Fantastic Fall

Wow, lots has happened after looking back at the month of October! Here are a few things that have happily filled these great 31 days!

• I've had friends get married
• Seen volleyball season come to a close after the ACAMIS tournament
  
• Had Pneumonia for three weeks
• Had my first RED Winter coat made
• Celebrated my 23rd birthday
  
• Caught up with old friends back in the States
• Was told that I'm going to be sent to get my Wilderness First Aid, Wilderness First Responder, and possibly my Wilderness EMT-B certification in December with China Climb! (possibly my FAVORITE of this list because it has been a LIFELONG dream of mine to be certified in these areas, but it is just too expensive in America and takes quite a while. After pr-ing about this for years, now the time has come where they are needing someone to fulfill this role at school and He has provided a way in which I will not have to pay ANYTHING! Yay for rock-climbing, backpacking, mountain-biking, rappelling, white water rafting, mountaineering, orienteering, and the WILDERNESS during the month of December! BRRRR!)
• Experienced 14 parent teacher conferences in 1.5 school days! WOO HOO! Complete with Korean/Chinese translators and all!
  
• Celebrated Halloween with first-timers here in Qingdao
• Celebrated the cool ocean breeze that the Fall rains have brought us! The weather has been BEAUTIFUL!

I'm sure there are LOTS of other important things I've forgotten, but for now this list should suffice! Here are recent pictures of beautiful fall scenery in our backyard literally (also known as the Yellow Sea), our school, Qingdao, yummy street food, my birthday dinner, and Anderson's wedding!


QMIS is nestled at the foot of that little hill, xiao shan, in this fishing village known as Shazikou.


The way we dry our greens over here!

View of the Qingdao coast looking West!

View of Qingdao looking East!

Our front yard fisherman friends!

Winter swimming is VERY popular here in Qingdao!

Sunset in our 'side yard'!

Side yard view again!

mmm.....yum yum!

More YUMMY (tails included!)


Birthday dinner with roommate, Karen! I had Lamb!

My friend Echo!

My best friend, Anderson (gege-big brother in Chinese) finally getting married! Also my FIRST wedding to EVER go to! WOO HOO!

As you can see, there is a lot going on here in the Fall! Lots of birthdays, celebrations, and what I love most-CHANGE! In other news, my health has been improving significantly in the last week. After three weeks with pneumonia, I almost started giving up and just coping with the idea of having a chronic lung infection the rest of my life. I still have a wicked cough but I'm gaining energy more and more each day. I think pollution really does take a toll on our poor lungs! Praise Him for clean air-SERIOUSLY! Well, its been over THREE months now since I moved to Qingdao. I can honestly say the best part about being here is my Chinese friends and the relationships I have with them. Praise Him that I work with most of them, allowing me to see them everyday! If it were otherwise, I would NEVER see them because being a teacher/coach/Athletic Director basically is your life (who forgot to tell me this!) I literally come home after practice each day, scarf down Chinese, and then sleep until 5AM which is when the next day begins! Honestly, sometimes this is a huge downer for me because I want my life to be intentional here, truly, and when I go, go, go all day and all evening it leaves no time for the other stuff like friendships/relationships (which is why I came in the first place). After seeking wise counsel MANY MANY times a week on this, I have found that if I verbally voice myself it really does help. I'm NOT used to expressing how I feel-especially to superiors-so it is DEFINITELY a growing time in my life. Father is teaching me patience, understanding, kindness, and gentleness right now. Sometimes I wonder, "why did I move halfway around the world to finally be able to audibly hear Your voice?" It's a mystery in itself, but such a blessing! YARP for my friendship with Echo, specifically, and for better health, and for clarity of mind in this next new month. November will be one of the stressful months because I'm in charge of organizing tournaments and all the fun that goes with it. Sometimes when I think of the holidays I get a bit homesick because my family really knows how to celebrate, so YARP that I will find the same fulfillment and satisfaction here in and with my new friends. Lots of traveling will be going on soon, Hong Kong, Yangshuo, Guilin, Thailand, and a possible visit to the States during Chinese new year (YARP for that as well that I will find the funds if it is His will).

