No, I would never give up my day job. But this one cuts it pretty close! I've been teaching part-time at the Sunshine Elementary School downtown in our city. For an hour and a half each week, I am marveled at and rubbernecked like a fatal NASCAR accident.
This week the topic was Family. Stay tuned for the little niño at the end!
Makes you wonder, if there's a grandma in the family that believes this.
You won't find somebody making a fashion statement here with it!
1, 2.."3,4!" They shout in unison and shoot Straight up in their chairs!
Christine was a primary teacher in a title one neighborhood, girl's got some skills with kids!
She went with me my second day.
Yesterday, my friend called me up and said, "Kirsten, will you join me at a wedding?" "Sure, no problem" "Um..Kirsten, will you do me a favor, will you also sing?" I laughed and looked at the Zhong (Clock), 20 hrs til the wedding, "Sure, why not?" ha
(The video got cut a lil) here it goes!
A song of hope over the these...
"Knees to the Earth"
by Christy Nockels
Wonderful Savior
My heart belongs to thee
May these know and remember, always, the blood you shed for them
Wonderful Savior
May their hearts know your worth
Let them embrace you, always, as they walk this earth
Be blessed, be loved
Be lifted high
Be treasured here, be glorified
We owe our lives to you, Oh Lord
Here we are...
Beautiful Jesus
How may I bless your heart?
Knees to the earth, I bow down, to everything You are
Beautiful Jesus
May their hearts know your worth
So let them embrace you, always, as they walk this earth
Be blessed, be loved
Be lifted high
Be treasured here, be glorified
We owe our lives to you, Oh Lord
Here we are...(X2)
Wo ai Ni (I love you)
Here I am....
The wedding HOST, Luke (other titles include announcer, officiant, and DJ)
Weddings here are, needless to say, DifFeRent.
It's tradition for the bride and groom to hand out "Hong Bao", little red envelopes with
money stuFFed inside, to all the Wedding Helpers.
Oh that'd be the day...
Some of you may remember Luke from when he came to Dallas in January!
And their off! Grandmothers and grandpas that live on campus, students, and the security guard that sits in his little box outside the garden, all bewildered, have stopped to look in from the cement path!
If this picture had sound, you'd hear in the background, "Why are those 5 Chinese girls running and screaming?"
(well, in Chinese of course!)
Brittany, you're so pretty in your FuHuoJie dress!
Our little forest, "garden". A place I often go to walk, think & have some JC time.
My California Hippie friend!
Ahee..hee..there aren't any left but they're still looking!
The group!
Awww, sorry Yesxi. But atleast your skin got a make-over!
Still updating on Spring Festival Traveling (1/14 - 2/14)
PIcTUreS from the Silk City- Suzhou
With the abundance of central canals and waterways,
Suzhou is considering the Venice of China!
Outside the Hostel we stayed in
lots and LoTS of Hong Bao! (Red envelopes stuffed with moola!)
We searched 2 hours for a Dunkin Donuts in Shanghai (1 hr by train from Suzhou);
man alive... I've never put so much energy into finding western food before living here!
So my friend Christine and I, decided to do a juice fast for 2 days this week to give our bodies a cleanse and a "rest" from digesting foods. So even after just 2 days of juicing fruits and vegetables, my body has felt lighter and more alert. However, the best product was the challenge in practicing self-control. Interesting how physical self-denial flows over into other AREAS of your life? I felt more productive in my school work and more intentional with friends.
Christine, Brittany and baby JoJo asleep
Here are some yummy juice combos:
Carrot, apple, orange and celery Juice
Cucumber-Pear Juice
Apple-Orange Juice
*Whatever you do, don't juice cucumber and carrots (or ANYthing), then try and heat it up on the stove to make soup! The mess'll turn into a poop color with a grainy texture, and worse, the heat destroys the enzymes in the veggies.
*Also, if you juice apples, you can use the remainder to make applesauce.
21 HOUR Train Ride?!!
Yeah, that was my reaction too. But once we actually got situated in our cubbies...
In each "cubbie hole", there were 3 hard sleeper bunk beds on the right and 3 on the left. Good bonding time.
At night, everyone else was asleep, but we kept stopping at different stations and the loud speakerswould come on with a Chinese man, yelling at new passengers to "Qui Dian" on board. When I looked out the window, no way was I going back to sleep with all the SNOW covering the buildings and beautiful night countryside.
We had a peeper stop by 2 or 3 times to practice his English. Surprisingly, after an hour of talking with him the first day, switching back and forth from Chinese and English (mostly Chinese WowOo), we said goodbye and let our brains rest.
I enjoy exhausting my chinese, man, i have so far to go.
Man oh man, the sun came early. For lunch the next morning, waiters rolled a vegetable cart with individually cleaned and wrapped fruit & veggies. Ha China where have you been all my LIFE! And here we were buying out the street market's Chinese style Ramon Noodles before we boarded!
