the Best Christmas Eve EVER!

Let me start by saying this... This Christmas I decided to stay in Wuhan, as I did last year. However, this year is much different sense almost everyone I work with are going home for the Holidays. Last year a few of us were able to make Christmas feel like we were in AMerica by doing our family traditions. SO last year felt totally normal. THis year wasn't feeling that way and I was just a little eww..

But then today came, Christmas eve. . . 3 days ago I was asked if I would be willing to go to a Chinese school and lead some students in Christmas games. I was hesitant to say yes, if you live in China you know that your constantly asked to do things like this. As soon as you say yes to one then they think that you can ALWAYS come or you can go to antoehr place, a one hour thing turns out to be 3-4 hours. Okay so that is why I was hesitant. However, I said "YES".

I didn't know what I was getting into, where I was going, how many students, their english level, etc. Even as I left my house today I was just like "okay I"m just going to do another thing"... When I first got there I still didn't know where I was, what I was doing, etc. I had to call my friend to come and get me. When I was waiting outside the apartment complex (bigger than my university) an old man with no teeth was trying to talk to me... Now I can understand some chinese but understanding an old man with no-teeth is difficult. Anywho, my friend came and we were walking through the complex, I began to realize that these people had never seen a foreigner before, she describe this complex similar to a Village. As we were walking I was waiting to come upon some bigger building which would be where we were going to share about Christmas. Nope, just in an apartment! I walked in and actually I think i might of scared some of the children, haha! My heart broke as I walked into an apartment, smaller than mine, filled with 30+ students. See this isn't just a school, actually its a tutoring place where some of the students are really poor and they don't do well in school so these people who run this place charge them what ever their family can afford, about 10RMB (less than 2 dollars) for tutoring in English, Math, and Chinese. 

They were soo amazed that a forienger had come into their school. They were so shy and at they same time they were so interested in what I looked like, how i sounded, what I was wearing, etc. At that moment I heard God saying
"See Karen, I have great things in store for you, Christmas isn't about YOU. Yes Christmas is about GIFTS, the greatest... You are so privileged to be able to share that with these kids. Love them as I love you, look at them as I SEE YOU, pray for them" 

So the morning went on!! We played some games like Pin the star on the tree, Santa Beard game (hilarious, look at the pics:-), and pass the present. There wasn't time to let EACH student go so I would pull their names out of a stocking I had brought with me. Every time I would pull a name I would look out and see the kids staring at me hoping I would call their name. The simply smiles and laughs that they had were so bright they could light up the whole house which by the way had minimal lighting and heating. I brought a couple prizes and gifts for the winners of each game they were so filled with joy.

Then the best part came... I got to share with them about my CHRISTMAS traditions... Thanks mom and dad for being parents who every year read the REAL CHRISTMAS story you have given me so many opportunities to share HIS love with so many people. I can't just openly talk about the good news but because it was a tradition in my house I was able to read from this great book the REAL story of CHRISTmas about when CHRIST was born. Isn't that awesome. The kids were so silent as they listened. Did they understand every single word? Probably not, but they heard it, and I believe God was there and is there!

After the Christmas story I let them ask some questions about anything, a way for them to practice their english.. A funny question was "MS Teacher, how old are you?" I said How old do you think I am.??.. the student responded "18?" haha :-) Before I left I asked if they would like to take a picture with me, and within 5 seconds the kids had almost trampled over me, they wanted to be so close to me and take a picture. haha

As my friend and one of the teachers were walking me to the bus stop they were saying things like "YEah some of the kids have really never seen a foreigner", "I've never seen them smile so much", and "The kids love you"... As I listened to them I thought
"How could I of missed this opportunity, who cares if I thought I was busy? God doesn't care about the business of life he doesn't fill our adgendas so that we can becoming crazy people. God wants us to share the news of his LOVE to all people"

I know this blog is pretty long now and if you have made it to this place CONGRATS! ! ! However, now I want to challenge you... Don't make Christmas about YOU, don't even make it about the business in your life (Kettles, gift giving, traveling) Remember its about HIM... SHARE the real news of Christ with WHO EVER you come in contact with. Don't hesitate to be used by GOD. Allow him to lead you and to share the greatest gift ever given.

