Thursday night Jin Hai Girls!

Christy, Melissa, Me, and Lisa toasting our marshmallows!

<-- Lisa and me waiting our turn to toast our marshmallows!

Last Thursday we met as a group for the last time this year. We had a BBQ and made SMORES!!! This was the last time that we will all be together. Melissa will be heading back to the states to raise support so that she can come back and work in the southern part of the country and train teachers. We had a fun time of fellowship and then we shared our praises and requests and "yarped" together.

<--- Christy and Melissa eating their SMORES!!!

Me, Melissa, Christy and Lisa

some of the group! Lisa, Melissa, me, kelly, Kris, someone's arm, Jane, and Alicia (visiting Kris)

Steven Curtis Chapman- Shanghai!!

This weekend I went to Shanghai with some friends to see Steven Curtis Chapman in concert! What an incredible concert! This was definitely history being made. I think this was the first time that a major C artist has given a concert in China. (SCC has won 5 grammies and I think 50 Dove Awards!) Steven Curtis Chapman has adopted three little girls (Shaohannah Hope, Stevie Joy, and Maria Sue) from China and you could really see his love for this country. He is hoping that this is the first of many concerts to be held in China.

The children in white t-shirts above are orphans who attended the concert. There were 100 Chinese children sitting behind him during the concert. It was really special to see him interact with them. When he spoke, he had a Chinese interpreter interpret so that everyone could understand. Eight of the children joined him to sing a song in Manderine. It was beautiful.

There was also a time of lifting up the Father's name together. This was one of the first times I have been able to lift up the Father's name with my Chinese brothers and sisters! It was an amazing experience to hear us all singing together.
We didn't have backstage passes so we didn't meet Steven. We did get to meet Adam, the bass player. It was fun talking to him and hearing about their travels. They really had to sacrifice a lot to do this tour. They have been a way from their families for such a long time. Steven Curtis Chapman's oldest daughter was at the concert and the rest of his family was going to meet him in Beijing, but they have been on a 71 concert tour!
On Sunday, we went to an international fellowship. SCC turned up there to open the service! It was great to hear him sing again and share from the Book. He shared my favorite verse (Zep. 3:17 and also a passage from Psalm- Psalm 68:6- He sets the lonely in families) This verse is so true! He has truly provided me with a family here. Being single it is hard to be away from your family, but the single girls here have truly become my China family.

Highlights from the Shanghai trip.

We went to the Shanghai community center- hoping to meet Steven Curtis Chapman- we missed him by only 30 minutes! BUT we were treated by several other acts including a Japanese choir that was inspired by the movie Sister Act! All of their songs were from the movie! What fun!!

Jane and I posing at the LOVE statue. Christy and I tried to get our picture together here afterwards, but we got in trouble by a guard and were unable to get a pictur eof the two of us.

What trip would be complete without a trip to Starbucks?!?! We all love the Mango Tea Frapuccino there! (Christy, Lisa, Kelly, and Me!)We bought 2 new travel mugs to add to our collection of mugs from the various places we have visited...

Before the concert we ate at Moon River Diner! It is like a 50's Diner. The food was great! Lisa and I shared some "tots!" We tried to avoid making Napolean Dynamite comments:) "Get your own tots!!!" We actually did share the tots with our friends!

Some of our group at the diner. The person in the front right corner is Nancy. A group of 4 of us, including myself, stayed at her apartment in Shanghai!

HAVE EATEN add on....

I forgot to mention squid on a stick as a food that I HAVE eaten since moving to China! It is actually pretty good- They place several squid "legs" on a skewer and bbq them outside! Christy and Stacie brought me some back from their walk to try! Never thought I would be able to say that I have eaten bbq squid on a stick!

Students sharing their MOTHER'S DAY poem

Mother's Day Tea

To celebrate Mother's Day in China I had my students invite their moms in for some tea and a short program. The students did an excellent job!! They shared their favorite songs from Book class- Who is the Kind of the Jungle and Thank you Ld for a Brand New Day! I taught the students the Jungle song and when I announced that the boys had chosen to share this song I had several moms clap and say they loved this song! So it was good to know that my students have shared something they have learned with their parents:)

All 12 of my student's moms came to our tea!!! The students learned 3 poems (most of them memorized!) and 1 song. The students then gave their moms a carnation and hug. I had the students serve the snacks to their mothers first and then get their own. The mothers had difficulty not helping! I had to tell them that this was THEIR day! After the snack, the students made ice cream sundaes with their moms and then headed downstairs to play outside. This was the only problem we encountered. Most of the time we are able to use the basketball area and soccer field, but I didn't know that on Fridays the Chinese school across from us uses the courts and the field! We were able to use half the soccer field, but only had a basketball so the moms and students made up their own game!

At the end the mom wanted a group picture with me in it so they asked another Korean mom to take a picture of us. They found out that the tea was only for ESLA mothers which made them feel very "blessed, special, and honored!" My mission was accomplished! I told them that since I could not be with my mom on this special day I needed a roomful of mothers! Happy Mom's Day Mom!!! ILYAIAOTTHABNRFMTYFAEA HA! see you in JUNE!!!

