Dear Shakira...

You've been around since I was in 6th grade. That's a long time ago, chica. I know you're a famous singer and all, and with all that fame comes a fence, and people stand on either side of it. The world has different opinions about you. I don't see how--you're just awesome and you got hips, and you sure know how to shake 'em.

Basically Shakira, you are the woman. I don't know if you're aware of this but you've already broken a ton of records in the music industry and you're pretty well off. You lived a tough life and now you're known all over the world. You've done a lot of great work too for UNICEF and even founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation. That's pretty sweet and something I highly commend you for. I can't think of any other music celebrity who has done more for our world than you have. Keep up the awesome work.

I must say thank you, Shakira for the instantaneous pick-me-up that you have given to me and to the world. You have released into the galaxy a song that not only unites the world, but [most importantly] makes us get up and dance as well. Prior to you, the term "Waka Waka" would have been thought to just be childhood jibberish, but now it is a motto, a uniting force, a way of life...bringing the world together through the power of song and dance. This one's comin' at you from China, Shakira. Hopefully the students at Dong Fong Shui Yuan [Heilongjiang East College] did you proud.

City Team Spotlight #2

We meet people everywhere we go;sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you meet someone and within minutes you feel like you’ve known them your whole life. You can’t quite place who they remind you of or what that “special quality” is about them, but all you know is that when you walk away you can do nothing but smile and love your life because that person made it that much better.

This blog, right here right now, is featuring one of those people. Harbin is ever so special to be graced with the presence of Lizzie Talcott. Lizzie is a member of Team Lin Da and this is her first time teaching in China. Lizzie has signed on for [at least] two years and has already made quite the impact on the city, her students and team. 
“My time here in China could also be summed up by saying, "Wow, I didn't see that one coming."  Time and time again I just laugh about how my life is unfolding.  Who would have thought that I would be here, in Harbin, working with these students...and loving it?!  So all that to say...I love China, I love Harbin, I love our city team, and I'm so excited to see what the next year will bring.”  

Lizzie hails from Indiana, but both of her parents are Texans. Simply, don’t mess with her {because she’s got Texan blood in those veins}. She is the prime organizer of anything “party” and knows how to have a good time. Her bubbly personality is loved by all who surround her and she always has a joke to crack or a funny story or adventure to share. Her life has been awesome [and will continue to be awesome]. China is something that just kinda… “happened”. It’s taught her a lot in the process.

“I guess I would say that the biggest thing I've learned so far in China is the absolute need for reliance on Him and others.  We can't do it alone here!  Language, culture, etc all work to make sure we are an interdependent group that relies ultimately on Him.  Bottom line: I can't do it on my own.”

That is in fact a lesson that we are all learning here, not just Lizzie. I know that I and my fellow bean-teamers are super stoked that we get to work with and around her for at least another semester. If we could guarantee that we could be placed in Harbin again, I’m sure some of us would reconsider returning home, just to live another year in the life with Lizzie.

Oh, and another 'destiny' reason as to why we're friends is because Lizzie was infact a music major in college. Well...at least for a little bit ;)

Lizzie has her own blog documenting her time and adventures here in China. I encourage you to check it out here!

Playing 'piano' together in the park

Dear Father...

Clearly you knew I was coming to Harbin. Thanks for keeping the snow away as long as you have. I do have a question though… why did you have to create -26◦F? Just so you know, it really hurts.  But then again, You know more about pain than I’ll ever know. So, never mind.

I know I don’t always get it. I know I don’t always get who You made me to be. Quite frankly, it’s a little weird don’t you think? You seem to have given me this overflowing and outpouring for everything music. It doesn’t stop, ever. I’m sure it’s really gotten on some of my teammates nerves by now. That doesn’t matter to you, does it? I’m sure they’ve taken that up with You on a personal level. Okay, that’s none of my business, you’re right.

Awhile ago I had told myself [and You] that my days of writing music were over. It’s even written in purple to make it stand out against the droning writings of everyday. And now, two months later here I sit with two new things, creations, clearly inspired by You. Were you just trying to prove me wrong? You tend to do that a lot, which—I mean—is fine. Keep it up. Clearly I don’t even have the fraction figured out that I thought I did. I’ll just…keep writing?

You love this country, you love these people, and you love my students more than I ever could. Keep them safe in this season of finals and in their time of festivities. Restore them, body & soul. And somehow, in Your Majestic way, remind them to practice their English over their vacation.

