Changshamillers

Current status

2009-05-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

So right now things are going really well for us. This of course is all due in part to the CEO and his kindness and watching over us.
Lisa had been reminded by a friend to continue journaling and spending time with her DAD and relying upon Him. She had been trying to do things on our own strength and just found herself like Paul, not doing the things she wanted to do, but lacking the strength neccesary to change. Of course, we can't do it on our own. That really brought about a change in her to realize the need she had and to return to journaling and hearing/listening/ communicating with DAD.

Also, we are seeing a real answer in more men coming to our studies. Lisa had been asking about that for quite some time. The answer to this is showing me to ask in order to receive in faith as well. I remember seeing its work over us when we first got here and had so few problems at first, until we could settle in.

So, that has been really neat to see the men coming. A movement always requires strong men. Always, we were encouraged, knowing that this semester we may develop friendships with new students, and that has been the case. The students that we used to see (my students) are now pretty busy preparing for their IELTS test and we have not seen them. That has been sad,but of course, that happens right? And as said above, it only served to bring us into contact with new people.

We are excited for this summer back home, though I'm sure it will also be a very busy time of work, vacation, side-jobs, raising support in order to return, and seeing family/friends, and importantly, preparing for our work here again. We hope that those friends reading this will be able to see us in person soon this summer!

-shane and lisa

Lisa's Birthday Trip: Chongqing

2009-05-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from our trip to Chongqing.

The local styles of Lisa Miller Traditional costumes Lisa posing with a colorful poodle

trying a traditional instrument of minority groups

Hello everyone!

We are slowly trying to stay up to date with our blog and posts. We hope anyone and everyone reading this is doing well!

At the end of April, Lisa and I went on our last stretch of adventure and traveling by flying out to Chongqing, China which is the largest city in China. (I know, you would think Beijing right? :) I think that is it up there in the 2omillion category or something, which is pretty impressive considering the largest city in the world is Mexico City and that was around 26 1/2 million. )

So, one of the many good things about China is that the Hilton's over here are not that expensive. I had looked up some of the Hilton's in China and chose this place. It ended up being a beautiuful 5 star hotel for about $40 USD/night. I got it on a really good deal with my credit crd though. I had to book it way back in Jan during a winter sale that they were having. I was hoping to take Lisa there to go on a river cruise along the Yangtze river to see the three gorges.

What we quickly realized is that Chongqing is only one of the major starting points for the river cruise. The shortest cruise they had was a 2 day cruise, and we had already booked our hotel each night. So, we did what I would like to call a "Lisa vacation." Haha.
As some of you may or may not know, my idea of a vacation is to do as much as we can and to see as much as we can, and take as many pictures as you can. That way I will have it all there to remember.

As a child, I did not go on hardly any vacations, so now when I do, and esp since we are paying for it and I don't know when we will ever be there again, I want to really see and experience that place. (This of course caused some difficulties with the travel weary Blair and Debbie when they came to see us last month! Haha)

But, when we realized that our main reason for going to Chongqing was the gorges cruise and it was no longer available, we then decided to just try and stay around the hotel and enjoy its many amenities.
So, we just relaxed and had an absolutely great time just spending time alone together. No cell phone or work to do. Just time with the two of us. We swam in their pool, enjoyed the great bathroom, huge comfortable bed, tv, etc.

We actually ended up spending more there on food than we did on our hotel stay! Haha. Well,the first night there was free with my hotel points, and with that, you do not get breakfast included. It almost makes you wish you had paid for the hotel, because the cost of breakfast alone is around $100RMB/person. So there goes your savings right there, haha.

But, the first night we were there, we indulged ourselves in their seafood buffet. Being as we paid quite a bit for it, we took as many huge shrimps as we could, had excellent pork spare ribs, which were amazing, and cheesecake, and more.
We were definitely trying to fulfill our sterotype of fat americans as we got plate after plate! Haha.

The funny thing too about it was that the third night that we were there, I was joking with Lisa that they didn't like us anymore. The first night that we were there, the staff was excellent and would take our plate away right away. However, after seeing how much we could pack away the first night, it seemed like they were trying to stop us from eating them out of house and home. Haha. The plates began to stack up on our table. Yet, we weren't going to let them get the best of us. I went up 3 times to get a small slice of cappucino cheesecake. It was amazing! (And don't think the cheesecake factory. These pieces were small, so my three were like one slice at cheesecake factory.)

They had had a mexican theme that night, but we were pretty disappointed by it. Lisa actually had to make tacos when we went home just to make up for it. The rest of the buffet was good though.

All in all, it was a great trip. We plan to hopefully go back next year though to actually do the river cruise. :)

Chiang Mai- Part III, Flower Festival

2009-05-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

Chiang Mai being so amazing, it requires several separate entries. This is our last full day there- at the flower festival. We had moved out of our very inexpensive hostel and into a moderately priced one, which showed in the very quaint arrangements. It was a dutch hostel and they had expensive (well normal american prices, but for us expensive) and delicious food. Shane even enjoyed Shepherd's Pie. Suekoilya went ahead of us to Phuket, so thus began the part of the trip with just us. Fortunately, that day began a three day "Flower Festival" which we took advantage of, and it reminded me of the Maryland state fair in its atmosphere, but add a whole fleet of floats made entirely out of flowers. It was such a beautiful thing to see and best part-it was free! After traipsing all over town looking for laundry, we found this great fair.

A very old temple.

They had foot massages at the fair- so I had to jump in on that!

Even better...they had ICE CREAM and SORBET for 10 bhat- for us thats like 2 yuan (very reasonable even for us) and for you americans thats like 30 cents. I, needless to say, had 3 cones.

This is our last day in Chiang Mai, on the way to PHuket for the last week of the trip. On the way to our tuk-tuk towards the airport, I tripped on a hose that was left out on the steps, carrying several heavy bags. I severely hurt some muscles in my foot/ankle. Now, 3 months later, I am much better but not totally healed. I am not sure if I will be.

Didn't want to end on a bad note...I LOVE this picture of Shane and I at the festival, and a reminder of sort of a second (or 3rd) honeymoon.

Bankok- Part II

2009-05-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

After leaving Guangzhou, Shane, Suekoilya and I embarked on a late night flight to cross over into Thailand. OH, that first blast of warm air was wondrous! (Even though it was 2:30 am in a foreign country in which we didn't speak the language). We learned quickly that if someone is TOO eager to give you a ride, they are planning to rip you off big time. A guy followed us through the whole airport, first trying to sweet talk and then angrily yelling that his price was reasonable. Finally we found one lone metered taxi out of the airport and found our hostel (which was quite nice, btw).

Yay-authentic Pad Thai! And actually affordable too-40 thai bhat or roughly 7 rmb. (Which is pretty standard for our lunch/dinner price). We found that at each new location, the prices went up. (For you rich Americans, thats about one dollar.

Here is the "black buddha". When we inquired why he was, in fact, gold-looking, the temple worker explained that people buy small, real gold sticker-like things to stick on the buddha in an area they are having trouble or pain. This is how they ask him to heal them in that area. If you look carefully, you will see his skin is not smooth. Notice the entire buddha is now covered many times over in gold. Thats a lot of people...
We went on a personal book tour of Bankok to see some more of the reality- where the people live who aren't living in the high rises.

Suekoilya and I on our boat tour. It is the beginning of february and we are quite warm and content, even with the breeze of the water, in our t-shirts.

Of course, the infamous Tuk-Tuk ride. We always took a Tuk-tuk because they were generally cheaper and a perfect size for 3 people to squeeze into. It would have been slightly terrifying, had we not already been living in China.

Phoenix City

2009-04-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
Lisa and I are terribly, terribly sorry for having not updated this in almost two months now.
So, I am having to backtrack here, but we want to fill you in on some of our many travel excursions that we have taken recently.
April has been a very busy month with us. As some of you know, Lisa's mother and younger sister Blair flew over to see us! It was really nice to see them.

However, haha, at the same time, we learned a lot of things NOT TO DO if and when people ever come to see us again in China, as we plan on staying here for one more year.

They arrived late Wednesday night and we really wanted them to see the Chinese countryside in order for them to get a real feel of China.

Therefore, since we didn't have much time and also not much money b/c we were also hoping to be back on Sunday afternoon for fellowship and we still had to fly to Beijing and pay them back for money that we owed them. Therefore, we finally decided up Feng Huang, or Phoenix City. We had also looked at Guilin where part of The Painted Veil was filmed with Edward Norton.

We also thought about Xian,the terra-cotta warriors, that would be too far and not enough time. Lisa and I plan on seeing that next year. Besides that, thats really all that Lisa wants to see in China. We would like to go to Indonesia maybe to see our Compassion sponsored child. That would be really cool!

Father was really watching over us as we arranged our trip to Phoenix city. It just so happened that the copy lady who works in our school and someone we have become friends with, was planning on taking a bus in that direction as well! So Lisa and her (Becca) went to the bus station and bought tickets for all of us. That would have been difficult for us. She even met us as the bus station Thurs morning and went with us most of the way. (Her hometown is the stop right before ours. )

We also had a small scare, when the school suddenly told us that we could not re-arrange our classes. ( I had been planning on making up my Thurs. afternoon class as well as my two Friday morning classes.) In all the time we have been here, I have never missed any classes. However, my request came at a time when many teachers must have been asking off and I was the last straw I suppose. Also, Friday contains low English level classes for me, so they were afraid that those few students who show up anyways in one particular class just won't come at all to their other classes.
In fact, right now they have had to bring in a chinese translator/ helper for the one class b/c their English is so low. But its also because they don't try very hard.

Anyways though... so we lucked out to have another foreign teacher here agree to teach my classes for me! That was a real life-saver on that one. Also, the following week the school wanted me to help administer a 4hr midterm test to our 2nd yr students! The week that Lisa's parents were here! Yet,we were also fortunate to have the other set of foreign teacher's here step in for that one as well. They had taken a trip last Dec and then all of a sudden the school changed some dates on them and needed them to give their finals.
So I gave the finals to her students so she could go on her trip and now it worked out that they could help us out! Sweet deal!

So, back to the now becoming long story. Haha, several other students from our class just so happened to be going to Phoenix city as well! We were excited about that!
We were told the trip should only be btwn 3-4 hours, but it ended up taking about 5 1/2 hours! The bus also just stoppped in the middle of the town in Feng Huang and we had to get out. Lisa's parents weren't even sure if it was the right stop! Quite a shock for them,but that's how China works.

Luckily, our Chinese friend had already had her mother book us a hotel for the night, and then a cheaper one outside of the old/ traditional city the next night. The problem now was that we didn't know how to get to our hotel.
Once again though, some more chinese english speakers kindly helped us out and got us a taxi to where our hotel was and where the manager was waiting for us after our friend arranged that as well.

The hotel was really nice and right along the beautiful lit up river. (I will have to post pictures about it soon! Am writing this from the school office)

So, the next day our student of ours arranged for us to go on an all day tour of Phoenix city to see 3 scenic points. Although Lisa's mom and sister were tired and still needed to adjust to their jet lag, they decided it would be worth it to have an english speaking guide help show us around this city and see it's scenic spots.

The next day we awoke to pouring down rain and we weren't sure if we should still go through with it, but our friend had already bought the tickets for us, so...what else can you do right? Godo thing Lisa's family are real troopers and braved it out.
(Maybe their motivation came from the fact that there was a chinese guy

will finish later.. have to go at the moment. sorry!

Guangzhou- Part I of our vacation

2009-03-10T00:52:00.001-07:00

So instead of trying to type and then messing up the words with my poor computer formating skills, I will add the pictures then just add little captions. Guangzhou was the first part of our trip, and very enjoyable, if not already for the fun things to do, for the weather- much warmer than Changsha. This picture to our left is actually a very ornate museum, rebuilt from a building hundreds of years old.

The 5 wheels to the left is actually part of a circus show- an international circus in Guangzhou. It was a last minute decision (we'd been trying to go to a safari but turned out it had closed at least a year earlier) and went here. It was AWESOME! This was the highlight- these guys running on top of what looks like an amusment park ride- with no ropes or anything to protect them. Suekoilya and I were scared for them!

We visited a few temples in Guangzhou. There are more there than in Changsha (but much less than Thailand). We saw many people praying to these stone statues or to statues of Buddha himself. There were also places for people to burn incense to/for their dead ancestors.

Here is a happier moment- Suekoilya upon finding a real 7/11 AND a Slurpee!

