Real life kicked my butt

This past week has been an adventure to say the least.  This week is just one of those weeks that was soo stressful and so fun at the same time.  I have come to realize that no matter where you live at some point it always becomes real life.  I had a crazy Tuesday which resulted in me loosing all of my electronics.  It was an awful feeling knowing I had lost my computer not only because it was expensive but because it has so quickly become a lifeline to me.. With out a computer at home I have no way of communicating with anyone out of China so that was frustrating.

Then I went to Hong Kong and this was one of the most amazing places I have seen.  It is a place with ocean mountains and a big city mixed into one.  This is truly an ideal place to live.  We went to the beach and then to Disney land....which Disney land was amazing.  We then explored the city before returning home.  Being there was such a great break.  Though I love China it can truly be a frustrating place.  The language is hard and the lifestyle is sometimes even harder. Everyone in Hong Kong speak English and it is just an amazing experience.  A great way to unwind and relax.

I have also learned through another frustrating experience that everything in another country is harder. I lost my Shanghai bank card and even though  we have the same banks in Nanjing I had to go to Shanghai to get it fixed.  That was an ordeal that took several taxi rides and bank trips to get fixed.  The great thing about life is it really has a way of working itself out.  After all the trouble and struggles I went through it has amazing worked itself out so that I have a computer with a camera and all is well..I am blessed!

This week we moved into our new center and it has been great.  We havent started teaching yet and so we have just been decorating the center.  Pictures of my adorable board are coming as soon as I get a camera cord.   I am pixie hollow and we have just pixied pixie hollow with glitter and tinkerbell and flowers and more!

We go on vacation starting sunday and I get to spend a week in Chengdu Hiking and seeing pandas.  It should be a great relaxing time....I am going with a friend from on boarding and I could not be happier to be getting to go on another vacation!

Hell

So I was gonna post about this really funny day we had yesterday and the day before..but now it appears that I must post about this amazing day today....Today I wake up to a toilet that is so far stopped up I don't even know what to do with myself....It is again days like today that I could either use and handyman boyfriend or better yet my DAD....I have now been scooping disgusting...spare you the details toilet water out of my toilet for an hour....flushing it to loosen stuff up and then scooping more water....apparently the rule don't flush the toilet paper is really a rule...who knew....anyways so I am plunging flushing....and sticking a coat hanger down my toilet....while toilet water splashes everywhere.....yeah....so then I decide I need a break and since I have nothing at my apartment  I was gonna go to the shop and also see about buying a new plunger....I go to leave and I CANT GET OUT...somehow when my friend left my apartment she locked me into my apartment....luckily she has keys so she is coming back now to try and let me out of the apartment....mind you this has all happened before food or caffeine...GREAT DAY!!!!!

pictures

 Street Food!!

 More street food!!!

 Maybe moon cakes for the moon festival

 Every night woman and men get together and dance the night away!

 Nanjing RoadShoe

 Shoes sold on the street!

 Street Food BBQ

 Kittens Meow!

Haha Oh China..apparently underwear are shorts here

The little things in life :)

Well it is turning fall here in Nanjing the weather has been cooler for the past few weeks and I must say it is a temperature that I could get use to.  This is the temperature that hits Florida sooo much later in the year.  It is so wonderful.   The weather is great.  It is the first time I have experienced a true fall.  The cooler weather brings excitement...The since of adventure has come over me.  I don't the fall is sooo just inspiring.

The local staff at my job and I have been bonding a lot lately.  They are just great people...This weekend they were all ordering boots and so I ordered a pair of 40 dollar UGG boots yeah...I am getting prepared for winter...

Another random thought... I am realizing now that some of the greatest memories that are being made are from the everyday life experiences.  Things that are not anything huge but just small things...Last night we had a girls night....we discovered our mutual love  for Gilmore girls so we had a Gilmore girls style slumber party...we bought all the junk food like Rory and Lorali would do and we watched  the reruns of Gilmore girls...nothing life changing but just so much fun...We had pizza, doritos, cookies, pop rocks, skittles, tostidos chips and dip, pokie sticks, popcorn, cheetos, oreos, coke, pop tarts, m&m's and more...so much junk food but so much fun.

Tuesday a friend of mine and I went for lunch at an indian restaurant and ended up for happy hour at this little  outdoor place called behind the wall....We ended up meeting a bunch of people and went to dinner with them where we all had different meals one including Grasshoppers....yup I ate grasshoppers.  After that we ended up for a great little night out where we met lots of new people and hung out.