I love you all more than you know! I'm so thankful at this time in my life for EACH of you and who you are in my life!

Kayla

Campfires

Hello! Sorry its been a little while since my last post. Still sick, still no change, still no clear answers as to why I feel like I have bullet holes the size of Montana on my right lung. It's ok, really, I'm getting used to the hacking although it is not very glamorous, I assure you. You can hear me from a mile away :) I will get better sooner or later. PR for that, really.

In other news, on Friday we had the Middle School Girls Volleyball team over to our house for an 'end of the season party.' My roommate Karen is one of the head coaches so she was the event coordinator of all the fun festivities! She made caramel apples and funnel cakes and best of all=she planned a campfire on the beach outside our house! Despite my whooping cough I made the journey outside or door to the beach and finally was in my 'element.' It seemed that the sound of my coughing vanished and all I could do was take in the time I spent around the fire pit. You know, if you know me well at all, you know that campfires are not just any ole' thing to me; they are VERY dear to my heart. Lots of magical things can happen around a campfire, whether it be good conversation, deep thought, stillness, meditation, or what not, there are good times to be had when there is wood and fire involved. Here are a few pictures of the night with the girls. Stay tuned for pics of the Varsity Party.

New-Moan-Ya

First, these are a few pics from around Qingdao (thanks to a good friend) and Yes, you read correctly-I'm very sick. I have pneumonia AND bronchitis and have been sentenced to the bed since LAST FRIDAY! I will admit, yes, it has been seven days of misery, physically speaking, but from a pneumonia-pro, like myself, many terrific things have happened because of this. I will now begin to explain why sometimes being sick is not so bad afterall (for someone like myself):

1. Rest. Rest. Rest. Most of you know I do not do this well. I am an action-junkie and a 'doer' of sorts. I am constantly on the move, playing some sport, talking with this person, going this place, etc. It.NEVER.STOPS. I think my soul longs for "it" to stop, but I keep cluttering and littering my life with these "things" that I feel the need to accomplish or "check off the list." After arriving to China July 26, it was GO,GO,GO ALWAYS. Moving to a new country/CONTINENT requires many new things: new language, new culture, new norms, new house, new friends, new house-mates, new job, new expectations, new groceries, new recipes, new foods, new customs, new Gathering, new Fellowship, new pollutants, new ample time for opportunity, new adventures, and a new beginning. As you can see, it never stopped after I moved here and almost THREE MONTHS have flown by right before my eyes. I've done so much "stuff" that I could list for you, but the beauty is not in the stuff I do. So, sickness provided me an ample time to catch up on silence, on reading, on movies, on Father Talks, on self-reflection, on worshiping Him, on understanding WHY THE HECK I'm in CHINA, and on WHY He is SO DANG GOOD TO ME!

2. New friends. You know those people that you see at work or at Fellowship that you wish you had extra time to spend with them, but you never do? I always heard that coming out of my mouth when I attended the Village. I would meet such cool people and say to myself mentally, "OK, Kayla find out a way you can work that person into your 'list'-even if it means exhausting yourself in this area..." I don't believe that is healthy, and that is something I'm relieved to have discovered after moving here. I don't have to be JC to EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! That is why HE died so that HE can take care of EVERYONE, He can fix EVERYTHING, He can heal all wounds. He is Savior and I no longer have to live up to these expectations that are too high-never able to be reached. My expectations were so taxing on myself, physically, that I couldn't sleep for many, many, months. I blamed it on other things, but it was purely my inability to stop, breathe, and rest. I think I thought that if I stopped, I would have to stand under a light (like the one in an operating room) and just look at myself, look at my afflictions, look at my wounds, and look at my holes-all for Him to see. This is not a pretty sight, nor is it comfortable, alas my reasons for never resting.(oops, this section wasn't meant to be about "new friends" after all, eh?)

