My Birthday

I thought I'd update you all on my birthday. It was great. I woke up and my roommate had hung large snowflakes from the dining room ceiling, put out all my presents and set out chocolate chip birthday muffins! Definately a good start! I opened presents from my family, roommate and friends. Then went to lunch with my roommate. But she tricked me--it was a surprise party lunch at a western restaurant in town. All of my foreign friends were there. I ate pizza, salad, and some chicken stuffed with bacon (REALLY GOOD). I rested for the afternoon and then had a rollerskating party with my local friends that evening. After rollerskating we came back to my house and ate cake and ice cream (my second birthday cake that day). :) Overall, an excellent day!

Merry Christmas

Christmas has finally come to my city! I was out today and saw a Christmas tree in a store! ...Along with all the America-rejected Christmas ornaments (this is our theory since they're all so gaudy). But, I was so excited to see those cheesy santa claus signs and banners and wreaths! Only in a couple of stores, it's true, but it made me happy. Yeah- it feels a little like Christmas here. Please don't misunderstand, we've had our Christmas tree up a good while already....hehe. It went up a few days before thanksgiving because we got it and didn't have anywhere else to put it! I'll have to post a picture for you. It's huge-almost touching the ceiling, but get this, the bottom tier of the tree has already been thrown away! Yes, the tree is so tall it wouldn't fit in our house had we kept it!!! (we didn't buy it, a friend gave it to us....) So, it's very nice, but in need of some more ornaments! We have so few for such a huge tree! I've never even had such a large tree in America!
So with Christmas approaching, we're gearing up for Christmas parties with our teachers at school, our national friends, and of course, with our American ones too. The Christmas season is pretty busy around here as well. Our first party is this Thursday (I'll have to take pictures). Our teachers are coming over to help make ornaments for our tree out of the flour-salt-water recipe (or something like that) that you bake till it gets hard. House cleaning! By the way, we've had someone come over to fix our leaking sink seven times. Literally, no exaggeration. I was just counting on my fingers. It's leaking worse now than it ever has! When you walk into the kitchen and cause ripples across the floor, you know it's bad. I miss my dad! (he can fix anything) I've made so many phone calls trying to get it fixed, all in Chinese, that I'm very very tired of it. I do now know how to say "sink," "leak," "lots of water," and "not fixed!" :) So I suppose I should think of this as a positive experience, however, I learned all these words when the second fix-it man came! I think I've had enough review, lol. Well, now you are very updated on all the mundane things in Amber's life at the moment.

Today

Life here continues on…I’m excited about Christmas already!!! (I always am…). Just listening to Christmas music reminds me of home and good times, and makes me happy. Today was Halloween. My big celebration was bringing a candy corn mix my mom sent me to language classes. All the foreign students liked me a lot today! Hehe. Oh, and a goofy classmate wrapped toilet paper around his head and hands and came to class as a mummy. I think he definitely receives the most-inexpensive costume award! What else did you miss from my life today? Hmmm….Milo is our dog, and he ate the stale tortilla out of my bedroom trash can today, while managing to drag trash all into the room. He is very talented. We have one of those press-the-pedal-with-your-foot-and-the-lid-opens trash cans in the kitchen (do those things have a name?). Milo can open it too (it’s not very tall). We have to be rather studious about taking out the trash frequently. You also missed the fourth day in a row that I went and worked out at the gym! For those of you who know me really well, you know that this has never happened in my life, and as such is a huge achievement. I joined the gym cuz I figured the couch potato diet just wasn’t cutting it. Really, it’s true. I went. Not lying!
I also found real whole wheat bread today at a bread store. AND it tastes good! As you can tell, this has been a very important day.
Oh, here’s a picture of Milo. He was all dressed up for our barbecue last summer.

The Big City

I recently was able to do some travelling to see some famous sites! I went with some friends and a great time! We saw the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, Tianamen Square, and the Forbidden City. Oh, along with seeing (and eating) some great food! I got to eat a bloomin' onion from outback. That's pretty special in this part of the world...lol.
Now I'm back in my city and back in everyday life. I have to say that traveling is wonderful, but one of the wonderful parts is coming home. I really like being home a lot. Living here is my home, at least for now, and I love it. Father has truly blessed me to be able to live here and do what I do. I miss the States and my family and Walmart, but all the sacrifices are worth it. My daily life consists of studying language, visiting and spending time with friends, walking and biking through villages, running after buses, and deciding what to eat besides rice (this may be the most difficult part....). My hobbies have become playing the piano (i just bought an electric piano, yeah!), reading, painting, playing games, taking pictures, and crafting (knitting, crocheting, cross-stitch), oh and interior decorating (my living room has been given an overhaul! my bedroom's next) :) I enjoy it here and I know I've been placed here for a purpose!

