Well, time sure flies.
I haven’t written in a while and you may have noticed that some of my posts of ‘disappeared’.
I’ve got to be a bit more careful about what I write, so that had to be taken care of.

Anyway, I’m back once again.

For those of you who happen to check out my Flickr photos, you may see that I’ve been uploading (more to come) photos of all of my students. I just had midterm exams, so I’ve gotten a picture of each of them. Labeling them to post them up has been quite helpful as far as getting me to remember names and faces. Too bad I don’t have much time left.

Thought I’d share a quick humorous exam story. The freshmen, as one part of their exams, had to give a short (2-3 min) speech about themselves.
I was listening to one girl’s speech and suddenly she surprised me with this sentence:
“I’m not very good at intercourse.”
I’m sure that she didn’t mean it as I heard it, but wow, it was terribly hard not to laugh out loud at that one. I wrote in her comments that she might want to rethink that phrase, so I’m sure she’ll be asking me about it later this week.

This weekend, Kyle and I met up in Nanning. We’re planning a (very!) short trip to Vietnam at the end of the month, so I had to pick up my passport and visa.
It was incredibly hot there (I am absolutely dreading this heat…I despise humidity) and it seems, now that I am back, that the heat has picked up in Yizhou as well.
I had a fantastic time. We met up with other teachers that we know for dinner, we walked around the city, found real ice cream, (No joke! New Zealand ice cream for only 6 yuan per scoop. Anyone who’s in Nanning should look for it. It’s amazing.) working on wedding/marriage planning, and we visited the medicinal plant garden.
I’ll be posting photos on Flickr sometime this week. Perhaps tomorrow, if I get around to it.
One of the great things about the weekend was attending church this morning. We went to this church with other teachers last year and it was quite similar to other Chinese Christian churches. However, this time it was different. They had an English translation of the service! We got a headset and the translation was broadcast over the radio and into our headsets. It’s such a fantastic thing to know what’s going on rather than constant guessing. This is the first time I’ve sat through a service in Guangxi and had the whole sermon translated for me. I loved it.

Speaking of churches and China- I don’t think I ever remembered to post this article from last fall. I was contacted about the use of some of my photos for an article about Bible printing in China. It’s definitely worth your time to check it out:
http://shanghaiist.com/2008/01/03/godless_china_t.php

Ah, yes- and the BIG news-

I finally have plane tickets to go home! Huzzah!
On the morning on June 26th, I will be flying from Nanning to Beijing, then Beijing to San Francisco. I will stay there for a while and then on July 8th, I’ll fly from San Francisco to Texas (strange layover, if you ask me!) then from Texas to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
It feels good to know when I’m getting home now.
To be honest, simply knowing that I have a flight makes me itch to get out of here.
It’s probably for the best that I didn’t have tickets earlier.

It’s going to be really hard to leave China, but for the moment, the idea of seeing people that I haven’t seen in nearly 2 years over-rides all of that.

So, down the street from the school, at the North Market, you can get something called Liu-si-fen (I may be spelling that 100% wrong, but you get the idea) as well as other noodle dishes.
Kate and I have frequented the little stands and we’ve brought students as well.

Today, one of Kate’s students told her that they had all been shut down.

There are (apparently) two reasons. The first reason is that they’re unhygienic. That, I will admit, is true. To be honest though, I’d say that many places here fit under that category. (Which reminds me that I found a little dead cockroach in my apartment today!! They’re back!!!)
The second reason is that they were putting drugs in the food.
That’s right. Supposedly they were trying to get people slightly addicted to the food.
Now, I don’t know if that’s entirely true, but I’d have to say that I wouldn’t find it the most surprising thing if it did happen to be true.

On Friday, Kate and I had an Easter egg hunt with an impressively large group of students.
(Check Flickr for photos)

On Saturday, we went to Liuzhou to meet with 8 other teachers. Kate and I led an Easter Vigil service (modified with condensed readings and other bits cut out) and we all sang wonderful Easter songs together.

We made Easter craft type things, feasted on delicious meals (and amazing candies and snacks from abroad) and played games.

Happy Easter, everyone!

He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

p.s. I have only been getting spam comments lately…even though I tried posting Kate’s quiz in an effort to make my blog more interactive. Is anyone still reading?

Kate and I are having an Easter egg hunt with the students on Friday. This could either be amazing fun or a colossal mess. We’ve brought in eggs for the students to dye at lunch and those are the eggs we’ll be hiding. We did the coloring bit last year, but this is our first attempt at hiding them. Unfortunately, it has been raining/drizzling non-stop for two weeks now, so it might have to be inside. I hope that’s not a problem with any of the administrator-types.
We’ve also created a “silver egg” (couldn’t find gold paint/nail polish) that I’ve put 3 yuan in. They students are incredibly eager to find that one.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this all turns out.

