun." and "It's okay, he didn't know what he was doing." and "Maybe Mr. Red did something to make Mr. Green Kill him?" I thought to myself at that point "I have a lot to accomplish here tonight!"

So we continued, it didn't get a whole lot better but it did progress and we did have good points to discuss. We read the 10 laws that are the standard, and I said "If truth exists, then it is the same for everyone, it isn't different for different cultures or different people." not only do I struggle with the language barrier but also with a people who's moral compass is not exactly the greatest. I love the people so much and I want you to know that they are wonderful people. It's more that there isn't really a standard of morality. So pry for this area especially with the group members.

After all the discussion we wound down and just hung out for about 15 minutes. We talked about usually life things. We planned for the next few days and even possibly planned a trip to a students home. We'll keep you posted.

I want to end with something a student said right before he left this evening. "It's comfortable here, I like coming to your house and spending time with you and your wife. I feel very welcomed." --Casey

And another student said during the cooking time. "You two are so happy, you are always filled with happiness. We love spending time with you."--Joyce

Children...

Like I said... we are really wanting to put more into this site so you can see deeper into the culture and into our lives. Unlike Lacy, I hate to write things, I hate to express my inner feelings. All this on top of knowing that one; my grammar is pretty poor and two; I am not sure I can truly express how I feel through words on a web page.

I mentioned before that it was an exceptionally emotional time when Bro' Andre and Bill Simmons were here. This was because they actually got to see us here as well as seeing the culture for what it is. So they understand deeper than those of you who have not been here. the only chance most of you will ever have to experience China is through Lacy and me. So that is why I am wanting to break the silence! I want to do all that I can to break down barriers, walls of any sort and misunderstandings between the East and the West. So here goes my first feeble attempt.

This past weekend we were able to go with a small group of teachers to an orphanage in a town about one hour away. The town's name is Xin Mi ( pronounced "Seen Me"). We took a small bus that we rented and took gifts along with us. We took things they needed such as bathing supplies, fruit, milk, games/toys etc. A care package was prepared individually for each student and then given to them upon arrival. They were so happy to see us. On our way we received a phone call from one of the Chinese workers as the orphanage who asked us where we were. We were about 15 minutes away and he said that the kids were anxiously awaiting our arrival. And... that they were. They were all crowding the gate with smiles and cheers when we arrived. It was similar to a Christmas morning in America, yet these students love to play with us individually.

When we go we usually take about 20-25 plus a few Chinese students who can help translate if needed. The school/orphanage is an exception to the rule when you think of the traditional orphanage. The care the children receive is phenomenal, really... They have both Chinese women and men who deeply care for them. It was refreshing to see the love being shown to them compared to the daily lifestyle and hardness we tend to see. The orphanage was started 10 years ago or so by an American woman (who kind of looks as if she could be Mrs. Meggos's sister). She's from Kansas so she must have a good heart, right!

I say this place is phenomenal not only because the care they receive but, because they are being taught trooth. According to the "standard" they are being treated extra special and are genuinely cared for. Each child has a heart of gold and that golden heart is filled with a man who will always give them the strength they need in life. When I look at these children I hurt because I know they don't have parents and they have been deserted. Then I really look at them and honestly I could never tell that they are orphans. I can't say enough about the care they receive. It's truly a blessing to be able to love on these kids.

So what do we do when we go, you ask? As you see in pictures we play with them, we love them and just give ourselves to them for an afternoon. Because there are so many of them and not enough workers to have one-on-one attention daily we help by giving them that one-on-one or one-on-two attention they need. Last year I was able to go and spent time with two boys Donnie and Charlie. I always think of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" for some reason... I just wish I could be his "Golden Ticket" to a family... Tonya Duke maybe?????? I don't know, I just wish I could bring him home with me. this year I asked Charlie if he remembered me, but because his English is as good as my Chinese we weren't able to have a deep conversation. I asked him this "Ni jide wo ma?" (pronounced "Knee gee duh woe mah") Ni=you, jide=remember, Wo=me/I, Ma=question form.

