HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!

YAY!!!! It was my Birthday...lol I sounds very happy right now...I am normally not as happy about getting older. At least since being over 25. This bday, I thought would be especially hard because it will be my last year in my 20s and I wasn't with my family. But the Father showered me with love! from my friends and family back in Texas to my awesome friends and new family in Wuhan! I could not have been blessed with a more wonderful group of friends here. They have been such a blessing to me and I am continually blown away by the Love of my Father!

This is my Dear friend, and Chinese mother, Linda! She is also an English Teacher at my University. She and I have been friends since the second month I came. I invited her to coffee because I really wanted friends and she spoke great English and seemed really open. Well, She has been the biggest blessing in my life. I feel like she and her husband have adopted me. They are such sweet people. She and I eat lunch together almost every week and since November her husband has opened his own coffe shop, Gee Coffee:-) So I frequently stop by the shop to have coffee and visit with them. She treated me to birthday lunch on my birthday. I had to teach all morning but rode my bike to the shop right after to meet her:-) She has become one of my best friends in Wuhan.

After eating with Linda I ride to Starbucks to have a wonderful coffee date with my dear friend and neighbor Michelle. She is also a teacher here and we live right next to each other. I don't go to starbucks very ofter at all. This was only my second time since coming here. It is quite expensive so I normally go to other shops...but it is the best:-) Michelle treated me to a wonderful drink and treat! It was so much fun!!

Then, right after that, my friends Jacqueline and Rebecca took me to dinner(I know it looks like I ate and drank all day...because I did!). This is a great little place we call "the spagetti place". It is actually a chinese steak house but we always get spagetti:-) It was such a refreshing time of visiting and being my my sweet friends! I love these girls very much!!!

Then I rode my bike back to school for English Corner. Every Tuesday is English Corner and it just happened to be the last one of the year...it was so much fun! The word spread that it was my birthday and everyone sang to me. It was so special!

This is Tony, he is a dear "brother" and friend I met the first week I arrived. He came and brought me a book full of Chinese fellowship songs:-) AHHHH I was so excited to be able to learn fellowship songs in Chinese! I was able to help he and and a group of his friends with a special song to perform at their fellowship Christmas event. I was able to help the pianist with her part and teach the others some different harmonies...they were so amazing to try to learn these parts even though they weren't musical:-) The day after the even the piano player texted me to say that her parents had come. They had been very against her attending this type of thing but on that day(Christmas Eve) they believed!!!!!! Oh what an amazing Christmas for her!!!! Such an awesome Father!!!!

This is a view of English Corner... I wrote a few popular Christmas carols on the board and was allowed to teach them to the students:-) It was so much fun!!!!

This is Sunshine...He is one of my students from my sports major class. He always came to see me at English Corner. Someone told him it was my birthday so he prepared a special song to sing for me, "Yellow" by Coldplay. He doesn't speak much English at all but he sang it perfectly:-) It meant so much to me!

The weekend after my birthday, some of my closest friends gave me a surprise bday party:-) They took me in a taxi to start the day and we ended up at HORSE ISLAND!!!!!!!!! OMG....I couldn't have dreamed of a better gift. Horse Island is an island in the middle of the Yangtze River, in Wuhan that has horses to ride!!!! We arrived there and I was soooooo excited:-) In the picture beside me is Mandi, Kirk, Ryan, Jacqueline and LiPing.

It really is an island so they were waiting to take us across the river on a boat...a very small boat:-) The guys were loving the big barge in our way:-)

These girls are so amazing!!!

When we got to the island this is what we found...it looked like it should have been called "Chicken island"! There were lots more chickens than horses:-) The family that lives on the island, lives in this little place.

They made us rest and have tea first...very Chinese:-) It was so fun! I don't think my friends knew how much I liked chickens and farms until we got there. LOL, now they make fun of me...all the time:-( But apparently I am fun to make fun of:-)

We were able to ride 2 horses. So we took turns! Kirk and I went first...these were very small horses!!! But I LOVED every minute of it!!!

Horseback riding is on of my most favorite things to do...and we got to ride on an Island..in China! it was like a dream come true for this horse lovin', China lovin' girl:-)

So next they still wouldn't tell me what we were going to do...but we got in a bread van(a taxi that looks like a van) and headed off to....Dinner!!!! We went to place called "Grandma's Kitchen". It was full of amazing western food that had great MEXICAN FOOD! i can't believe how special they made this for me!

