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Chunjie Kauile!! Happy Chinese New Year! As you may or may not know, the Chinese go ALL out for Chinese New Year. This holiday is celebrated as if it were Christmas (from an American's point of view of what "Christmas" should look like). So with holidays comes time off, right? RIGHT!! So our school let out last Wednesday and will not resume school until fourteen days later, February 5, 2009. Being that when I have time off I usually have an 'itch' to go SOMEWHERE because c'mon, I'm in CHINA-I'm literally SO CLOSE to so many cool places on this side of the globe...so that's what I did, I went on a snowboarding adventure to the NanShan Quiksilver ski village right outside of Beijing/close to the Great Wall. As SOON as the bell rang on Wednesday, I hopped on a van with 8 other female teachers and 1 male teacher and we were on our way to take the 5 hour train to Beijing to then hit the slopes, literally, the next morning at 7 am. Boy was that the BEST TRIP EVER!! Not only was snowboarding awesome (you should really check out this park-its an awesome place to board, especially for not having real snow..shhh) but Beijing is just a really rad city anyway. It is FILLED with fun markets, Pete's TEX MEX (YUMM-which had DR. PEPPER-my first time since July 2008), an American hospital, and the list goes on. This trip was very fulfilling to say the least. Before coming to China, one of my 'sad moments' was the thought that I wouldn't be able to snowboard for TWO WHOLE YEARS because let's face it-China's not to 'hip' in some areas and I hadn't heard of any shredding going on on this side of the world. Well, I was wrong, and my heart was FULL of joy on January 22nd!! So here are a few pics of the trip. I taught 5 teachers how to snowboard on this trip (I would love to do this as a full-time seasonal job at some point on my life) and one of which is a proud 56 year old grandmaw! AWESOME, huh?After we returned home we had big plans to re-do our living room/common area. It is STARK white and had this akward weird chinese-y wall and so we thought some paint and window treatments would do wonders...and we were RIGHT!! We headed straight for a store like Home Depot and also while we were in Beijing we picked up curtains from Ikea (the SECOND largest in the world) and a few other cool wall art pieces (see pics below of frames and flowers) that we thought might spice up the area. Below are pictures of the before/during/after our painting adventure. Enjoy!! I hope you are all doing so very well. You can pr for our company as we are preparing to lose a few families which means we are in the process of recruiting (stateside) to fulfill SEVERAL teaching positions for the Fall of next year. If you are or anyone you know are interested, direct them to www.teachwithisc.com or send them my way via email or Facebook. Love you all so much!!! COME VISIT CHINA!!!
(weird chinese-y wall before)
(living room arrangement before)
(looking into the dining room before)
(and the painting begins...excuse our drying rack)
(Gloria comes to help us put on the first coat of paint)
(first coat drying for the night)
(our new curtains from Ikea to separate the dining room from the living room!!)
(new paint job and new lamps from Ikea)
(We covered the chinese-y wall with a few coats of paint and cool picture frames!)
(our new flower wall art and finished living room-well one wall at least!)
(NanShan Quiksilver ski village)
(Notice the TWO of MANY mountains covered in snow :) We take what we can get here!)
(maybe I was a little bit TOO excited to get back on a board!!) 
(Gloria and Patti-the super buff grandmaw that learned to snowboard! Notice the ski lift goes over non snow-covered ground to take you to the top where there IS snow!!)
A few of the women on the trip!! It was -16 degrees here!!
Me, Gloria, Patti
I just realized Steph tagged me on her blog. Sorry I'm just now noticing, I just got in from a WONDERFUL snowboarding trip in Beijing! (pics to come) So, to continue the trend...8 Shows I'm Watching this Spring1. Grey's Anatomy Season 5 (only when youku.com allows me-which is almost NEVER)2. I think I will start Arrested Development (I've heard its funny)3. We have no regular TV programs here...8 Things That Happened to me Today1. Navigated successfully (in Chinese) my way to the Beijing United Family Hospital (where thankfully they speak English!!)2. Bought some great clothes in the LiDo Market3. ate French Toast at Peter's Tex Mex (a 'have-to' in Beijing)4. Bought DR. PEPPER AND STRAWBERRY POPTARTS! (Beijing has imports! pricy, but WORTHY!!!)5. went to IKEA and bought fabulous new curtains for our apartment!6. Somehow managed to pack EVERYTHING I brought/bought (including snowboard apparel) to Beijing for our Snowboaring adventure into ONE PACK weighing in less than 15 KILOS! WOO HOO!7. ate BURGER KING for Dinner in the BJ airport!! Mouth-watering people, seriously, YOU take it for GRANTED!!!8. Called it a night with installing our new curtains in the apartment and checking Beijing off the "to-do travel list"8 Things I Look Forward To:1. Chun jie/Chinese New Year 2 week vacation2. repainting the living room tomorrow!3. NOLS Coming to CHINA and working alongside them in February!4. School Spring Trips/Spring Break traveling etxtravaganza!! Where shall we go? India, Philippines, Europe?? The choices are endless5. Backpacking in Mongolia for a month this summer6. Also backpacking in Yunnan this summer!7. Mom possibly coming to China in the summer!! (brings tears to my eyes and SO MUCH JOY TO MY HEART to even think about!)8. Intensive language study this summer!8 Things I Wish For: (I'm changing this to "8 Things I'm working towards to achieve" because I really think anyone can do ANYTHING they can put their mind too-oops, cheesy but TRUE!)...1. My student loans could be paid for so that I would never have to be financially tied down again and I could have nothing binding me from where He moves me and where He will take me in this life!! (so FUN to think about, eh?!?!)2. More hours in the day3. A sea kayak4. The endurance of Lance Armstrong while I'm training for the Great Wall Marathon5. More lovers of the outdoors in QD (thankful for the few)6. That I could teach snowboarding/outdoor education as a full time job7. I could see my mommy and give her a giant hug. I want her to see my life here in China more than anything right now8. To finish all my post-graduate work, obtain my PhD in Epidemiology, with NO STUDENT LOANS! (Barf!)I TAG:D.O., Karen
Ok, I miss you all!! Stay tuned for awesomeness regarding NOLS training/courses that are being offered here in China next month! Dreams come TRUE, people! And I promise, pics will come soon, especially as our remodeling projects progress...