Thanks!

*Kayla Marie

City Team Spotlight #1

What has the bean team been up to recently? Well, little did you know that when you shipped us off to China, that you’d actually aided in the assembly of an all-star movie-making cast. We’ve recently discovered our natural ability to make movies and our knack at just having fun together [apparently this is what happens when you don’t have four lesson plans to write].

 

If I haven’t mentioned it before, our Harbin city team is absolutely ballin’. There’s one *special* person in particular who has won the hearts of the Heilongjiang East College team. Her name is Jodi Poon. She’s been in China for about 4 years. She’s from California. We call here “Aunt Jodi”, or “Jodester”.  We have sleepovers at her apartment and watch really good movies. She loves taking pictures, just like me. It’s soon to be her birthday, and to celebrate a party was thrown on the opposite side of the city. Our team provided the entertainment…but I’ll let Jodi tell you about it. You can hear about the story here.

~Jodi, so glad we’re going to be friends forever!!!~

what's in a name?

Traditionally, if your name is on a piece of mail, you will get it. But I’m getting ahead of myself, perhaps I should explain one of the processes of life over here: the mail system.

We are able to receive mail here, which is a wonderful system as physically holding pieces of parchment filled with encouraging words of loved ones [and boxes of familiar sugary sweets] do something good for the soul. We do not have mailboxes; everything is shipped through the “mail room”. Usually, Dan, our leader is notified as to when a package has arrived with one of our names on it. Sometimes they’ll tell us that Michael has a package, but when he goes to pick it up, it will be for Tiffany. Sometimes they’ll tell Laura that she has a package, but she’ll return with packages for Wes and Dan. “Perusing the mailroom” has been a weekly chore that one of us volunteers to do each week. We quickly found out that just because one of us receives a package, doesn’t mean that they will notify us when it arrives. We’ve found packages from September a few weeks ago just chillin’ in a corner of the mailroom.

Some of us have also been so lucky as to receive a special slip. This special slip notifies us that a package has arrived for us. However, in order to get these packages, we must take a visit to the post office on the other side of the city (an hour and a half bus ride, people). Two days ago, I was honored with such a slip. Along with it came the urgent message of “If you don’t pick it up by tomorrow, it will be shipped back to America”. We call that a critical time crunch. That’s never a good message to get.

Why these packages can’t be shipped to our actual school, we don’t really know. What makes these packages different from the other packages that actually do make it to our school, we don't really know.

Thankfully, Tiffany was willing to come along on the adventure with me. We arrived at the post office {which, by the way, is so much calmer than a US post office at Christmastime}. We were the only two people in there except for the employees…and an old man. I was able to walk right up to the counter and present my slip. I handed over my passport and other Chinese documents. The woman disappeared and quickly returned with not one but two boxes!! They compared my documents to the boxes and… it all went downhill from there.

In case you don’t have a passport {or haven’t renewed yours in a long time} it is optional to have your middle name on your documentation. As I made this decision two years ago I distinctly remember the arguments I had with myself over whether or not to include my middle name on my passport. The winning argument was this: “Having my middle name will only further clarify who I am. It can’t hurt anything.”

They were spelling my name over and over, aloud.

K-A-Y-L-A-M-A-R-I-E-M-I-N-I. Looking back and forth.

“Oh no,” I said to Tiffany. “I bet you they’re comparing my name to the name on the box. I bet you anything that the boxes do not have my middle name on them.”

“But that’s ridiculous,” Tiffany said.

One of the ladies took my passport and disappeared to an office in the back. The other stood, looking at us. The old man came over to see what all the commotion was about. “Wo shi Kayla Marie Mini.” I gestured. “Wo shi Kayla Mini”. I did the same gesture. Kayla Marie Mini and Kayla Mini, are in fact, the same person. We, being American, do not pay as much attention to the middle names. They are only used to make it evidently clear to a child that they are in trouble. Major cultural difference.

The woman returned from the back and picked up the phone. I continued repeating myself, hoping and praying that it would make some type of difference. The old man started speaking to us. For the record, they all ask the same thing. We told him we were English teachers from America. He continued asking questions. Some, we didn’t know the answers to, some we didn’t understand. Then…we didn’t understand anything. “bu dong, bu dong.” He kept trying. It didn’t help.

The woman handed me the phone. Who in the world would I possibly talk to on the phone in the post office in China? “Hello?” I asked, hesitantly.