It is a very crazy tradition for my friend Nathan, but he always gets the birthday person a "special" hat. He makes them close their eyes and he puts it on...you can't look until the night is over...lol If only I had known how CRAZY the hat was that he got for me!!! When we got to dinner many friends were there to celebrate with us, and I wore this hat the whole time....The chinese ppl were looking at me VERY strange!!!! After I saw it I totally knew why!

I loved the restaurant! It was full of cowboy stuff:-) As we were leaving I asked where my dear friend Becca had gone. My friends assured me she was down stairs and we would meet her there. Well, to my surprise the birthday wasn't over....

When i walked through the doors of the mall to enter the outside, Becca was there with the music playing as told me the last birthday surprise was a country dance for me:-) I almost cried! There are not many things I love more than everything this Birthday celebration entailed...and to top it off with line dancing on the sidewalk of the mall was incredible! We had so much fin dancing the night away:-) Oh and many Chinese people had a blast watching us:-)

This is Becca:-) She made this amazing dessert and then had all of the girls to her house for an awesome sleepover:-) She is such a blessing and I am so grateful for her and her family!!!

Needless to say, this was a birthday I will NEVER forget:-) All my sweet friends have no idea what a blessing they are to me. Each one has touched my life during my time here and I am in constant amazement of how the Father provides what we need at the perfect time:-) I think 29 isn't going to be so bad after all:-)

December Happenings...

In December I was able to take a train to Shanghai and visit some dear friends!! My friend from Texas, Sara(next to me in the photo) was visiting our friends Lizzie and Daniel to help them with the birth of their sweet new baby, Hudson! It was such a great time of fellowship and such an amazing time of baby holding!!!

This is Lizzie and Daniel's oldest, Houston:-) I love the name!!! He is quite the smart little guy!!! He speaks chinese and english and we had a great time together:-)

I secretly found the Harley Davidson Shop in Shanghai to get some gifts for my parents:-) I was sooooo excited to be able to send them shirts from China!!!

I could hold a baby all the time I think! Lizzie was sooooo gracious to let me hold Hudson so much while I was there! They were amazing hosts and I felt so refreshed after being their home.

Well, as some of you know, I am an avid sports fan:-) Baseball is my number one sport but I am also a Die hard Bearkats fan!!!! For those of you who don't know who the Bearkats are, they are the Sam Houston Football team!!! My friend Ryan, who is standing in the chair on the table, is always so nice to let me come watch games at his apartment! Well, on the night of the second to last game I went to Wuchang to watch the game only to find out Ryan's internet was out!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH I was sooooo sad! But they found a way for us to go into their office at school and watch from there! It was a funny night of sports!!! We stayed up all night! Well Mandi(holding the chair in the pic) stayed until the game started, Midnight! Ryan, Kirk and I stayed all night! After my game Kirk watched his favorite basketball team and then Ryan watched his Basketball team...Mine and Ryan's teams won..but Kirk's team lost:-( Oh well, it was so much fun!! The light made a horrible noise so the pic is of Ryan removing the light bulb:-)

This is Kelvin! He is a student at a Middle school near my school and I have become friends with his family! His parents and he took me to a Christmas Show at a huge theater in Wuhan. It was a great night! Then when we walked out of the Show the Lunar Eclipse was just beginning! It was such a great night!!!

My friend Anna and I went to the "Crazy Market" to try to get some Christmas decorations and also anything that might be cheeper to buy there. The "Crazy Markets" are very popular in China and other places in Asia. This one is during the day. They also have one that opens at night. You can normally bargin with them and get things for a good price:-) I love bargaining:-) All those years my dad took me with him to garage sales and flea markets is really paying off...and my bargaining in Chinese is getting better!!!! I bought a few things:-) But since the market is SOOOO crazy you can't get out easily. So, we decided to take mo-ped taxis:-) This is the crazy traffic we were weaving in and out of!

Anna and I had a great time taking this transportation:-) I hope to do it again when it's not so cold!!! The drivers love to take Lao wai(foreigners) on their scooters...lol it was great!