Sawadika from Thailand, or more commonly said, "Hello! (to a female)"!I wanted to give you a look at what Christmas looks like- S.E. Asia Style! Me, Karen, and a friend from The Village back in Dallas, Val, who also now lives in Wenzhou China, traveled south of the Border for Christmas. Last Tuesday we loaded our backpacks and were on our way to Thailand! Our first stop was the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport and from there we had to catch a taxi two hours south to our first beach destination, Pattaya. We arrived there about 3:30 am and awoke to find our friend Val who had safely made it the night before! It was Christmas Eve our first full day and we decided that exploring our litte town and relaxing on the beach would suffice. The next day, Christmas Day, we decided to go out on the scuba diving boat for an all day adventure of diving and exploring 2 hours south off of the coast of Thailand. The diving company, Mermaids, took us to two private islands and we even had a chef on board to cook an authentic Thai Christmas lunch-it was AWESOME! The price for the boat all day, the equipment, food, and rentals was about thiry dollars! Can't beat that! For Christmas dinner we went out to a nice dinner and then proceeded to go to bed early-little did we know that the TV in our hostel had a few ENGLISH Channels and for the first time in six months I got to watch CNN-IN ENGLISH!! (This kept us up late many o' nights!) The next few days were spent Elephant Trekking, Para-sailing, getting henna tattoos, reading, reading, and more reading (excellent recommendation, The Shack, by William P. Young), relaxing, market shopping, and consuming tons of great street Thai food! Of course I got to work on my tan as well :) After 5 nights in Pattaya we headed north to Bangkok for 2 nights/ 3 days to explore and see what it had to offer. We stayed in the BEST hostel I've ever stayed in-in the entire world (HQ Hostel). It was so modern and urban and even offered free internet, CEREAL FOR BREAKFAST (that was the best part because in China we can't get cereal), DOWN COMFORTERS, and it was located in a great area of Bangkok. We spent the next few days going to markets, to the Grand Palace-where King of Thailand and all of the government officials reside, taking boat trips up the river, going to an English FILM, eating blizzards from Dairy Queen, going to bookstores (ANOTHER HUGE PLUS!), and buying groceries that we cant get here in China (see the picture below). We left Bangkok with a great tan and a heart full of joy-thankyou Thailand for a great Christmas! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! Love you all!
street food
Grand Palace
Monks in Training
Val and I
At HQ-sporting our new fisherman pants!
Being culturally sensitive with Ronald!
First A&W in SIX MONTHS!
Pink Taxis in Bangkok
Oh oreo blizzard, how I have missed you!
Goodies we can't get in China!
In our Dorm at HQ
Parasailing
The Parasailing team~
Back the basics while elephant trekking
Dive site #1
Christmas Day Diving
Wearing one of my favorite things, my pack, always means traveling is ahead :)
Henna
Weird picture of this baby in our room
Outside our hostel in Pattaya
Christmas Curry Dinner
HUGE strawberries at the airport!
Bangkok street food~
He/Shes always have the BEST FOOD to choose from!
saying goodbye to the King and his palace!
Centuries of stories painted on the walls of this palace!
Travel buddies :)
traveling is by way of Tuk-Tuk or Baht Bus
Sunset in Pattaya
Me and Val-Love her and am so thankful she lives in China!!
Street food in Pattaya!
Good Morning!
Disclaimer: all of these pictures would not be possible if it weren't for my awesome roommate, Karen or my amazing travel buddy, Valerie. They take all the pics and I'm using hopefully with their permission :)