These are the moments that seem to be the most memorable...The moments that are nothing extraordinary...moments that could very well happen at home...these are the moments that tend to stick out in my mind as the best days ever.

Life...

It has been awhile since I wrote on the blog.  It is the weirdest feeling to have someone from the states come over to China.  It is funny that I am getting to watch someone experience all cultural differences and the shock that comes with china.  It makes me realize how quickly I have settled into China.  I have realized that China is my life.  It is now become home.  I have my apartment and my friends here.  I get to see my on boarding family often and it is a weird feeling to now have the on boarding group feel like family.  Even though we only spent a month an half together it seems those are the people that know me the best.  The ones that I am most comfortable with.  When I am hanging out with them it is like I am with family from back home. It is comfortable.  I love my life in Nanjing too.  The people I have met have become close friends fast.  We are all from different walks of life but we are all connected in China.

While I was in Shanghai last weekend I had a moment where I realized that I am settled in to China.  I was talking to my friend Ivana and in conversation referred to Nanjing as back home.  This was a china first...normally when I say back home it means I am talking about USA...but apparently Nanjing is now my back home reference.   

I realized that the cultural differences that freaked me out a little at first have now become normal.  Nanjing feels like a small town now and I hardly notice many of things like horns honking ALL THE TIME....anymore.  It is interesting to see that no matter where you are it will eventually just become everyday life.  There are adventures still from day to day but for the most part it is just life...  I am ready to study the language a little more to be able to communicate more with the local people but for now I have my wonderful Assistant teacher and friends that I am always grateful for...They help me sooo much!  

From Maine to China....3 months later!

My first year in college I was first exposed to Maine at a wonderful lake house near Augusta I believe...Maine has always been to referred to as this magical place...After my visit I started to see why...last year I returned to Maine for the summer and after spending the summer driving around through the mountains and watching countless sunsets and shooting stars I could feel myself starting to change....I wanted something more....I wanted a new adventure...being in the magical mountains of    

Maine brought me back to someone I hadn't been in years...I remember sitting on a boat on a night ride with a friend discussing the fact that I needed to make a change...I needed an adventure...I wanted something more...She gave me a lot of support and really encouraged me to pursue something more...I left Maine a changed person...wanting to do what I use to do so well...be independent....I wanted to travel I wanted to see more than just Florida...I came back to Florida searching for more...applying everywhere and really exploring ideas for my future.

After months of frustrating events closed doors and disappointing results...I received news that one door had opened up...The door to really do everything I wanted....an adventure...a chance to be independent...a chance to start over....a chance to really get to know myself.

 3 months ago I set out on the scariest yet most exciting trek of my life...I set off to China...I have been here for three months now and it has been the most magical months of my life...Here I have  met some of the most amazing accepting people...people that like me are looking for more in life...looking for adventure...looking to see what else is out there...

Here I have experienced the most frustrating moments...trying to communicate in a place where no speaks your language....  Sometimes trying to find food in a place that seems so confusing and empty..However the past three months I have laugh the loudest...and laughed the hardest...to the point of tears more times then I think I have laughed in my life...whether it be over one of my clutsy moments where I fall out of no where or being stuck in a Typhoon where no taxi’s…or watching someone walk into a pole because the umbrella was blocking his view…Laughing has happened a lot….

I am also enjoying a lot of the culture like matching couples… couples here often like to buy matching outfits and proudly sport these outfits all around town.  Some cultural differences are more shocking than others…children going to the bathroom where ever they please…like the corner of a mall or in a trashcan…or split pants that children where with no underwear or diapers… Or hacking and spitting when and where ever you please….

Regardless of experiences good or bad…I am pleased to be experiencing something different…something that puts me out of my comfort zone everyday…something that challenges me as a person….and makes me stronger every day I am here. 

Happy 3 months of China…so excited for what is to come!