Her name was Lollipop!

 We were playing Pin the Star on the Tree!

 Reading from the Good book!

 Reading the Christmas story that my dad always read to me!

 Can you find me? haha More pictures are posted on Facebook! Please keep them in your thoughts!

Roller Skating in China, yup an exerience.

Every time I get in a taxi here in China, i wonder what type of experience I will have. Just last week i was going to the grocery store and I needed to go quickly so I asked my taxi driver if he could go realy fast. Wow was that the wrong thing to say.. My driver went crazy, he started squeezing in spacese which looked impossible. I had never been so close to other cars then at that time. He also decided it was appropriate to go against the traffic to simply get around a car that was not going as fast as he would like. haha, I guess that is what I get for asking him to go fast. At one point I think he even touched another car but it didn't matter he just kept going. ha CRAZY..

So why do I tell you about my taxi experience? Well as we were skating tonight I realized that they skate like they drive. My roommate and I went to the new wall where they have a skating rink haha.  People continually were going the wrong way, you get pushed, people come so close to you, you see in front of you an extremely small space and you think "SURELY no person can fit through there, and the next thing you know someone goes right in that space, maybe they even knock someone over.. haha Oh and the best part, people will be going so fast that they decide to make some sort of noise as if they are honking.. haha I love it!

Funniest thing from tonight. So just like in their driving, people sometimes run into you or whatnot. Tonight I totally felt like I was a hockey player, haha! Okay so I was skating and of course everyone is looking at me because I was one of two foreigners there (the other one being my roommate). Anyways this guy totally ran into me but I didn't budge I just kept going however he bounce of me so hard and ran into the wall as if I had just slammed him into it. It was quite funny, I couldn't stop laughing.

Well this was the first weekend that I had kind of free, it was a great feeling just to relax and have fun! I have been extremely busy recently and I don't see that much of a slow down in the upcoming weeks. However, I am continually grateful for days like this where I can see Gods handiwork in his unique creations. How great is our God? I pray that I will continue to see his work around and in my life, also I challenge you to look at things as God would... don't just look at the negative side but see what God does and be grateful for his handiwork. God is working and is teaching me daily to have patience to and to see things as he does.. This world, just like the skating in China is CRAZY, things go on and come so close to hitting us or making us fall. However, our God is bigger and better and while there is craziness he gives peace, Yeah our God truly IS great!

Well here we are!

So, I know I"m pretty much a terrible blogger, sorry. So much has happened sense I last blogged, where to begin? Don't worry this won't be too long I'll just give you all the inside scoops on some big things that have happened recently.

School has started and man it has been going amazingly well. My classes are fun, cute, challenging, encouraging, and did I mention cute yet? haha.. So my kindergarten class does not have any native English speakers and until the past couple days none of them could say anything in English. So through out class I would be spoken to in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and French.. But the kids are sooo Cute that I couldn't help but smile. (Sorry I can't post pictures, but yeah I can't post any of my students the whole confidentiality). The 2nd Grade class has been growing and growing and man they are just as cute as can be. It is the one age where I can do nothing wrong in their eyes. I mean I say "line up" and they jump for joy... haha If only my secondary students could be like that at some points.. haha So other than the heat everything is going amazingly well! when i say heat i mean i was burnt so bad that i was overheating, highs of 105 with the real feel of 117 yeah crazy like i said.

Volleyball Practice has also begun, I am again coaching the High School girls. I have coached many of them for 3 years, it has been such a great time watching them grow and continue to excel. This year is going to be a great one for the volleyball team, no joke! Oh and Also choir started and this is something I'm not so comfortable leading but G has been faithful in providing good songs and students who are great singers and willing to learn.. I am soo blessed!

Last Thursday - Saturday we had fall camp for our students. Fall camp is a time where we take our students out to rural area and just get to spend time with them and share the Good News with them. We also get to take them on different activites. One was repelling, I Love repelling, such a great analogy with how our faith is. Sometimes you just need to lean back and trust that G is there, you can't always see him but you CAN feel him. Just like we do when we repel, we can see what is below us or behind us but we can trust that the rope is there for us. Yes we have to keep ourselves in the correct posture but if we just let the rope be in our hands then it will guide us down the mountain. We have to keep God in our hands or I should say ALLOW him to hold us and he will guide us down any path.. YEAH its scary and it can be frightening but we MUST Trust to rope and those who have gone before us.. See they can do it, they made it safely , God promises to never leave us nor forsake us. isn't that great. And look at all of those who have gone before us, they made it and so can we!