“Kayla, this is Vincent. The woman says that you are having a problem.”

VINCENT! I had never been happier to hear his voice [if you don’t know who Vincent is, we went to his house not to long ago…you can read about it here]. He asked me a few questions and then tried talking to the lady again for a very long time. She then handed the phone back to me. “Kayla, the woman says that she cannot give you the packages because the documents do not match. I will have to write you a certificate of approval that proves you are the same person, but you will have to come back to the school to get it.”

Let's play a game. It's called "…do you know what it feels like..."

- to live in a foreign country?

- to live in a foreign country around the holidays?

- to literally have a counter (all of two feet) separating you and two boxes of goodness and familiarity from home?

I can’t lie, it was a very discouraging visit to the post office. What did we learn? That China takes our loose term of “what’s in a name?” rather seriously. Maybe from now on my middle name should be included on all pieces of mail.

A Fairy Tale

[In light of the previous blog post, I thought this would also have to make it on the blog. If you haven't read the previous blog, I suggest you go read that one first and then scroll up here.]

So recently I was checking some homework. The assignment was to write a story using the given vocabulary words:

sit ups, jumping jacks, running, jogging, aerobics, swimming

 You can imagine how shocked I was to find that the main character was, in fact, me.

"Once upon a time Miss Guobaorou was doing jumping jacks in the jungle. Suddenly, Lauren and Laura

ran quickly towards her and started doing aerobics together with her. While Guobaorou was surprised,a

handsome prince came and said “have you thought about dancing with me?” Then, Laura and Guobaorou
nodded their head quickly. The prince went, but they had to walk to the palace. Boom!....what happened?
A young man with a scar and a broom called Harry took Lauren to the palace, while another big bird took
Laura away. Miss Guobaorou had to walked alone, but she was stopped by a bear. The bear put her on
the back and said “I suggest you lose weight by go swimming, running, and lifting weights.” Guobaorou
was annoyed and tried to do sit ups on the bear’s back. After they arrived, the prince invited Guobaorou
and said “maybe you should try dancing with me.” Guobaorou accepted it, but the bear didn’t. Then, Miss
Guobaorou had to dance with the prince and the bear."

...not gunna lie, I'd dance with a prince any day. 
Even if my life was in jeopardy due to the presence of a bear bear was involved.
[want to read more of these assignments? ] 

Trouble Making Team

 
One of the best parts of being on a team is getting to know the students of my teammates.
It creates for an interesting relationship as even though I am a teacher, I am not their teacher.
There is one student in particular who has won the hearts of all of Team Harbin and thankfully she is not my student [or else there is no way that we would have the relationship that we have]. I have even mentioned her before in a previous blog post; her name is Julia.
Julia is a sophomore student, a class monitor, and a very responsible one at that. She is the most outgoing student I have ever met and she talks incredibly fast. Her English is faster than mine. Her friends often tease her because speaking fast is a part of her ‘dialect’. Julia’s hometown, unlike many of the students here, is really far away.

We have had several opportunities to have dinners with students. At one of these dinners we were telling “the sophomores” that we needed to find Chinese names for ourselves. I was telling Julia the story of what happened in my classes when I asked my students for help.
“I told them ‘the time has come for me to choose a Chinese name. I have no idea what it should be', and then one of them shouted ‘di san xian! Your favorite Chinese food’ {at which point Julia erupted in laughter, barely able to contain herself} And then I quickly told them that ‘di san xian’ could not be my Chinese name but then they shouted ‘guo bao rou!’ at me!” At this point, Julia erupted into a much deeper laughter. Obviously, naming your English teacher traditional Chinese dishes is not the recommended thing to do, and although I was completely aware of the fact that my students were only messing with me, I did not expect the following to come from Julia's mouth:

“Guo bao rou. This is the perfect name for you”
“Julia, I want my Chinese name to mean something. I don’t want to be remembered as a slab of meat.”
“Guo bao rou. It is delicious, it is sweet, and it is everyone's favorite. It is you!”

You can bet there was much arguing after this point, yet any argument I find myself in with a student, I always end up losing. Nonetheless, my Chinese nickname is officially “guo bao rou”, which Julia has proclaimed to every student of mine that crosses my path. [yes, nickname, I eventually got a real one too]. It has become quite the joke amongst the freshman class that their teacher, Miss Kayla, has an alias of a sweet and sticky fried pork dish. Not going to lie, guo bao rou is absolutely delicious and a special dish that is only found in the dongbei [northeast] China. Super special.

