An American Girl in a Chinese World

All your life you have these things you would like to do sometime, always knowing that there is a good chance that you may never do them. These 3 weeks in Beijing, I have been able to check off so many of those "bucket list items". Did you know that the Great wall is huge? Did you know that it is not flat? For some reason I had pictured a wall being flat, call me crazy but I was not expecting the best cardio work-out of my life to happen on the great wall of China! It was SO amazing to be there, to think about the history, the amount of people and time it took to build, and to be able to witness the Father's creation at its best! To get up to the wall you had several options, you could take a chair lift or walk. Jeremy said his mom had walked up, therefore my competitive side made me walk. It was hard, but I was okay with knowing I would be done once I got to the wall....all this to say my legs were sore the next day and when given the choice to walk or ride down...I ...

Having officially lived out of suitcases for over a month, the vacation feeling is beginning to wear off. It is fun to an extent. Washing your clothes one by one in your bathroom sink, eating out every night, regular cleaning ladies, and friends all close by, are all fun things and something I am glad I have been blessed to experience. But eventually, the crispness of your air dried clothes, not cooking, and not being able to have a place to put your belongings just makes you feel as if you are not in the right place. We have about 3 days left here in Beijing and we are then off to our home in Nanjing! I am excited to unpack and get settled in a place I can call my own. But with that excitement comes sadness. I am not looking forward to leaving our friends here! Moving to Nanjing makes this China thing feel very real. (I know what you are thinking, you are in China...and it doesn't feel real?) Its real, but moving into a new home, feels like a long time. haha So, With all of that...

Class let out around 4 and as I walked back into our room I noticed a nice new smell in the room. In China….nice and new are not normally words to describe the smells! To my surprise, there was a bouquet of pink roses and lily’s with a little note stating I was loved! Date night had officially started! We got dressed up and ready for a night on the town. I was very excited! Jeremy was taking me to Mexican restaurant, my favorite! We took a bus to the subway and eventually found where we needed to be ☺ As we were walking to the restaurant we were surprised at all the security around us…. every corner and every street was covered with police. We then found out that we were around all the embassy’s and Joe Bi den was visiting! That was cool! Mexican was delicious! Not to mention so fun to hear country music and eat with a fork! The date night didn’t end there, we then walked to a TGIF and ate some cheesecake! What a treat! I felt so blessed to be able to go enjoy a night with some west...

Today Allie, Leanne, and I decided to walk to mo mo coffee shop. We didn’t really know what we would find, but we wanted a place we could sit and write our final written assignment, and a coffee shop sounded like the best place to do that. It was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel, so we packed our bags and were off. To our surprise mo mo coffee was “more more” better than Starbucks! Sofas, waiters, and a wonderful atmosphere! Not to mention they were playing 98 degrees. We ordered some coffee and began typing away. Throughout the 3 hours we were there, both Allie and LeAnne had to leave for some reason or another. Which left me, there in mo mo alone. As, I began my trek back home; my first initial response was fear. I don’t know Chinese, I don’t even know my way around Beijing that well, and I don’t have a cell phone. But immediately felt a calming peace. I felt the father tell me I was fine. In fact, I did know how to communicate a little, I knew my way back, and I knew I was safe...

Every year for the past 24 years I have celebrated my birthday with my family! My mom cooks my favorite meal, family comes over, and we celebrate by fellowship, food, and cake! This year marks a first for me. I wasn’t home, I was in China. No meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and definitely no chocolate cake. It was hard to leave that tradition behind and try to enjoy it here with the new family God has given me. It helped that everyone was so loving and so willing to celebrate any ways I wanted to! I did eat western food, KFC, and I got a foot massage, I had multiple people bring me gifts and we ended the night with fellowship and Pictionary! It was a lot of fun! I was very blessed to be loved on by the people here and the people in Evansville, through the wonderful facebook! One of the main benefits was the fact that my birthday lasted around 36 hours! Haha I did miss my meatloaf and potatoes but I was provided with spicy chicken and French fries and a drumstick to top it off!