I have been teaching lessons about Easter this week.
It’s quite amusing to see the students confused the idea of the Easter Bunny with Jesus’ crucifixion. I think they finally understand that those are two separate concepts though. Goodness, at least I hope so!
For grade two, this is my second Easter with them, so they learned quite a bit last year…and I must say, it was appalling to see how much most of them had forgotten. I guess that just goes to show how useful my teaching is!
I’m sure it’s probably largely because the entire idea of Easter is something utterly foreign to all but my two Christian students.

Speaking of Christianity, one of my students came to my apartment a couple of times last week and she was talking to me about how she is considering becoming a Christian and she really finds prayer comforting. Of course, given my position, I really couldn’t continue much of a conversation along those lines, but it was a fantastic thing to hear.

All of this talk of Easter has been causing me to develop Easter candy cravings!
I don’t miss Peeps so much, but man…. I sure miss those Reeses Peanut Butter Cup eggs, the little Candbury mini eggs, and the Cadbury creme filled eggs.
Mmmmmmmmmmm…….

I hope that you’re all enjoying those for me.

Kate and I are heading to Liuzhou on Saturday to celebrate Easter with 8 other foreign teachers. The two of us have been put in charge of a Saturday service…so we’re doing a modified Easter Vigil before dinner. Should be interesting. I think it’ll be nice.

Here’s a little Easter quiz that Kate wrote….
See if you can get all the answers:

Easter Quiz

1.What does Mardi Gras have to do with Easter?
a. It’s the first day of Lent.
b. It’s the last day before Lent.
c. It’s the mid-point of Lent.

2.What is the origin of the word ‘Easter’?
a.It was a deity associated with rain and agriculture.
b.It was the name of a spring goddess
c.It was a mythical beast crucified by its herd.

3.What’s the difference between a rabbit and a hare?
a.Rabbits are more often seen in daytime.
b.Rabbits have shorter ears and legs.
c.Rabbits are born covered in fur and their eyes open.

4.Which US president did the first White House annual Easter egg roll?
a.Calvin Coolidge.
b.Theodore Roosevelt.
c.Andrew Johnson.

5.How is the date for Easter calculated?
a.The first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.
b.The second Sunday following the harvest moon.
c.The tenth Sunday after Epiphany.

6.On how many dates is Easter observed?
a.1
b.2.
c.3.

7.What day was Jesus crucified?
a.Good Friday
b.Holy Saturday
c.Easter Sunday

8.Which of these did NOT happen on Maundy Thursday?
a.Last Supper.
b.The feeding of the five thousand.
c.Judas betrays Jesus.

9.What happened on Palm Sunday?
a.Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey.
b.Jesus washes his followers’ feet.
c.Jesus eats the first Easter egg.

10.What kind of Easter egg would Kate like this year?
a. Smarties.
b. Crunchie
c. Mars bar

When I feel stressed out, sometimes I suppose that my mind tries to find something else to distract me.

For example, for the past couple of weeks…maybe the past few, I’m losing track of time these days…. I have been stressed out about a variety of decisions that needed to be made. (I’ll explain some of this soon when I can say more for sure)
This explains why I haven’t been posting here at all. It’s not due to a lack of significant events or extraordinarily dull days (something either amusing or frustrating happens here on a daily basis, to be honest. I’m certainly not short of material); it’s just because I have been too distracted to even think straight.

That’s where the problem started.
My tooth began to hurt.
When I ate something sweet, it seemed to hurt. I kept thinking about cavities. The more I thought about it, the more it hurt. Therefore, it seemed logical to me: I must have a cavity- maybe three or four! The pain increased. I Googled tooth cavities and examined my teeth in the mirror. I was absolutely certain that I saw one and then another two possible cavities further back in my mouth.
If you know me at all, you know that I am absolutely terrified of needles. I couldn’t really tell you why, I just know that the sight of one, even on television, makes me sick to my stomach, weak in my knees, and more than just a little shaky. It’s embarrassing. Truly embarrassing.
(Does anyone else out there have crazy fears like that, or is it just me?)

Well, I’ve had one filling my whole life and I hated it. I really hated it. The needle in my gums was by far the worst part. I had no idea they were going to do that. So, needless to say, the idea of needles and a filling in China worried me. I could just leave it until I get home, but what if it got worse?