Julia and myself are what we jokingly call a "trouble making team". We read each others minds. We get each other. We finish each others jokes. It would only be fitting that both parts of the team would have a nickname; Julia also has an alias known as "gong pao ji ding" {Kung Pao Chicken, for all you Chinese scholars out there}. It is quite the common knowledge that we are a pair, that we are a team, and that any time Guo Bao Rou and Gong Pao Ji Ding cross paths on this tiny campus, chaos and energy are released into the universe. A very special relationship, people. One that will forever continue no matter if miles or oceans separate.

Winter Adventures Episode 1

Today was not your usual Saturday for quite the variety of reasons. First of all, it began on a celebratory note because my body decided to wake up at 10am! [I haven’t been able to sleep well for the past several months so it seems as though my body finally got the memo and took the time it needed to rejuvenate itself] This is a miracle, people.

Today was the first day I (well, we) were ever invited into a Chinese persons home. Our “supervisor” here at the school and his wife invited us over for lunch to their apartment. Sunny came along with us [some of you know about Sunny and how she is near and dear to our hearts]. The day began by getting there. Half of us hopped in a taxi, the others of us hopped in  

…this…

The driver of this vehicle was insistent that he could take us wherever we needed to go. He and the real taxi driver struck a deal that he would follow and charge the same amount as a real taxi. So we hopped in the small yellow vehicle and signed to ourselves “only in China”. All in all, the man was super happy to say that he had Americans in his car. You know he’ll be telling that story at the kitchen table for years to come. I’m glad we could make your day, sir.

We got to Vincent & Tina’s apartment; it was absolutely beautiful as if designed by the Barbie Dream House team. Every wall was pink, the curtains were pink, the bedspread a hot magenta, and splashes of pink and red everywhere we turned. Vincent was even cooking in a pink Snoopy apron! :) {In China, the colors of pink and red symbolize good luck}. We were greeted with such hospitality and for hours we sat, talked, shared stories, and poked fun at each other.

Our meal was specially prepared by Vincent, himself. He cooked everything. This includes steak and vegetables, miniature sausages, Russian style sausage soufflés,  fish, fruit salad, warm pumpkin drink, orange&apple juice [blended together], shrimp & red wine sauce [still with heads, eyes, tails and legs attached], and freshwater crab. Before today, I had never needed to rip the limbs from a shrimp before. That changed all of 6 hours ago. I had also never needed to remove the lungs from a crab either. Alas, there is a first time for everything.

 

We were also joined by another colleague from the English department and her daughter (who was too shy to talk to us). We enjoyed such pleasant company with these beautiful friends of ours. I’m so thankful that they are in our lives and that we are able to share pieces of our lives together. We finished the night with some Chinese tea and homemade apple pie {thank you, Laura Baker}. While we were enjoying company, Harbin’s first snow began to fall and stick to the ground! That made for a very fun taxi ride home as 

A. our driver got lost 

B. “snow tires” although most likely made in China are not used by those in China 

C. The de-fog option either doesn’t exist in their cars or they opt not to use it. I’m thinking the latter. That means that driving with the windows down is a natural solution to the problem.

{mom and dad, pretend that you didn’t just read that}

What a better way to finish a day than with watching your favorite movie [Invictus] with fellow teammates and a cup of hot tea? I’m just saying.

 The snow has fallen. It is officially winter. I guarantee there will be many more adventures to come.

My Lists (not the Christmas one)

What’s so great about teaching in China anyways?

-I can freely text all of my students. No qualms or moral issues about that [as there would be in the states]

-I can wear jeans to work everyday if I wanted to.

-I can wear the same outfit multiple days in a row and no one will think anything of it [because they do the same thing].

-Their standard of fashion is “Pretty + Pretty”. This means that if you have two things that are pretty on their own (say cheetah leggings and fuzzy sparkley boots), wearing them together makes them a whole lot prettier. That basically means no fashion “rules” whatsoever.

-The love language of China is words of affirmation. Having a bad day? Give it two minutes and someone will tell you something to make you feel better about yourself.

-If you ever end up with an extra 5 minutes of class, your students will always be more than willing to learn a song

-If you’re the type of teacher who wanders around the classroom while the students are doing work, be prepared for the free food that’s about to come your way as students hand you the entire contents of their desks.