Charlie shook his head and smiled and gave me a hug, amazing! At first it was difficult to recognize him because I hadn't been there in a year and he had grown up a little. funny how boys grow up in a year. Now he has braces, along with so many other children at the orphanage. Like I said... thy receive super care! Most students don't have the resources or opportunity to have braces in order to improve their teeth. A lot of children will grow up with a few extra teeth that we would have pulled in order to straighten our mouths out. The simple things we never think about or just take for granted because it's an everyday thing.

I said I spent time with two children last year Donnie and Charlie... Well this year Donnie spent time with another teacher who is new and I had an opportunity to get to know another boy, Zack, who's English is pretty good. Not spectacular but better than average.... He was funny because he walked with me everywhere I went. He gave me his name tag and said I could have his name and he wanted my name. Whenever we would walk up to someone else he would introduce himself like this "Ni hao, wo de mingzi Andy, Wo shi er shi ba la" in English... "Hello, my name is Andy and I am 28" so then I would say "Wo de mingzi Duan Zhi Heng" in English... Hello, my name is Duan Zhi Heng (or I would say Zack).

The whole day we spent time playing basketball, or for those who know, we played "knock-out", Chinese Duck-Duck-Goose, ping pong, badminton, and/or hacky sack. It was really fun and a change of pace for us.

Finally, When we were saying our goodbyes, Zack looked at me and said "we are forever friends" and I responded "I love you...." We are planning a trip to go back again sometime in December.

Pry for a girl who is in their care who was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and put on a lot of hard Rx's. She was taken to another Dr. and he is taking her off of those Rx's slowly to keep her from experiencing a lot of shock or withdrawals. She went for 3 days with no food, water, or sleep... causing her to hallucinate. Therefore the Dr's thought she had schizophrenia...

.a.cleaner.and.a.cooker.

lacy:
ok so i'll admit that i have been horrible at keeping up with this; i am going to try and write in this thing at least 4 times a week... that might be expecting too much of me and i apologize in advanced if i mess up! i really do love writing and blogging; i just dont know what it is that makes me stare blankly at the screen wondering where do i start....

anyways, saturday we did this really fun thing called a progressive house warming party; similar to a progressive dinner only it was more like progressive snacks and drinks (drinks meaning hot cocoa and the sort). this was a way for us teachers to get more acquainted with eachother and check out eachothers' places.... alot of people opened up their home including me and andy; it was a blast! if you dont know, we live in sort of like an apartment dorm hall; its called peter hall.... so i cleaned all day and andy headed out to zhengzhou to get some supplies for what he was going to make for that night; he made what he calls amazing meltbombs! he got the recipe from a friend and you take crushed oreos mixed with cream cheese into a ball then dipped in melted dove chocolate, and you chill them till the chocolate gets hard.... they are the most amazing things! i was pretty proud of him :) i would say that as a team; i clean and he cooks.... i love to clean and he loves to cook! (side note to my mom: see i told you that if i pryed for a husband that cooks, jay will provide; i wasnt worried)

well i cleaned everything cause im a clean freak like that :) im the kind of clean freak where if i clean the shower, i wish that it wouldnt have to be used for a couple of days so it keeps looking awesome.... the reason why i say that is our shower has clear walls around it and it so clear when its clean, i love it! when it gets used, you can see the soap scum and the water spots.... agh, i wish i had a squeegie to just clean it everytime i take a shower haha ok i know a lil ridiculous, but those are my thoughts.... of course, i am laid back about being clean; but when i get to cleaning, i am hardcore! andy is pretty similar; hes laid back but he likes to keep things clean.... although, he is horrible at throwing wrappers away; ill find them randomly somewhere but thats ok cause hes much better bout it now :)

well we had a lot of people come in and out of our place, which they enjoyed the coziness of our home and the amazin chocolate goodness of andys creations.... it was really fun hosting and showing off our place! i took some pics of our apartment, so you can see where we are living....