Science Museum Field Trip

This week my class and I took a trip to the Haier Science Museum. They were able to see many old appliances-phones, washer machines, etc. I was able to see what I would look like when I am 75....it wasn't pretty! ;) Then we went to this place where they strap something around your head and think of something interesting. They place two people at each end of a table and place a small metal ball in the middle. They person who thinks the "hardest" will be able to move the ball to the opponent's side. There was a screen behind us that showed the person's brain waves. This picture is of my TA's and Joseph's brain activity. I had to play the game against my other TA, Diana. I won!! You can see how hard I was concentrating in the next picture! (I was thinking of all the Chinese words I know!)
Here I am trying to beat Diana at the concentration game! We also got to watch a 4D movie. It was called DinoLand. It was actually in English! We had to sit and be buckled into some our seats and then put on some big red funny looking glasses. Our seats moved up, down, and around, during the movie.

At the end of the movie I had 2 girls crying. The movie was a cartoon, but I guess the combination of dinosaurs and moving chairs really scared them. They boys were asking to watch it again!

After the museum, we returned to school and made pizzas using out toaster ovens! The students had a lot of fun making and eating their pizzas. Overall they were pretty patient about waiting for their turns! Since we only had 2 ovens, and each pizza took 10 minutes, some had to wait almost an hour to get their pizza! (We had snacks to tie them over with) Below is a picture of Sandy enjoying her pizza!

Only in China....

Lisa, Me, and Christy with our Mango Tea Frappucinos

There's a mom in our apartment!

Me, Joy, Christy, and Melissa

Christy's mom arrived safely in Qingdao last night! Melissa and I rode a very long bus to the airport to meet them! We took along our own entertainment for the bus ride- We brought Melissa's computer and finished the movie "French Kiss" while riding the bus:) (The bus ride and their flight from Beijing took about the same amount of time... but it was definitely the cheap way to go, and we had the time...) We also wrote a sign welcoming them back to Qindao in Chinese characters.
We started this morning with some coffee, which is how we start most Saturday mornings. We enjoyed some very good chocolate raspberry coffee courtesy of Christy's mom, out on our balcony. Then we headed to Debbie Sue's for some of Cindy's famous sticky cinnamon buns! Cindy used to be the prinicpal here at QMIS, but is now a recruiter in the states. We heard about her famous cinnamon buns during our PreField Orientation. They were definitely as good as we had been told!

We then began our favorite things of QinDao by going to JUSCO, one of our grocery stores, so that Joy can experience our everyday life! Then it was off to Tai Dong where we were able to get a Chinese dress made for her. We also took a walk through our Super Wal*Mart- There was a "fashion show" going on!! There were a bunch of cute little girls modeling some of the clothes to some music by AQUA! The clothes were in piles in a shopping cart, they would model, then change right there, get in line, and model a new outfit... much different than a store's fashion show in the states...

We also took her to Hot Ice, which is one of our new favorite places in Qingdao. Hot Ice is a chocolate fondu restaurant and it is GOOD! Now when we go to TaiDong we have to choose between fondu and cheesecake!

Next, we headed to xiao yu shan... Little Fish Mountain! This is a great place to get a view of the city and point out some of the different landmarks/buildings... On your way down you can choose to walk down a path that has miniture buildings with a brief description about the landmark. Melissa, Christy, and I posed in front of the train station... Christy's is trying to hold it up for the picture...:)

Next stop- the pier... This is a group shot of us using Christy's famous and almost perfected technique of taking the picture herself by outstretching her arm... pretty good job, but you can't really see the Yellow Sea behind us...

We took some alternative transportation to La Villa- great restaurant- supposed to be french, but they have a chef from Italy... really good German potato soup and chicken salad! We rode a little cart like vehicle to our restuarant. It was a tight squeeze and a somewhat adventurous ride, but we made it in one piece!

Missy and I at HOT ICE trying to get the camera away from Christy! Not really... but we did have quite a few pictures taken by this point!

We ended the evening by watching the movie "Return to Me" with Melissa and Jane! Tomorrow will be fellowship, maybe the Lennon Bar, another favorite restuarnt, and perhaps a head massage... Back to school on Monday!

As always, more pics are on my shutterfly.com account. Email me if you need the user and password information!

Things I have and have NOT eaten in China....

Since I am probably one of the pickiest eaters you will ever meet, I thought I would share with you all some of the foods I have and have not eaten since moving to China, as well as some of my favorites!

I have eaten:
* Camel on a stick
* Donkey meat... kind of like roast beef
* Shrimps- with their heads and antenae still attached (No, I didn't eat the shrimp head, I pulled it off!)
* Little shrimps... kind of crunchy, not really my favorite!
* Soup made by boiling a lamb's head... (I did NOT know this before eating!)

I Have NOT eaten:
* Cat
* Dog
* Scorpions ( I saw these for sale though...)
* Chicken feet, Chicken Head, Chicken Heart, or Chicken stomach (Again, both seen for sale, and been served at various outings... but I don't even eat dark meat chicken!!)
* Fish eyes or any part of the Fish head

Some of my favorite food in China:
* Potato Jaozi
* Eggplant and potatoes
* Sweet and Sour Shrimp/Sweet and Sour Chicken
* Spicy Green Beans
* Toudou si (spicy shredded potatoes)
* Broccoli and garlic
* Spicy Clams
* Bing (type of Chinese bread)
* Kim bob- Korean food... kind of like California Rolls
* Sushi (I know I already loved this before China and this is japanese, but it is still one of my favorite foods!)

Happy Eating!