-Listening to other people speak a second language all day results in tiredness, no doubt about it, but it also results in funny. Life is hilarious when communicating with second language learners.

-I’m the foreign teacher. It’s my excuse and my hindrance. I have every given right to be as crazy as I want to be. Be sure to use this to your full advantage.

-My students are full of grace. No matter how poorly the previous class was, each day is a clean slate and they are willing to give {almost} anything a try [with a little prodding and persuading, of course]

What have I learned since being here?

-The internet is as trustworthy as a quarter. Heads or tails?

-It is a wise idea to remove the song “I’ll be home for Christmas” from any iTunes playlist you may own. Failing to do so may result in ugly.

-My bathroom is able to receive text messages, but can’t send them.

-Everyone in China is on the internet from the hours of 5pm to 10pm. That is approximately 1.3 billion people. Good luck.

-My teammates are everything: we help each other survive.

-Sometimes in life we have to do things we don’t want to do. Up until this point it usually involved not wanting to go to my 8am class or clean my room, but sometimes these things we don’t want to do involve relationships and the people around us. Often, it’s hard.

-Sometimes the handle on the right brings forth hot water, sometimes it’s cold. You just never know.

-It is a necessity to sweep…every weekend.

-If you have a hot plate, there is only one setting: hot.

-Pure childlike joy can come from the most unexpected and simple things. This may include [but is not limited to] letters, emails, being attacked by your students, successfully ordering a new dish in the dining hall, catching the drift of a Chinese conversation around you, discovering that your campus has a playground, being witness to Tiffany’s happy noises, and other various, random things.

-Don’t trust the sun outside. It can still be sunny and -8 degrees.

-Cheetah print is the most fashionable pattern I could ever invest in [by China standards].

-Walking stairs is just a part of life.

-The media and truly ridiculous TV shows that America puts out are truly what people think our country is like. You have no idea how many times I’ve had to explain that “Vampire Diaries” and “Gossip Girl” are not real.

-You can make an apartment feel like home with nothing but scissors, markers, and some poster board.

...this list is to be continued. I promise.

Dear South Africa...

Thank you ever so much for hosting the world cup last year. Because of this, now my students in China are enthralled with you. I can't lie, the Waka waka dance has made an appearance at several points throughout my experience in China thus far.... never for the public eye, but most definitely for entertainment purposes. You were a wonderful host for such a glorious world event. Thank you for K'Naan's song ["Wavin' Flag"] which instantaneously makes my classrooms erupt in cheers and festivities. It's absolutely wonderful because it gives me a beautiful platform to talk about you, Nelson Mandela, apartheid, forgiveness & grace.

Lucky for you, I have a classroom here in China who really likes to sing. The other night, although it was Thanksgiving, we had a little dance party to some awesome music, all of course from you, South Africa. Of course, these students asked me to sing a song from you. Lucky day, I actually had one tucked away from childhood. It's called, 'Njalo'. You know it, right? I thought I’d capture it on video to prove that your songs are being sung world wide.
 

Thank you, South Africa, for being a wonderful country, not afraid to show your history and scars, and even more so for allowing the world to learn from your painful lessons. You are a nation filled with a rich and vibrant culture and beautiful, beautiful people. I will make it over there to see you someday, and more importantly visit the friends whom I’ve been separated from for years. You will always and forever be on the top of my list.
Sincerely Yours,
*kayla

Never Too Old

As I sit here and write this my mom is probably waking up and putting a turkey in the oven [okay, well maybe not quite yet]. While most of you were sound in slumber I was sharing our holiday of thanks with my beautiful students. The biggest lesson they took away about thanksgiving is that Santa Clause comes at the end of the parade. The biggest lesson that I took away about thanksgiving is that you're never too old for these...

The following are some glimpses into my classroom for today. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. May you take this day to celebrate and

rest in the grace & peace that He has continually poured into our lives.

Carmen & Tessa

Vicky & Joy

Clearly, these two missed the "turkey memo".

Helen & Lillian

Colby & Lara. Colby's reads: "I thank for teachers so much. Thanks for helping me!"

Dear Gary...

There once was a time that we just knew you as “that guy who teaches French”. We just knew that you lived on the second floor, and we just knew that you had been here since February. I specifically remember one day sitting on a bench next to Laura and waving to you. I told Laura that we should be friends with you. Then, there was that one time the school took us to a banquet. They had a table for all the Russian foreign teachers and a table for all the American foreign teachers. They stuck you at our table; I’m so glad they did that! I speak on behalf of my team when we say “your English is ballin’”.