FRONT DOOR
OUR OFFICE

3 TURTLES/3 GOLDFISH
OUR SINK
OUR SHOWER/WATER HEATER

OUR LIL KITCHEN

OUR LIVING ROOM

OUR LIVING ROOM
DOORWAY TO KITCHEN/DOORWAY TO BEDROOM

OUR BEDROOM

.where.did.october.go?

lacy:
whew! october october= craziness! we were so involved in the month of october.... we had midterms, taught extra english prep classes for a test, taught extra classes for people who have not arrived to china yet, and we were involved in culture week, which just finished!

Midterms weren't that bad, but preparing for it was time consuming because we had to get tons of pages for the test to be printed.... andy and i together have a total of 350 students, so thats a lot of trees! THEN we had to grade them all :) fun fun.... its over now, but only to look forward to less than 4 weeks for the final exam! whoo hoo :) the last day of the semester is Dec 19th, so its coming up quickly.... the reason why we taught an english prep course to help students on this big certification test was to make some extra money for our winter break trip.... we are saving up as much money as we can to help pay for our trip to Thailand for the winter since students will all be going back home... its a 9 week winter break!! a little ridiculous, but we won't begin traveling until after christmas or december, so we aren't spending too much money. With what we get paid, we have to save up almost all of it. we basically use money to help students, take them out to dinner, or for toilet paper that we arent allowed to flush down the toilet.... (brings me back to ecuador) andy says it gets really cold here and they turn the heating off, so most of the foreign teachers here travel to thailand or other places where it is warmer.... andy has been looking into places where we could do some "work" to spread some certain "good news" :) i hope you got that.... there is this place in phuket where they are wanting to develop a xtian university and right now they are spreading some news to the muslims.... andy received the article from a friend he knows, so its an option that we are lookin into.... OH! i am getting this really awesome wool coat made since i didnt bring one; it wouldve taken too much space... i took a design from the internet from a coat that costs between 100-150 dollars and im only payin 25 dollars!! whoo hoo! and its real wool with a silk lining inside and it fits only for me :) im excited! i get it this week hopefully.... (sorry, i a lil off topic)

this past week was international culture week.... each day is about a different continent; monday they usually start out with China day, which is sponsered by the students at SIAS... then tuesday is Asia day, wednesday was Africa/Latin America day, thursday was Europe day, and friday was North America day.... andy and i were more involved in North America day..... all the foreign teachers participate in culture week. During the day, we set up billboards about different places in each continent and also involve some activities that portray their culture. Then at night, there is about a 2 hour show that involves drama and singing because china loves their shows! this past month all the teachers have been busy setting up and getting their performances prepared, so its been crazy.... where we live is like an apartment building, similar to dorm halls only our apartments are bigger; each floor includes a lobby, so down the hall from me is a big lobby to just chill or whatever.... well, seriously, for an entire week, people were painting tons of things in the lobby.... the first night, i thought i had gas leaking in our room and i started to get a headache; well it wasn't the gas, it was the paint!! china has no regulations against toxic paint; seriously, this stuff is lethal! haha.... for like 2 weeks, i had tons of headaches and felt very sleepy and drowsy.... andy and i live at the very end of the hall, so i felt worse for the people who lived right next to the lobby! it was horrible, but now its over and i actually feel normal :) the whole thing was pretty fun to watch the other shows and to be involved in it; im just glad the craziness is over with....

Visitors!!!

Hey Everyone!

It's been an interesting week and a half since the last post. The last post was right after my birthday. Lacy did such a great job of orchestrating a surprise dinner for me with friends. Since then there has been a lot that has happened. So here goes...

Last week was China's official national holiday. It's called October Holiday, I'm sure there is a Chinese name for it, but I don't know what the translation is. The students have the whole week off and are able to return home or travel for the week. It's a little different here though. In America it would be similar to having the same amount of time off for Thanksgiving. Instead the classes that normally would be held on Monday and Tuesday are switched to the Saturday and Sunday prior. This enables the students and teachers to have a full 7 days off to travel. The reason is because travel is so much more difficult and time consuming and it's not as efficient to just have 3 days vacation if the student isn't able to go home. I.E. a student might have to travel by bus or train that may take 20-30 hours. If the student only had 3-4 days then almost 3 of those days would be spent on the bus or train.