Needless to say Fall camp was great not just for the students but also for me!
Last sunday after fellowship I went to Wuchang, about 2 hours away, to play badminton with some friends. It was uber fun, we played for about 3 hours : - ) Yeah I"m working on improving my serve, I can stay up with the competition during the play time but man my serve is 7/10 times TERRIBLE. After badminton we went to this All you can eat "Fish Hot Pot" So basically its a boiling pot of water and you can have endless fish and fish heads.. Along with endless vegetables all for 22 RMB (3.5 dollars) Man it was delicious, I love fish here. The only downfall was that i twas an extremely hot day so eating HOT POT was a little crazy, but I loved the fellowship with friends and the yummy fish.

Oh man I have so many stories I could tell I just don't want to bore you all too much : - )

Okay that is all for now, oh I have added some pictures from the NEW mall that just opened near us, 5 minutes by bike.. It is crazy nice, like a western mall there is even Air conditioning inside.. Okay enjoy..  I will try to be better and will hopefully blog on a more regular basis :  - )

If God sends us on stony paths, He provides strong shoes (corrie ten boom)

First day of School (and a little bit before)

Well today was the first day for our students to finally be back at school. What a great time it was! As the students walked up the stares I realized how much I had missed them and how excited I was to be teaching them!

SO last weekend I got a phone call from one of my Chinese friends, he asked me if I wanted to come and watch some people play sand volleyball at this pretty big tournament near my house. I of course said yes, well when I got there I was actually ON a team, oh boy! So there I was the only white person and the only girl playing in the mens league. We had such a great time, I was sore for about 3 days but the tournament was for sure a blast. It was great at one point our game was the only one being played and everyone was around our court cheering for the 1 WHITE person, they kept saying in Chinese "LETS GO foreigner ! haha...

I was SO tired that I slept through a good friend birthday party, I think that was a little due to jetlag, and the tournament, I felt pretty terrible. However, like I said it was a good friends bday party so she was totally understanding!

Monday-Wednesday we had meetings at school along with lots of PREP for our class rooms. Oh man my class room/area is a mess. As I have mentioned before we share our school with a Chinese elementary school.... Well every year they seem to take more and more away from the outside open area, where we do PE. So we used to have a field in front of our school however, now it is completely torn up with a few strips of concrete down the middle. There are many workers daily out there however, I'm still unsure of what they are doing. Well when I saw that I was like "oh its okay at least we still have the circle area". The next day I went to work and BAM, there they were buidling another shed, straight dab there in the middle of that circle area... So I'm unsure of where PE classes will really take place, we can go to the tennis court but half that time that is filled with chinese students. God has def. talk me the word flexibility and HE has given me great ideas exactly when needed, I will continue to realx and trust in HIM.

Tomorrow is Friday, which this year MWF are my busiest days. I have 8 classes plus Open Gym times, and starting next week we will have Choir practice after school. Which God has once again been faithful. Last year the choir consisted of 7 people, 3 high school girls and 4 middle school girls. As of today choir this year has 15 people singed up, 8 high school students (notice i didn't say girls) and 7 Middle School students. I'm so excited for this year in choir as I am excited for this whole year in general.

Okay my last thought for this post has to do with Christmas. I was thinking of places that would great to visit, and def. on top of my list is to someday go to Australia..... I decided okay I'll just check out the prices and see how expensive they are. To my surprise I found tickets for 4,000 RMB for round trip. (Less than 650 dollars) ... So I am currently looking for someone to go with my to Australia, if you are going or want to go or think you could do it.. LET ME KNOW! I seriously would love to go.

Thanks again for keeping up to date with whats going on in my life.. More to come, probably next week. ZAI JIAN !!!

--What greater joy is there than training the mid and forming the habits of the young? ~ St. John Chrysostom

Sun Burn, OH YEAH!