Love the Chinglish here- I think my favorite (hear hear women) "Do not diet." I also love that trash throwing is prohibited:)

I love this one (although it is also a temple). Coming here did make me feel like I was in China, but we were too sad to stay a long time. Outside the temple were many vendors selling incense, amulets, and fruit.

This is the museum of Yat Sun... It was very impressive.

Finally our last two pictures are from near our hostel. We happened to be along the Pearl River, and at night it was quite a charming view. Here is also the street- decorated abundantly with red lanterns in celebration of the Chinese New Year, the "Spring Festival.

We really enjoyed our short stay in Guangzhou, and did SO many things and a lot of walking. It was nice to be warm (despite the above picture with our coats on, the daytime was warm). Guangzhou also has a starbucks and 7/11. It also had a subway, and the people seemed more western than in Changsha. Of course, the beginning of any vacation always has a certain charm about it that the end does not.

Farmer Lisa and Farmer Shane

2009-02-22T03:17:00.000-08:00

So it seems I have done something dreadful with the layout here...maybe Shane can come back and fix it, but for now I can at least caption some of our photos from our trip to the countryside.

Here is a view of some terrace farming...a beautiful view like this was very

common on our walks. This was the view from "our house".

Here is one farmer taking his cattle out for a stroll and lunch.

Here is "our house", the house we saw abandoned and we loved it.

One interesting aspect for me (a suberban girl) was to see the whole process of my dinner...stating with the live pig, then the butchered pig meat for sale, then the pig fat being cooked into oil, then the buckets of oil, which they used to cook the pork we had for dinner. These particular pigs were staying in our friend's basement.

When they say, "How about lettuce for dinner?" they mean LETTUCE!

Here's a typical dinner (or lunch) fixed by Lily's mom. They don't just bring out sandwiches...oh no. Lunch and dinner are full-out meals. The dish front and center is my favorite Chinese dish- "Cucumber fried pork".The others are tofu, fish, and some kind of vegetable.

Here is a typical set of apartment buildings out in the countryside.

What we saw was a small gathering of these apartment building (a 'town') then nothing for several kilometers, and then a few more apartment buildings. Each town seemed also to have a hairdresser and a convenience type store. (No grocery stores of course...everything is FRESH).:)

Here is Lily (our 'angel') and myself,

before the weather got a warmer.

The picture to the right is Shane playing badmitton, with all the neighborhood kids watching. In fact, he was a little like the pied piper- they followed him everywhere!

A while ago, Lisa and I were able to travel out to the country-side to visit the house of our dear friend Lily. (You can see her from very early posts.)We were going to see another friend originally, but that fell through. Then, Lily called us out of the blue and asked if we wanted to go, so we thought it would be really cool to see the country-side and visit her family.

The journey there did not start the best though. I was tired the night before and did not do any packing. Since I am a morning person, I decided that I would wake up early and pack. Also though, I had been slothful and had not done the dishes from a couple days ago that also needed to get done. (Dishes have been my enemy over here. My displeasure for them has been compounded on the fact that the kitchen is in the back of the apartment, so it is cold in the winter-time. Also, our old faucet used to leak, so water would get on the floor. Finally, the cabinets are built chinese style, which means that they are low and that I have to stoop a little to do the dishes. This still doesn't mean that I shouldn't put them off as I usually do unfortunately.)

So, I got up early and did those, but Lisa ended up packing a huge duffle bag. We were not to be gone for that long; I had only been thinking of a bookbag for BOTH of us. We ended up having both the duffle bag AND a bookbag. It was really funny though in some ways because of our fears of going out into the country-side. Lisa was thinking it to almost be some like ninth-world remote village with no modern things at all. She wanted to bring this heavy blanket, but I said no, so we resorted to a thin blanket.

It is good that we brought so many clothes in some regard because it was indeed really cold at night, and we were wearning like 5 thin layers over another. (I did not bring really warm clothes over to China because I knew that we were going to the southern part of China) However, I did not know how extreme the climate over here gets. Really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter, especially since we live in what I call our "concrete cells." :)

So... we had a fight from all the luggage that I had to carry. (I should have communicated better though.) It didn't make matters any better when Lily commented a lot on how much luggage we had also and then that we had to carry it all the way down to the buses, and then from there...

Lisa taking over the blog, per Shane's request. SO..we made it to a VERY crowded train station- you couldn't imagine the crowds, and onto a long bus ride. I am very glad we went with Lily, because we never would have found it on our own. The bus dropped you off in the middle of some country town, where most people speak the local dialect, not mandarin. Lily got another small van to get us the rest of the way to her home.

It was really great to meet her family- and we saw a lot of her brother especially (who is around 19). I think I was expecting a wooden house with straw roof..but infact they are concrete apartments surrounded by farmland. The weather turned out to be unusually warm- enough to wear only a few layers- and no coat during the daytime! Of course, the house itself was still very cold, so we stayed outside as long as possible. We were able to enjoy full-course Chinese dishes everyday for lunch and dinner from Lily's mom...once she taught me how to make my favoite dish "huang gua chou rou" or cucumber fried pork. (I make it when we got back- it was still good!).

Most of the time there we walked- EVERYWHERE, because the weather is nice and also becausewe were in the countryside, there are not many activities besides walking, boardgames, or working. So we walked for hours each day, exploring the nearby fields and farms. We also did play a lot of boardgames (ticket to ride) and cards. I was glad to really explore- because if you walked far enough you got to see very isolated and lonely looking places indeed. Shane and I found a more traditional chinese farm house, made from brick wood, and straw (sounds like the three little pigs lol) overlooking a beautiful countryside. It also happened to be sunset, which was very beautiful indeed. We decided that, as it was abandoned, we should buy it, fix it up, and move in. It was very traditional- having a huge iron place for cooking and sections of the inside of the house for the animals! (You know how I"m a romantic at heart). OF course, its easy to think that way when the weather is nice, but no electricity for lights or warm water (or even running water) would present a problem eventually.
I think the saddest thing was the amount of rubbish tossed into the streams and by the farms. There is not really an organized system for waste management, so they either burn the trash or toss it outside. I am not usually a staunch environmentalist, but I do love the world we have been given, and it made me want to start a campaign to help this community. However, inspite of it, we were able to see really amazing "terrace farming" and countryside. We hope to visit again in the spring when the rain brings new and green fields for rice farming. Overall, it will be one of our most memorable trips, I think.

Our New Years Celebration

2009-02-22T02:42:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009!!!!!!

So I know its February 22 and I'm posting our New Year's...but I have a plan, I do! Hopefully in the next week I will also post our trip to the countryside and our Thailand trip. I have just received my fabulous new teaching schedule, which although begins with an 8 hour day on Monday, concludes with Thursday and Friday off- yipee!

Some new friends from Egypt we invited:)

Above: More students on our way Above: Shane SINGING with

our friend Ian
Suekoilya and I singing.

So for New Years:

Shane, Suekoila, Steve and I (the foreign teachers here minus Tony and Jenny) hosted a fairly costly but fun Kareoke night for our students and friends. You can see some of the crew coming on the bus. I wish I was better at formatting!! Anyway so besides being a fabulous time with our students, singing and dancing the room was in fact HEATED and the first time we felt warm in a long time (and the last time we felt warm for a while too, lol). At one point, we even crashed a dance party next door. Good fun! At midnight we all rushed out into the downtown square to countdown, but the elevator was slow and we all missed it, so we did our own countdown later. But we did release a beautiful red lantern into the sky (they do it to make a wish) and after several minutes of trying to light the flame and keep it lit, our lantern floated gently along with thousands of others, making the night sky filled wth brightly colored "wishes". It was far more beautiful than fireworks. After some more singing, we wrapped up the night with a treat to McDonalds (a real treat for us). Afterall, exams were still underway for both us and our students. But, one of my favorite New Year's to be sure!

Holiday Pictures!

2009-01-19T00:58:00.001-08:00

So I know its already the middle of January, but I have to include some wonderful photos of our first Christmas and first (first) New Year's in China. Notice the joy on our faces with some of the foreign items our parents sent, or the Chistmas Eve "party" that turned out rather to be a talent show! I had the chance to sing my favorite carol, "O Holy Night,". I'll try to put a little caption near the pictures:

I am terrible at formatting and such, so please forgive my bad layouts! (Obviously this is Lisa and not Shane). The first picture is a precious gift from a student, who actually trekked to a recently-opened foreign chocolate store 45 minutes away to personalize this chocolate for me. I had been raving about the store to my students when it opened, because as all who know me understand, chocolate is a high priority! The second is a picture of our Christmas feast. It looks like a normal holiday meal, huh? When you put together a lot of foreigners, and its a special occasion so everyone splurges a little, it makes a great foreign meal.

Oh, I really need to study the art of blogging! Anyway, these next two shots continue our Christmas feasting...the left is a dessert table. The greatest blessing was the peanut butter hershey kiss cookies you see in the center...some of Shane's favorites! A friend of ours received all the ingredients from her friend in the US and was kind enough to share it with us. The picture on the right is the fancy restaurant our school took us too for Christmas dinner. It was fun to eat in such an elegant place!

A Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2008-12-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

Being that both Christmas and New Year's Day are rather significant American holidays, I figured I should post something about how we celebrated these days thousands of miles from home, family, of friends.

Part I: Christmas

It certainly has been a new experience in so many ways...although I must say the McDonald's store in Changsha has still been blasting that not-so-classic "Last Christmas, I gave you my heart...." song. Ahh! I thought I"d escaped, but no! However, the real beautiful Christmas carols we had to rely on a CD we brought from home. The Chinese here do decorate for Christmas in many shops- with colored lights, Christmas trees, etc. (Although I haven't seen any manger scenes to be sure). You can see from a previous blog some of the decorations. I myself purchased a little tree from Walmart, and decorated the second week in December...so late in my opinion. My students, however, were shocked. "So early!!" They said. They didn't seem to grasp, despite my explanation, that Christmas is indeed a month long holiday. Our school and this city put on several Christms parties the week of Christmas. We volunteered at a children's library (hopefully we can post some photos) and helped the children practice English while giving small gifts. We also attended/participated our department's (the Department of International Studies)Christmas party. It was well done but interesting...not exactly Christmasy. They had some Avril Lavine singing, some rap songs and dancing, even a magician. For my part, I sang "O Holy Night' (always my favorite Christmas song) and a teacher from English sang "Deck the Halls." We also got several wonderful gifts from our students, including a chocolate heart with our names on it- from the foreign chocolate store!! (my favorite), two cakes, some traditional chinese figurines, candy, a beautiful silk cloth, and a LOT of apples. I think I'll go take a picture in fact of what remains after a week of trying to eat as many apples as possible. The work for apple in Chinese "ping guo" sounds like the word for peace (i don't know that one) so its a traditional Christmas gift in China.

Christmas morning, Shane and I first read the Christmas story, the opened most of our gifts for each other. The highlight was opening the packages that my parents and his parents sent from America. One could hardly believe the rejoicing over a bag of cheese girls, nacho cheese, or Dove chocolates. Even now we are working our way through very slowly, as to savor each precious food item. One could never imagine how a bottle of Advil or a box of bandaids brings a thrill to your heart until you are without them. Right before class (yes I had to teach still) I was baking some Chocolate Chip cookies (thanks for the ingredients from said parents) to give as special gifts to our foreign advisor, when our electricity went off. Well, went off is far too gentle of a term...our electricity wires overcharged and burst into a dangerous and odorous smoke. By afternoon, there was still no one to fix it, so we weren't sure what we were going to do for Christmas dinner and for the 15 students that planned to join us in the evening for a Christmas movie. Fortunately our dear friend Suekoilya lent us her house, and we just ate in a little street restaurant. My husband's positive and humble attitude helped me get through the evening without too much resentment over the constant problems our apartment has, continuing even on Christmas day. How thankful I am for him! Late that night after the movie/party, Suekoilya came back to our cold, dark apartment to exchange gifts with us. We lit many candles and it had kind of an adventuresome, romantic feel to it. And, we are also provided for (even if not in the way we ask), another package arrived that evening from my mother and jay full of warm long underwear, fleece shirts, and warm wooly socks. (In fact, we've been wearing them for a week straight!). So all in all, we had a beautiful Christmas Day!