Then there was this one time we had a breakfast with pancakes and stuff for everyone on the second floor. We are so thankful you came, we wouldn’t have survived without you. Your ability to communicate in Chinese and English basically blew us out of the water, and you saved us from a lot of really awkward moments. And then, as if you weren’t amazing enough, you even brought Laura some legit French bread.

This is everyone at multi-cultrual breakfast, round 2.

Do you remember that one time that us girls were standing out in the hallway and you came out to talk to us because you heard us from your flat? Remember how you told me about how you used to be in an improv theatre troupe in Paris? Three words, Gary: that’s ridiculously awesome. And then remember how you were talking about making your students do something involving theatre for a French competition? You’re rockin’ my world señor. I’m really glad that our team got to take you out to dinner too. Oh, and then I’m really glad that you decided to hang out with us afterward. Thanks for sharing your dreams with us; you’re going to be a great film animator some day. Seriously. You and your friend are going to make a movie that is going to rock this world. And those tickets to the premiere…who did you promise those to again? [Oh yea, that’s me.]

Thanks for having videos of your improv theatre troupe on your external hard drive. I’m so glad that we ran into you at the tea shop and that you invited us over to watch your performances. To be completely honest, I don’t speak any French, but it was really fun to watch.You had a fro goin’ on back then too! Thanks for providing the English translation for us. Just so you know, it made us all super happy to see our notes and those “breakfast photos” of us on your refrigerator.

I don’t think any of us were expecting to come to China and leave with a new bffl [“biffle”] from France. Then again, you probably weren’t expecting to make friends with six crazy Americans either. Did we mention we’re really happy to know you? We’re looking forward to Friday’s movie night with you. Just please, for my sake, don’t pick something like The Exorcist. I don’t watch movies like that.

Oh, and I don’t know if we’ve officially told you yet, but you’re going to be spending Christmas with us. Hope that’s ok with you! :)

Sincerely Yours,

Kayla & Team Harbin

The Girls of 1416

You know you want my job.

Say "hello" to some girls from class 502, the "Bright Skies"

We had shared a song with them; they're returning the favor. <3

You caught me.

I admit it. 

Instead of allowing my creative juices to process, instead of allowing myself time to sit down and write out a witty blog post, I'm instead defaulting to videos. [I'm not denying the fact that they shed a whole new light on what's goin' on over here. They are quite fun :)] For the past several years I've termed November as "Demolition". As the Father shifts the changing weather outside, He runs a parallel to my inner workings: crafting, cutting, welding. Why November? I don't know. The leaves of 'what was' fall and it leaves me

longing, Elmers Glue & tape won't fix the heap of color and shelter that's at the roots.

exposed, all the twisted and jutted edges that are normally hidden by whats on the ground

& shielded, as all the inner workings of a tree trunk brace themselves for winter.

Sometimes I like to think that trees can think. Sometimes I make up their inner dialouge.

"Man, just wait till spring. I'm gunna bust out some leaves that are bigger and better than those measely ones on the ground. Bring it on winter, you don't know what's comin'!"

At least if I was a tree, that's what I'd think.

Sleeping Sound

How to make Kayla cry:

Step One: Send a sketch-tacular package, complete with illegible Chinese and a hole in the middle.

Step Two: Include a custom made pillow case adorned with signatures of beloved friends, beloved professors and Messiah College concert choir members (& alumni!)

We have now entered the season where homesickness is is being caught faster than the common cold. Truly, friends, your blessing could not have been received at a better time. Thank you, thank you, and again I say thank you. I am so humbled, so gracious, and so blessed to have shared life with you [and to still share like with you...just from 7,000 miles away]!
With something like this so close to one's head, theres no excuse for any bad dreams. 

I'm tellin' ya, folks. You can't get something like this at Ikea.

Lauren's World Premire

I have been a college student the past four years. I was that college student who was over committed, ran myself crazy, and loved every minute of it. Within the craziness I was [miraculously] able to find some free time with the people that I love. People are always a priority. So are games of Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, movie nights, and Quelf. You can bet your bippy that there was always a glass of tea in hand, most likely a pan of brownies in the oven, some type of bickering over the table as games were being played, and some mega quality time had on a beaten up yet ultra comfortable couch that most likely had an imprint of my butt from sitting on it for 3 years. The games would lead to jokes, and the jokes would lead to stories [or sometimes youtube videos], and the stories to conversations {and depending on the night the conversations would turn into philosophy & theology}. These were the nights that I deemed "glorious". All of them, every part. Forever and always they'll be "glorious" to me. Thank you for partaking in my trip down memory lane...