Well,

I've been home now for a totally for 2 complete days and yes the adventures have already begun... haha Today's post is not going to be too long but I just wanted to let you all know about my last day or so.. : - )

Last night after I went to the gym, in which I saw all of my friends there. Basically the people at the gym are my second family, love them. So I brought back shirts for them from America and they loved them, Golden (the cycling instructor) was wearing his today, fit perfect especially with the big smile he had on! Anyways after the gym I went to see my friends at the fruit stand, Dave (the owner) was so surprised to see me and excited. I'll probably talk a lot about these people throughout the year they are people that I am in contact with on a regular occurrence.

So today started off on a good note, haha! Our school was having a staff picnic and fun day at this park in which I THOUGHT i knew where it was... SO i decided I would just ride my bike and meet everyone else there (they were taking a bus). I knew it was at least 25-30 minutes away, I gave myself plenty of time to get there. Well I wasn't planning on taking the scenic route for an hour.. haha yup, I got lost and I couldn't even remember the word for "Park" in chinese. . . Oh man it was a mess, on that trip my sunburn began... hahaha When the picnic was over I successfully made it home in 30 minutes. To my wonderful surprise during the ride and picnic I turned into such a deep shade of red, hahaha!

Well tonight I went to the cycling class and then a new friend from America asked me to stay at the gym for a Yoga class, so yeah I stayed... Let me tell you, I'm pretty terrible at Yoga I started laughing out loud at one point! ha

Jetlag is actually doing pretty well, sleeping through the nights just getting a little tired around 10:00 am haha oh well!

Okay I'm out for the night just thought I would let you all know that somehow i still managed to get lost tonight! The picture attached is of the fruit guys sporting their shirts, in which they put them on immediately after I gave them to them!

37 Hours later

Before I say anything about my trip let me say.. MIDWEStern states you have NOTHING on this Wuhan heat. I was in triple digits for the past 2 weeks while in Kansas however, as soon as I stepped off the plane in Wuhan I felt like it was 150 degrees.. haha It is so hard to explain how hot it is here and I know that it is only going to get hotter.. : - )

Well my adventure home began on Sunday Morning (american time) and ended Monday Night. I began my trip in Chicago after spending a great two days in the chicago land area. Hitting up the downtown with some of my friends who also live in China but are on Vacation in America!

I took a 13.5 hour plane trip to Korea, which Korean Air is the way to go. Amazing service, comfortable seats, and a billion movie options. I was in the second to last row right above the wheels, oh man was that great! During the trip I saw the flight attendents struggling to make it to the back of the plane and then as I watched I saw this was because they were carrying a girl who seemed to be passed out and shaking. After they got her back and laid her on the ground they called of the speakers to see if there were any doctors on the plane. They ended up bringing the shock paddle thingy's to the back of the plane, there were about 4-5 people who stood up when they asked for a doctor. I found myself tearing up but then just praying for this girl who was apparently traveling alone. To make a long story short... The girl a couple hours later ended up walking back to her seat, answer to prayer! That was probably the most exciting thing on this trip back.

I was able to watch many movies during those 13.5 hours... Soul Surfer (Also made me tear up), Win Win (Dad you would like this one and anyone else who likes good old emotional movies), Hanna (interesting), and Prada to Nada (Loved it)!

So I got to Korea at 4:00 PM and then my next flight was not leaving until 9:00am the following morning. So while I was in Korea my amazing Cousin Andrea and her Husband came and met me. They took me out for some amazing Korean food and then we just walked around and chatted.. IT was awesome to have someone there that I could just chill with and also keep me awake.. haha

Well the morning came and I met up with the Kingmas, a fellow employee, and we went to the airport jumped on the plane and BAM we were in Wuhan.. It was so great to land and almost right away feel like I was home! We were a sight to see at the airport, I had 3 suitcases, and they Kingma's had 7 plus carry ons :- ) The driver who was picking us up just looked at us like "Are you for real, how could anyone have this much stuff?" haha... I'm pretty sure that the driver was driving significantly slower due to the weight he was feeling in the car.. haha

WEll I got home to my amazingly clean house, put my stuff down and then headed out on a mission to find a good phone. As I was walking to the store I saw a Chinese friend who ended up coming with me to the store :- ) This cell phone process took 2+ hours, ahhh I now have a pretty sweet Android phone email, internet, wifi, and all that good stuff. I started to get tired after this trip but I was determined not to go to sleep :- ) In which I didn't, I returned home and began unpacking and tidying up my room.