Part II: New Years

For New Years we have planned a big kareoke party with foreigners and native Chinese alike. We have rented a rather expensive room for kareoke (here you rent private rooms, you don't do it in a restaurant full of people you don't know) and will stay from 9:30 to 12:30 or later. (We're getting old, can't stay up like we used to, lol). Yesterday, Shane, Suek, and I went to the English corner which each week we volunteer, and we discussed New Year's Resolutions. Mine I think is to have a grateful heart. Because this year we have gone through unbearably hot & humid weather the early fall (with no ac anywhere but our house), a dirty apartment upon arrival, our hot water breaking at least 3 times- once for a week!, a glass light fixture in our living room shattering on me, a fuse that for 2 months refused to stay on longer than 1 hours ( a fuse that ran all the appliances in the house except two), lack of heat during the "broken fuse" days, total loss of electricity at least twice, loss of all water 3 times, lights that go out that we don't know how to fix (we've been using flashlights and candles now for 4 days in our bathroom), broken wash machine, leaking kitchen sink subject to partially flood the kitchen at any time, broken stove, a computer constantly loaded with viruses that has several times erased all data including lesson plans on our zip drives, not to mention culture shock, adjusting your stomach to new foods, learning a difficult new language, and the overall inconvenience of living and working in a culture that simply has different ideas about life than you do, (sorry I know thats a long list), I have found it difficult to stay positive both in my heart and my words. However, I truly am grateful to have been given this opportunity to come over here with my husband that I adore and do the work that we are doing. My desire is to learn that these troubles are "momentary and light" in the long run, and to be thankful for the many things that I have been given besides the obvious: A wonderful and supportive husband whom I have the priviledge to watch grow more and more into who he was made to be, for the time being a functional portable heater (and it really helps) plus a lot of blankets, parents that love us and the packages of special food and gifts they have just sent, the foreign friends esp. Suekoilya and Elic, that we have met here, an income that, while small in Us dollars, is entirely adequate to support us while living here and even with careful planing can afford us a vacation, those friends at home that keep us in their thoughts each day, our dear Chinese students and friends, and most of all the work we are doing here. I don't know how to save a blog and rebring it up, so I will post this now and edit it once we have finish the party and can add the pictures.

Biking Bozo's

2008-12-16T16:37:00.001-08:00

I will have to add the pictures to this post as well, so bear with me on it. This happened about a month ago, but I haven't made the time to put it up yet on our blog.

At that time, one of the students here that Lisa and I have met knew that I wanted a bike and agreed to show me where to get one. He assured me that they would not be too much. (This is not the first time that a price said is not at all true when we actually get there) The same thing happened when I went camping with my friend to Moon Island from the previous post. A tent that we thought would only cost around 200RMB was like 500 or 600 at least. Ugh!
But anyways, so I got a decent/cheaper bike and we agreed to go on a bike ride that week with some friends. We were having a great time on our ride out and made our way to a nice pond surrounded by trees. There were literally about 7 -8 people all dressed up wedding gowns having their pictures taken at this place. That was cool.
Being guys, we of course began our series of many stunts to come with the climbing of a tree there. Then we were quickly running across some stones that were placed across one part of the lake. When you run really quickly, it kind of reminds you of the whole Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon type thing of running across the water.
Then, from there we headed off again. However, I soon began to have problems as the pedal on my bike no lie, just fell off! We didn't have any tools with us, so we could only screw it back on pretty lightly. I would go another 300 yards, and then have it fall off again! It was crazy!
But the craziest part was when we rode alongside this large hill that I stopped at and told them that we should climb up. They had never done anything like this and agreed to it. When we got up to the hill, we realized that it was much, much steeper than we thought. Also, it was very loose little pebbles of rock.

At that point, one would think to not go up it, but we were so excited that we had already made it about 20 feet up before we realized that it was slippery and very steep. We then climbed up another 30 feet before I No lie, actually began to get scared. I was clutching onto the side of the hill and hoping beyond hope that I would not fall and die. One of the students who is really good at martial arts just kind of cat like sprang past me all the way up the hill. I think his momentum up was helping him. We were ever so slowly trying to make our way up the hill, almost just like sliding our way up with rocks crumbling down as we tried.
But at this point, my legs were shaking from trying to push our way up and I was seriously thinking that if I didn't stop and try to make our way down, that I was gonna fall and be in bad shape. I slowly made my way back down, very relieved to be back on solid ground and thinking to myself how stupid a thing that was, even if cool at the beginning.
But this did not erase the fact that our friend Eric was still at the top with nowhere to go. For some reason he thought that because it was so slippery he would go back down barefoot instead of shoes. (Oh yeah, I was trying to go up in my walking shoes which have the flat bottoms with absolutely no trackion on them at all)
So he began making his way down, but instead of going down sideways like I did, he was going down just as if you were to walk down. He of course began to slip and as he did, he now tried to run down the hill. This was the most frightening sight ever, as this guy was frantically trying to run down the hill. I thought that at any moment he was going to slip and really hurt himself. Rember, it was about 40-50 feet up and a really steep incline.
By the time he reached the bottom, he was running so fast that he couldn't stop and crashed heavily onto the ground. Luckily he didn't break a wrist or anything, though his hand was a little cut up. However, his feet were in bad shape. Trying to run/slide down a hill barefoot that is full of little pebbles did quite a number on his feet. His toes were all cut up and his toenails... I'll just stop there. It was kind of bad. But nothing that needed medical attention or that can't heal.
I just felt terrible knowing that it was my fault and so incredibly thankful that he was not seriously hurt. We were nervously laughing at how incredible it was to see this Jackie Chan guy running down a hill that steep barefoot. Anybody else would have definitely sprawled over head first and broke their wrist, neck, or something. I'll put up the pics soon. Am on a friends computer as they are sick and we were seeing how they were doing. (They are still asleep. Haha. I'm not abandoning them by being on the computer. :)

Walking in a winter wonderland....

2008-12-06T19:32:00.001-08:00

Okay, so by winter I don't mean snow, I mean Christmas decorations have gone haywire. The following pictures are from Christmas shops- it looks as if I have been swallowed into Santa's workshop. Pretty interesting considering where I am.

The picture with the Chinese girl ( I can't seem to get it to upload right now) is one that I took after she took a picture of Lisa in her shop.

Since we sometimes get our picture taking with random strangers, I fought back his time! Haha. Lisa was walking around the store and she, like many others, was shy and was trying to sneak a photo of Lisa while she wasn't looking. I noticed this and got Lisa to pose for her. This of course, only caused several other people to come over, whip out their phones and snap off pictures of us.

So then I suddenly pulled out my camera from my pocket and got a photo of her with Lisa.

The prices in the store were crazy! You really do have to bargain. Lisa the other day was shopping for Christmas gifts and was trying to tell the woman in Chinese that she is a teacher who lives in China. We are not the rich Americans that they think we are. We are getting paid in RMB, so when we see the price, we think of it in dollars, not the 1/7th that tourists would do.

However, the woman wouldn't budge and answered by saying: "Chinese_ this is the price; American_ this is the price; Japanese, and on and on. Haha.

Therefore.. if the woman are not going to budge with their bargaining prices.. we must pull out the big guns... literally. Hahah!

The next picture is us with a friend in a candy shop arm wrestling the manager for a lower price. It was really funny too, because the two of them would go back and forth changing the price on the paper when the other wasn't looking! We were ordering a bunch of candy for an upcoming Christmas party, and so we needed a lot and wanted a good price.

Lisa was estactic also, because we finally realized that you can just take free samples of the candy. I should have realized this a long time ago when I saw people freely eating out of a big vat of sunflower seeds. I bought some and then didn't like them as much because they were not flavored. However, if you want nuts, or candy, you can just open one up and try it. They don't mind.

The employees were even walking up to us and having us try different ones. So once we got comfortable with this, we just moseed around and tried different one. Then when we were going to buy a small bag of some that we liked, they gave it to us for free! Awesome!

I am enjoying being able to share with my students more about Christmas and listen to some Christmas carols and do different games and activities. I can't believe that it is coming up so soon! We hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas as well! We will miss you all as well this Christmas year!

Love, -Shane and Lisa and Benny

The Dangers of Eating in China.......

2008-12-06T19:27:00.000-08:00

If only I had pictures to add, but I don't. This will be a short blog, but I couldn't leave it out. In China, Shane and I often eat fish. It is a common food here and they do it rather well. The dis-advantage of fish here is that they don't just serve you fish...nat they serve you a fish-complete with skin, bones, head, tail, and nice beady eyes. The Chinese usually make a nice piles of discarded bones on the table next to them- and sometimes the bones can be very small and sharp.
Again, in lisa fashion, while eating dinner a forked bone actually went THROUGH my tongue- all the way. Being that it was forked, I had no idea which way to try and pull it out.This caused a bit of commotion in the restaurant staff (fortunately we were the only ones there) and after much gesturing and a sad attempt at chinese (being that my tongue was sticking out of my mouth) they brought me a mirror. Successfully, and with much pain, I pulled the bone out through my tongue. Oh....China.

(And Shane, being the great husband that he is, was only laughing a bit. I don't think he realized that it was all the way through. Only that it had pierced me.) At first they brought me a tooth-pick, but then after seeing what was happening... and laughing/smiling a bit I might add, they got a mirror. )
Shane was trying to reach over and get it out for me, but I was afraid of it hurting me, but I wasn't even able to say NO. Rather, only vain attempts at sounds with my tongue hanging out of my mouth. Hahaha. It was quite an ordeal. :)

The Champions! (at least in our minds)

2008-12-06T19:12:00.000-08:00

So just a few shots from our recent

badmitton experience. Sorry our camera's action ability stinks! However, we were delighted to find that our gymnasium has an entire (large) room dedicated to badmitton, and another large room dedicated to ping pong. You can come to the gym and rent out equipment quite cheaply and play all day. We came and played for several hours with some Chinese friends (not our students) and generally held our own. We both love badmitton and ping pong, so we came to the right place. Since then, we've had several invitations to go back, which we hope we will have time to accept. We have noticed the Chinese, at least in our college area, are SO much more active than Americans. The students are always outside, walking, playing basketball, doing something. The older people are often walking or at 8 am each morning a group of maybe 15 old women are outside are apartment brandishing their swords with tai chi.

In other news, we had a FANASTIC thanksgiving here with a group of foreigners we spend a lot of time with. They were kind to invite us into their group. We had everything from stuffing, turkey, green beans, and mash potatoes- even to refried bean dip! However, unlike thanksgiving, there were no leftovers. Food like this is precious and extremely expensive so it was all promptly demolished. I hope we can include some pictures, but we forgot our camera so we'll have to ask someone to send it. In usual Lisa style, I burnt my hand that morning making chocolate chip cookies. They still tasted good though:)

The good, the bad, and the pee-er

2008-11-18T00:59:00.001-08:00

So... our little bunny who has the potential to be all so cute, fluffy and lovely also has a bad side to him as well. We, lacking first the ability to sit down and think about our decision to purchase a rabbit and the responsibilities it would entail, also lacked the judgement about how to best raise and care for this little bunny.

We had read that rabbits can be house-trained. All one needs to do apparently is to use some newspaper that has been dipped in his pee and that will attract him to the same place to pee again. However, we did not have a "beeny proof cage." The cage that you can see above was in laughable condition to Benny. In just a few days, he could easily jump out of the cage in one clear jump. When we escalated to a much larger box. However, he would jump and claw himself up to the corner of it and hop out. Or, he would repeatedly try and hit the roof of the box until it caved in and would then allow him an escape.

Therefore, Benny won the first battle and was given free reign around the house. This proved to be disastrous and confusing for both Benny and us. We think that because he had so much territory to roam and constantly explore for food (as this rabbit never stops eating/looking) he just peed whenever and wherever. This includes as you can see... lisa's slippers, my nice leather briefcase that I bought, both of my jackets here, me twice, poop on my shoulder, and constant other places around the house.

This is why Lisa and I were ready to give this little sucker up for a new adoption! Haha. Yet, there are other days where he is great and a lot of fun to watch and play with, as when Lisa and I took him outside near our house to play and eat some wild food instead of eating us out of house and home.

(We also figured out that though he loves celery, he is definitely a CHINESE BUNNY, and if you read the last post, likes to share what he has with us. So therefore, celery makes him pee constantly. We had friends over last night and were playing Settlers (I came back from last place and won. Yay!) and he peed 3x's in like a span of 8 minutes. It's amazing to see how quickly and how much comes out of this little guy.