Kate finally suggested that I talk to our friend/co-teacher/new waiban’s assistant, Mary (not her real name, that’s just her English name) and ask her to take me to get my teeth simply looked at. Kate is so smart sometimes.
So Mary and I headed out to the dentist. About four or five yuan later, I was sitting in a dentist’s chair and a Chinese woman was poking around my teeth and explaining things to Mary. I, frustratingly, could not understand a word and also couldn’t ask for a translation when I had a metal stick-thing in my mouth. Somewhere at the end of her comments, I heard “mei you” which I took as a good sign. (It means “don’t have”)

Turns out….absolutely nothing wrong with my teeth.
In fact, they clean teeth there, but they recommended that I not even bother with that because my teeth don’t even need cleaned (not what I’d hear from a dentist in the States, I’m sure). She just said there are some spots in the back that could develop into cavities if I’m not careful, but to be honest, I’ve heard that for years. (I guess these things don’t get better)

Funny enough, my toothaches seem to have disappeared since then. Odd, eh?

I guess that just goes to show how ridiculous I can be when I’m under stress.

More later.
This time I really promise.
(If any of you believe me anymore!)

—————-
Now playing: AIR - Alone In Kyoto
via FoxyTunes

Hello!

I’m in some random city in Malaysia now…we’re waiting for a bus and I needed to find the internet to send a happy birthday text message to my dad.

Anyway, this has been great so far.
Malaysia is fantastic and tropical and full of various people and an incredible variety of food. I love it! I haven’t had this many food options since I was back home. Absolutely amazing.

We were in Kuala Lumpur for a while where we visited mosques, the sky bridge at the big towers, and did some general wandering around.

Last night we went to a little town where there were, to our surprise, wild monkeys! Just running around! I’ve never seen wild monkeys before.
Although Kyle did just find this terrifying article- check it out.
Then we went on a boat ride at night and saw thousands and thousands of fireflies. Absolutely gorgeous.

Now we’re hopefully on our way to some little island where we can relax by a beach…as long as we can find a hotel with rooms. We’ll see how this works out.

Thanksgiving has come and gone…

I spent lots of time shopping, cooking, and baking on Thursday.
Thankfully, people came early enough that everyone could lend a hand when it came to putting it all together.

We had wine, juice, chicken (we bought it already cooked), cornbread, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, honey glazed carrots, cranberry sauce, dried cranberries, stuffing, bread, salad, cookies, brownies, pumpkin bars, apple crumble, and my biggest accomplishment- pumpkin pie. It was my first ever attempt at pie crust or any kind of pie. I don’t have any real measuring tools, so I just had to guess at amounts, and I also have a tiny toaster oven- not really the ideal size for pies! I’m not going to lie- it turned out pretty well, I think.

So Thanksgiving was great. There were 8 people over here and we ate lots and talked even more. I had a fantastic time.

Today, our regional conference began. The meetings and such are all starting tomorrow, but everyone arrived, had dinner, and then went out to Liu San Jie Square this evening.

The Square has changed a lot since last year, as has all of Yizhou, but I think I’ll save that for a later post. They still have bumper cars though, so that’s a load of fun. I’m terrible at driving those things!! I’m glad that Kyle was willing to drive. It was a good time.

Anyway, so we went out for tea, coffee, and juice afterwards and it was a good time. However, Kate and I were really enjoying ourselves and she hadn’t even finished her drink when everyone decided it was time to go, so we headed out. Unfortunately, I really really really enjoy having lots of people to talk to- but since we’re hosting the conference, we stay at home and they all stay in a hotel. I have to say that I’m really quite depressed that they all get to hang out in the hotel and talk while I came back here alone, like most other nights. I’m now used to having this apartment to myself, but for the most part, I don’t enjoy that. I like being with other people a lot. I’m on a strange line between extrovert and introvert…I don’t like being the center of attention at all, I like to avoid that, but I feel happy being involved with a group of people and I have discovered in the past year that I actually get incredibly offended and sad (no matter how hard I try to control these emotions!) when I feel as though people are having a good time while I’m alone and not enjoying being by myself. It is, I know, something that I need to adjust to, and for the most part I have. I just feel like a blog on the internet is somewhere that I can vent these frustrations. I don’t know why I think that, but whatever.

I’m full of energy after spending time with people all day and not ready to sleep at all, so I’m making the brownies that we need for our snack during our meeting tomorrow. Kate and I forgot to bake them earlier today, so I figured I’d just do it now since I can’t sleep at the moment.