For dinner my roommate and I along with Ben went out for some Korean food, YUM! Oh its great to have fantastic Asian food :- ) Then hit up the Ecoffee and then made it back home to finish unpacking. I was determined to stay awake to at least 9:00pm, well I made that however, now it is 12:00AM and I'm not overly tired.... I am praying for some sort of sleep tonight : - )

I guess that is it for now, I am safely home, blessed, encouraged, ready for work in 8:00 hours, and excited to see what God has in-store for this upcoming school year! !!! Thank you all for making my summer home amazing.. I had a great time with you all and am blessed to have been home for almost 2 months! Be sure to check back with this blog to see how China is doing this time around!

PS. the quilt that me and my mom made this summer fits perfectly on my bed : - ) YEAH for old T-shirtS! haha

In America

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to say Hi and to inform you all that I am looking forward to this upcoming year in China! And to also let you all know that I am planning on some awesome adventures with great blogging, Thanks for taking apart and following my experiences in China. I appreciate all the prayers and thoughts.

I will be headed back to China this upcoming Sunday, wow I can't believe this summer has flown by this quickly. I have had a great time seeing ALL of my siblings and of course my parents along with some of my most awesome friends. While home this summer I have been in the following cities - Merrillville, Lexington KY, Arlington TX, KC Mo & KC Kansas, Springfield MO, Bloomington IL, Chicago, & well I guess thats it.

Thank you to you all who have made my summer an amazing time. I've had a great time back in America but I am looking forward to heading back home "china". Some of the highlights while being in Ameria

- Making a Quilt with my Mom (its a t-shirt quilt)
- Shopping (basically every day.. haha)
- Going to Church at none other than the Salvation Army
- Playing Tuba (i'm a geek, I know)
- Spending time with my nephews an niece (um they are basically the cutest ever)
- Seeing friends and family
- Okay to many high lights, everything has been great!

God has been faithful and I am confident that HE has placed me in China for this time, I don't know how long I will be there (well of course 2 years but who knows after that)... but I am confident that HE will continue to guide and lead me, as he does for you. Thanks for listening to my China stories and for being great friends. Love you all and I will post again when I get back home. (August 2nd)

Here, there, everywhere.. What it's April?

Well, sense my last post I have been a little busy. I have been on 2 airplanes, held a "World of Music" concert at my school, gone to Beijing, and taught.  Actually I don't know when was the last time I updated, so who knows what has happened sense then.

Last Thursday I was blessed to see Joseph, who came for the May holiday! That same day later in the evening my brother, Nathan, and his wife, Ellen came. What an exciting day?Nathan and Ellen hit the ground running. They came to participate in a Concert for our school. The concert was a huge success, We needed to sell 140 tickets and we sold 157, we needed ot be finished by 8:45 (transportation and facility requirments) we finished at 8:30. Just a great night, PLUS i got to play my horn with my brother and his wife, what a treat, sometimes I really do MISS playing.

The day after the concert we went to Beijing, which was crazy because we were there on May holiday which is crazy... on the day that we were going to the great wall we could not find the bus that we needed to take and then Joseph finally called and found where it was however, we only had 5 minutes to get there.. So if you can imagine this, 3 white people and 1 Chinese person, running in the streets of Beijing in order to catch the bus.. Oh did i mention we were running right next to Tiananmen square? Yup, we were basically the new "main attraction" haha! So we ran only to sit on a bus for 4 hours, lovely May holiday traffic.

The day we tried to go to the Forbidden city we were actually forbidden to go inside, hahaha it was pretty funny, we only figured that out after we had walked for like an 1 around the whole outisde of the city. haha

So we finally returned to Wuhan after 3 days in Beijing (2 nights), we were exhausted but I still had to go to work that morning :- ) Work was okay I found out that I will be moving houses  and that my new roommate will be Jenny the art teacher,, YEAH! It should be a fun year!