3. Self-Reflection. This is the kicker. I am restless when I have nothing to do. I get bored, I get cranky, and I'm ready to go back to work even with 103 degree temperature, no voice to speak with, and coughing like I'm hacking up my right lung. Everyone says "stay home, rest, take it easy" when my heart is saying "get back in the game, Kayla! You're being lazy! You're not over-acheiving at anything which means you are behind, you are failing, you are not WINNING!" I then step outside my body and laugh because what race is their to win in this game of sickness besides ultimately confiding in Him for FULL HEALING? I get so wrapped up in this sort of mentality all the time. Back to the Go, Go, Go mindset. So, after the first few days of staying home, I began thinking about why I'm really here. I'd had the opportunity to talk to many great people about this very statement. Even a counselor from the states came over here to serve our team and he asked the same question (because I still dream of finishing medical school and doing epidemiological research in a third world country). I couldn't help but resort back to many unforgettable memories I have at The Village and with Village people. There I learned how to "be-loved." I have the gift of loving other to no end-I can love and love and love on others and never get tired of it, but the "let others love me" part of the equation was non-existant; hence the reason why I Go,Go,Go all the time-no time to come to terms with this part of the equation. Now to the part of why I am here. I could tell from the first few times spent with new team members that I had a key part on this team. A LONG time ago Father put this spirit inside me that was able to LOVE others without ceasing, to love without seeing wounds and scars, to love others despite their ackwardness and their quirks, to love period. In every person I can find some commonality between them and myself; it never fails. I have this unstoppable nature to share myself with others, and I love this about myself, I truly do. I have never met a stranger. I have this lifelong feeling of being somehow different, like an oddball, like a stranger in a strange land (literally in China), never quite fitting in. This also comes with a longing to'go home,' but that desire will never cease until we are truly Home. When I meet new people this effervesent nature to love and to put at ease comes out in me and it is a light. The only source this GIFT I have is Father and His love for me. He put this inside of me a LONG time ago and new that it would be used to sew new hearts and souls together and to bind kindred spirits. It's a magnet, and it.is.HE.ALONE.bottomline. So, to get back to the self-reflection, I've really learned to embrace this gift and it has been such an exciting journey, especially with my Chinese friends. Chinese people are not like this-you know-they are more introverted and not eager to share their whole entire life story the first time they meet you (like me). BUT, I think that they are looking for this and they are seeking this sort of boldness. There are so many Chinese women believers who are walking SO CLOSE with Father that its mouth-watering hearing their stories. They truly are the army of the Father- - - NOT KIDDING. I'm serious people, I've never heard the voice of Father more clearly in my life since being in China. Why I had to come 1.7 Billion people away to hear Him, I don't know, but He.Is.Here.IN.THIS.PLACE! He is raising up these people in such a mighty way. Most of the time I feel so immature in my faith because so many times I rely on JC music, or JC gatherings, or fellowship, or PR groups, or praise conferences, etc. to uplift me or edify me in my relationship with Father. Let me tell you something. In China there are no Mercy Me concerts and there are no Beth Moore Book studies (sorry if that's offensive). There are no organized groups to get together to talk to Father and there are no programs you go to for your accountability. Sorry. Not hear. Its just you-you and Father, walkin' side by side down the beach. It is He who hears my cries, He who hears my struggles, He who hears my gossip (though He doesn't want to), He who hears my jokes, He hears praises, He who gets admired, He who gets astonished, He who gets exalted, it is He. All the Earth rejoices to say "He is holy," yet this He became my honestly best friend when I came to China. So praise Him for that. I miss my small group more than EVER back home, but when I step out of my selfish sunglasses I see that I'm here for a much bigger person and He was cultivating this a LONG time ago in my life. Every incident and occurring in my life happened for a reason, so that it could divinely be knitted together to produce "such a time as this" (Esther 4:14).

