October Update

My October started with a trip to Metro and a block of cheese purchase. No, this cheese is not only mine. We divided it between four apartments, which yes is still quite a bit of cheese. I got a big kick out of how huge it was and I entertained myself with some pictures. I ended up using some of this cheese to make a homemade pizza. My roommate, Kristen, and I invited a Chinese neighbor over for pizza and a game of Uno. Of course Angel had the usual beginner's luck and won both hands. It was a fun filled evening and and encouragement to me.

At school we had bling bling day. I enjoyed participating and so did many of my students. I was surprised by some of the bling I saw. I had a west coast bling girl and I also had some princesses and such. Parent teacher conferences ended our month at school. Those always make me a little nervous, but they ended up going well. Volleyball ended this month with a sleep over and cinnamon roll making party. The girls that were able to make it had a blast as did I. I especially enjoyed eating the cinnamon rolls.


Life continues to be enjoyable and I'm thankful for that. My weekends consist of Skype dates with Zack and movie nights with the girls. I went to the theater this month and saw a movie on the big screen. It was intense, but fun to go the movies. I get to go to Hong Kong in about a month for a conference and while I'm there I'll get to see Zack. Just a little excited about that trip. There are only 6 1/2 weeks before Christmas break...which seems like no time at all. When I do these big updates I seem to forget everything that has happened throughout the month.

The Great Chengdu Adventure

I woke up at 4:30 to the beeping of my alarm. My stomach turned in knots from the excitement of what the day held for me. I knew that I had approximately an hour to get ready and make my way to the street to find a taxi. As I began the morning routine I made a rather disturbing discovery; I had armpit rash. Not only was it armpit rash, but it was painful. Looking back on it, my only conclusion is that it was caused from dust or chemicals that had made their way on to my razor the previous week when workers had installed our bathtub. In spite of the awful ailment, I proceeded to prepare myself for the day ahead. And thus it began; a wonderful 5 days filled with laughter, food, and tears.

I arrived in Chengdu about 11:15, grabbed my bag, and got in a taxi headed towards Peter's TexMex. Zack came and met me at about 3 and it was incredibly exciting. It was a strange feeling seeing Zack when really I have been "seeing" him everyday via the internet, but to physically be with him was so much better. So our week began with an evening of hotpot and meeting some of Zack's friends.

Over the next few days I was able to make and IKEA trip, eat at Papa Johns, and a few nice restaurants. Those were some good things about the trip, but my favorite part was spending time with my man. On Saturday he took me to see the Pandas, which is something Chengdu, or that area, is well known for. Those bears are some of the laziest animals I've seen. While they are beautiful and rather human like, they sat around and ate bamboo the whole time we watched them. The panda nursery was just precious with these little 4 or 5 month old pandas just laying in one huge crib with each other. They looked so tiny and fragile.

After our panda adventure, there was some fine dining and some scootering around. I think one of my favorite things about Chengdu is the fact people scooter around. It's different from Qingdao, my city, in quite a few ways, but this is probably one of the most noticeable differences. I believe it is also the independence that comes along with owning your own means of transportation. Zack, being the amazing boyfriend he is, allowed me to have a try at driving the scooter. And as most of you know, I am a spectacular driver. It did take me a while to figure out how to balance myself, but once I got it I didn't do to bad. Zack even trusted me enough to let me drive with him on the back. He loves me.

Monday definitely came too quickly and it was time for me to return to my home. For those softies out there, I cried my eyes out when I left. We'll get to see each other again in November, around Thanksgiving. Jess, I admire your strength and now can understand what it was like those many years ago when you and Nick were dating states apart.

After my Chengdu adventure I had to return to the work world and teach the next day. It actually was a lot better than I thought it would be. Things are going well in the classroom. My kids continue to be a trip and bring laughter to my days. We've had some pretty good times lately writing about dogs falling in love, making commercials, and finding out what foods contain sugar and what foods don't. Volleyball is almost over which makes me a little sad. It was a crazy season, but I really enjoy coaching. Middle school youth group starts tomorrow, so we are having a cookout at my house and then playing some games up at the 'park'. I put that in quotations because I don't know that you would call it a traditional park, but it works.

I hope you all are doing well. Thanks for reading and I'll try to update more this week. It seems I say that every time.

Love,

Kira

Awestruck

I took this picture on my way to the bus the other morning. I can never quite capture things the way I wish I could. It has been rather sunny and beautiful the past couple of days. I spent Saturday at the pool, and I have the sunburn to prove it. It was one of the most relaxing days I've had since I've been in China.

I have a busy week ahead. I will be leaving on Friday for a volleyball trip. It's funny because we will be flying to the school to play in a tournament, but in all of my volleyball days I have never flown to play another school. Even in college we would bus to Florida or Iowa, but never fly. I'm really excited to spend time with the girls and watch some volleyball. Then we are back to school for a week and the following week is October holiday. I have a retreat that I will attend with my company at the beginning of the week, then I will hop a plane to Chengdu to spend some time with my man.

These days I'm learning about what true worship looks like, and I am being challenged to be living that out in my daily life. I am constantly reminded of His faithfulness and his blessing. It has been breathtaking as I look back over the last couple of years and realize the obvious, He leads me when I let him.

The Unexpected And The Unknown

Isn't he cute? That's Mason, my cousin's little boy, and I absolutely love him! He's such a cool kid, and he is one person I really miss. It's one of those situations where I wish I could really be in his life, but I guess I'm just not meant to be for this time. He's so cute! I just had to share this picture.