During the first half of the week we went with a few friends to a city not far from school. We met up with a Chinese girl who spends time at SIAS but isn't a student. She went to school abroad and studied business and now owns a shoe factory and is beginning another partnership in the inport-export business. We were able to spend 2 days with her and her colleague establishing a relationship. While I was there I was able to discuss a possibility with a man who will come and speak to my classes about life after college. He will help them in their job search and has 11 job openings in his company that he would like to fill with qualified students from my class. In return he wants me to help him with his English. So hopefully it was the beginning of a great friendship!

After we returned to school the following day we traveled with a lot of the new teachers and some returning teachers to a city called Xi'an (pronounced She-ann). It is the home of the famous Terracotta Soldiers. What an amazing place... It is an underground tomb for one of the 1st emporors of China, the same emporor that had the Great Wall built... Over 6,000 clay soldiers are estimated to be found once all the land is finally excavated. These warriors all stand close to 6ft tall. The reason it was erected in the beginning is because the Emporor wanted to have an army in the "after-life" in order to continue his reign after death. Then once he died it was destroyed by the next emporor in line because of the oppression he caused while buidling the Great Wall and this tomb.

We were in Xi'an for 3 days and then traveled back home to SIAS...where we would be pleasantly surprised by two friends, Andre' Dobson and Bill Simmons. We were able to spend two days with them showing them around the univeristy we teach at and city we live in. We were so excited to have familiar faces here with us in our home. A crazy thought becomes reality!! While they were here we took them to our favorite restaurants (which is relative), introduced them to students we spend time with, had them sit-in on our classes, and just shared time with them. Personally it was very emotional to have people we know and love here with us. They were able to see and understand first-hand what we describe and talk about. It's so nice to have that connection and not feel like you have to explain every single detail just to get a simple point across about the culture...

Thats all for now, I hope you enjoyed it... something new coming soon!

We love you all and are so thankful for your pryrs and support!

.past.week.experiences.

lacy:
i just came back from eatin dinner with 2 chinese students who are not my students. lol the story there is that in the beginning of my class; these 2 girls came up to me from the hallway and asked if they could become friends with me.... at first, i was stunned thinking where did that come from; but i was like sure! their english names are tracy and christina! so before october holiday, i met with them for dinner at this pizza place down the street.... and they never had pizza! so it felt nice to not only be able to treat them to dinner, but take them to eat something they have never ate before. they said that they dont go out to eat much because it is too expensive for them.... i talked to them for bout an hour and a half.... just about america, the language, careers.... they are english majors, so they want to be able to practice as much english as they can because the better they are, the better chance they have in finding a job....

i have met with other groups of students and all of them study very hard because it is so competitive.... when i ask them what they did over the weekend or holiday, they always say either sleep or study! (if my sentences seem choppy and simple, it is a habit because i talk to my students like this so they can understand....) so most of the students work very hard in school, but there are some that dont work very hard because their parents can just pay the school to pass them if they fail....

yesterday, i met with a student named Janey; she is very good with english, so i have been teaching her more mature words while we talk.... i was planning a party for andys birthday, so she helped me order a cake and find this gift i wanted to get for andy! she was awesome! since i dont know names of chinese stores, she was able to tell the taxi driver where to go.... there is this new skateboard type thing in china; its not in america.... yet :) i think its called a wave runner.... it has 2 platforms attached together by this rotating rod that allows the platforms to twist back and forth; and its only on 2 wheels that light up when you are rolllin.... alot of kids have one and andy tried it and said he wanted one, so i found a really good deal on one! now all the other guys that teach want one too :) so she helped me get one that was for andys size since hes taller and bigger than most chinese guys....