Lets see whatelse has happened? haha There were actually many funny things that happened however, I will wait so that you guys can hear first experience from Nathan and Ellen them selves.

This last month is pretty crazy busy, this weekend is the art show, next week sports banquet, 20th field day, 27th graduation, 3rd of june is the last day of classes.. WOW, crazy how fast time is flying by! I'll be in America before I know what hit me. I will post again soon until then.. ADIOS my friends!

Below are some pictures from Beijing, if you want to check out some more look at my Facebook page!

Easter

Well, its seems like I have not written in a long time. I know you were probably all really nervous that I was not coming back, no fear I am here!

So the last few days have been pretty intensely crazy busy. This upcoming friday the WYIS choir is hosting their very first World of Music concert, which if you can guess I'm the leader so a lot of that falls on me. I'm really excited because my brother, Nathan, and his wife, Ellen, are coming for this concert. They are going to be our special guest, plus it gives them an excuse to come to CHINA! And I also found out that Joseph, my boyfriend, will be coming to Wuhan the same day that Nathan and Ellen arrive. For sure we will be having many parties!

So I have been working on the concert along with Sports Banquet, Field Day, next year schedules, and all of the above, through out this week.

Recently the chinese school that we share a campus with has been preparing for some competition. Like Dance, Warm ups, Bands, Drums, etc. are all competing I'm sure. Everyday we hear the same music and see them doing the same things in their practice.. I was trying to think of what the song reminded me of and then I remembered, it is basically the exact theme song for Pocahontas, plus the dance is pretty similar haha...  As I was leaving on friday I took some pictures of the "marching band" man they are funny, did I mention this is an ELEMENTARY school ?? haha Oh the good times in china!

Tomorrow (sunday) i am leading worship and I'm really excited. However, at the beginning of the week I picked some songs but they weren't seeming to flow together and so last night I was prying about what songs we could do instead and all of a sudden I had like 8 songs and a great website to download the music. Isn't that great? The Lrd is so good? All the time!

Sunday is also Joseph and My 1 year mark, wow how time has flown by. . . He is great and I am blessed to have him in my life. Please keep us in your pryers as we are still unsure of next school season, we would really like to live near eachother.. Thanks!

Well i should probably get to bed soon seeing how it is almost 2:00am, haha oh man how did I get so lucky to have the family genes of being able to stay up late and wake up early? haha I have attached some of pictures from the chinese school, hope you have a great EASTER morning and celebration.

HE IS RISEN

Monday

So Monday finally came and thus the beginning of another week full of adventures. The day started off normal as I walked to school and got noddles on the way for breakfast. Work went well nothing out of the ordinary, of course I had around a million Chinese students running around me and taking our equipment here or there, like I said nothing out of the ordinary.

After work I was on my way to Hankou (another part of the city) for a "book" study. and of course in Chinese fashion I was given a specific bus stop in which I asked someone on the bus when arrived there if they would let me know. Well they told me "this is it" so I got off the bus. After an hour and half walk I realized I was at the wrong stop...Just great! My group is studying the book entitled the Five love languages. It is interesting to see the differences within our cultures and yet some of the similarities. Yesterday we read the part about how parents play such an important role in the way we shape our relationships. Many people in China when growing up live with their grandparents as their parents are working in a different city. Therefore, children often have little contact with their parents. The people in the study were saying how their grandparents have such an important rule in their lives, they were informing me of how they of course love their parents but it is true that they look up to their grandparents more. During this conversation I became more and more grateful for the wonderful parents that I have. And the way that modeled and continue to model a healthy relationship!

So the study was over and now is when the real fun begins. I went to get on the bus, which is always a treat in China. I got on my bus and sat there of course with many stares and whatnot, as the bus continued to go the overload of people came, haha. I really wanted to take a picture but my phone's flash was not good enough. Literally I thought there was no way to get one more person on the bus however there was a line of at least 15 people out the door. The bus driver stood up and begin to yell at everyone and told them to scoot back, amazingly we got all of those people in. Some people were standing behind the driver, some literally 3 inches from the font window, it was a great sight!