Also, he can poop a lot too. We have finally gotten him pretty much litter trained. Of course, we don't have a container. Just a cardboard box and newspaper, which we have to keep buying new supplies of. Lisa was laughing that some democrats may like the use of newspaper, as it had GW Bush on it, and was being used for his pee catcher.

He is a great fellow, but who would have known that a dog may have been easier than a bunny. I still like to pick him up and play with him, but it can be under constant fear of the next pee attack! Ha-ha!

Under-wear on the Flag Pole

2008-11-18T00:33:00.000-08:00

It's interesting to think that in America one of the most embarrasing acts to do to somebody would be to take their private clothing and hang it up for everyone to see.

However, as you can obviously see... China does not adopt that philosphy! Haha. What's mine is yours is certainly the idea here.

This applies to things such as personal space: where the other day when the bus was so crowded that people were literally hanging out the door as the bus was taking off from a stop. And, because of the lack of space, I was definitely spooning with the person behind me. Haha.

Also, the what's mine is yours idea applies to eating and dining. They would like you to know what food they ate for lunch as the bones and other inedible food has been left for you in a nice, little pile on the table. It's just really strange to see people eat this way, where all of a sudden they just spit up the bones and other materials right onto the table.

However, I will admit that I have adopted this at times when I'm eating pork meat and then all of a sudden come to some real grisle or tough part of the meat that I can't eat. When Lisa and I bought some ground up pork meat for taco's, there definitely were about 7-8 times that I spit some of the meat up as I couldn't chew it.

I was pleased to hear last night that one of our Chinese friends here doesn't enjoy eating fish that much. He, like us, doesn't enjoy all of the sharp little bones getting caught in your throat and stabbing you. Glad to know that we are not the only ones.

Finally, I pity the people who have to clean out the desks in our classrooms. China just really is an interesting culture. It's not that we are better, it's just goes with the more indiviualistic nature. As you can see from the picture and the above observations, people just share and put their stuff everywhere. In class, they leave all of their trash and junk in the desks. They wait for someone else to come by and clean it up. I just haven't gotten used to the idea of dirty empty wrappers and have consumed drinks all in the desks.

People know that I'm not the cleanest person, but I do have a thing with food. I don't like food being left out too much, or to a point at least. But this idea of trash being left everywhere applies to the street also. People just throw their trash into these 2 feet high concrete squares with a high opening in the front, or right onto the street. By the end of the night, the refuse is pouring out from them. Someone then comes by and sweeps everything up.

Oh, and speaking of sweeping everything up... you know that the street sweeper is approaching because it plays the ice cream truck songs! Haha. We got a kick out of that as we heard it approach. Good thing there weren't any little American children with us, as instead of ice cream that would have been blasted by water to clean the dust off the street.

In conclusion, none of these things are bad as long as you don't let it get to you. I will admit that seeing not only clothes hanging from the BRANCHES OF TREES but also FISH, that I was a bit shocked. Yes, fish were hanging from tree branches to dry out I guess. Underneath a humongous rabbit in a cage that was waiting to you know what.... China...an interesting, adventure filled place. :) -Shane and Lisa

Basic Observations of China

2008-11-13T02:25:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd like to do some basic observations, good and bad, just to record this thoughts of mine for anyone interested, and for myself. I will try to always balance the negative observation with a positive one, sometimes related, sometimes not. This will hopefully reveal my thoughts about my surroundings.

N: The electricity is rather unstable, sometimes going out, or only carrying a very small charge so you can't run very many things at once (like the heat and the fridge).
P: I am grateful to HAVE electricty so often. I am sure there are rurual areas that still don't have it.

N: People sometimes laugh at me because I don't understand their Chinese.
P: More often, people are very patient and try to help me. Lately the lady at the grocery store has been telling me the chinese names of the items Im buying. How kind!

N: Things are much more expensive than people think. Its a bit crazy.
P: We are used to managing our money, and given that we don't have to pay rent, we can still afford most things we need/ want. Probably in some ways we are "wealthier" than in the U.S. at least while we are living in China.

N: There are NO mexican restaurants in this city...not one.
P: I will appreciate Tex-Mex all the more when I return...and I can buy some ingredients to make my own Mexican at the foreign store.

N: The food is rather spicy and oily.
P: The food is salty (which I love) and cheap enough to eat out a lot.

N: I always have to go to the grocery store for fresh foods.
P: Yay fresh foods! And veggiesand fruits are cheaper here than in the U.S. Its good to et veggies.

N: Its challenging to do things without speaking Chinese.
P: We have been surrounded with so much help (foreigners and english speaking chinese), that the challenge of it is greatly diminished.

N: The weather here changes ALL the time. It crazy- even the students say so.
P: Makes life an adventure. Plus today all of a sudden it was warm enough to wear a t-shirt, in mid-november.

N: Our neighbors have loud chickens...and people set off fireworks at all hours ofevery day.
P: I love to see that glimpse of china (the chickens) as it probably once was. Hey- maybe he'll have us over for a chicken dinner:) mm...

N: Our apartment is actually colder than the outside- yes, no lie.
P: This has some advantages in the summer I suppose.

N: We live in a city, so there aren't too many rolling hills, etc. Certainly not my disney idea of China.
P: Going to the city at night always feels like 'going out' with all the lights and huge buildings. PLUS we have a lot more modern convenicnes than we would else were.

N: Public transportation is ridiculously crowded...you'd never believe the buses.
P: Public transporation is readily available and cheap. A blessing for sure.

N: We of course miss our friends and family from home.
P: We have made many wonderful friends, foreigners and chinese a like, that we will miss grateful.

N: The public smoking here is atrocious, absolutely absurd! Not to mention the pollution.
P: Unrelated- you can't beat a shorter work week. It definetely has its advantages. Shane and I sometimes feel like we are in college again, as we go to classes and often hang out with the college age students.

N: Sometimes students here are suprisingly immature, maybe the only child syndrome.
P: Students are generally much more respectful and also, they are immature in good ways. They aren't so 'knowledgeable' about violence and sex as Americans are- definetely good!

N: The clothes often don't fit me- I am too big. Or they just aren't my style.
P: The women dress modestly. What a breath of fresh air for everyone.

That is all for my basic observations for now. More to come!

Window of the World

2008-11-11T07:56:00.001-08:00

This was called "Lover's Fingerprint Magpie Bridge." It was said that the Herd-boy and Weaving girl were permitted to meet only once a year, on each 7th day of the seventh lunar month (the chinese have two calendars, one regular and one following the lunar cycle), when a thousand magpies formed a bridge for them to pass over to the River of Heaven. On the 7th day of the 7th lunar month in 2004, there were 2,000 lovers who pressed their fingerprints down into these molds to form the brick bridge, showing true love. :)

So last week we had kind of a crazy schedule. There was supposed to be a sports meeting to be held on the weekend. However, as you know from my previous camping blog entry, it rained that entire week prior and weekend. Therefore, since it naturally became nice and sunny the day after my camping trip, the school decided to hold their sports event in the middle of the week: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Therefore, Lisa and I no longer had to teach on Tuesday. We decided to try and check out this amusement park that we had heard about called: The Window of the World./" Lisa and I really had a great time. It was nice to have a date together and to do something like this.

I found out that this is Changsha's most expensive project. Inside, you can find little miniturettes of various places, such as the Great Pyramids, London Bridge, Leaning Tower of Piza, Japanese Garden (life-size), the castle that Disneyworld was built after, and more. I tell you what though, it was very strange to walk around and see things like Red Square in a scale model that you could just walk up and climb on if you wanted.

Many of the actual rollercoasters and other rides were not open, so that kind of stunk, but we were able to do a lot of fun things there. It was definitely worth our one visit there though!

Camping with the Cows

2008-11-08T01:58:00.000-08:00

Uploading images to this blog is somewhat weird, so I guess first you can see some pictures of a memorable hiking trip that I went on. Below is one of my friends that I have met here named Ian. He speaks very well due to the americanization influence of various bands and it's culture. Makes for interesting conversation too with his outlook on things. Hopefully our light can be seen and known in him. We also went to a small concert a couple of weeks ago. That was a funny time.

Last week one of my friends that I have met here asked me and Lisa if we wanted to go camping to a place called "Moon Island." It is given that name due to the cresent shaped island. As the picture above shows, it is a smallish valley with few trees. There is a large river on one side, and a small river on the other. However, as I was soon to find out that next morning, there are wild cows and even horses that freely roam this island! As I was trying to sleep that night I could hear the cows mooing. In the dark you don't know exactly how close they are, but the 1st picture above gives you an idea! Ha-ha.

The whole event though proved to be quite a debacle as I agreed to meet my friend the week before to buy some camping equipment. We had been told that tents and sleeping bags are not that expensive. However, when we went to the camping store, it was 500RMB for a tent, and 100-300RMB for a sleeping bag, and then you need a blanket, and so on. We tried to go to another store, but encountered the same problem. It looked as if this trip was going to cost about 800RMB!

Finally, we found out that we could just rent a tent. We still bought a sleeping bag, because after finding out that the winters get SO cold here that a girl we met from Minnesota/Wisconsin slept with full clothes, several blanket layers, and hot water bottles in her bed last winter, we decided it wouldn't be a bad idea. I just bought a cheapy one at Walmart, of which I was teased about while we were out there camping.

But, at this point, Lisa was not so interested in going. I had already now spent 3 full days trying to go around and find the stuff that we needed. Also, it had been POURING down rain for 3 days and the weather forecast didn't show anything different. So that day Lisa punked out, but to a guy... let's reassess the situation.

1. You have hiking and camping to an island in the pouring down rain and cold.

2. You have no hiking boots because the ones you bought don't quite fit your big feet. (It kind of stinks having big feet over here. That and the underwear over here is just laughable. Unless I wanted to buy a red speedo looking thing! Haha)

3. I didn't have time to really buy any real type food to eat. Just a lot of breads and protein from peanut butter, pistacios and peanuts. So, with all that in mind, I was definitely game for some adventure.

So, with all the said and done, I met my friend Ian, and began our long journey there. We must have been a strange sight trying to take a crowded bus with huge packs on in the pouring down rain. We we got the the last stop where we now had to begin walking, one of the other guys tried to put on the litte "booties" that you wear over your shoes to keep floors clean! Oh, and I forgot to mention that he had a pink umbrella with flowers that he was using. So.... you have three grown men with manly packs on, but bright blue booties on our feet, and a pink umbrella walking through this town. Haha.

We then came to this like mile stretch of just mud. We were walking along the bank of a river that had been pounded by rain and was under construction for I guess a road. So it was just orangish clay/ mud with puddles everywhere. I was wearing glasses for I thought for camping it would be better than contacts to sleep in. I could hardly see where I was going due to the rain coming into my face. Also, I had decided to wear some nylon type cargo pants. However, they don't have a belt, only a pretty much broken drawstring. That were already loose on me back home. But now with the weight I have lost here, plus having things in the pockets, and a heavy pack pushing down on the back of them, my pants kept falling down. I was in a hurry when Ian called to pick him up, so the belt that I grabbed also, does not go tight enough! So that was funny trying to walk with one hang holding my pants up through the mud and rain with a pack.

When we finally got there, all of our shoes became soaked after trying to reach this cool little house we saw there. My friend said that it must have been some sort of earth temple that a farmer built. But I was purposely walking at the end of the line so as to, (and correctly s0) find out where there was water. This of course being noticed whenever you hear a groan and an "Oh no!" as their step suddenly sinks and water comes rushing into their shoe! Ha-ha.

So, we were trying to approach this house looking building, thinking it would be cool to get out of rain. They stepped in a puddle and soaked thier feet, but at this point they were close to the house and didnt' care. I tried to go the long way around. After about 5-10 minutes of trying to find a way to reach them, they were just like: come on! and I ran through a big puddle. Not one minute later did my friend approach the house and say that we couldn't tent there because of all the rain! Arrgh...

So, we pitched out tent in a little round clearing. I was grateful for a patch of tall grass near us that I began clearning and using for bedding on top of the soaked grass to keep my drier. Of course, I had to laugh the next morning because it was this same long grass that I was so happy about that drew the cows late at night and early the next morning. There is nothing like being woken at night by a mooing cow and wondering how close it is. It's a good thing that I couldn't quite tell until the morning. Haha.

It was hard to sleep all cramped up. I had bought some foam padding that I slept on top of, but I couldn't quite stretch my legs out because literally, a small puddle had formed at the back of my tent. But, I had brought my I-pod and just listened to some great music and sermons. It really was a sweet time just laying there listening and growing from it all.