Tomorrow morning, I’ve got to get up and prepare some things for breakfast and bake some blueberry muffins.
After this weekend, Thanksgiving and the conference will be over and I’m pretty sure I’ll have used up all of the baking mixes I have here. That’s kind of a disappointment because I can’t get any more in Yizhou.
However, it’s great to be able to share good meals with other people. It makes it even more enjoyable, I think.
I love the combination of good people and good food. You really can’t often go wrong with that.

P.S. In the market today, I saw them grab a dog by the neck with some metal thing and grab a bag- they beat the dogs to death in a bag before preparing them for cooking. I almost cried. I know the dogs are for eating, but I’ve never watched one as it’s about to be killed. Absolutely heartbreaking.
I suppose I feel that way about all animals, but I don’t often see them as they’re about to reach their end- especially in such an utterly brutal way.
I will never forget that.

In a couple of days, I’ve got to cook something that’s kind of like Thanksgiving dinner. Thankfully, Kate is helping out. Who knows how this will turn out? I really don’t know. Well, there will be food and that’s what really matters.
Thanksgiving is all about hanging out with people and eating anyway. Mmmmm… my mouth waters at the thought of a Thanksgiving meal.
Last year, we were at Pizza Hut in Nanning for Thanksgiving. Certainly not traditional in any way. Ugh.

This weekend, Kyle and I had some engagement photos taken by an older woman who lives on the 4th floor of my building. She’s a photographer and she’s pretty good at it. She just got a digital camera the day before taking our photos, so she used digital and regular film. My friend/coteacher, Mary also came along and took some shots with her digital camera. I’ve posted all of the photos here on Flickr.
Also, I have some pretty sweet photos of Kate and I and I am doing something for Kyle’s Christmas gift. (ha ha) But those photos have to be kept hidden for the moment. If you’re interested in seeing them, email me (hunt.megan@gmail.com) and I can email you an invitation to see them on Flickr.

In other news…. wedding planning is going… well, I guess.
I bought my dress. Well, I picked it out and paid the money for it, but my mom had to do the actual ordering at the shop. Once again, if you’re interested in photos, send an email because I can’t post them where Kyle will see them.
We’re also coming up with a list of potential songs for the ceremony (we’re thinking about not going completely traditional there) and also for reception. If you’ve got any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!
I also just spent what I consider to be an obscene amount (although it really isn’t) on makeup that I ordered online. I figure that I need some nice stuff since the stuff here is really cheap and horrific and I’ll be needing to have decent makeup for my wedding anyway…might as well get it now. The sad bit is that I realized that even though I just spent a lot, I don’t really have all the makeup I’ll need. It’s like a vicious trick. You can never quite have everything you need without spending loads of money. I do love makeup though. I can’t wait to be back in the States where I’ll be able to try some on and just buy nice makeup without having to wait my entire lifetime for it to arrive! It’s supposed to get here on December 26th. A Christmas present to myself, I guess. I haven’t worn makeup in ages (as is sadly evident in the engagement photos where I happened to be wearing…none! What was I thinking??) So I’ve decided that it’s really necessary to have at least a little bit of nice stuff so that I can put it on and feel good about the way I look.

In other news, the regional conference is this weekend. Since we’re hosting it, all 14 Amity teachers/friends of Amity will be arriving and spending a short time here. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again. Hopefully they’ve all got good stories to tell and interesting teaching suggestions.

That’s all for now!

P.S. I had completely forgotten that ‘My Fair Lady’ is nearly 3 hours long…and I showed it to my British Literature class yesterday. (They’re studying Pygmalion this week) Ugh. Torture. Pure torture.
And then, after it finished at 5.35, I then had to go home, get some things done, then go back to show ‘Back to the Future’ at 7.30 for film club.
I love films, but 5 hours is complete overkill. I was not particularly happy last night.

So I finished writing my Brit Lit midterm. I’ll post it here after I give it this week. I don’t think any of my students know about my blog at all, but it would be a terrible thing if one of them happened to run across it and I had posted a copy of the exam!

This weekend was the English Department sports meeting.
Kate and I hung around in the morning on Saturday and watched some of the students compete. I went around and took some photos and talked to several students. It was fun to watch them win, but I must admit…it was a bit chilly and it started to drizzle and that took a lot of the enjoyment out of it. We stayed around for pretty much the whole morning bit, but we decided to stay at home and bake brownies instead of going back in the afternoon.

In the evening, we went out with some teachers to a restaurant out the front of the school gate…the menu had a lot of animal guts and some things with blood and parts of frogs. It certainly made our choice of dishes pretty simple! We had a good time talking with our colleagues though. It’s nice to get off campus, even if it’s not far at all.