So sorry:-(

My Dear Friends, I am SO very sorry for the absence of blogs over the last 2 months! I have written numerous blogs but unfortunately they were all in my head:-) So starting right now, I am going to try to catch up...I will start with the events that happened since my last blog in November:-(

During the week and weekend of Thanksgiving I got to help at my Favorite American restaurant in Wuhan, Aloha Diner:-) This is one of my friends who works there:-) We made all kinds of delicious traditional foods for Thanksgiving!!

One of my sweet friends invited all her coworkers over for a girls party night! We danced and played games!

It was a great way to visit with them about all different things and such a wonderful night just being girls:-)

The last night of "Aloha Thanksgiving" my teammates and I all went to Aloha to have our "Family" thanksgiving together:-) It was wonderful! This is my sweet friend Becca and her little angel Elise!

I also Invited 2 of my Chinese friends to join us! This was their first try at American food:-) I thought Thanksgiving food would be a great place to start!!

This is Yola:-) She is such a sweet girl! You will hear lots about her in the upcoming blogs! OK, that's all for November...

An Afternoon of Shopping!!!

Well, I have decided to try to be better about telling you more of what I do and how I live life...like how I survive here. One of the questions I get asked the most from my students is, Can you speak Chinese and if not how do you survive? lol This is a legit question and very important to them. Food is the biggest thing they think about most days...They are constantly wondering if I eat here. I mean, what do they think? I just walk around aimlessly hoping for some American food to just appear? Negative! One of my favorite past times in America is going to HEB:-) AHhhh just typing those letters make me sad:-( Oh well, an afternoon of strolling down the isles looking for what I need and exploring my creative cooking options...of course this happens best when I'm alone. It is therapy for me:-) My first trip to the grocery store here was a bit overwhelming. Walmart is not any more my friend here as it is in the states so I avoid it like the plague! But I must say, today I rode my bike to the JKMall(supermarket). The supermarket I normally shop at is being remodeled( currently looks like a war zone), So I decided to venture out to another store. It was about a 15min. Bike ride and today was very beautiful:-) I brought my backpack to fill up...they don't bag your items for you or give you bags...you can buy bags or bring your own. I always bring my own!! So, I realized when I get there that it had also been remodeled since the last time I had been there. WOW, I had such a wonderful time strolling down the isles and looking for what I needed! i was so surprised at the foreign food I found! I realized that I could have grocery store therapy again:-) For this girl....that's such a great thing! I failed to remember that I was in China and had to carry everything back on my back and in my bike basket...hmmmm. The best part of the day was when I realized the lady at the Bike area(We leave our bikes in a special area while we are in the store so they don't get stolen...it's only 5 jiao...50cents.) was laughing at me and asking her husband to watch me. My backpack was packed to the max and then the basket was packed and I had to carry the bread in my hand:-) LOL....I had so many looks as I rode back to my apartment like that. I mean, I have looks anyway, I'm a foreigner, but today I felt like a spectacle!!! I hadn't been to the store in about a month and a half...so I needed to get some stuff! Hope you enjoy the pics!!!

Oh yes, Mr. Potato Head Chips...lol

Some items i was very happy about!! Bananas, Butter, Yogurt, Cheese, and Wheat Bread:-) The Wheat bread, Butter and Cheese are sparse in these parts...which make this pic soooo much better:-)

The fruit is one of my new favorites!!! Yozi:-) It is like a giant grapefruit/orange! Then I found some BBQ sauce!!! The crackers are like saltines and then i found some dried Kiwi!!!!

This is the way they try to get you to buy chinese milk...they attach a free gift:-) This brand is one of the ones I like:-)

I was overcome with JOY to see this ORGANIC MILK...like real milk from a cow!!!! Now I found it in the dry good section and it has been imported from Australia....But I'm sure it will be amazing!

Butter...a special treat!

This is the section of the store where you buy yogurt drink....everyone drinks this:-)

This is the snack section....many sweet snacks and salty snacks can be found here...you bag it yourself and wait in a line...well...an area, and get your stuff weighed! It's another area to just throw your stuff on the scale:-) Today this girl walked up while one of mine was being weighed and just looked at me...I was thinking, is she going to try to cut in and throw her stuff before me? But NO...to my surprise she waited and didn't even try:-) I smiled at her and felt so happy...LOL It's the little things...

And this my friends is how they buy milk...in small boxes. They are individually boxes, boxed together. All kinds...of course I can't read to understand what they mean but I'm pretty sure the shelf life is pretty long...Oh to taste the fresh milk from a COW again!