Suzhou...paradise on Earth...meets a Typhoon

So might I just start this story with this...This weekend we planned a delightful relaxing girls weekend adventure.  We planned to spend the weekend in two cities nearby Nanjing.  We planned to go to Suzhou and explore the city Tuesday and then go off to Tongli for a little sight seeing on Wed. We planned to stay the night with our friend Ben and just have a delightful weekend of exploring the cities.  We did however forget to plan to check the weather before making any of these delightful plans...So we start out our trek on Tuesday quite tired from events the day before and caught a train to Suzhou.  Three of us went from Nanjing and we met a friend from Shanghai in Suzhou.  We had heard there was a chance of rain but none of us knew what was to come.   We decided to rest when we got to Suzhou and then headed out for a delightful walk around where Ben lives.  We ate dinner and headed back to the apartment to go out... We went to a great little American bar and caught up on the Olympics...somewhere in this we heard about a Typhoon hitting Shanghai but decided people were crazy and it was fine....So we go to bed that night thinking of the great adventure we will have in Tongli the next day.  We wake up to a Typhoon...and that is where our real adventure began.

We woke up to sideways rain and lots of wind.  We decided to take it easy enjoyed a nice breakfast and quickly realized the rain was not passing so we cancelled our plans to Tongli.   We got a little restless in the apartment so the girls decided to go to the shop to get somethings.  We head out of the door and we are not out five seconds and a new gust of wind and rain hits.  Screaming like girls we are all trying to figure out where to go because our umbrellas were not helping with the rain.  We all scramble like ants and found shelter under an overhang where some lady decided she would poke her head out of the door and laugh at us for getting soaked.

We make it to the store and then decide to trek it onward to TGI Friday's for a little Typhoon party.  I enjoyed a lovely Jack Daniels steak so good.....How I miss that food :).

We decided that we should probably head home since Tongli was out of the picture and we were all still tired so we headed to the train station wondering if we would be able to get a train.  It became extremely apparent that we would not be getting a train as people laughed at us as we walked into the station while other people looked disgusted with life because all the trains were halted.  Annoyed at the idea of not being able to go home we decided to go get a massage and just relax.  We leave the train station...4 people 2 umbrellas and all our stuff...and the Typhoon decides to pick up at this point.  We had to walk to the road to get a taxi   as we walk we are being pelted by sideways rain and trying desperately to shield ourselves from the rain. Finally reaching the road all hopes of a taxi were quickly taken away as taxi after taxi passed us by we were soaked and cold....we ended up under a bridge looking like little pitful drowned rats... Some of us having spaz attacks because we were stuck with no train and no taxi we look up to see  a bus full of Chinese guys laughing at us from their nice dry bus as we were rejected and told no by yet another taxi driver.  Finally we meet a guy that offered to take us in his car for 50 rmb...dejected wet and frustrated we pile into his tiny little non air conditioned car....Where we had the most disgustingly stuffy hot ride of our lives.  We arrive at the massage place and then we got the most delightful oil body massage with hot stones...Nice and relaxed we head out in semi dry clothes from our bags..back to Ben's apartment...in the process once again getting wet and pelted by rain two of us give up and decide to dance in the rain....and jump in the puddles...great fun....we finally get a taxi and get back to the apartment and decided the rain has settled so we would go to dinner....It was great we had wonderful pizza hut and then we had to walk home....Another band hit Suzhou at this point and we were left 3 umbrellas 5 people and sideways rain.  Long story short yesterday was spent completely soaked swimming through a Typhoon....

Things learned this weekend...Planning makes everything go over smoothly and you know what is to come....Not planning while sometimes can ruin your plans for the weekend...can also lead to adventures that make you laugh the hardest and bond with people...and make for the best stories...

You can either laugh about a situation or get upset about a situation...It is always best to laugh uncontrollably at every chance you can cause it will certainly be more fun.

Spaz definition

1.

an awkward, clumsy, or eccentric person..

2.

to move in an awkward or clumsy way (usually followed byout )

3.

to become more angry than a situation warrants 

4.

to twitch: 

This word may be used to describe a few people in our little adventure. :) :) :)

A photos says a thousand words...in this case it is a person description of a word...SPAZ
What happens after you are stuck in the rain with 2 umbrellas 4 people and sideways rain with no taxi...

Stuck in Suzhou in a Typhoon before really getting soaked...

Back at the apartment exhausted from the days events.

Day one the day before the typhoon hit...in a temple shopping area.

 Typhoon Haikou ....In a random car

Rice paper from the candy fruit...yummm!

Getting names written on rice so cool!

Freaking huge pants and shirt...

The man writing on rice...

The Typhoon

 finally in a car...not a taxi soaking wet from head to toe!