Western Food

Just recently I travelled to a bigger city. It's the only place I can buy cereal! I'm not a big cereal fan, but it's still exciting. You can find pepperidge farm cookies and goldfish (but hey, they cost about 6 US$ and so I didn't buy those...however I splurged on laffy taffy, ravioli, corned beef hash, bacon, bagels, a starbucks cold frappacino (no starbucks there, just those kind you buy at the grocery store), spaghetti and pasta elbows, hotdogs, and pepperoni! Yep, I'm living the life. You can get a lot of western food in the bigger cities. Still no cottage cheese or Munster cheese no matter how much I look. But- I found Welches Grape Juice. It didn't last long. It was gone before I arrived back here in my home town. You know your craving Western food when going for a meal a McDonald's is the highlight of the entire trip! The other highlights were taxi-ing alone around a city of 5 million people, getting my ticket changed after missing a flight (on purpose), and arranging for my hotel by myself (though they did speak some English...). Yeah, I feel like I'm growing up! So you are now updated on my most recent adventures...

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

It has rained every day for the past seven days, and this is lucky for you, because then I wouldn't be stuck inside at my computer! It is actually a good thing though, because I did do eight hours of studying yesterday! And today I emailed, did finances, and copied down all my cell phone numbers so I never lose them (I'm pretty sure that some of you need a rainy day for just this reason!). I think I did everything BUT clean my room and do laundry (only clotheslines here).
My thoughts have been on home often lately. Taco Bell...Walmart...my dog Lulu...central heating (it's freezing here at the moment-very random even for here). I wouldn't quite call myself homesick, but I definately have a touch of occasional nostalgia. On the other end of the spectrum, the other side of the world feels...normal. I'm even beginning to get better at the language (not amazing by far, but better). On the language note, I currently have Spanish music playing on my computer. I didn't have many language confusion issues at first, but the other night I watched part of a movie in Spanish. I was trying to turn it on in the language I'm learning here, but the only languages were English and Spanish (rare). I figured, Oh, Well, I'll watch it a little. I've had language issues for days. Whenever I didn't know a word, the first thing in my head is the Spanish version. I don't suppose the music I'm listening to now will particularly help! :) To my credit, it was next on the playlist; I didn't particularly pick it out!

Market Trip

Well, yesterday my friend and I had a conversation about how we're not going to like boxed food when we come back to America! We ate some instant pasta alfredo, along with some chicken we cooked and threw in. It was good...but it didn't quite measure up.... We pretty much cook everything ourselves with fresh vegetables unless we go out to eat. A couple of days ago we made delicious pot pie again, with made-from-scratch pie crust. In America, we won't have the money to buy fresh vegetables and fruit, but then of course, there are drive-thrus. Amazing little things. Here, it is just as expensive to cook for yourself as it is to go out (depending on what you buy). The other day, we were travelling in from some visiting, and realized we needed to go to the market to buy groceries for making chicken pot-pie and hummingbird cake. We checked and had very little money, in fact, only about 17 kuai, which is about $2.50. So, we decided to be adventurous and find out how much we could get for it. Interesting and fun experiment. . . We ended up with: 1/2 lb potatoes, 3 carrots, 1 small celery bush, 1/4 lb. of corn off the cob, 1/4 lb peas already shelled, 6 eggs, 3 bananas, 2 small pinneaples (very small here), 2 snacks (half pinneaple on a stick, fried potatoes on a stick), 2 bus rides home, and one popsicle. Yep, true story. Go figure!

All Hail??

