"Baby, Baby, I get down on my knees for you...."

Congratulations Tammi Rhea!!

(for those who don't know who my dear Tammi Rhea is, she is the "hottie in green" and also one of my bestest friends!:) Tammi Rhea now has something very sparkley on her left ring finger!!! Pretty sure that I cried when she told me. I am soo very happy for her,( Wicked Happy!!) but sad for me because I won't be able to be there. I tried to convince her that she should have it this June, but that wouldn't leave much planning time! Or that she should have her honeymoon in China... but I guess I will have to talk to Tyler about that:) Other options would be to take a personal day and fly there in back in the course of 3 days... not impossible, but very expensive!!! So, thanks to technology, there still might be a chance that I will be able to watch via a live feed over the internet... almost as good as being there. So congratulations Tam! Looking forward to seeing some pics... see... I am already impatient!!!


On another note...
Michelle gets married in 17 days... Chelle, if you are reading this, I am expecting lots of pics, or at least lots of pics on kevin's site! I am sure you are incredibly busy, but want you to know I am thinking of you!!! miss you and wish I could be there for your special day!

a WICKED BIG shout out to Megan!! I am wishing you a WICKED good day... I miss you WICKED bad. It was WICKED good to talk to you this morning! hmmm did I use enough wickeds in this post?!??! that should get me at least a mention on your blog!

Miss you all~
one very tired, sleep deprived girl,
Erica

Mission complete!- Christy and I on our elephant ride in Chiang Mai, Thailand!!!

Seeing is believing... never thought an elephant could do a painting this good!!!

Christy and I being hugged by the elephants!!

Massage anyone?!?! After lugging all of my heavy bags around I think I should have been the one the elephant was giving a massage to!

The Elephants were full of tricks! I actually got to have a chance at having the elephant put a hat on me... picture will be posted later (on someone else's camera...)

Thought I would give you a quick update of my trip to Thailand. There will be much more to come, including more pictures....

Bangkok-
After school on Tuesday, a group of us headed for the airport for Bangkok. We arrived into Bangkok around 3 am and went straight to the guest house that we were staying at. We were awakened very early by the sounds of roosters and maybe monkeys?!?!
Our first stop of the day was Starbucks! I was able to get a Peppermint Mocha, something we do not have at our Starbucks in Qingdao! Our 8 remaining hours in Bangkok were spent sightseeing. We took a tour on a Tuk-Tuk (a small 3 wheeled vehicle). I saw many temples, a very large Buddha, and the Palace. (pictures to come!) We ended the day with some shopping in Backpacker's Alley. Then it was off to the airport.

Chiang Mai. Thailand

Thailand Thanksgiving-
Thanksgiving was very different this year. It was definitely not a traditional Thanksgiving! No turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie with my wonderful family. Instead, Christy, Angela, Lisa, and I spent Thanksgiving evening at a small Thai restaurant and had curry and rice, sweet and sour shrimp, and a tomato and onion salad. We finished the evening by shopping at the night market. The night market is a street long market with lots of vendors. It was great to be able to bargain in English!

On Saturday, a group of us went to ride the elephants! We went early to see the elephant show! The elephants were great! We saw them do a variety of things such as play soccer and paint pictures ) I don't think I would have believed that an elephant could actually paint a picture that nice if I hadn't seen it for myself!). I was even able to get a hug from the elephants!

After 18 hours of traveling- full of very long lines and little sleep, we arrived back from Thailand safely, but very tired, at 12:30 am this morning. It has been a very busy 5 days!

waiting in one of many very long lines!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish my family and all my friends a very Happy Thanksgiving from Thailand! Unfortunately, I was unable to have any turkey this year, but I did get to have mashed potatoes, which is one of my favorite things to eat on Thanksgiving! Takes me back to the "who can eat the most mashed potatoes?!?!?" dinner time! Miss you all and will be uploading pictures of the Thailand trip as soon as I get back!
Eat lots of turkey for me!

Lamb heads, pigs feet, hanging meat and more....

Saturday, Julia and I decided that we are going to be adventurous and try to get lost in Qingdao! We succeded! The only rule was that we must go somewhere that we didn't know and we could only stay on the same bus for 4 stops unless it made a right hand turn.... pretty random rules, but it worked!

We did go to one place that I had been to previously- Little Fish Mountain- which is a pagoda at the top of a hill that gives a great view of the city. We bought some great postcards and then made our way to the next bus stop...

we stayed on the bus for awhile until we saw a market. We got off at the next stop which was at another market. We saw all kinds of things (lamb heads, pigs feet, hanging carcasses...etc), but no white people, which was the goal- and no english speaking people! It was great! I even found a pointesetta there to add to our apartment... still need to find a tree! I even saw strawberries at one of the markets, but when the laoban (owner) saw how excited I was about them he upped the price to 20 kuai (about 2.00) per jin... so I said "tai gui le!" (too expensive!), Julia's favorite expression, and walked away.