Badda BOOM!  

Now we're in China. "Glorious" nights have turned into something a little different. Of course there are similarities: laughter, fellowship, even tea! Goofing off is a definite necessity, as is some form of singing. I thought I would leave you with a little clip of the randomness that happened the other night.

Laughter: check

Fellowship: check

Singing: ....check?

Thank you, Lauren for gracing us with your talents and abilities. We know that you will be successful in every endeavor in life, and we thank you for providing us with...this :)

Cookie Monster

Thank you, America, for celebrating a crazy holiday known as Halloween. Thank you, Laura Baker, for being super gung-ho about the holiday. The result of these two yielded one of our most fun nights in Harbin yet. In preparation for the “big day” Laura and I had spent a fair part of our weekend baking cookies and preparing goodies for our 140 students. Sure…candy would have been the easy way out, but candy is so American. We’re going China style!

For freshman students, it is required of them to sit in the classrooms from 6-8pm every night to study, literally a mandatory study hall. The plan was this: to surprise each classroom by basically just busting in, dressed in costume, and delivering the goodies. Can’t get much better than that.

That plan is exactly what happened. In Laura’s apartment we prepared ourselves. Lauren ‘pulled a Sound of Music’ and created herself a princess costume from one of her curtains. Laura has hair which is a natural costume for her as it can easily be turned into a mane…a roarin’ one at that ;) So then that leaves me…the one who isn’t really too great at costumes. I’m totally game with a piece of paper and a pencil, or paint, or chalk, or a keyboard, but creative clothes? Not my thing.

I did inherit a cape from last years team. I am also now the owner of some pretty ballin’ cookie monster pants. Put ‘em together, we’ll call myself the “cookie monster who gives away cookies”. Sharing is caring.

In every class we entered the results were instantaneous cheers, applause and the busting out of cell phones. Within the span of an hour and a half thousands of pictures were taken. There were oooh’s and ahhhhh’s and smiles and delight.  
Joy radiated from their faces.

Our cheeks were so tired. And we still had three classes to go.

Let me tell you, snickerdoodles are a huge hit with Chinese students.

We had made our way down to classroom 411, the Smart Dolphins. As expected they were completely taken off guard and instantaneously exited. The festivities and photoshoots ensued. I had not realized that the entire class was not present at our ‘grand entrance’. In the middle of photos and such a small posse of 5 students came to the door, puzzled and baffled, one of them being Helen. Some of you have heard about Helen, she is a special student to me. She is also the class monitor of 411. Confused and aghast at the chaos going on in her classroom she was quick to discover that I [and Lauren and Laura] were the culprits of the uproar. Her instantaneous reaction, which I did not expect, was a gallivanting towards me. I thought she was heading for the cookies in my hand. Instead she went straight to my waist, hugging and jumping all the while. “Oh Miss Kayla, I love you, I love you!” Delight, smiles, and joy: something I didn't see coming from this girl.

So, maybe we didn’t experience the typical American Halloween this year, but Halloween’s in China are pretty hard to top. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Miss Lauren, Miss Laura and I with the Smart Dolphins, Class 411.

A Firework Party

One month ago the three freshman foreign teachers were invited to a party. They arrived to classroom 502 and were greeted with applause and cheers. Their class monitor (‘mother’) Julia was exceedingly delighted to see them. The three foreign teachers were given ‘seats of honor’ as to watch the dozens and dozens of performances put on by their students. This party was to help the class “come together”. They are practically like family, enduring every day of the next 4 years in the same classroom together, eating together, living together. Class 502, known as “The Bright Skies”, wanted to get to know one another.

It wasn’t too long into the singing and laughing and dancing that the foreign teachers were asked to put on a performance. The three women, partially naive to Chinese parties came unprepared with anything perform [by American standards]. They quickly learned that the beautiful thing about Chinese culture is that simply putting your heart into a performance is all that matters.

So with that, I leave you a glimpse of the party and performance…

Please note, the best part of this video is not the foreign teachers, but Julia clapping along in the background (the girl in the yellow sweater), Raul being the DJ, and Evelyn, the videographer laughing along with us.