It seems that rainy season has come upon us early-two months early!! Last week I went back to long johns and heavy winter coat, with one addition: rain boots. It rained everyday all week, bike rides in the freezing rain are simply not the most pleasant. Easter was wonderful, but it's a good thing that we didn't go outside for the planned picnic. We were most certainly rained out. Actually, we were "poured" out. :) This week it went warm and sunny. I was very excited that the rainy week was just a fluke, and today I took my umbrella out of my purse. Bad call! It rained today when we went visiting outside of town. Odd thing was, it didn't just rain, it hailed! It wasn't even very cold, but the hail (for all of about 30 seconds) was the size of small marbles. Yikes! It's a good thing we had gone inside a store to visit with some grannies.
The embrella is coming everywhere from now on. Everyone here uses umbrellas for both sun parasols and rain protection. It is quite entertaining to put up my bright purple rain umbrella on a very sunny, hot day! I'll be doing it more often.
Oh, and I got myself a hat today (no, I'm not referring to my very-grade-school Easter hat, which I also have-and wore on Easter! They are all the rage here). I am referring to my N people hat, which is just the kind they wear. I'm so excited that I'm actually wearing it as I write this blog. I've been looking for where to buy one, but just today I finally found them. I'll have to post a picture for ya.

First Phone Conversation!

Right now I feel like maybe somebody should be filling out a baby book about me: first word, first day of school, first taxi ride alone …. First successful phone conversation! I am very excited. Just now I finished my first phone conversation with a national – in which I actually communicated something. Up ‘till now “ting bu dong” (“I don’t understand”) is the extent of anything I’ve tried to say on a phone. Without being able to rely on wild hand gestures as a back-up, phones are pretty intimidating. BUT – I just managed to cal the couch deliver guy (I just bought couches for my living room) and arranged a new delivery date (being as he was supposed to come two hours ago, I figured something had happened). So, now it’s tomorrow at two! Nevermind that I only used the words, “Hi, I’m the foreigner.” “You can come tomorrow?” “You can come today?” “When can you come tomorrow?” “I don’t understand.” “When?” “You can come tomorrow at two?” “You can?” “Good.”
Celebrate! This is a big deal. I need pizza.

Open Doors

Well, my mom complained that I hadn't updated in a while, so I guess it's about time...
Things are going well here. I just sent out a newsletter about my adventures in the villages these past weeks. I'm very excited. The open doors that He's given me are amazing. It really seems too easy. I'm sure there will be hurdles, but I've been very bles-sed. And, I'm actually learning to enjoy riding a bike everywhere. Really amazing.
I think that in the near future, the thing I'm most excited about is using Easter eggs as a way to tell the story. I wanted deviled eggs today, so I decided I also needed to test out a Easter-egg dying recipe (good ol' internet) that just used food coloring (which was brought from the States) and vinegar. It worked pretty well. I was sad to peel them in order to make the deviled eggs! But they tasted good. I brought some mustard from a bigger city, so I am able to make them.
These coming weeks, I think the Easter eggs and I will be visiting many people, along with the story. Keep yarping.

Way too many confessions

Well, I apologize for this entire week that I've been repeatedly "confessing" my heart out, lol, I finally fixed it. Don't you love overseas internet connections that freeze the web page even though the "Post" request actually went through -- three times!!
So, today was a busy day. So was yesterday. Yesterday we bought ourselves an orange tree. We're tired of buying all the oranges, lol. We made sure it was the shrivelled looking kind (not the tree, the oranges). The wrinkly oranges are by far the absolute best. They have a big wrinkly peel that comes off without even getting juice on your hands, which is always the big drawback to eating oranges. I'm going to miss the oranges whenever I go back to the States again. Oh, and today I did two big things -wait three. I started classes (we have a hyperactive teacher, but she's is DEFINATELY entertaining - oh, I do learn alot too), I moved dorm rooms (I'm really tired of climbing stairs), and I got my first package!!! Yeah! Everyone is invited to send me packages. I got valentines conversation hearts. Made my day.

Confession

It has recently come to my attention just how important confession is in our walk. It's so huge. I've recently just been really striving in my walk, and it hit me that part of my problem is that I don't talk to Father and confess each and every day. What a challenge. I'm working on making this a normal part of my life. If I don't take the time to listen, how else will I know what He's saying? I often beg for His answers, but rarely stop to simply listen. So, just an encouragement to all of you from what He's been teaching me.