And this was a shirt I found...I took the pic in honor of my friend Nathan M. Who LOVES Audrey:-) This is very typical for a shirt here....many people wear shirts with sayings they don't understand...and some of them are very inappropriate! If they only knew that wearing a pink shirt with tedy bears on it doesn't make inappropriate saying any better! Oh China!!!

...You Make me throw up!!!

This blog is going to talk about the horrible things they do in China...and my horrible I mean nasty, grose, disgusting, disrespectful, makes this southern girl want to PUKE!!! Ok I think you get it! I always try to write uplifting, happy things but I felt it necessary to let you in on the OTHER parts of my life....so hold on to your seat...here we go...

1. When driving down the RD...line in the St mean nothing...drive where ever you get an opening. By that I mean, if you can hop the curb and drive on the sidewalk to get me there faster...then by all means DO IT! Don't think twice...

2. Car Seats? Oh we have never heard of these...? You mean the children that sit on parents lap in the front seat of the Taxi aren't safe? or better yet...the tiny little 3yr old clutched on to her parent as she sits on the back of the motor bike.

3. Please don't think that all of us here are waiting to check out at the store...I mean we just like standing and the check out...it's fun! Please push me out of the way and put your stuff on the counter and look at me like you don't care. Oh and lines? what are those? I mean it is more like, who can push harder and look more upset. In China we must weigh our produce and that can take hours if you don't like to just throw your stuff on the scale before someone else does...Just wait for the right moment and throw it!

4. BODILY FUNCTION....aren't we all proud of them? I mean hocking a lugie in the middle of class and spitting it on the floor while I'm teaching is no big deal. Please by all means burp as loud as you can at all times and spit everywhere...bus, Walmart, Class, Cafeteria, random restaurants...Oh and when your children need to go to the bathroom....just pull their pants down and let them go on the sidewalk or the flowerbeds or even hold them over the trash can if you are really kind:-) Please force your dogs to mate in the middle of the ST!!!! AHHHHH

5. Random dogs are totally allowed to run free in the classrooms....I mean they might have rabies and look and smell worse than the WC but let them roam anywhere they desire! Oh and please, students, hold them in your lap!

6. DRINK HOT WATER!!! It is the cure all!!! If it becomes fall, and by fall I mean the first day of October..wear all your winter clothes! Even if it's hot...and if you don't random Chinese women will walk up to you and yell at you and point to the parts of skin they see that need to be covered because you might die of Chill!

7. Manners? I don't think we have those...can you explain? Like when the bus comes to the stop and there are so many people on that you can't breathe....please people...keep coming...I'm sure that my bubble doesn't even exist anymore! Oh and if you think that i am in your way please push me as hard as you can to get past me or stand RIGHT in my face!! It's so much more fun that way....

OK....well, this is not even the tip of the ice burg but this happens...oh about everyday:-) Patience, and patience and patience and love oh and did I say patience....is greatly needed!!! PR FOR ME TO BE MORE PATIENT:-) I really love it here:-) for real!!! I just want you to understand....lol

Pics from the last month!!!

Jay and I had a great time with the family and our Waiban at the Tea Market!!

Li Ping and I at the bowling ally!

Yola and I waiting to Bowl!

The crazy experience of pumping gas into taxis...yep, you pop the hood, open the trunk and everyone must get out of the car. Then they pump the gas into the tank from under the hood...CRAZY!

Go LSU!!!! Our morning of Football with the Awesome LSU friends from Huangshi!!!

Us southern girls have to stick together...even though I didn't go to LSU I cheered for them, In my Astros Shirt:-)

We had a great time when our friends form Huangshi came for a visit!!! This is a pic from a bus ride...it was interesting for sure!!!

Halloween in Wuhan:-) Trevor had me held up in Aloha after we helped all the kids celebrate American style!

Some of us girls went to a near by city to relax at some hot springs...it was kind of like Jurassic Park in China:-)

Kirk and I had fun carving a chinese pumpkin..and then I made some pumpkin bread:-)

My friends Mandi and Rebecca, and I enjoyed a wonderful night with frozen yogurt...But it was a little on the Chinese side...Oh for some Tutti Fruiti!!!

Aloha Anniversary dinner...Inga and I played duets together and this is also our friend Rebecca!