Around 1am, I prayed that God would have me fall asleep because I just couldn't sleep. I would turn on one side, and then the other. And mind you that we had decided to go to bed around 7pm! No lie! We were so tired from the hike that after we were in our somewhat dry tents and had dinner, we decided that it was too cold to go into the other persons tent to hang out. Plus the idea of a fire was ludicrous.

But anyways, He must have granted my request, because I like blacked out and don't remember ANYTHING after that. All I knew now was that it was morning. Haha!

I explored the island a little bit and then the next morning we just hung out and talked. It stopped raining for a few hours, in which we walked around the island a bit. On the way home, it began to rain again, but I just listened to another great sermon to keep my mind off of the aching shoulders. Was a good time though!

A Great Vision, a Longing for Home

2008-11-07T00:17:00.000-08:00

I think its time for me to post, Shane usually does all the Blogs:) I believe it will be my experience in China to have this duel emotion- a great vision and passion to be here, and a desire also for the things of home: friends, family, food, and convenience.

So I decided these two pictures represent both. The picture on the left is Shane and I enjoying a real American meal (Steak, Mac and Cheese, and Green Beans) made possible by the lovely care packages my Mother and Jay have sent from the U.S. We are SO grateful. The picture on the right is from one of our "dates" a couple of weeks ago. Back when the weather was nice (sigh..) we took a walk along a river near our college. The setting sun (gorgeous even through the obviously smoggy sky), and our path provided a perfect view of the city in which we are living, teaching, and have a passion to help. We were able to pause from our walk to look out over the city and remember the many reasons why we have come, and to have great hope. These two months have been such an experience, I have learned so much. I am very glad to be here, especially now that things are really going in the direction we'd hoped. I am being more familiar and comfortable with the food here, and mom & jay's care packages have helped with some of the things we miss. (Jennifer- I"m on my last bag of Dove dark chocolate- what a blessing they have been). Perhaps now that I'm getting a bit used to the spice, I'll think American food is boring. Things are busier now for many reasons, good and ok. Shane was also asked by the college to teach two extra courses (four hours extra a week) which he volunteered to do, so his blog time is gone. This week, we had off on Tuesday and Wednesday for a special sports meeting (but you don't get to 'miss' school here, so now we teach Saturday and Sunday). I am continuing to practice Chinese, slowly but surely. I can order food and do some other basic things. I need a lot more practice. I am finding that I am enjoying alone time...those of you that know me well might be shocked. I have always said that I need little, "me" time, but here I've come to cherish those few hours when Shane has classes and I don't, to get things done, read the word, and do some cleaning. (I am always cleaning here...the dust is constant). Shane and I have started reading 'The Chronicles of Narnia" (we have all 7 books here) and that is a great way to spend some rare and precious alone time together. This week, on the Tuesday class was canceled, we also went to "window of the world", which has some rides but is more of a cultural exhibition- it has minitature models of the 7 wonders of the world, plus some other famous buildings (like the white house, etc). It was definetely interesting- and the signs had English! Shane and I have had a hair cut, as scary as that was to do with such poor Chinese skills, but they both turned out quite nicely:) Last week was Halloween, and we went to a Halloween party with our friend Cynthia, where they told ghost stories and had yummy food! We took a few students as well, so we had a good time. I hope we'll be able to post soon- Shane should upload some pictures from his camping trip this past weekend: He went all weekend with a couple of guys camping in the pouring ran- real 'man' stuff. So I'll let him do that blog. Much love to all our family and friends- keep in touch, come visit us, and be thinking of Benny- he's acting strangely. (Once I was afraid he'd die I wanted to keep him). Love, love, love!

Chinese Dinner and cheer!

2008-10-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday, two of our students came over to our apartment to cook for us an authentic and local style chinese dinner! It was a lot of fun. They are one of my highest classes and just really great. These students also come with me on Tuesday night for an English Corner at a really great coffee house about 20 minutes by bus. Kevin is very motivated and plans on going to Holland after passing the IELTS which is the language test needed to pass in order to travel to either England, Ireland, or the Netherlands. He tries very hard and is very helpful. A really great guy, polite, fun and respectful.

Jasmine as I named her is a bundle of energy and joy. Her whole face lights up as you can see in the picture over just about anything. It is a good feeling though to be walking up the stairs to class and hearing her shout: "Oh, Miller!" as she jumps up and claps her hands.

When they came over though, our apartment was not even ready though. Our apartment's water had been turned off. (Remember: Murphy's Law post.) Evidently, the school failed to pay our water bill and so they turned the water off on us. All we had to do though was call our foreign helper and she had it turned back on. It just meant another day of no shower.

The bad thing though was that we had a whole big pile of dishes in the sink that we couldn't get done in time before they came. All Jasmine said when she came into the kitchen was: "Oh.."

But they are so great! They actually began helping us clean even though it was our job. Jasmine began collecting things and putting them in the refrigerator! She just basically thought that everything goes into it. So things like the crackers on our table and things like that, Lisa was pleasantly surprised to find: were sitting there in our fridge once we opened them.

The worst part though was that I actually forgot about some rice that I had made in our rice cooker. (And btw, I hadn't made any rice for like 2 weeks.) So when Jasmine went to make rice, she was greeted by a quite foul, brownish glutonous mess/muck. I felt so embarrassed! I can't believe I forgot to clean that out. So that took quite some time to have disinfected and de-smelly.

It was a great time though. We tried duck eggs and wings. A type of soup, green beans and other items. I look forward to doing more things with them in the future. Loving China! -S & L

Benny the Bunny!

2008-10-28T17:25:00.001-07:00

I apologize for the lack of an update/post. Our internet stopped working last Friday night and was finally back up and working yesterday afternoon. When the guy finally came over, it only took him literally about 2 minutes to fix it! It so frustrating because I was working on it for hours and hours thinking there was a virs or something. I shouldn't say frustrating, should be humbling at how skilled he is and how skilled I am not. But I suppose it really did give me a chance to read more and see about any virus's on the computer.

But anyhow... as you can see... Lisa and I now have a new addition to our family! Yay! We bought him on an impulse buy last Thursday after class. We had been seeing a lot of very, very cute puppies all around and had been thinking about getting a dog. However, when we saw a vendor selling fish, turtles and bunnies right on the street out front of our school, we bought one!

His name is Benny the Bunny. (Although to tell you the truth, we aren't quite sure if he is a boy or girl. But don't tell "him" that. Ha-ha) He's a very active little critty. He loves to run around and play. Lisa was trying to teach him his name last night by calling him and beckonining him over with food. Which, I should tell you, is his favorite job. (Lisa and him are related. Ha-ha) This little guy can eat, and eat, and eat.

We looked up rabbit care on Thursday, but then of course, since we haven't had the internet until yesterday, we haven't known anything else about care for him. He's still doing great though. We learned that rabbits evidently have 70% of their diet as hay, but there isnt' any hay available here. He has been getting celerly, carrots as treats since they have more sugar and shouldn't be given a whole lot, cabbage, green beans he apparently discovered last night, bread he even eats, and that's about it thus far. We have to go to Wal-Mart and get him some raddish and other foods.

We just don't know yet how much he should be eating. Need to look that up. This guy is always foraging and looking for food. I hide the food all around the room to make him look for it.

Lisa was actually getting tired of him already! Terrible! She wanted to re-sell him to somebody! We just didn't know at the time that rabbits are more care than we thought. He isn't quite potty trained yet as that was annoying to clean up his pee in different areas around the room. It smells worse than dog pee btw too in case you were interested! Ha-ha.

But he is definitely adorable and fun to play with. Has his own personality and loves to get into trouble by exploring into rooms he is not allowed. He try to only keep him in the living room b/c of his peeing and all.
He says hi to everyone. Definitely brings us some cheer here. :)

Hello, my name is ice cream cone

2008-10-21T02:01:00.000-07:00

Many of the students over here do not have an English name, so it has become me and Lisa's habit of selecting names for our students. There is a Chinese teacher over here who purposely gave many of his students CRAZY names such as the one in this title! Don't get me wrong, he is a great teacher and very funny. He spent a little bit of time in England and became pretty westernized. He is known as the movie king. If we ever need any movies, we can just go and see him.
Speaking of movies though, it has been somewhat hard for us because movies are very easy to come by over here, but they are illegally downloaded and made. We don't want to support pirating. So far, we have been watching the available Harry Potter's that one of our friends has over here. I have seen the 'Dark Knight' on DVD over here, but I haven't been able to watch it yet still! An Irish friend that we met here (but was leaving to go back to Ireland as we came in) had it, but I wasn't able to watch it in time. So we are having our family send us some over to watch over here in our downtime.
I had a student who was named Leave and she finally just today selected a name that I offered to her. We are now in week 8. I met her in week 4! Ha-ha. I thought that Christina fit her well, but she didn't like that, along with a whole barrage of other names that I offered to her. I gave her and the rest of the class a list of 100 popular boys names, as well as 100 popular girls names along with their meaning. None were suitable!
It is funny also the change in both Lisa and I now that we have named several students. I feel a lot of weight and responsibility when I name someone because of how important a name is. But trust me, after having entire classes of: (iceman, killer, pencil, flower, pumpkin(who still hasn't changed her name yet!), big pie, kobe(all of the boys want kobe or michael or jordan) sweet, and just weird names that they hear in a movie and try to translate into English.
I have been asked to teach two more classes also since one of the teachers from Ireland has not arrived here yet. Today was my first day of that, but I had a lot of fun. In the first class, their English is pretty good, so we did a murder mystery that I bought off of the internet. It is hilarious, with a bunch of twists in the story. In the end, all of the party members are arrested by the police for various crimes that they have committed anyways, so they are really thrown off guard with that.
In the other class, I had to prepare them for Role plays that they will have to perform in six weeks. That should be good. Most of them should be prepared for that. I also introduced them to what Halloween was. We may play some Halloween games such as bobbing for apples and such.
The weather here is still very, very nice. The locals have been surprised that it is still this warm this late in the year. Of course, Lisa and I don't mind at all. A shorter winter will be nice after we have heard how cold it gets. We thought that since this is somewhat Southern China, it won't be a problem, but I guess not. While the temperature isn't really below freezing, it is a real wet cold. And you can't escape it because the buildings do not have heat in them. Our apartment has one heating unit and a small portable one, but that is it. There is not central air.
We met a girl hear from Minnesota/Wisconsin who said last year she slept with hot water bottles in her bed to keep her warm! So that is saying something. Just a damp, wet cold. We will see. :) Trying to build a lot of relationships now as people may soon be indoors more and not outside as much. Love, -Shane and Lisa

Murphy's Law

2008-10-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

I know that it has been a little while since our last post. The only real days that I have to post anything seems to be either on Tuesday or Wednesday morning. I am fortunate to have both of those days off, with the rest of my week days busy teaching and doing other things.

Monday is a really enjoyable day for me. I have one class at 10-12, and then have lunch with Lisa. Then I have one of my best classes at 2 until 3:45. Following that, I have been playing basketball with some of the freshman students. Many of them are pretty good. It has been really good for me to hang around with these guys and just have some good ole guy fun. For the first couple of weeks, I was only meeting woman.

1. They are more bold to just come up and talk with you, giggle, and want to meet me.

2. Second, there are more woman at this school in general for some reason.

However, father provides and I am now starting to meet more guys and enjoy their company.

The above picture is a laughable situation that Lisa and I have had this past week. When we talk to prospective students, we almost want to tell them: "Don't expect things to work in your apartment.....ever." Ha-ha. Of course, that isn't true, but being as we are still in the beginning phase here, you definitely have to be flexible and forgiving.

When we returned home from Shanghai and hoping for a nice hot, relaxing shower, we found that there wasn't any hot water. I had also gone running that evening, so I was already sweaty. I (grossly) decided to just try and sleep and see if it would be better in the morning. It of course wasn't and so a nice cold shower awaited me. I am glad for the ice cold 5 minute showers that I had to get at Creation-fest several years back. Compared to those, this wasn't so bad. Those things literally knock the breath out of you when you are first hit by the water.

So, Lisa and I had to wait around for the guys to come and fix it. When they came over, they saw that they needed a new part. (This would now take another day.) So, I neglected to shower that day and just take a cologne bath. Wasn't too nice.

The rust and brownish water on the floor was from them taking out the hot water heater.

The funny thing though, is that whe they took out the hot water heater, they had to move the washing machine. (Mind you, we had been gone in Shanghai and had built up some laundry, even from before we left.)