for andys birthday, some friends and i got together to make dinner for him, which included grilled spam/cheese, mac n cheese, and cream corn! lol for being in china, thats pretty good! so we suprised him with dinner! then we ordered delivery from this chicken place that has chicken sandwiches..... but earlier that day, some friends and i bought this stuffed santa and had the delivery guy bring it with the food when we called in to order lol.... it was hilarious because when the delivery guy knocked on the door; andy opened it with the guy standing there holding santa and our food! lol it was priceless! then we had the delivery guy sit for a little bit and told him to eat some of the mac n cheese; it was so funny! it was a fun night :)

next week, we are going on a trip with a bunch of foreign teachers (other american teachers) to 'Xian; the place where the terra-cotta warriors are located.... those are the statue warriors! since it is october holiday, there will be no school for a week.... so we will go there for 3 days and be back in time for bro. andre to arrive.... im goin to try and write a lil bit about the classes and a lil bit of what its like living here; then when we get back from 'Xian, i will write about that experience :) theres so much to write about!!

.an.organized.mess.

Lacy:
ok... so i have been thinking about writing a blog almost everyday on how to describe china.... IMPOSSIBLE! i have never had writer's block this long in writing about something. :) there is so much i want to say, but very little words in how to describe china.... one word comes to mind and that is CHAOS! lol i say it in a cute way, not being mean... but china is like an organized mess!

the very first thing i noticed about getting to china is the driving... they love their horns and they love playing chicken.... and the reason why i say "they" is since we dont have a car, we use taxis and buses, so we know how chinese people drive lol they honk 90% of the time when they pass someone walking, in a bicycle, on a scooter, and in a car; they want them to know they are there... most of the time, its not in a mean way, but sorta of their way of saying "im behind ya". they love playing chicken in 2 lane roads AND 4 lane roads! in america, its usual for people to pass eachother on 2 lane roads, BUT NOT IN TOWN OR IN THE CITY! they pass eachother in 2 lane roads where there is traffic all the time.... if they dont make it, the other car coming at them either just slows down or moves over more as much as they can. ok so 4 lane roads??? what i mean is almost every driver drives in the fast lane and when they come up on someone slow, they pass them on their LEFT! they dont pass them in the slow lane, but on the other side lol my theory is that what we call fast lane is their vehicles only lane; and the slow lane is there bicycles, scooters, and vendors only lane... that is my guess but ive only been here for bout 3 weeks :) im not complaining about their driving at all; i absolutely love it! it makes a 10 minute drive much more interesting :) usually, im conked out in the car within 15 minutes. lol thats just one example of their organized mess; what seems messy to us is organized for them...

right now, andy and i are slowly getting settled and in sort of a routine... our apartment is all set up, thanks to andy! he had everything already ready for when we got here, which was really great of him! we just had to unpack. we have already gone through 2 weeks of classes... since then we have met with several groups of students to get to know them. andy has also met with his students from last year and it was really awesome to get to meet with them! to see faces to names :) a couple of my students helped me with my chinese. oh man, it is so hard to learn! it would be easier for me if i didn't have to remember the tones that go with the words :) but i love learning the language... andy is like crazy with the language; i'm finding out that he knows more than he was admitting to. haha he says that he doesnt know much, but he certainly knows more than i understand! well, i don't want to write too much in one blog, so i will have to soon write about my classroom...

theres so much i want to write about to explain... but i have come to the conclusion that no matter how many pictures i take and how many blogs i write, you just have to come here and see for yourself to understand :) ive heard a lot about china this past year and now that i am here, i totally understand all the things that andy was trying to explain to me.... its definitely a different culture, but thats what keeps it interesting....

Settled in...

Hey everyone...

We are finally settled into our apartment and teaching. It's been a crazy few weeks since we arrived, especially for Lacy. She's been walking around "eyes wide open." Our flights were smooth and went without delays, what a blessing. It seems like the past few times I have flown I've had at least a 2 hour delay. So it was nice to leave and arrive on schedule. We arrived in Beijing around 5:30 am China time and then we had to catch another flight to our final destination Zhengzhou, China. We live about 25 minutes from the airport so we got to the school by 10:00 am.