On the way out of the market we saw a HUGE Buddha so we took a few pics with the statue and then tried to find our way back... it took us a little longer than expected, but with the help of my wonderful TA, Diana, we were able to find a bus that would take us back home where we quickly changed and went back the way we came to play another game on american football. Afterwards, we went to a chinese restaurant for dinner, filled with lots of chinese speaking, only a little that I was able to understand without having it translated, but it was fun to try to figure out what they were discussing. Julia even learned how to count to 10, hand signals and all! All in all it was a fabulous weekend!
2 days til THAILAND.... more later!

A Little Piece of Home....

Today after school, a group of us went to the Elim School which is a school for children with autism. The school was amazing! They have 170 students and a waiting list of 500! The school had the characters for Faith, Hope, and Love on the outside of the school building and on a bulletin it said we give hope to the parents of our students.... I loved the school! It made me really miss my special ed job back home and all my previous students. I felt at home. I actually knew what they were doing and why! They had some really neat rooms- a sensory room, a gym- like room with a zip line (!) , slides, etc...

The theme of our apartment should be "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." Christy and I LOVE Christmas! (stay posted for pics of our decorated apt...) Tonight we had some of our friends over to see our decorated apartment- we have 2 strands of lights, one strand of garland and few miscellaneous ornaments- and for some Christmas Blend Starbucks coffee, cookies, popcorn... and of course some Christmas music! We planned to watch a movie, but ended up just talking.

Tuesday, Christy and I will be leaving for Thailand with a group. We are going a day early so that we can see Bangkok! Then it is off to Chiang Mai for the conference. I am hoping to go on an elephant ride!!! - stay posted for pics of me on an elephant! Maybe I will even learn a few things while I am there:)

Tomorrow I am going "exploring" with Julia, the new student teacher from Taylor University! We are going to choose a bus and ride it until we see a place that looks interesting! I will be taking a cell phone with us in case we get lost! It should be a fun way to see more of our wonderful city!!! The only problem is, if we find someplace great, we probably won't remember how to get back to it!

Well, it's midnight and I have a busy day ahead of me... besides exploring I also have a game of american football to play and 2 weeks of lessons to plan!

wo hen lei he hen mang (I am very tired and very busy!) I have a big chinese test to study for as well! Chapters 1-5!

zai jian! (goodbye!)

Molly, Sarah, and Daniel

I realized today that I am a little behind on this blogging thing... I am sorry Michelle for all the times I called and told you that you needed to update your website! The past couple of weeks have been quite busy! We babysat one weekend for a family and then celebrated my birthday, my teacher assistant's birthday, and my roommate's teacher assistant's birthday by having them all over for a small dinner party! We made a TON of food and had a TON of leftovers, so we invited a family to come over on Sunday afternoon to help us finish off all of the food:) Plus, I was observed (ugh) - good thing I had some pepto bismo packed for such occasions- (Tammi- remember all my observation days in IWU- well, I wasn't really that bad, but it was comforting to know that I had some pink stuff for backup!) All of this brings me up to this weekend... I played AMERICAN FOOTBALL!!! This Saturday, a group of 8 of us played American Football on the soccer field by our school! My Teacher Assistant, Diana, wanted to learn to play football, so she invited some of us to come play! (pictures will be added soon... need to get them from julia!) I even threw a touchdown pass... well... it wasn't much of a pass, but we scored! Mike, in Seattle, you would be proud.... all that football passing up in the mountains came in handy... still don't really have a good spiral, but if I keep playing maybe one day... We even attracted a fan base! :) All in all it was a pretty fun afternoon. I am looking forward to another game next weekend!

It's my birthday!

Today was my first birthday in China! I am feeling quite old:) 26... a whole new age bracket! My day started with a phone call from one of my friends who helped keep a tradition going by singing happy birthday to me in Danish! I also got to talk to my mom, brother, and sister:) I couldn't quite convince Sam to sing... but at least I got a mention on his MSN. Today my students and their mothers gave me a birthday party. Then, my roommate and I went on one of our more successful shopping trips and managed to buy a chair and some lamps for our apartment! Now, we just have to wait and see if the right chair is delivered!!! We finished celebrating my birthday by going out to eat at our sushi restaurant, bought a few new DVDs, and then made homemade coffee fraps at home. I also was able to call a few friends and have them say happy birthday to me... I am now officially in "the 26 club" with my wonderful Tammi Rhea and for a few months, Amber!

What a great day!

thanks to all who made my day special!