Today Kate and I went to Luo cheng, a city about an hour from Yizhou. Actually, I was informed that it is technically a part of Yizhou. I don’t quite understand how these Chinese cities work!
We went to visit a school where some students are doing their teaching practice. I’ll post some more and some photos about that tomorrow.

In bad news, I bought a big mirror today- I have only had a tiny mirror the whole time so far, so I was really excited about this one! Well, before I even got to use it, it fell on the floor and shattered. I know it’s just a mirror, and in US dollars it cost me very little, but I was actually quite sad/disappointed/upset about it. Alas. I was kind of excited.
However, in order to put the mirror up, I had to take down a poster I bought at church. I thought about a sermon the pastor gave not long ago about how we shouldn’t be vain. I thought it was kind of amusing that I was taking down a Christian poster to put up a mirror. I guess the shattering of the mirror is a sign that I should work harder not to be vain.

I don’t usually believe in bad luck from silly things like breaking mirrors, but just a little bit ago, I tripped over my computer cord and nearly broke the bit that attaches to the computer. I think I got it back together okay, but to be quite honest, I’m not sure how long it’ll hold out now. I’ve already got to replace the battery on this thing asap (well, with a price of something crazy like $100, it might be a long time) but if the cord goes, I’m completely done for. Well, I’ll just use the library computer, which means I’ll be online for something like 30 minutes a day.
Maybe it would do me good to spend less time at a computer anyway…..
maybe.

Well, it’s Halloween once again. It’s shocking how fast time goes by sometimes.
This year, we had the typical fun- carving watermelons (pumpkins in the right shape are tough to find), making masks, eating candy, telling scary stories, and all that.
I dressed up as someone in the American military. That was the scariest thing I could think of! Ha.

Some of the students really went crazy with the costumes. It was a lot of fun. We stood around and talked about scary story, some from films, some from books, and some that were (supposedly) true. It was one of the best English Corners we’ve had in a long time, if you ask me.

In other news, this past weekend I was in Longzhou. On Saturday Kate came down as well and we attended the famous “Delicious Food Street” at Kyle’s school. It was crazy! The place was packed, but there certainly was good food all over the place.
Mmmm… I always enjoy my visits to Longzhou, but this one was particularly good.

So my mother sent a package full of wedding planning stuff and things to make a Thanksgiving dinner. Obviously, it’s a bit hard to find any kind of wedding magazines or books in English over here. I bought one in Chinese, but it’s not particularly helpful. It’s nice to have a load of stuff, but I really wish there was a bookstore near by to find more. I think that’s something I’m already getting excited about for when I get home- bookstores! I’ve still got something like 9 months left though, so maybe I shouldn’t get too excited.

She also sent a box of Little Debbie’s Oatmeal Cream Pies….for Kyle. If you know me, you know how much it is killing me not to eat them. Seriously. I love those things. They’re not the least bit healthy, I know. Somehow, things like that are so much more exciting when you can’t seem to get them, or even see them, on a regular basis. It’s not like home where I can see them at the store and choose whether or not to buy them. They’re just not here to buy.
Kate and I were discussing these Oatmeal Cream Pies though. One major reason why I shouldn’t eat them (other than the fact that they’re supposed to be for Kyle, not me) is that I should probably, since I’m planning on having a wedding next summer, try to lose some weight. However, Kate pointed out that if I eat the whole box all in one go, my body can’t possibly handle all of that sugar/fat/etc, so it can’t have a lasting affect on my weight. It’ll probably make me sick and just pass through me anyway.
So I was considering that….seems like a good idea.

Speaking of trying to lose weight in China….
It seems rather difficult given the amount of fried food that I eat. Most of our food options here are fried, so that’s what I’m stuck with. If I cook for myself, it would probably end up being fried as well. There’s not a whole lot I can bake. Well, once I get some more ingredients, perhaps, but for now, I’m stuck with fried food.
Well, the other week I was talking with Jane about dieting things in China. I was really looking for something like SlimFast or a similar deal. She took me to the drug store near campus. The woman pulled out two bottles and claimed that these are the best two and you don’t gain the weight back too quickly. One she described as a meal supplement that will help me loose weight over several weeks. She said it’s not bad for your body. I took a look at the bottle and found a label in English: Colon Clean.
So I decided not to go for that. I asked about the second one and she said that it’s not very good for your body. She said that it does some bad things to your health. Yikes.
So much for finding something like SlimFast, I guess!