So as I am sitting on this packed bus I thought "This would be a great place to publicize the World of Music concert coming up at our school, featuring our school choir and Nathan & Ellen Miller (my brother and sister-n-law)"... So what do I do? You guessed it, I stood up and asked (in my soft miller voice) who likes music? and of course I got a lot of blank stares wondering why is this white person talking to us. I proceeded to ask again and then I conveniently pulled out the flyer's I had in Chinese and handed them out to everyone, people were pushing toward me to get a flyer. Hopefully some of these people will make it to the concert, haha!

And that was my Monday a normal day in China.

Oh my phone !

Wow, this has been a long weekend and it all started on Friday morning, you might be wondering why my blog title for to day is "oh my phone!" I wish I had some fantastic funny story however, I don't. It is simple my phone was stolen and as pathetic as this sounds, I feel lost. I went to teach my 2nd grade class, 5 students (I know WOW), and then the chinese school had their recess all 3000 of them... At which time my cell phone was stolen... The funny part is that my assistant told me "I don't think anyone stole it, they probably just threw it in the trash." I know that makes lots of sense huh?

Well after that, Amanda Rowe and I traveled to Qingdao to cheer on our soccer teams as they played in a tournament. Our taxi driver was insistant that he knew a better way to get to the airport and to make a long story short, it took us 2times the amount of time to get there. This year has not been a good one for me and airports, earlier this year I missed a flight to Shanghai, and I have cut it close on many other occasions all due to taxi drivers.

Qingdao is right on the coast line, beautiful city abnormally clean and just a fun place to go. Our High school boys got 2nd place and the other teams played really well! After the games some of us just went out to see the sights.. We stumbled across a wet market, which I know sounds weird but it is just like a fresh seafood market where you can get ANY thing from the see you could possibly want.. I posted some pictures of fish flapping around and all that good stuff. I was so amazed to see the snails as they were spitting water out, every time I jumped, haha!

As you walk by these fish and all other type of creatures are jumping around and sometimes out of their boxes, haha

really not sure what this is.. ha

Can you guess what all those things are?

Do you see the teeth?

I'm home now and ready to get some good rest once this weekend is over I hit the pavement running. My brother will be coming in less than two weeks to perform at a Music Concert, then we have the sports banquet, and then field day. This year has just FLOWN by, where is all the time going?

1st Blog

Today marks the day of a new beginning. I, Karen Miller, have begun my first blog, EVER! For real, I'm excited to share with everyone my experiences here in China. Life here for the past 2 years has been great many ups and downs, more ups!

Today for example, what started off to be a normal Thursday turned into a fun filled day ending with an amazing 3 person scooter ride, 2 western people and 1 very tall Chinese man. So I started with going to work on time as usual, 7:15. Started with a lovely staff meeting followed by some classes here and there. Actually teaching now is awesome because the weather is finally nice so I enjoy being outside. After school we had Choir practice and the girls made my heart smile as they opened mouths and sang like real singers! I was so proud. . . After an amazing choir practice I headed to Aloha to have dinner with some pretty great friends, one of who got me started on this blog tonight! (Thanks Rebecca)

Here is where the fun begins... So I told rebecca lets walk to this coffee place which i thought was fairly close, but as walked I realized it was rather far, like a 45 minute walk far. However, we only had 15 minutes to get there in time to meet our friends.. we late but it didn't matter because he was 45 minutes late.. Yes we still beat him.. Okay so the time had come for us to leave, Jacky had scooter that fits on average 2 people or 3 chinese people. .. I had a great idea that Jacky and REbecca would ride on the seat while I sat on the bottom of the scooter forcing me to hold my legs up in order my feet to not touch ground. It was great idea and it worked, HOWEVER, my legs are really sore now. Rebecca and I often do things that deserve more stares than the average foreigners receive. This was yet another one of these adventures... Yup the stares just kept coming, it was a great time.

You will probably hear about Rebecca on a regular occasion seeing that most of the crazy things I do in China include her. Example: Wedding Crashing, 3 people on a regular bicycle (i was peddling), traveling to random peoples houses for different holidays, Chinese Company formal dinners (we were in flip flops, totally out of place), and infamous KTV nightS.

Oh man this blogging is going to be awesome, be sure to tune in often.