As I looked through my last blog post, I realized that I neglected to include any pictures of my time in China. How else is anyone supposed to believe that I am truly across the world?! Geez. So, here are a few pictures around my campus, with friends, etc. I have yet to document my apartment. But, every good chapter needs a cliff hanger, right? Stay tuned until next time!
Where to begin...let's start by explaining my current morning routine. Each morning, I receive a delightful wake-up call from my darling freshmen standing about 10 feet from my window. If you find yourself struggling to get out of the bed in the morning, I would suggest hiring 20-25 kids to yell "1,2,3,4" outside of your window. It is more effective if it is spoken in Chinese, however. If that doesn't work, have them stomp around a bit while they are at it. It works for me! Here is a picture of the freshmen in there military training gear. So precious.
During the day, I often like to go exploring and meet some of the students on my campus! So far, I have met some really nice students. Yesterday, one of the students (Keira) gave Kevin, Katie and I a tour of my campus. The campus is beautiful! In the picture above, you can see part of the track. The track runs right behind my apartment, giving me a lovely view of the students strolling past. Here are some more pictures of my campus!!
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| Here is the path we take to get from our apartment to the main road. It goes directly through campus. |
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View of our apartment building from the track.
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| A random statue in the middle of campus. |
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| A path and stuff. |
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| A fun bridge on campus. |
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| A gorgeous pagoda on campus! |
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| My fellow teacher/friend Katie. Oh, and me too. |
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| The main teaching building that I will have my classes in! |
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| My friends Katie, Kevin and Keira. Keira and Katie are attempting to make a heart with their arms, but Kevin got in the way... |
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| Keira (tour guide/new friend) and me! |
Now you have a glimpse of the lovely campus that I get to walk around every day. I also travel around other parts of Qinhuandao on a daily basis. We often travel to the local grocery store, as well as the larger grocery store (similar to Walmart) that is downtown. This store is called Tesco. I will be sure to upload some pictures around town as my time here continues. Here is one to tithe y'all over. It is a picture from our first time downtown.
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| Me, Katie, and my lovely roommate Kelley |
You might be tired of looking at all of these pictures, but I have a couple more for you!! You have seen a hint of my daily life in Qinhuangdao thus far. Here are a couple pictures from my night life here. Mostly, I love to spend time with the team or have a laid back night at home. But occasionally, we like to have little adventures. Last Friday, Katie, Kevin and I went to the KTV with some new Chinese friends. KTV is a karaoke chain that is super popular in China. You sit in a small room and proceed to humiliate yourself in front of people that you may or may not have met 10 minutes prior. It is rather enjoyable. And some people here take it very seriously!! Don't worry, I will spare you pictures of this event. Consider yourself lucky.
Last Saturday, our team went to a coffee shop downtown. It is owned by a very friendly man named Tony. Alex and Brett often sing here on Saturday nights. It is a very cute place, and they have excellent milk shakes!! I can easily see this place becoming a favorite hang-out spot. Here are a couple pictures from our night there:
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| Nancy and Keira! Very adorable. If you didn't figure it out yet, this "heart" pose is quite the rage in China. Much like the peace sign... |
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| The lovely couple: Alex and Brett. How darling. |
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| Katie, Kelley, ME, Brett. Love this group! I have been busy with lots of other fun things here in China. It has been an awesome time to get to know the team, get used to life in Qinhuangdao, and start learning a bit of Mandarin!! I have also started brainstorming ideas for my classes that will begin in two weeks. It has been nice to have the time off. After all, I do tend to move a little slower than some. So it is good for me to have the extra time. We also had our first "English Corner" tonight. This will be a weekly event where students who want to learn English are able to come and talk to us, converse about important issues, play games, etc. It was a great time for me to finally meet some more students! I am so excited to see where my new friendships will take me. More updates to come!! Oh, and I am including a bonus picture for y'all. (Sorry for all of the "y'alls" in my blog. You can blame my Texan friend Katie for that.) Anyways, among our other fun weekly activities, I try to spend plenty of time with the girls on my team. They are awesome! This week, we decided it would be fun to make a terribly cheesy dance video set to 80's pop music. It was quite incredible. While making the video, Alex and Katie thought it would be a fun idea to fro my hair out. Naturally, I thought it would be a good idea (and not at all humiliating) to post it online...here you go!  To answer your question, no it is not a wig. Well folks, I hope you have enjoyed this blog update. I also hope that you were brave enough and awake enough to make it to this point. I tend to be a little wordy... I will try to update again soon!! |