Bubble Tea, back massages, and dinner on the town! Allie asked me what my favorite part of Beijing was, and I didn’t hesitate to answer…Girls night. The husbands all went to play basketball so we took it upon ourselves to have a night of relaxation and fun. It began with dinner in a little hole in the wall place across the street. It consists of about 4 tables and that’s about it. We piled and and began signing and using the little mandarin we know to order our food. We ended up getting soup instead of noodles, and eggs instead of chicken….but oh well! As we waited for our food we began making friends with our waiter, a 5 year old boy with a yellow yo-yo. We eventually got him to take a few pictures of us! After enjoying whatever food we ordered we headed to a massage parlor. If you have never had a back massage from a Chinese person, I would suggest putting that on your bucket list. It was wonderful! We ended the night with some accountability and bubble teas or smoothies. I think t...

Just to see what it is like:) The dreaded 14 hour plane ride begins!

Last night was a lot of fun! We had mexican....it wasn't Los Bravos, but it was a nice break from garlic! :) We walked home from dinner and what happened from there was a blast. In America after dinner, for the most part, we sit on the couch and watch TV. In China, TOTALLY different. The evening is where it all takes place. Everyone is out and about. Walking through the parks,talking and playing games on the street corners. The street food is grilling and the air is full of laughter, horns, and music! I love it here at night! The sense of community is something westerners should be envious of! As we walked home we passed many parks. In the parks are walkers, people doing Tai-chi, and women dancing!We normally walk by taking pictures, but as we walked by the last park we could not help but hear,"HOOP there it is"!!! We stopped dead in our tracks, gave our bags to the husbands and ran to join all the women in their evening exercise! This was SO much fun! Of course we look...

As I sit here typing there is a really cute old man watching me through his window across the street! Creepy? Nope, you get used to it! I am dining in tonight. I have my water boiling and my easy mac waiting to be made! Jeremy and I made a visit to the Forbidden city the other day just the two of us. It was wonderful!Exploring this great big city hand in hand. I am so blessed to be with this man. He knows how to love on me and take care of me even in a city where my comforts are very different. Today we just sat on our beds talking, laughing, and thinking about the things we already missed. We also talked about the things were are observing. As we walked into the gates of the forbidden city we couldn't help but be in amazement of the history and meaning of the sites. The huge red wooden doors and the guards watching just allowed us to feel the importance of where we were. The excitement of being at a place treasured. But to our surprise, when you got past the gates and into the c...

Today is my first day of a little home-sickness. It isn't horrible, just don't feel like going outside. I was told this was going to happen but it still isn't the greatest feeling. It's funny how our body and emotions react to change. I think its first response is survival, surprise, and adventure. I am still in that phase. I have enjoyed seeing everything being so different, and hearing people talk in a language that doesn't seem to make sense. There are so many things to experience and take in, it can get overwhelming. Knowing that I am prone to having negative thoughts towards things that are different than what I do or to change, I told myself that I was going to focus on the neat things about China. This has worked out well and has helped me maintain a positive attitude. Such as: - The kids are just SO dang cute! - The food is healthy ( for the most part) - They drive normal cars - The Wu-mart (aka walmart-ish) has a lot of items I can read and want - They...

I have limited time on the internet but I wanted to tell you about our past week. Here are a few high-lights: - Hard beds, but we are so tired we sleep like babies - Street venders everywhere - Subways and buses get crowded but fun! - SO many baby butts - Went to a 3 self church, cool! - Danced in the park tonight with all the chinese ladies! - Start classes tomorrow! Enjoy the pictures I plan to write more shortly!!

This week has been full and I mean FULL of information. We have learned a lot about culture, teaching, and what to expect. The image of me drinking out of a fire hose comes to mind :) Along with learning we have met some amazing people! I have felt so blessed to have met these couples and have not felt alone at all in this process. We have played just dance, card games, visited exotic pet stores, and praised our Father together this past week and will be with them the whole month in Bejing. We have our bags all packed up and ready to fly over the ocean. Its exciting because we have been planning this for a long time but, a little scary too. You can prepare as much as you can before you go to China, but you will always be in shock when you get there. haha An interesting thing we learned this week: Americans are like a peach: soft on the outside but hard in the middle. We are really open and easy to meet and make friendships with but don't open up and allow people to get to our he...