Ok, brain bulimia for now. Sorry I type like I'm talking-just me. D.O. sorry for all the grammatical errors. I love you all more than you know, I really do. I PR for you all daily and I remember you one by one. For those of you who have asked for my mailing address, here it is (print it off both chinese and english and paste it on the box/envelope/package-hint hint).

English:
Qingdao MTI International School
Baishan Campus
Shazikou, Dongjiang
Laoshan District, Qingdao
China 266102

Chinese:
青岛MTI国际学校
中国山东省青岛市
崂山区沙子口东姜
白珊校园内

or you can go to www.qmischina.com (my school's website), then click on the Contact Us link and the addresses are on the right side of the page. Copy them into a doc. and print them out.

OK, I'll leave you with this-this which I feel speaks most closely to my heart:

"Better to love Father and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it."

Roommates

Friends, meet Karen, Amy, and myself


These are the cool glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth mom sent us for Halloween!!
(MEGA Thanks MOM!)
Chinese Fan-Fighting is a favorite past-time of ours!

...in deep thought...always...




Thought I would share a few great pictures of my wonderful roommates. They are spectacular and I don't know what I would do without them. Father REALLY had us in mind when making this combination! Enjoy!

P.S. Thanks MOM for sending the vampire teeth for us!! They come in handy when it's photo shoot time! love you!

The Road Less Traveled

So this October Holiday (9 pleasant days off from school) our entire staff and the families of our staff attended a retreat near LaoShan. I recently just made a new investment in a bike so I decided to join the group of men riding to LaoShan some thirty miles away. Being that Qingdao is VERY known for its mountainous terrains and killer hills, it was SUPPOSED to take us three hours to get to the retreat, but little did we know....There were two groups of riders, the first being the 'follow the rules' kind of riders which chose to go the normal route via the highway. The second group (which I was a part of) chose to go the road less traveled. Our group of 10 triumphant athletes decided to follow our nose to the sea and create a new way to LaoShan (the hotel was on the sea so if we could FIND the sea, we could find our hotel, right?) Well after the first 20 miles we were ready for a new and more scenic adventure so we cut off the highway and started climbing through a nearby village. There was only one small road so we shared it with bikes, chickens, goats, tractors, and horses. After riding up and up and up through random villages we finally got to the end of the road and hit an almost vertical climb to the top of the mountain (and we still had no idea where we were-we were still trying to find the sea). During this time we were not able to ride our bikes because of the severe and drastic degree of incline and the lack of ample road to ride on. So, we created a new sport-bike hiking. We then for the next 3-4 hours CARRIED our bikes up the remaining portion of the mountain to the saddle and then down switchbacks on the backside of the mountain. After no more switchbacks we were on to plan C. We decided to follow a river bed (which was thankfully dry) and our poor bikes became our springboards for bouncing from boulder to boulder. We knew that all rivers lead to the ocean, so why not? After SIX hours and almost FIFTY MILES of biking and bike hiking we were able to find some farmland to ride down and FINALLY able to see the ocean. Our hopes were HIGH!!! During this time were were able to use what our bikes were created for=MOUNTAIN BIKING! Man, it was a rush! Our top speed was 40 mph although this was probably one of the most risky things i've been apart of. I loved EVERY minute of it. These are a few pics of the weekend and the special people I got to hang out with. The last picture is of Anderson, Eric, and Gloria (my co-workers at QMIS). Mom sent them Texas hats to wear as a gift for Mid-Autumn Festival. They are now converted to lovers of this great state, thanks mom. Enjoy!!

International Day

These pictures are from the QMIS annual International Day. Mostly the pictures are just of me and the guys but there are some of traditional Korean Dress, Chinese Dress, American, ETC...enjoy!

KT