When I tried to put the washing machine back after we had hot water, one of the pieces had been broken. It was now the weekend with that also, so we had to wait until yesterday to get that fixed.

Ha-ha. In an act of desperation as my underwear supply had all but gone out. (I was on my last pair,) I tried to go to the A-best, which is like a Walmart grocery store. The ones in there kind of scared me, so I braved it and we were glad to see that it was fixed in time. Ha-ha.

It's just funny how when one thing gets fixed, another breaks. However, father has given us a light heart about the various situations.

I was thinking to myself though, that I am getting somewhat tired of always stepping in water. Due to the bathroom normally being somewhat wet from me and Lisa's shower, you just tend to always step in some water as you are passing in and out of that area. But this was also due to the washing machine being fixed and spilling a lot of water.

We are embracing our new home here, quirks and all. The people and friends that we have met are great. I know that we will already miss it greatly when we leave. Also, our sunday friends had a GREAT teaching that really spoke to both of our hearts. (Lisa and I). It was on two men with debts, one being 50 denari, and the other 500. I think Lisa shared this with some. Was really great insight into how our lives should reflect love and gratitude and just the way we now live with a great debt being paid. How fortunate we are friends! We love you all and hope to hear from you! -The Millers

Shanghai sights! :)

2008-10-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

Here you can see the crowds we were always facing! I didn't handle it that well that times. :( but took it before Father.

Here are some pictures inside of the Jade Buddha Temple. I was glad to see the saddened heart that Lisa was given from the people praying to man-made images. It really re-affirmed her travel here and the needs of the people. Monks live here also and recite prayers in some of the rooms. The fire you can see is frequently lit with incense towards the dead.

Below is a picture of the Pearl tv tower. It is a very famous attraction here.

It is actually taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris! Because of the long lines it took us about 3 hours of waiting in line until we could reach the top. It was pretty expensive also. However, we met an Australian couple later on line that we were able to talk with for a short bit. They had been doing a whirlwind tour of various places all around China. They were nice to chat with.
At the top of the tower is where you are provided with a great view of the Bund, which is Shanghai's French/English shopping & commerical district. There are river tour boats which go along the river and provide you with a view of the many lights and sights. We walked there one night after a VERY long day and once again faced the many, many crowds. It took us forever to herd our way to the tunnel to cross the road onto the other side where we could finally get a taxi for our ride home. Thankfully, a kind Chinese man allowed us to use his taxi as he would wait for another. It was so crowded that it was very hard to get a taxi. And the fees are up that it costs 11 yuan just to enter. (The normal rate here in Changsha is 1.6), but it was well worth it.

Lisa's favorite part of the Pearl TV tower was the very large and

extensive wax museum at the bottom of the tower. She said that the wait would have been MUCH better had the long line winded through the wax museum first. However, it was very nice to quietly make our way through it after the crowds and long lines. The museum did an excellent job of telling the history of Shanghai, from early on to the slow encroachment of foreign British and English settlers and their influence. We actually weren't even able to see all of it because we had dinner plans with the British couple who were also seeing Shanghai over the break.

This is a view from the top of the Pearl Tower. There are

so many skyscrapers in Shanghai that it just overwhelms you and doesn't affect you any more. Actually, from the top of buildings such as this and our hotel, they actually look like a fake building set. You just see one identical tower after another. It is such a weird view. Really does look fake and something that you could just knock down and send them all toppling domino effect.

This is another view from the top. You can see a river boat along the river and some beautiful French influenced buildings.

Me in front of the Pearl Tower. They have concerts here at night also. It becomes insanely crowded at night also. Some of the metro lines stop because of the crowds also. The band performing the night we were there kind of resembled Shakira. However, the sound equipment was messing up a bit and the speakers would mess up every now and then. We didn't stay for it though. No use seeing a woman shaking all around with a short top on right? Little children slide down concrete slides that go along the stairs also. We ate that night inside of a shopping mall where Lisa was delighted to find an Italian restaurant and receive spaghetti! She was surprised to see that I still ordered a rice dish! She would think that I would become tired of eating rice all the time! My insides are definitely going to be full of Chinese "bugs" so to speak. Our friends that we have met here could not handle American food for a little while when they returned home because of how their stomach changed over here. We will likely face that problem. I only had mild problems adjusting, while Lisa has had a little more difficult time.

a farm fresh morning, every morning....

2008-10-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

So at about 8am EVERY morning, we have several lovely friends downstairs who love to give us a wake up call! And if that doesn't wake us up, our neighbor will play some traditional Chinese instruments on his back porch, which is right next to us.

The very first day we thought the sound of the instrument was really cool, but it is serving us now as a way to ensure that we never sleep in. (At least I get up early now every morning and get work done I suppose. :)

We are guessing that the neighbor keeps them for eggs. We haven't seen any other people keeps chickens anymore. That must have been more common longer ago. Every day that I see them, they do look more and more appealing to eat! Especially since they love to squawk every morning! Maybe he will have a Thanksgiving feast with them! The demise of the chicken! No, it's creating memories for us here.

We have tried to talk with our neighbor from the very limited amount of Chinese that we know, but we think that he may only speak in the Changsha dialect here because he hasn't seemed to really understand what we have been saying to him.

The wife though, (I don't know if Lisa shared this story yet,) one time led us all the way down the hill from our apartment in the search for water. We had run out of drinking water and did not know how to order more. She just put on her slippers and away we went down the hill looking for the water guy!

And, as far as pets, there are also some kittens nearby as well. Although, haha, I have to be careful at night-time with those little suckers! There is a green plastic trashcan that people all put their trash in for collection and those cats like to go in there and rummage around for food. One time I was coming up the hill and passing nearby it, when a cat jumped out right in front of me and scampered away! Now I always kind of clap or make some sort of noise if I am passing by it.

And speaking of cats, one of them REALLY frightened me at night. I was walking up the stairs to our second floor apartment, (which can be very poorly lit at night) when I saw this large shadow coming down the steps toward me! I couldn't see much of anything and taught that it was a rat because all I saw was black! It then leapt towards me, landed on the window sill right beside me, and then bounded to the left and down the stairs! I shouted in surprise so loud that Lisa came to the door to check on me!

The lights in the hallway are activated by noise! Sort of like clap on, clap offs! But for some reason, the walk to our apartment is pretty dark with poor lighting. Also, our particular hallway lights can be very dim at times. I think the cat fixed it that way for that particular night! Getting me ready for Halloween huh? :) -Shane

The most expensive breakfast EVER and XXXL dresses!

2008-10-04T04:45:00.000-07:00

Even though this blog will encompass a lot (be prepared to sit a while), I wanted to have a catchy title. In fact, we couldn't wait to get back to share this with you all, if any one reads. First of all, I know Shane sent out an update of my health (again). I am feeling better enough to write this email, and am grateful for the somewhat settling effect of pepto bismal. Today has been quite horrid for my health, but I continue to ask for strength and a positive attitude. On the good side, when I felt well enough I got to read a lot of a fabulous book called "When Sinners Say 'I do'". Highly recommended! I'm not sure what I"m supposed to learn from having constant health struggles here, but it is definetely refining. LouAnn- you said there'd be moments when we would need our conviction that this is where we should be, and I am glad to have it. Between the constant health issues and the culture shock, If i didn't have that conviction I would be in deep regret. I am grateful for the advice of an old spanish teacher on having an opening mind with culture shock (she told us this when we went to spain).: Some girls were complaining that Spaniards were rude because they didn't say excuse me when they bumped into you. The teacher, after acknowledg this observation, accounted how she thought Americans were rude when she first arrived in the US, because they would asked "how are you" and obviously not really care. Though I didn't have culture shock in Spain, her words have served me well here. When I am tempted, yet again, to irritation or even anger with the constant pushing and shoving, the exorbitant prices they give foreigners, the feeling of being cheated (like this morning when our taxi driving withheld some change of our fee for no reason) and most especially the lack of functional lines, I take some wise advice (thank you louann and paul) "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whwatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things." I think about how helpful individuals are here- how when we were lost in Shanghai one college student walked 25 minutes to show us how t get there, and he wasn't even going there! Or how 2 students here came to our apartment for 6 house to make our computer in english- and we didn't even know them! they were a friend of a friend! I think about LeighAnn back in the US and what a kind and generous person she is. That helps.

On to Shanghai updates: I must start with the breakfast. My wonderful husband/provider is continuosly shrewd and looking for ways to earn discounts or free stays to restaurants/hotels. One such thing is points on our Hilton Credit card. Through spending and taking surveys, he earned enough for us to stay two nights in a 5 star luxury Hilton in Shanghai. I've never stayed somewhere so beautiful! Located downtown and our 19th floor suite overlooking the jing'an buddhist temple, it was a great spot. I could go on and on about how nice it was, but lets get to the breakfast: So the hotel reminded us to come in the morning for a continental breakfast. When we went through the buffet line (omelets, crispy bacon, real us bread with chocolate nutella, fruit galore, meats, cheeses, etc), I came back to the table and told Shane I was having "heart palipitations" because of all the glorious food. He said, "Get ready to have another one," and handed me the bill- 423 yuan for breakfast!!! (Obviously we had 2nds, and 3rds, etc). All we could do was laugh and be glad we had brought enough money. This is around $70 US, which is still crazy for breakfast- but remember that our dollar to yuan earning is almost the same, so to us thats almost like a $423 breakfast! We paid 240 for our stay at another hotel, to put it in perspective.

Shanghai was a good experience, and I'm glad we went. I'm also glad we took a friends advice and only went 3 days. There were neat things to see there, such as the Jade Buddha temple (which had mohagany carvings dating from 200 ad), the Oriental Pearl Tower (the largest TV tower in China and overlooking at night a beatufiully lit up city on the water), the Shanghai Museum (my favorite, Shanghai's history in wax),The Bund, older commercial Shanghai with walkways on the water, and the Yu Gardens (created in the 16th century) which are surrounded by adorable traditional chinese buildings with bargaining shops. The Jade Buddha temple was a good and difficult experience for me. It is the first time I have physically seen multitudes of people bowing to worship statues of gilded stone, and my heart was broken. Of all things Shanghai, I most appreciated the English signs (which are generally lacking in Changsha) and especially the Western Food options. Although I think it was the ceasar salad my last night that has come back to punish me. These things are all interested and certainly if one is in China, they should go. We knowingly choose a crazy week, so often we were walking as if herded cattle. Imagine your worst crowd on a warm day at Disney World- then multiply it by 10 and make it last 3 days instead of 10 minutes. I am intensely grateful neither of us were robbed or separated from each other.