This was my class of basketball players/sports majors!!! I love these guys!!

Look out China...this TX Girl isn't kidding around....I organized a line dance/live music TX style and taught all the foreign teachers at my school. We then performed it for our University's Anniversary Celebration:-) It was soooooo much fun!

This is the crazy group of us that performed!!!! Fun memories:-)

Long Time, No Blog:-(

Sorry for the LONG time of no blogging!!!! I have missed it very much but I must admit my busy life here is in full swing! I think I am addicted to busy...My friends, all over the world, would most likely agree:-) As strange as it sounds, it makes me so happy to be busy:-) Especially if I am busy with people!!! I LOVE PEOPLE!!!! So...Since it has been about a month and that would take a book to recap all that has gone on, I will just hit the highlights:-)

I Enjoyed a wonderful World Series this year!!! Baseball is a passion of mine and I have realized being here has made me so aware of how much I love sports. I guess it's because I can't just watch them any time I want! But my friend Ryan was so sweet to let me come and watch games at his place in Wuchang. It is on the other side of Wuhan but if I didn't have to teach the next day I would treck across and watch the games at all kinds of crazy hours:-) He has streeming from his parents TV in Michigan to his computer:-) We have also enjoyed some football:-) I haven't been able to go for as many of those games but if I am in Wuchang I try to watch sports of some kind....it is very comforting:-) Oh and by the way....Way to Go SHSU for being #1 in the Southland Conference for football!!!! ESPN online and I have become great friends:-)

I have had the opportunity to become really good friends with some chinese students and a Teacher. I have been to my teacher friend's home for lunch and had many good talks with her. She is a very caring woman and I love her. Please be lifting her up...She needs the Father! I have one friend who is very close to making a decision...She needs understanding! Also, recently I was asked my a friend/student to read the Book with her and help her understand. I was blown away...HE is so faithful to bring those opportunities! She is very clear about being atheist but she thinks the knowledge of the Book will help her understand Wester Countries:-) I know that she is searching!!!!! SO exciting!!! Tomorrow I will be having lunch with one of the Deans of the English Dpt and his friend. He wants me to tutor his friend in English. I know the Father is going to equip me but WOW...I feel a bit inadequate!!! It should be interesting:-)

This weekend my Thursday night small grp got together and went bowling:-) It was fun to do something very "American" for a change! On Saturday we had a wonderful Thanksgiving time with a family from our fellowship! They invited everyone over for Thanksgiving!!! They had Turkey and we all brought the fixins! I have had a rough week health wise(Bronchitis) and so I didn't stay the whole time but it was wonderful!! Then on Sunday, after fellowship a fellow teacher and I went around Wuhan with a family to spend time with their son. He is in middle school and wants foreign friends. It was a lovely time. Our Waiban also went with us!

Thanksgiving is this week...I must admit it feels quite strange to know that it will just be another day here but I am excited to get to volunteer at Aloha for their Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and Friday. Saturday all of the ZR team will meet and have Thanksgiving at Aloha, together:-) This will be wonderful! This will be my second Thanksgiving in China:-) I was here in 2007 with the SHSU Orchestra tour!! Kind of excited to make this new tradition...little did I know then:-)

BIGGEST NEWS.....I FINALLY GOT MY BOXES!!!!!! LOL...for t hose who didn't know, my 3 boxes have been stuck in customs for 3 months...this week was the week for boxes! I received a box with AMAZING birthday treats from my parents and friends at home. I actually let the box sit for about 2hours in my apt before opening it. I knew it was going to be emotional. Yep...burst into tears. But it was good....It had all the pics from my going away party...I looked at them for about an hour...and cried! I realized how much I miss everyone. I am SOOOOO beyond happy to be here, living my dream, but I do miss everyone! Sometimes I can push it down but not this week! Then the very next day all 3 of my other boxes came....I held it together pretty well until I watched the video from my going away party. My friends said little things to me on the video and well....I lost it! It was wonderful...but emotional. I really love hearing from you all!!! Thank you for PRing for me...The Father is working in such a mighty way here and I wish I could tell you everything....remember to also PR for His protection for us. Ps...20...very encouraging to me this weekend. HE is making all things for His Good...even when they don't seem good at the moment. Rom. 8.... and Phil...1...6. I cling to those truths!!! I will write a few more blogs...one of just pics and the other....well...you will find out!