Once we were here and unpacked we went for a walk to see the campus. It didn't really set in for Lacy that she was "here" in china, and it was still really strange for me to have her here. I love to see Lacy's face when we see anything that is common to China. The way people dress, eat, cook on the street, and other cultural norms for China and not America. She's just excited to be here.

One of the saddest things I have seen so far was on Lacy's first day. I had never seen this, but I have heard about it from others. We were walking around downtown and a young man smacked a girl as we were walking towards them. Another girl stood between them and he just stood there glaring at her. After we had walked past he began to beat her. He punched her and kicked her and threw her to the ground by the hair. All I could think of was to run and to break it up. I wanted to do more but I was thinking about cultures and what was right to do as an outsider so all I did was break it up and make sure the young man walked away, leaving the situation. It was kind of a downer, arriving to China just hours before and then witnessing this. So we tried to do something to cheer ourselves up.

The first week was just a lot of fun... mainly because I was able to watch Lacy take all the site and sounds of China in. She still has yet to get used to the smells and the food. There have been multiple occasions where she has gotten sick to her stomache from street smells of tasting new foods ;) ! I laugh!!

Other than that she's trying to get used to living in a completely different culture. One that has 0 absolutes; not only beliefs, but also in everyday living. you never know when something will change. you may get an answer for something and then one day later it will be completely different. It's a bit frustrating at 1st....

Well... Another update is sure to come very soon. I just wanted to write a little something for now while I was sitting at the computer. I'll think of something more detailed and post it within the next few days. So long!

We love you all and are so very appreciative of all that you do for us! You're all amazing people!

P.S. Our condolences go out to Pam and Jared Mcbee and family for their loss :( What a tragedy. We love you and want you to know we are lifting you up as you grieve.

Andy and Lacy

.just.getting.things.rollin.

lacy:
so this blog doesnt really mean anything except to get things rolling.... since we are going to be in china for a year, we thought creating a website would give people easy access to keep in touch and know what we are up to.... we are really excited for this coming year!! either i or andy will write some blogs to keep everyone updated.... just know though that we have to be careful what we say on here because of where we are.... we hope this to be an interactive tool, so feel free to post comments on anything! we just ask for you to also please be careful of certain words... and feel free to send this site to anyone you know!! so this blog doesnt really mean anything except to get things rolling.... since we are going to be in china for a year, we thought creating a website would give people easy access to keep in touch and know what we are up to.... we are really excited for this coming year!! either i or andy will write some blogs to keep everyone updated.... just know though that we have to be careful what we say on here because of where we are.... we hope this to be an interactive tool, so feel free to post comments on anything we just ask for you to also please be careful of certain words... and feel free to send this site to anyone you know!!

.trains.arts.and.zoos.

lacy:
So we left alton on tuesday the 19th of august by train to head up to chicago.... It was just supposed to be a 4 hour trip, but turned into an almost 6 hour trip.... I have never been on a train before; so regardless of the delay, it was a pretty cool experience! I usually get excited with any new experience regardless if it may seem dull.... I figure that it will probably be the best train ride compared to china trains I will ride in the next year :) call it preparation!

I have no clue where we were, but we were stopped for about an hour and 45 minutes because a freight train decided to chill on the tracks..... and back up a little bit... and then move forward a little bit.... and then chill, back up some, and finally move forward! I've always wondered what's going on there, but it allowed andy to beat me many times in UNO :) It'll be awhile before I play that game!

we did eventually make it to wisconsin because we have been able to do several things here with my mom.... we went to the milwaukee art museum, which i am suprised and proud that andy went through with it lol standing and looking at things are definitely not his thing! I posted an album up on our website if anyone wants to check it out!

we also went to the zoo in racine.... can we say RANDOM! you wouldn't think there was a zoo there, but it is the cutest thing! there's more opportunity for people to be interactive with the animals..... andy interacted with a lynx.... I took pictures of the progression of how andy was terrorizing the cat lol the lynx is all relaxed in the beginning and the end picture shows a wide-eyed, ears down lynx :) oh andy....

soon we will be heading out to LA! till then..... eat some cake!