If my mom comes, I'll have to take her bargaining cuz I am just not good at it. I keep worrying about hurting peoples feelings, as if I'll insult their product by giving too low a price. We did get a few things though. - I tried to buy a beautiful Chinese dress and after the lady commented," big, big, big, you need larger" and motioning to my hips, she put me in a XXXL dress. Great one for the self esteem:) lol. So I bought a similiar looking "silk" shirt instead. Of course we got "real jade" turtle chopsticks for decoration. Again, I am grateful to be able to sit this long to write this email, thanks to many things including the creation of pepto finally kicking in. Peace out and hope to hear from you all!!

maybe Shanghai/ banquet pics

2008-09-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

So we are not going to the place in the picture I　ｐｏｓｔｅｄ　ｅａｒｌｉｅｒ．　Ｉｔ　ｅｎｄｅｄ　ｕｐ　ｔｈａｔ　ｔｈｅｒｅ　ｗａｓ　ｏｎｌｙ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｔｏ　ｂｅ　ｏｎｅ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｐｌａｃｅ，　ａｌｔｈｏｕｇｈ　ｖｅｒｙ　ｂｅａｕｔｉｆｕｌ，　ｉｓ　ｏｎｌｙ　ａｂｏｕｔ　４　ｈｏｕｒｓ　ａｗａｙ．　Ｔｈｅｒｅｆｏｒｅ，　ｗｅ　ｃａｎ　ｇｏ　ｔｈｅｒｅ　ｏｎ　ａ　ｌｏｎｇ　ｗｅｅｋｅｎｄ．　Ｗｅ　ｗａｎｔ　ｔｏ　ｔｒｙ　ｔｏ　ｕｓｅ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｔｏ　ｇｏ　ｓｏｍｅｗｈｅｒｅ　ｆｕｒｔｈｅｒ．　Ｉｔ　ｉｓ　ｓｔｉｌｌ　ｖｅｒｙ　ｄｉｆｆｉｃｕｌｔ　ｔｏ　ｔｒｙ　ａｎｄ　ｐｌａｎ　ｔｒａｖｅｌｉｎｇ　ｓｔｕｆｆ　ｗｈｅｎ　ｗｅ　ｄｏ　ｎｏｔ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｈｏｗ　ｔｏ　ｄｏ　ａｌｌ　ｔｈａｔ，　ａｎｄ　ｗｅ　ｄｏｎ＇ｔ　ｈａｖｅ　ｔｈａｔ　ｍｕｃｈ　ｈｅｌｐ　ｏｖｅｒ　ｈｅｒｅ．　Ｗｅ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｌｏｏｋ　ｉｎｔｏ　ｉｔ　ｍｏｒｅ　ｔｏｄａｙ．　Ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ　ｋｉｎｄ　ｏｆ　ｔｉｒｅｄ　ｏｆ　ｉｔ　ｒｅａｌｌｙ．　Ｉｔ　ｄｏｅｓ　ｇｅｔ　ｋｉｎｄ　ｏｆ　ｓｔｒｅｓｓｆｕｌ．

　　Ｙｅｓｔｅｒｄａｙ　ｗｅ　ｈａｄ　ａ　ｎｉｃｅ　ｌｕｎｃｈ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｓｏｍｅ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｆｏｒｅｉｇｎ　ｔｅａｃｈｅｒｓ　ｆｒｏｍ　ｏｕｒ　ｂｕｉｌｄｉｎｇ．　Ｔｈａｔ　ｗａｓ　ｖｅｒｙ　ｎｉｃｅ．　Ｍａｎｙ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｄｉｓｈｅｓ　ｌｏｏｋｅｄ　ｑｕｉｔｅ　ｓｔｒａｎｇｅ　ａｎｄ　ａｆｔｅｒ　ａｓｋｉｎｇ　ｗｈａｔ　ｅａｃｈ　ｏｎｅ　ｗａｓ，　ｏｎｅ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｅａｃｈｅｒｓ　ｊｕｓｔ　ｆｉｎａｌｌｙ　ｓａｉｄ： "just try it!"　I can imagine their bemusement at us questioning each and every dish that comes our way. 　Ｉｔ　ｉｓ　ｆｕｎｎｙ　ｔｈｏｕｇｈ　ｔｏ　ｓｅｅ　ｔｈｅｍ　ｔｒｙ　ａｎｄ　ｔｒａｎｓｌａｔｅ　ｗｈａｔ　ｗｅ　ａｒｅ　ｅａｔｉｎｇ．　

Ｔｈｅ　ｏｔｈｅｒ　ｄａｙ　ｗｅ　ｗｅｒｅ　ｅａｔｉｎｇ　ｄｉｎｎｅｒ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｔｗｏ　ｏｆ　ｍｙ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ　ｆｒｏｍ　ｃｌａｓｓ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈａｔ　ｔｒｉｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｏｆｆｅｒ　ｕｓ　ａ　ｃｌｅａｒ　ｓｏｕｐ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｓｅａｗｅｅｄ　ｉｎ　ｉｔ．　Ｓｈｅ　ｄｉｄｎ＇ｔ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｔｈｅ　ｗｏｒｄ　ｆｏｒ　ｓｅａｗｅｅｄ，　ｓｏ　ｗｅ　ｔｙｐｅｄ　ａｗａｙ　ａｔ　ｈｅｒ　ｔｒａｎｓｌａｔｅｒ　ａｎｄ　ｐｒｅｓｅｎｔｅｄ　ｍｅ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｔｈｅ　ｗｏｒｄ　＂ａｌｇａｅ！＂ Or with the meal yesterday, the mushrooms that I　ｗａｓ　ｅａｔｉｎｇ　（ａｎｄ　Ｉ normally don't like mushrooms, but these were good) were called "fungus！“　Ｉ　ｂｅｇａｎ　ｌａｕｇｈｉｎｇ　ａｎｄ　ｔｏｌｄ　ｔｈｅｍ　ｔｈａｔ　ｆｕｎｇｕｓ　ｉｓ　ｗｈａｔ　ｇｒｏｗｓ　ｉｎ　ｂｅｔｗｅｅｎ　ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ＇ｓ　ｔｏｅs
Ｔｈｅｎ　ｌａｔｅｒ　ｏｎ　ｔｈａｔ　ｅｖｅｎｉｎｇ，　ｍａｎｙ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｆｏｒｅｉｇｎ　ｔｅａｃｈｅｒｓ　ｆｒｏｍ　ａｌｌ　ａｒｏｕｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　Ｈｕｎａｎ　Ｐｒｏｖｉｎｃｅ　ｗｅｒｅ　ｉｎｖｉｔｅｄ　ｔｏ　a celebration dinner. The 4 foreigners who had contributed the most of the success of Changsha received an award. The president of the Hunan Province was also in attendance, along with performers and good food. I was plesently surprised to find that the food was not that bad. I know that sometimes at banquets, you can be presented with exotic and bizarre food.

However, I did end up eating small blackened／　ｃｒｉｓｐｅｄ　anchovies　ｏｒ　ｓｏｍｅ　ｏｔｈｅｒ　ｓｍａｌｌ　ｆｉｓｈ．　Ｔｈｅｎ，　Ｉtried another dish and after it was already in my mouth, did the other teacher tell me it was pig ear! Oh well.

It was nice to see our other teacher friends from the other schools that evening also. Furthermore, we got to talk a little deeper with our helper at our school and learn more about the family situation that he is going through. Keep him in your thoughts. It was good to learn about it and the possible dvrce b/c it developed more of a compassion for him. I know that it has been hard to not critize the lack of help with some things.

It is good to relax and get everything situated this week. It is funny to even see the chinese teachers just really burned out after just one month of teaching! Teaching is hard whether it's in America or China. But definitely my passion! Love you all! -Shane and Lisa

possible travels

2008-09-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

Hello dear friends!

This week is the national holiday. Many people travel during this time as it is a week off from work for the entire country. Lisa and I　ｐｌａｎ　ｏｎ　ｔｒａｖｅｌｉｎｇ　ａｓ　ｗｅｌｌ．　Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ，　ｗｅ　ｊｕｓｔ　ｄｏｎ＇ｔ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｗｈｅｒｅ　ａｓ　ｏｆ　ｙｅｔ．　Ｗｅ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｔｈａｔ　Ｂｅｉｊｉｎｇ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｂｅ　ＶＥＲＹ　ｃｒｏｗｄｅｄ．　Ｓｈａｎｇｈａｉ　ｗａｓ　ａ　ｐｏｓｓｉｂｉｌｉｔｙ　ａｓ　ｗｅｌｌ　ｓｉｎｃｅ　ｏｕｒ　Ｂｒｉｔｉｓｈ　ｎｅｉｇｈｂｏｒｓ　ｄｏｗｎｓｔａｉｒｓ　ａｒｅ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｔｈｅｒｅ．　Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ，　ｔｈａｔ　ｍａｙ　ｂｅ　ｃｒｏｗｄｅｄ　ａｓ　ｗｅｌｌ．

　　Ｉ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｔｈａｔ　Ｌｉｓａ　ｗａｎｔｓ　ｔｏ　ｄｏ　ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ　ｂｉｇ　ｌｉｋｅ　ｔｈａｔ　ｓｉｎｃｅ　ｗｅ　ｆｉｎａｌｌｙ　ｈａｖｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｃｈａｎｃｅ．　Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ，　Ｉ am somewhat leery as to the crowds and our still being new to everything.

Some of our students invited us to a place about 4hours south to go to for a couple of days.　Ｉ think that would be really cool to go with them and spend more time with them. The above picture is that of the place where our students want to take us. Here are some the highlights of the place:

the ziquejie qin people's terrace ,which was claimed to have a history of more than 2000 years and it is the largest and highest terrace in the world the national virgin forest park of the big bear moutain ,as you can see literally ,it is a virgin forest and it have many waterfalls there the meishan dragon palace ,it is a big and fantastic underground solution cavity,which has 9 layers

Ｗｈｅｎ　Ｉ　ｌｏｏｋｅｄ　ｕｐ　ｔｈｅ　ｐｌａｃｅ，　ｉｔ　ｉｓ　ａ　ｃｉｔｙ　ｏｆ　ａｂｏｕｔ　４　ｍｉｌｌｉｏｎ．　Ｃｈａｎｇｓｈａ　ｉｓ　６．６　ｍｉｌｌｉｏｎ．　Ｔｈｅ　ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ　ａｒｅ　ｏｎｌｙ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｆｏｒ　ａ　ｃｏｕｐｌｅ　ｏｆ　ｄａｙｓ，　ｗｈｉｃｈ　ｉｓ　ｎｉｃｅ．　Ｉ do not think there will be a whole lot to do there besides these sites. You never know though.

Tonight we are having a very important dinner with the president of the Hunan Provence. I　ｊｕｓｔ　ｆｏｕｎｄ　ｏｕｔ　ｔｈａｔ　ｏｕｒ　ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓ　ｆｒｏｍ　ａｎｏｔｈｅｒ　ｓｃｈｏｏｌ　ｍａｙ　ｂｅ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ａｓ　ｗｅｌｌ！　Ｔｈａｔ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｂｅ　ｖｅｒｙ　ｅｘｃｉｔｉｎｇ．　Ｉｔ　ａｌｓｏ　ｔｅｌｌｓ　ｍｅ　ｔｈａｔ　ｉｔ　ｍａｙ　ｂｅ　ａ　ｖｅｒｙ　ｌａｒｇｅ　ｆｕｎｃｔｉｏｎ　ｗｈｅｒｅ　ｙｏｕ　ｊｕｓｔ　ｓｅｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅｎ　ｓｉｔ　ａｔ　ａ　ｔａｂｌｅ　ａｎｄ　ｅｎｊｏｙ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｍｅａｌ　ａｓ　ａ　ｇｕｅｓｔ．

Ｌｉｓａ　ａｎｄ Iｈａｖｅ　ｂｅｅｎ　ＶＥＲＹ　ｂｕｓｙ　ｉｎｂｅｔｗｅｅｎ　ｔｅａｃｈｉｎｇ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｍａｎｙ　ａｃｔｉｖｉｔｉｅｓ　ｔｈａｔ　ｗｅ　ｈａｖｅ　ｂｅｅｎ　ｄｏｉｎｇ．　Ｋｅｅｐ　ｕｓ　ｉｎ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔｓ　ｔｏ　ｈａｖｅ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｅａｃｈ　ｏｔｈｅｒ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈａｔ　ｗｅ　ａｒｅ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｅ　ｓｏｕｒｃｅ　ｏｆ　ｓｔｒｅｎｇｔｈ．　Ｗｅ　ｈａｖｅ　ｂｅｅｎ　ｓｏ　ｆｏｒｔｕｎａｔｅ　ｆｏｒ　ｔｈｅ　ｍａｎｙ　ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓ　ｔｈａｔ　ｗｅ　ｈａｖｅ　ｍａｄｅ　ｔｈｕｓ　ｆａｒ．　Ｉｔ　ｃａｎ　ｊｕｓｔ　ｂｅｃｏｍｅ　ａ　ｌｉｔｔｌｅ　ｔｉｒｉｎｇ　ｗｈｅｎ　ｙｏｕ　ａｒｅ　ｇｏｉｎｇ　ｆｒｏｍ　ｏｎｅ　ｔｈｉｎｇ　ｔｏ　ａｎｏｔｈｅｒ．　Ｗｅ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｈａｖｅ　ｔｏ　ｔｒｙ　ａｄｎ　ｈａｖｅ　ａ　ｗｅｅｋｌｙ　ｄａｔｅ　ｎｉｇｈｔ　ｓｏ　ａｓ　ｔｏ　ｅｎｓｕｒｅ　ｔｈａｔ　ｗｅ　ａｒｅ　ｍａｋｉｎｇ　ｔｉｍｅ　ｆｏｒ　ｅａｃｈ　ｏｔｈｅｒ　ａｓ　ｗｅｌｌ．　Ｗｅ　ａｒｅ　ｈｅｒｅ　ｌａｂｏｒｉｎｇ　ｔｏｇｅｔｈｅｒ　ａｎｄ　ｎｅｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｂｅ　ｕｎｉｆｉｅｄ．　Ｗｅ　ｌｏｏｋ　ｆｏｒｗａｒｄ　ｔｏ　ｈｅａｒｉｎｇ　ｈｏｗ　ｅｖｅｒｙｏｎｅ　ｂａｃｋ　ｈｏｍｅ　ｉｓ　ｄｏｉｎｇ　ａｓ　ｗｅｌｌ．　Ｄｅｐｅｎｄｉｎｇ　ｏｎ　ｗｈｅｒｅ　ｗｅ　ｔｒａｖｅｌ，　ｗｅ　ｍａｙ　ｎｏｔ　ｈａｖｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｉｎｔｅｒｎｅｔ　ｆｏｒ　ａ　ｃｏｕｐｌｅ　ｏｆ　ｄａｙｓ．　Ｗｅ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｔｒｙ　ｔｏ　ｋｅｅｐ　ｅｖｅｒｙｏｎｅ　ｕｐｄａｔｅｄ　ａｓ　ｂｅｓｔ　ａｓ　ｗｅ　ｃａｎ！　Ｌｏｖｅ，　－Ｓｈａｎｅ＆Ｌｉｓａ

Healthy!