Update:

The last two weeks have been so incredibly busy and overwhelming, but I continue to grow and be challenged and fail through it all. In the last two weeks I've had volleyball or a meeting everyday after school, which doesn't allow for a lot of time to plan and get things accomplished at school. So I take work home and often leave it in my bag. I'm starting to get into a routine and hopefully that will help with the stress. I already feel like my load is lighter because last week has passed. We had open house last Friday and I also shared at chapel. I'm going to be leading a girls small group on Tuesdays during lunch. There is one student I'm really hoping to encourage through it all and I would love to see her develop a deeper relationship with the Father. That will be at 12:00 (midnight for all you Americans) if you feel like lifting it up. It'll be happening every week.

My best friend from college is having a baby!! I'm so excited for her and feel that it is worthy of a mention in my blog. It's the closest thing to me being an auntie. Blast being an only child! I get to go visit Zack in October, and I couldn't be more excited. We have a week holiday in October and the first part of the week we have a retreat for our school staff, but the last part is me on my way to Chengdu. I'm going to ride on a scooter around China; what could be more fun?

I've started playing the piano again. Not every day, but at least a couple of times a week. I'm hoping to get back into it. I don't really have any music, but my roommate has a hymnal and she lets me use it. I love it and it brings peace to my soul...along with Jesus.

Rainy Day Sunday

Seeing as how my last post was in April, there is a lot to be caught up on. I'll start with the recent and work my way back. I am back in China for 2 more years and I'm loving it. I have a great class this year with 15 students as of last Friday; 10 girls and 5 boys. It's actually a great mix and I'm anticpating a gret year. Most of my students are Korean, but I have a few westerners thrown in to balance things out. I'm also co-coaching the girls varsity volleyball team this year. We'll be starting practices this week, which I'm super excited about. I played volleyball with some other teachers last week and boy am I sore. It was great to be back on the court, even though it's causing me pain.

I had a great summer. I was back in the states for two weeks and was able to see friends and spend time with family. I painted the outside of my grandmother's house and that a task. It took me four days to paint, but I think it really took me a month do find four days to do it. I also made a trip to Tennessee and fell in love. Well I think the past 6 months were leading up to me falling in love, but then in July I fell. Zack is what you might call the shizzle. I don't think I've ever felt more comfortable with someone, nor have I ever been around someone that can make me laugh as much as he does. I am continually impressed by who he is and how he lives. He loves the Lord and has such a desire to grow. He challenges me through conversations and I think sometimes he doesn't even realize he's doing it. He knows me and understands me like most people don't, or he pretends to. Ha. He's very real and genuine and I love that about him. And he moved to China, so that's pretty great. Even if we aren't in the same city, we are in the same time zone. The Lord is faithful.

My dad has his own apartment now. He's doing pretty well on his own and has a lot of help from nurses and other organizations. He's liking it, but it is challenging for him as well. That is another area the Lord has proven to be so faithful in. He has totally been taking care of my dad and providing all these things that never could have come from me. He's is such a good God.

The Olympics have been great to watch. Hopefully you all are having the oporutnity to keep up with them. I may get the chance to go to the Olympic Center here in Qingdao next weekend. If I go I'll make sure to post pictures. That's about all I've got for now.

Kira

This is for you Betsy.

I really don't have anything new to talk about. I'm mostly making this post for you Betsy, so you won't have to look at the fish picture anymore. Things have been going well in the last month. We had parent-teacher conferences a week ago and had testing all week this past week. We watched the Mighty Ducks on Friday and I had forgotten how funny that movie is. Quack..Qucak..Quack.

I've watched a few good movies lately. Need some new music though...so feel free to make some suggestions. Jess, have you listened to anything good lately? I miss sharing a room with McTag and being introduced to new musicians.

Well that's all for now. Hope the picture moves down on the page enough :).

Tastes in China

I recently went to a Japanese/Korean restaurant with a couple that work at the school with me. They introduced me to 'fresh fish.' As you can see from the picture...this truly is fresh fish. In fact it was not perhaps 15 minutes before this picture that those fish were swimming somewhat comfortably in a tank that sits at the front of the restaurant. I must admit that while this was not a tasty meal, I wasn't incredibly turned off to it all. The texture is quite chewy and takes a while to adjust to, but the health benefits are supposedly extraordinary. I would never go back and eat this food by myself, but if a group of people were going I'd tag along. Yum.




Today at lunch, we explored the land and came upon a new restaurant. It was supposed to be an Australian style place, but really it was a mixture of things. We ordered nachos and cheese as an appetizer. I was ecstatic when I read on the menu that they were gooey. So you could understand my disappointment when the plate that was delivered to our table held four saltine crackers and a wedge of cheese atop each one. Mistake number one. I decided to make up for the disappointment of cheese and crackers I would order desert. Again...anticipating a big, warm brownie with chocolate sauce and ice cream I was once again surprised by what appeared to be a crape with 'brown ice cream' and chocolate drizzle.






As for an update on life. Things are good. Teaching continues to be rewarding and my kids did a super fun puppet show the other day on listening to Him. The picture is from a rehearsal. They performed in front of 3rd-5th grade.They are truly an inspiration and not to mention a blast to teach. As for life outside of school...well it's there just not eventful. I have decided to stay 2 more years...so this summer is my vacation home. All of June and July in America...I have no idea how to act. In fact I'm sure it will be quite the cultural adjustment. Then it's back in time for the Olympics and another great school year. I'll try to be better at posting more often..but no promises.