CDs

Just a funny word about the Cds here. It’s very funny what you will find on them. A friend of mine recently found an American Contemporary C cd in the store (very rare here, but still pirated). She purchased it and we decided to listen to it while we were cooking in the kitchen. It’s a very good cd, and we listen and sing through the whole cd without really thinking about it much, and suddenly we hear ourselves singing, “Back Street’s Back, Alright!” We both stop and stare at each other, and burst out laughing. Yes, her cd had a couple of Backstreet Boys bonus tracks. I recently bought myself a cd of Nat King Cole. It came with a bonus cd: Spanish music- Yes!
Right now, I'm travelling and I've gotten to reunite with some fellow adventurers- it's so refreshing!! I'm very thankful. You are all in my thoughts.

Tutoring

I've been tutoring these past weeks with a new Chinese friend, in fact, we just got to take some time off and watch a movie together today, a classic, Beauty and the Beast. It was very nice. While we watched it, I crocheted a sweater and a hat for one my stuffed animals (i know, pitiful, but I was trying to use up the yarn scraps!). She thought I was funny, lol. I suppose I am a little goofy.
Language study with her has gone very well! It always feels like you are learning slowly, but after studying this one page of a story in Chinese for the past week, I can practically read it (Yes! in the Chinese characters!). I can say probably 3/4ths of the words on the page now, so hopefully when I see them around town I will be able to know their meanings and say them. I do really enjoy the feeling of having learned a new language, unfortunately I don't like actually studying the language nearly so much. It's going to be my full-time activity pretty soon, so please keep remembering me!
So far, I can tell people hello, goodbye, my name, that I'm a student, I can ask the shop keepers if they have something, or my friends if they want something. I can tell the taxi driver to go left, right, straight. I can say how long I've been in this city, and I can tell you that my water cooler/dispenser broke and leaked all over the floor (as long as I get to use the accompanying hand motions and sound effects) lol. Yes this really happened. Fortunately it was before I got carpet in my room.
Oh, and of course I can say Tai guai le! (Too expensive!)
I continue to ask Father for diligence in seeking him, despite all the distractions (it seems I can find those anywhere I go!). Thanks for your requests on my behalf. I enjoyed a time of hiking up the hill by the school two days ago. I hope you like the pictures.

Weddings

So far, I have attended two weddings, which I hear is alot for only one month here. I find it frustrating, actually any American probably would, because you really eat for an hour and sit (or stand) and stare at each other for several hours. I guess I'm learning patience :)
A really cool thing is that I know this near girl who's way excited about starting a club, so this is what I've been talking about to Father. I hope it works out. Her excitement has been a huge example to me about how I should view club as well. I've never really seen it through such eyes before. I think maybe now I'm learning to.
A note about something else deep: chocolate. We do have several very cool things here: snickers, m'n'ms, and dove chocolate. But I must say, besides dove, they are rather disappointing, being that all other chocolate tastes like coffee. I can't understand it. Don't worry though, I still eat it:) But, I really don't think the coffee cocacola will become a favorite.

Blog Title

I decided on this page name because, being overseas, I feel like I've dug a hole through through world and come out the other side. Because, of course, I am on the other side. It's very different here, but it is amazing how many things are the same and how, after a little while, you feel like you've been here a very very long time. I don't suppose I expected to see people standing on their heads, but I did expect to feel very weird here. I did for the first few days, but now I don't. I can't believe how normal it feels to dodge in between bycicles, buses, taxis, and pedestrians. Hopping on a bus and paying 6 cents is an everyday occurence (except for the annoying instances when it costs 12 cents - what a jip!). The bus map goes everywhere with me and it's now badly in need of tape. I think, though, I will never be comfortable with people's habit of hawking loogies everywhere. It's just not attractive. But, I do like the fact that if you don't like a piece of pork fat you were just served, you can spit it on the floor, even in most restaurants. I will never understand.
Yesterday was my first day shopping at the market all by myself. It was a funny experience. A redhead wearing a basket on her back was definately an amusing site for the locals (I've joined the custom of using a basket backpack to do my shopping). I think I walked in at least four circles around the vegetables section looking for onions. There were so many leafy things that looked like Romaine lettuce that I ended up getting two kinds. There must be quite a few different words for lettuce, cuz the word I used was definately not the right one. Next time, maybe I'll tell you more about how many ways there are to say "noodles."

Hello

Well, I think you should know this is my first blog ever. A very big accomplishment as accomplishments go. I wanted to make this site to post things about my life that would not end up included in my short newsletters. So, for those of you missing out on all my blonde moments, this is for you!