2008-09-26T23:11:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post- I so dearly appreciate some of your concern:) I wanted to let everyone know whatever stomach issues I had for a few days have passed, so much thanksgiving! After our medical exam, found out i had another minor infection of something else, but the doctor gave me more medicine and I am feeling better. So thus far, health in China has been quite an adventure for me, but today is a good day! Thank you all! I need to keep my vitamins, in the past couple of days there has been over a 40 degree drop in temperature. (But no loss of humidity- so we went from a wet stiffling heat, to a wet chilly cold). I am grateful I packed my winter clothes instead of having them shipped.... I am wearing them now!:) I love you all and more later!

Dreaming of US food!

2008-09-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

Just a quick blog, even for no one else's interest I can remember this myself. I am still ironclad in my resolution to be here- and there have already been many encouraging encounters to keep that hope! But just as well, physically China's been quite rough on me. I feel I'm a "hypochondriac" or whatever its called, one of those people who always think they are sick. I am finally finished with the cold/virus thing I have for 3 weeks from CA though China, thanks to a variety of medications and people lifting me up. But this weeks seems to be the week of stomach problems. Today Shane is out with the British couple who live in the apartment below us, I didn't go because I've been sick to my stomach at least 5 times today and didn't trust myself to leave home. Still don't like the food(when I can keep it down)- if any one sends care packages, nice safe stuff like pretzels and fat-free popcorn would be most welcome! Today my dinner was a teeny bag of pretzels I found in my bag from the airplane flight. It was amazing to me how delighted I was to find them. And Jennifer's Dove Chocolates she gave to me have been sustaining me! Besides the food, pollution, and heat, China is quite delightful! Taking an Irish phrase from our Irish teacher friend, my students are "quite lovely." I hope some of you can visit and meet them, visit some of the neat things in the city, and bring over american food for your dear friend lisa:) Hey- we even have an entire guest bedroom! Well, I best finish planning for tomorrow's class. Post some comments- we'd love to hear from you!!

-Lisa (&Shane)

Rule enforcement :)

2008-09-24T01:16:00.000-07:00

So Lisa and I have devised a way to enforce one of the rules that Lisa has for the house. We were only given two keys for the apartment (one for each one of us) and so as a way to never lose our key (like one of our friends here did), I have put to use my newest toy that I picked up in Los Angeles. It is one of those old school fake gum shockers!
Whenever someone forgets to put the key back in its spot, they have to succumb to the gum shocker. ( I know, we are somewhat messed up people. How did two people like us ever find each other!)

Here you can see that darling Lisa forgot to put her key away one day! (Needless to say, I have also forgotten once since this rule was established! Ha-ha. The worst part of it is the anticipation of the coming shock. It's just a little jolt, nothing serious at all, but still always surprising.

The weather here has FINALLY cooled off as spotty showers have come and gone. It hadn't rained at all prior to last night. It feels really nice now. Around 70's, and with a cool wind. I suppose winter is coming? I don't know how much a fall they have here. I will have to look into that.

Tommorow we have to go to the doctor's to get our physical examination, bloodwork and all that. They even do an ultrasound on guys! We have to see if we packed our medical stuff and if they will accept it and forgo some of the tests. We have to cancel one of our classes to go tomorrow morning, but will then have to make it up at some point. I hope that everyone is doing well! Love, -Shane and Lisa

everyone loves a Chinese baby!

2008-09-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of a Chinese baby that we saw and giggled with at a Chinese restaurant that we ate in right after having hiked up a very famous mountain in Changsha where scholars used to teach at.This baby was adorable and was laughing and pointing, encouraged the whole time by our large group of Americans. It can be absolutely adorable to see some of them with their little fuzzy hair and riding the little tyke cars and all.

We have even seen these wooden/woven baskets that some women wear on their backs that the babies stand in. Kinda cool looking. Whatever works right? We haven't had too many of them run up to us and point and say: wai guo ren, which means foreigner. Or lao wei, either one. The one funny thing though is that many of them have holes in the back of their pants, so depending on how many babies you see, you can end up seeing a lot of cheek! They don't wear diapers. They just have the hole there so they can pee/poop whenever/wherever they need to! :)

There was a little school girl that just decided to come over to us while we were eating at one of the dining halls on campus and just stand/ sit near us. She would just kind of twirl and try to get our attention by dancing and all that. (She did end up telling me that I had a big nose!) But, the school children like her all, along with college students all have a two hour break in the afternoon. Almost like a Spanish seista. So, you may just end up seeing some of the little elementary kids hanging out in the dining hall in the afternoon.

Speaking of the dining halls though, you definitely DO NOT want to go there around 12 noon! It is absolutely crazy. I seriously walked into one and then walked right out. There was no way that I was going to deal with the mad house in there. The dining halls are only open on this campus at certain times, and so all of the students, especially the freshman when they had finished their military training all swarm there. And, they just don't have lines. It is basically a system of crowd around, squish into each other, get in front of each. Basically whoever can get there first and get their order for rice (fan) and then whatever food you want to accompany it. I got kind of irritated with people getting in front of me as I was trying to order a dish. (Be prepared if I arrive back home and just go directly for what I want. It's a survive policy here in China!)

The streets and driving work the same where. You just go whenever and wherever you want. And, their isnt' really a rightaway for anything. It's just basically whichever vehicle is the largest and will win. You feel somewhat safe (as far as surviving) when you are in a bus. (gong gong qi che= public public gas vehicle) However, the taxis really are crazy. I mean, we were going into on coming traffic and then back over again and all sorts of stuff. Crazy stuff.... It's like you are on a go-kart track and can do whatever you want. Surprisngly though, all of the cars that I have seen are clean on the outside (you wouldn't think so with the acculumating dust) and don't have any dents on them. Most of them are newer. (They probably don't last long with the crazy traffic) The most part though, are the motorized scooters. Those are really beginning to bother me. I suppose several years ago there were just bikes. But now those little boogers drive EVERYWHERE. You will be walking along, and then suddenly get honked at and have to move out of the way so you don't get hit. People (since there are so many don't have the right-a-way.) It is given to the bigger, faster moving vehicle that is baring down on you.

Hopefully a post from me:)

2008-09-23T03:49:00.000-07:00

Hello dear ones!
I don't know how Shane put up a blog (having never had a blog) with total Chinese instructions, but I"m just clicking things and I hope this works!! I"m glad two of you have already figured out how to post a reply- I wouldn't have:) Today we took a long bus ride to a store called "metro"- inside it resembles a BJ's or Costco, but actually its the place wealthy Chinese people go (which is obvious from the prices). The advantage is AMERICAN PRODUCTS! Ridiculously expensive, but they are there. We bought something resembling a swiffer (yayyyyyyyyyy) and even spaghetti sauce. They even had milk and cheese there, though with the recent milk scandal (6 deaths, thousands ill) in China, I think i'll stay away from dairy for a while. They had little things like peanut butter, bread, and things that looked like steak! They even had tostito chips (which were 50 Kuai!! or about 8.50 US, but we are on a Chinese budget). Its amazing how these little things can be thrilling, although I know we can't afford it all so they will just have to be special treats. I do wish I liked Chinese food.... maybe next time we'll spend a year in South America or Italy. :)

I adore my students- they are all very polite and well-behaved. (Of course, it is their first class, we'll see in the future). I have now had 4 classes, or half of my load. It turns out I am using SO much of what I learned in teaching or studying music, it is turning out quite handy in this classroom setting too! After 4 hours of class with no air-conditioning, then walking around all day in the heavy heat and smog, I opted not to go to the coffee house with Shane. The heat and humidity have worn me out, plus teaching took a lot of my voice away. I am glad though, that I have recovered from being sick. Shane has pointed out that recently the pollution has loomed even worse so its good to be mostly back to health if I have to breath that in. Instead I will watch Prince Caspian with a fellow foreign teacher from Ireland. Next week we may go to Beijing with her as well, during the national holidy.

Tomorrow we will have our medical exam and hopefully complete all these necessary visa requirements in time. Oh- Shane probably emailed this, but here is our mailing address:

Postbox:222
Hunan Business College
Tongzipo Road, Yuelu District, Changsha,
Hunan Province.
P.R. China 410205

I'll go for now but please keep in touch. I love reading from home!!

Our angel lily

2008-09-23T02:41:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of our friend Lily who we have met here. She already holds a very special place in our hearts. Continue to yarp that this relationship is one that bears fruit. We found out that in middle school, a lot of the students study Marxism and materalism. This is a belief that she holds to. Although, she notes that when times are tough, having something of a mustard seed is good.

May we become a sweet aroma and something that is attractive and compelling. May the former beliefs we left unsatisfied.

Tonight, I am taking a couple of my students to an English corner at a great little coffee shop downtown. It is run by "family-members" and so of course, the English corners are a great way to meet students, practice with them and develop relationships. This will be my first time going, so it should be fun and also nice to meet up with other foreign teachers. It was so great to first be introduced to this coffee shop. For one, they have western toilets, so that is always a plus! I have yet to have to well... complete the buisness in a squatty potty. Some of them really smell and there is water, (or some other substance on the floor.) Good thing I am a guy. Ha-ha.

Although, speaking of which, the students here all pretty much live 5 students to a dorm. And I am talking about one SMALL room, with only one bathroom that can be utterly disgusting. I have yet to see one, but all of the students have told me about the conditions and complain. Right now, it has been VERY hot, and so many of the students have not been sleeping at night. It should finally storm tonight and bring the temperatures down. We have been averaging about mid ninties with horrendous humidity. Maryland doesn't even come close to the humidity here, with the thick cloud cover. It really was true what our guy from JourneyEast said when he mentioned how you will have to take 5 showers a day. Although, when you become lazy and go outside-sweat, come inside-dry off so to speak, then go back outside-sweat, and come back inside. I guess the sweat just layers on your skin! ha-ha! Gross I know.

Have to eat and prepare to leave for the English corner. With more to come in the future...

Love you all! -Shane and Lisa Miller

Our new Blog!

2008-09-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends and family!

I hope that this works! I just set up a blog, but did so entirely in Chinese! So.... we'll see if this blog is successful or not. Hopefully this will keep many of you informed quick and easily.

We want this to be something accessible to all of you and will help limit time emailing back and forth.

When it comes to needs and yarps, we will DEFINITELY send those out to keep everyone informed.

We are so very excited to be here. I am glad that our apartment has A/C as well! It is about 97 right now and very humid! Some of the classrooms do not have A/C, or it is broken. But you do get used to it. Every now and then there is a breeze that comes through or a fan.

We have heard though, that it is unusual to have it this hot this late in the year. The forecast calls for it to drop down to 84, and then 73 on Friday! Yay! However, with the cloud cover/ haze over the city, it doesn't even really cool off at night. It only gets a bit cooler. Looks like your lows are about 50! That sounds nice. I love the fall weather.

We have heard that the fall can be very beautiful here as well. The surrounding area does not have too high of mountains, but the one that we hiked up with other JourneyEast people and students was very nice. I'm sure it will become VERY beautiful in the autumn. (However, many of the trees stay green here all year round!) One of our friends from ELIC was telling us that when it snowed, she kept wondering why it looked so weird up in the trees, and that was when she realized that the tree branches were still green!

More will be coming soon!

Love to all! -Shane and Lisa Miller